Kershaw Echelon First Impressions - Disappointed!

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redfeenix

Joined
May 12, 2011
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I just got my knife about 20 minutes ago. I've been playing with it for a while and can't help but realize that the blade is badly off center. The blade is touching the nested liner, and as a result when the speedsafe engages the blade is never ejected to full lockup. I have to push the blade further to get the blade to lockup.

Also the thumbstud is located at an odd angle, but I can make my peace with the design. There was also some black residue on the blade which passed on to the handle, I have it cleaned now but was thoroughly disappointed.

I will be emailing Kershaw about this, but would like the opinions of other BF members here. Does anyone else have an off-center Echelon to the point where deployment was a hassle?
 
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I just got my echelon a couple days ago, and the centering is perfect. The same couldn't be said for my piston and knockout though. The piston was rubbing the right liner out of the box, but I got it centered up fine with some tweaking similar to the methods mentioned in the thread posted above. The knockout was also canted far right without touching the liner, and I can't center it without adversely impacting the lockup. Other than the minor hiccup with the knockout, they all perform flawlessly.
 
I got my Echelon today and after waiting four months for it, I'm a little disappointed that is has the same issue I've had with other Kershaws: the little barrel inset into the G10 so that the pocket clip screw has something to screw into is loose, which means I can't screw in the pocket clip screw. This happened with my G10 Leek and my Talon II, it's frustrating but I'm sure Kershaw will be able to fix it. I just hate having to send my knives away :(

On the topic of centering, mine was just fine. I de assisted it and it's still centered well, with a detent that is certainly strong enough to prevent any accidental openings. The G10 scales came with some sort of black stuff on them, which makes me worry a little that it was returned to the seller (Amazon) and then sent to me. However if yours had it as well, it's possible that it just came that way from the factory.
 
Misanthropia said:
I got my Echelon today and after waiting four months for it, I'm a little disappointed that is has the same issue I've had with other Kershaws: the little barrel inset into the G10 so that the pocket clip screw has something to screw into is loose, which means I can't screw in the pocket clip screw. This happened with my G10 Leek and my Talon II, it's frustrating but I'm sure Kershaw will be able to fix it. I just hate having to send my knives away :(

On the topic of centering, mine was just fine. I de assisted it and it's still centered well, with a detent that is certainly strong enough to prevent any accidental openings. The G10 scales came with some sort of black stuff on them, which makes me worry a little that it was returned to the seller (Amazon) and then sent to me. However if yours had it as well, it's possible that it just came that way from the factory.
Click to expand...

Do you mean it has a hole drilled into the blade for the detent to keep it closed (without the torsion bar)?
 
I'm kind of surprised. All of the Kershaws I've purchased recently, especially the USA ones, have been perfectly centered. Any knife can be off center, though. Especially knives like these that aren't super robust with thick scales and liners and a thick blade with a big pivot and big washers, etc. It's easy for them to come off centered, but Kershaw usually gets it right. Fortunately, the fact that they are a little more flexible being smaller and having thinner parts (not because they're cheap, just because that's the design on most Kershaw's. Thin and light) means they're also easy enough to fix the centering on in most cases.

I handed an Echelon in a store and while I wasn't all that impressed for a $90 knife (overpriced in this store), I think $60 is fair enough. The one I handled was centered. The feel wasn't amazing in hand and I was hoping it would be a little more robust with thicker G10 and liners (more along the lines of a PM2 or even my Kershaw Turbulence, which is an outstanding knife, as opposed to a thinner design like the Skyline, which is a cheaper knife). I also kind of wished it had a choil or something since it's just a smaller knife and the ergo's aren't exactly made to keep you from slipping up onto that blade. However, it's a very attractive design and it's not a tactical knife. It has a good enough grip and it's intended to cut, not stab or puncture. It's a functional tool and the thinner design does make it very light and utilitarian. So I have no qualms with the knife. I felt it was a good design for $60. I actually almost bought it at $90, but I don't think it's quite worth that.
 
My Knock-out and Echelon were as perfect as any production knife I've had.

Haven't had the money to also pick up the Piston as I just ordered a pile of Blurs.

The thumbstud on the Echelon is a little tight to the body of the knife for large thumbs. The Echelon is a little short for my hands but for smaller hands it should be a great knife and smaller thumbs shouldn't have any issue opening with the thumb stud. I haven't changed the clip so I don't know about the barrel being loose or not. I prefer tip up carry so haven't had a reason to move it. I didn't like the color from the pictures I saw and was hesitant over the design. Thomas showed me on in person and I really liked it. That was may months ago and I'm happy to say that the G10 is shipping with that same color. In my opinion, which others may not share, it's less "lemony" than in pictures and is a really nice shade of pale yellow. I believe it is because the translucence does not photograph well and the handles are more translucent than yellow. It really has a great look and if it was a bit larger I think I'd love it. It is an unusual and beautiful design that is functional as well as stunning to look at. On the rare occasion on which I dress up and only have room for one knife this is the one I carry. The long term effects of G10 on a pair of Dockers remains to be seen but it fills the single knife compromise for me (although technically I also have a Spyderco Bug and Leatherman Squirt in addition) as I otherwise EDC both a Leek and a 0560 and possibly a number of other blades in addition depending on the day [small JMK fixed blade in the backpocket, Skyline in my other front cargo pocket.. 6 blades on me at once.. plus a SOG Powerassist and ESEE 4 in my laptop bag with me].

The Knock-out is a dream. While not as overtly dramatic in styling as the Echelon it is an interesting design of it's own. I'm glad they reverted back to the aluminum as it feels good in the hand. The handle with the milled out lines should provide adequate grip without chewing hands raw with use as can happen with rough G10. If you have wet wet hands this may not have enough grip but there are better knives for skinning or with better steels for use around water. I liked dramatic the contrast of the raw metal color of the lock on the prototype but after seeing this new design I think I prefer it. The contrast isn't quite as dramatic but the slightly different finish is enough contrast to highlight the unusual lock design without it having such contrast that it looks out of place. With more it wouldn't flow in to the rest of the design as well and might appear obtrusive or that the lock was haphazardly added to the design. I like the wider blade as it is somewhat reminiscent of the Cyclone design. This is the first knife I could see as a Blur killer. With Ken Onion's "shenanigans" and having moved on to working with CRKT, Tim Galyean now at Kershaw and spectactular and award winning new designs coming from Jim McNair, now may be the perfect time for a new group of in-house designed classics to take the place of the Onion line at large retailers.
 
kreole said:
Do you mean it has a hole drilled into the blade for the detent to keep it closed (without the torsion bar)?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if I understand your question, but its a regular ball detent. I haven't de-assisted mine, but will.... once I get a torx driver. The speedsafe on this knife annoys me the most.
 
Misanthropia said:
I got my Echelon today and after waiting four months for it, I'm a little disappointed that is has the same issue I've had with other Kershaws: the little barrel inset into the G10 so that the pocket clip screw has something to screw into is loose, which means I can't screw in the pocket clip screw. This happened with my G10 Leek and my Talon II, it's frustrating but I'm sure Kershaw will be able to fix it. I just hate having to send my knives away :(

On the topic of centering, mine was just fine. I de assisted it and it's still centered well, with a detent that is certainly strong enough to prevent any accidental openings. The G10 scales came with some sort of black stuff on them, which makes me worry a little that it was returned to the seller (Amazon) and then sent to me. However if yours had it as well, it's possible that it just came that way from the factory.
Click to expand...

Yeah I got it from the same place. The f&f is pretty good and the blade design is amazing, but these niggling issues are deviating my opinion about this knife considering the price.
 
redfeenix said:
I'm not sure if I understand your question, but its a regular ball detent. I haven't de-assisted mine, but will.... once I get a torx driver. The speedsafe on this knife annoys me the most.
Click to expand...

A detent is a combination of detent stake/ball in the lock bar and hole in the blade for it to sit in. Talking about detent stength means there's a hole, else it's only lock bar strength and pivot friction holding it in place. That's the long way of saying I was hoping you meant there's a detent hole for the ball to sit in when it's closed :)
 
kreole said:
A detent is a combination of detent stake/ball in the lock bar and hole in the blade for it to sit in. Talking about detent stength means there's a hole, else it's only lock bar strength and pivot friction holding it in place. That's the long way of saying I was hoping you meant there's a detent hole for the ball to sit in when it's closed :)
Click to expand...

Definitely helps, thanks for the explanation :)...haven't taken apart my knife so I wouldn't be able to tell you :(
 
So I got restless over the weekend and ran to the Wal to get a tool set to fix the Echelon problem myself. Took out the torsion bar, cleaned the liners, and for some reason the non-locking liner was not properly glued to the handle. Makes me wonder if I got a return knife, but anyways the black residue was the grease on the blade and washers. I've no clue as to how it got so far to the point where it stained the blade and outer handles.

It was a b**** to put back together using the folded paper technique, but I did it =D...its still not centralized but the blade is not rubbing against the handle anymore.

Kershaws CS could have been a little faster, but was prompt nonetheless and very professional and courteous.

Gotta say the knife opens and closes like the Sage 1 now and is definitely in the HOF of my blade collection.

Thank you Kershaw for such a wonderful knife, just please ditch the speedsafe on different iterations of the Echelon...the knife is so much better without it.
 
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