Kershaw: Good times, for bad times

[hewhoisiam]

Since I've recently read a 'bad time' about Kershaw. I'd like to start a thread about the company/knives in general. I say good times for bad time, because in my experience. It's all been good times. But I read recently how someone had not done so well with Kershaw, and it made me think of my dealings with them and my ownership and what I've heard of Kershaw knives. This post and thread is dedicated to one I couldn't leave (blame Tom for being vigilant and locking the thread while I was in the editing phase That said I don't want it to turn into trolling a troll (or reference the troll too much even...) I'd like to hear about your dealings (if any) with Kershaw, good, bad, or otherwise.

Here's the original.
=======
I love trolls. Because a troll marks... Opportunity. Today, that is the opportunity for me to share (briefly) not one, but TWO stories. Not for the troll, but for others who might read this thread for the LOL's

I was sold on the leek when I first opened it at the local sporting goods store about 5 years ago. Since then I have bought 6 Kershaw knifes for a total of 7. I recommend them to my friends. I EDC them and have had a single failure of a torsion spring. Customer support not only knew what the problem was almost immediately (first call, was on hold maybe 15 seconds?) but offered to send me the part. WITHOUT even seeing the knife. For all they knew, I'd taken the knife apart and lost it, and they'd STILL send me a new one, no cost. I opted to send it to them. They: Sharpened the blade, Fixed the assist opening, and bent my pocket clip back to factory like I asked...

The second story, is my brother, who owns a Kershaw leek in the steel 14c28n that you seem to 'snap'. He, drunkenly stabbed it into a wooden table, it did fine there, but then he pulled it out with radial torque (stabbed it at an angle, about 50 degrees, then pulled AGAINST that) and bent, NOT SNAPPED, his blade. Badly about 1/4 inch from his tip. It took some work (I did beat him soundly for abusing the knife I bought him > but I got the blade BACK straight and into working (smooth, even grind) order. Even if the knife now has a battle scar on it's coating.
=======

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Knife knuts know knice knews.

I have no stories about customer service because I've never had a problem with my Kershaws, even going back to the days of the original Talon -- of course, I'd have to be a horse to damage titanium slabs over steel liners with an ATS-34 blade.

 

[hewhoisiam]

Mine came on a leek that had been used for about 2 years to open boxes. Which was, flick open, and close dozens of times a day, for years. I was not surprised when it needed some work. I use it slightly less now, but after the fix, still goin strong

 

[Shoki]

I also was in the middle of responding to that thread and had the same idea you did when it closed. Since you beat me to the punch, I'll close mine and post it here. <Mods, would you be so kind as to delete my original thread?>


I'm a welder/fabricator in a vehicle and equipment shop and my Kershaw cyclone sees use that most experienced knife users would consider gross abuse. The Cyclone has been used to cut openings in steel welding electrode containers, strip wire, cut steel reinforced rubber tube, flick globs of molten metal off of flammable surfaces, been exposed to steel shavings and sparks daily, and has exclusively been my 'in a pinch' tool (including duty as a makeshift hammer and for scribing lines in mild steel ). On top of all the the things I do to it on purpose, it's also been dropped in mud puddles, dunked in the solvent parts cleaner, flopped into a pan containing the tiny, sharp pieces and ATF of an exploded Kubota transmission, dropped open onto the concrete floor and then accidentally sent skittering through the dirt and down into the floor grate filled with unspeakable shop horrors and spent a whole day and night in a quenching tank full of rust water (I knew I heard an extra 'plunk'). The only problem I've had, beyond owning the most beat-up looking Kershaw I have ever seen, is stiff opening due to too much grime collecting in the pivot.
The point is this: My Kershaw has gone above and beyond the call of duty and as we Loon Mountain mechanics like to say of tools that we use the hell out of and admire 'it doesn't owe me anything'. I'd say if anyone out there has their Kershaw break at work doing any less than what I do with mine... you're doing it wrong.
My next work knife will also be a Kershaw (provided my Cyclone actually gives up some day) and they've earned a customer for life!

 

[Dorito Monk]

The knife that got me into 'higher end' knives was a Kershaw 1630 Cyclone. Come to think of it, it was the first folder I bought for myself. I've used that knife for every friggin' task under the sun - from opening packages to prying open paint cans, cutting insulation, scraping, hammering, and all manner of crap you should never use a knife for. I used it working in kitchens, warehouses, during home renovations, camping, whatever, and it's still going strong. The torsion bar broke at some point, but I much prefer it as a manual knife. I've only stopped carrying it around everywhere because I'm kind of paranoid about losing it at work.

The dents in the handle are from hammering in tent pegs.

 

[Shoki]

Snapped a cell pic of mine:

The whitish area is soapstone deposited in the scuffs!

 

[hewhoisiam]

From what I'm seein... I may have to invest in a cyclone. I own a bump, and a few leeks. I have a skyline NIB and something else (small, and I don't usually do a small knife if I can get away with a big knife) I can't recall...

In any event, good stuff! I don't want to discourage people from saying things like 'eh, it was allright, not impressed' I'd like to get a variety of opinions kinda to know how people evaluate knives. Thanks for sharing and <3 pictures!

 

[r31ncarnat3d]

Still relatively new to Kershaw myself. I recently sold a Spyderco Endura (my first knife) to try out the ZT0350ST. Afterwards, I noticed Onion's designs in some other Kershaw knives, and have a Shallot Black with a Scallion Black inbound and a Blur to follow.

I definitely don't have as much experience with Kershaw knives as most of you do but so far I am loving how they look and man can these things cut. Especially considering the price I paid for blems from Dave (by the way, I've yet to figure out why this was marked as a "blem" in the first place), I am extremely happy. Great knives, excellent price, and have not failed me yet with EDC cutting.

 

[like em sharp]

I've had good and bad experiences with Kershaw. Mostly good. Love the designs, love the more organic shaping of many of the handles on things like the Packrat and Zings, and I love the fact that they have such a diversified product line. Also, the few times I've had to deal with Kershaw's CS (mostly for replacement torsion bars) has been nothing but first class.

The bad? Well, I almost had my bits punctured by poor in-handle retention from an OD-1. That was kinda worrisome. Also, for some reason 14C28N rusts up on me really bad. Don't know why, and I do take at least pretty good care of my knives. I do live in a very moist environment, or it could be my skin chemistry.

 

[NightMare Silverado]

Emailed kershaw about a week ago because there is a rattle in my leek. No questions asked they said to mail it in and they would fix it. Haven't sent it yes because $ is effed for the next week but I have no worries.

 

[knivesandguns]

Emailed kershaw about a week ago because there is a rattle in my leek. No questions asked they said to mail it in and they would fix it. Haven't sent it yes because $ is effed for the next week but I have no worries.

You can actually take care of the rattle yourself by just putting some generic grease in your torsion bar cavity. That way you don't have to be without your leek for a while.

 

[Tsujigiri]

I think they have the best customer service of any large production knife company. It's amazing that they offer the services they do for free.

A couple times their customer service hasn't done exactly what I asked for, but they always make it right. I sent a knife in for bladeplay and it came back unchanged; the second time they got it right. Another time I asked for a spare stud lock for one knife because I thought they might become difficult to get in the future now that the knife is discontinued. Kershaw sent me a few full blades with the stud lock included. There have been a couple other times I've asked for spare parts and they've sent much more than what I asked for. Pretty amazing considering how cheap a lot of their knives are.

 

[flarp]

I've never had to contact Kershaw's customer service, so I can't speak to that. My experience with the knives themselves has been overwhelmingly positive. I've never had any problems with any of their knives, new and blem alike. They open easy, lock solid, handle well, and cut great. Best of all, they offer several great quality knives in my price range.

The closest thing to a negative experience with a Kershaw is really due to my own carelessness. One time, when closing the Blur, my finger slipped off the spine of the blade while pushing it shut. For reasons I can't even begin to explain, I flipped my finger upwards to try to catch the blade. Instead, the blade caught me and left a pretty good gash.