Kershaw Ken Onion Whisper scans

Dexter Ewing

Dexter Ewing

Joined
Oct 3, 1998
Messages
4,670
Here are some scans of the forthcoming Whisper from Ken Onion and Kershaw. Enjoy!

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Solid titanium scales, 440V blade (Speed Safe propelled), outfitted with Ken Onion's own lock design called the Vault Lock.

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Up close view of the Vault Lock. The spring loaded "gate" (lack of a better term
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) captures the thumb stud. To unlock press down on the knurled portion and use your index finger to start the blade closed as you would with an ordinary liner lock®.

Here are more pics for your viewing pleasure:

[*]A shot of the Whisper <a href="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=55151&a=6956557&p=29879635&Sequence=0&res=high">closed</a>
[*] The Whisper alongside a production Boa for <a href="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=55151&a=6956557&p=29879590&Sequence=0&res=high">size comparison</a>

The Whisper's tentative release date is soometime early 2001 with a SRP of $350
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AKTI Member # A000005
NC Knife Knuts Member
Living life "on the edge"

In memory of James K. Mattis
 
Dexter, What is your opinion of the lock. It looks to me to operate on the same principle of the liner lock.
 
Dan - the only thing the Vault Lock shares with the lnier lock is that you unlock the blade with your thumb and that's it. You depress the "gate" with your thumb and it presses into a recess in the handle, threfore allowing the thumbstud to clear it and the blalde rotates closed. With the Speed Safe, the lock engages tight everytime. I won't be able to do any usage testing with this sample as it is one of the few protos Kershaw has of this and they woudn't appreciate me returning it all beat up
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I've talked with Ken about the Vault Lock in the past and he told me that he can bounce his "fat a$$" (his words, not mine!) on the opened knife and it wouldn't give. Seems to be a good lock.



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AKTI Member # A000005
NC Knife Knuts Member
Living life "on the edge"

In memory of James K. Mattis
 
The blade/handle ratio looks a little small IMO. While no doubt a good performer, at $350 it had better have all the pro's and none of the con's. I don't know how many of these Kershaw has projected in terms of yearly volume, but it looks like it might be a tough sell.
 
Howdy There Dexter......!
Howdy this Possum, I got to play with one these at the blade show in Atlanta. Boy was it sweet, but I was a little disappointed when I was told that they are planning for it to be a "Limited Production Model" for January of 2001. I personally really thought that it is going to knot folks sock off, the opening was ever so smooth and the lock was strong and steady. Can't wait to see them when they come out on the market.

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Thomas Clegg
 
Dexter, could you show it from clip side please?
I'm very curious is the lock ambidextrous and for what carry mode the clip is designed.
 
Thanks for the pics, Dex. You get all the fun stuff first
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I’m willing to bet that the lock is not ambidextrous (may just dextrous?), but it is a clean, clever idea. I would guess the lock strength is directly related to the shear strength of the screw holding the thumbstud in place.

Are the scales solid ti, or is that an insert on the handle? Thanks
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James Segura
San Francisco, CA
 
You know, with the index trigger, the thumbstud is only needed to lock the knife.

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James Segura
San Francisco, CA
 
Thanks for the interest guys. The Vault lock on this whisper is not on both sides of the knife , however we are testing the dual vault for a future date as the tooling costs are astronomical. as for the thumb stud there are no screws holding it in place it is a hard dowel press fitted into the blade and as Dexter said I can bounce my fat ass on the handle while the Blade is mounted in a vice and not hurt it . The only thing that has ever moved is ,I have blown a pivot shaft ,sheared it in half but the lock held .
since then I installed 440-C heat treated pivots and havn't had any problems. But then again I don't make it a habbit to bounce on all my knives .
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I know $350.00 is alot of money for a factory knife but it is a engeneering nightmare to make with the solid titanium handles inserts ,pocketing and covers .
All machined out via cnc and held to incredible tollerances . The result is one tough little knife .
 
You tend to get what you pay for. When you consider the sales volume and the costs of tooling, the price is not unreasonable. On the flip side though, at that price range you can get a lot of "true" customs which may provide more owner satisfaction.

In my case, if a Kit Caron Model 4 and this knife were side by side, I know which one I would put in my pocket. I have a hard time spending that much money on a production knife. On the flip side though, I have not played with this knife so, I could be swayed by holding an actual knife
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Stay Sharp,
Sid

p.s. Check out the Kershaw collaborations next time at your favority knife store. Kershaw is putting out some really good stuff.
 
Looks like another nice knife from Onion and Kershaw. If it remains true to the pictures, this is going into my gotta have category. I especially like the fact that the lock sounds like its bulletproof.
 
No sir. I don't like it. Handle looks "incomplete" to me somehow... Maybe if there were at least two more patches of that (Kraton?) inlay material where all that plain metal is it would be OK...

Also, the blade size : handle ratio is not very generous. This piece would be much closer to perfect if it had the Boa blade and the additional Kraton inserts that I mentioned earlier... Come to think of it, the only reason that I don't own a Kershaw speed-safe is that there is something annoying enough about _every_ model that keeps me from buying it! (Steel choice on the cheaper ones, blade shapes, lack of a non-coated Blackout model (whirlwind blade looks funny to me), non-coated Boa only comes with that ridiculous colored handle, etc...) Wouldn't mind a Mini-Task though.

PM
 
I think that's a cool-looking knife in a good size with a great lock (as described), and I want it, but unless I win the lottery there is no way I'd spend $350 for that over a custom . . . maybe ditch the ti & go to aluminum? Would that help in any real way, or is it all about machining costs? Too bad, such a sweet knife.

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The beatings will continue until morale improves.
 
Sergiusz - I would scan the clip side for you, only if the clip was there! The Whispers will have a clip, mounted at the top of the handle for deep pocket carry, but for some reason this proto had the clip removed. Guess they didn't want me to carry the knife
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AKTI Member # A000005
NC Knife Knuts Member
Living life "on the edge"

In memory of James K. Mattis
 
Looks very nice . . . But how big is it?

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Simon Yu

"The said Constitution [shall] be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience, or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms." Samuel Adams
 
I am a big fan of the Ken Onion assisted openers and currently have a Ricochet model. I was very excited about this new model when I saw the image until I saw the price. 350 is just way to steep when I could get a Chris Reeves folder for that price. I don't think this knife is going to be competitive with the big boys at all. A shame too since I was planning on getting this one.
 
Sod,
Welcome to the forums.

I talked to Ken about the very steep price tag on this knife. He said they weren't really aiming for high volume on this knife. They just want to make a knife that pushes the standard of current production models. If you look at the handles, they are Ti, with inlays. Do you know how hard it is to machine Ti? (I do...look at my website, under the jewelry projects) Even with a CNC it requires very sharp and accurate tooling. Ken's Vault Lock mechanism also is a "manufacturing nightmare". You can't really compare this knife to other production knives on the market, because no one (that I know of) is doing inlays on Ti. handles, with this Vault Lock and Speed Safe. This knife is going to be the coolest thing out there.

That being said, do I think a Sebenza is a bad knife? No, just much simpler to manufacture. Would I beat the hell out of a Whisper? Maybe, but probably not (even though I know the lock will handle it)
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. Is it worth $350? Probably, considering how much it will cost to manufacture it.
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Ken, if I have stated anything wrong here, feel free to correct me.

~Mitch


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My Hobby Page
 
A custom version would probably cost somewhere in the $600 range (definitely don't quote me on that...it's just a loose guesstamate). However, his waiting list is so long that he is not going to be taking orders until he can reduce his lead time. You might be able to get one from a show, or on the secondary market.

Ken's a busy guy and doesn't get onto the forums very much, but Ken if you're reading, and anything I've written is incorrect feel free to correct me.


~Mitch

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My Hobby Page

[This message has been edited by UW Mitch (edited 10-16-2000).]
 
What's the provision for wear on this lock? I assume that as the thumb stud or the gate wear, we don't just end up with a rattle as the blade bounces between the gate and stop pin. If the gate is angled, which it appears to be in that picture, that could serve as wear adjustment, assuming there's a little room in the milled-out slot for the gate to travel forward a little bit more.

From what I can tell, if the mating surfaces are both hardened (in this case, thumb stud and gate), wear should be extremely slow, so only a little angle and slot movement should be needed.

Joe
 
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