kershaw needs work seems great for self defense

[JeremiahWeaver09]

the kershaw needs work would make a very good knife for self defense in my opinion. the wharncliffe style blade is an excellent slicer, and the spine tapers down to a needle point so thrusting would be no problem. the knife is small so it carries easily but still provides enough blade to cut very deep. the knife is also affordable yet strong, there are some good test videos of the knife on youtube and they seem to hold up pretty well even hard use. the size and shape of the knife allow you to change grips quickly, and the placement of your thumb behind the spine of the blade provides lots of control and leverage. for those looking for an affordable edc that would be great for simple self defense, the kershaw need work is a great choice, this is a very underrated knife.

not my pic

 

[jac_solar]

Nevermind.

 

[NetshadeX]

It certainly wouldn't be useless but notice that if you put an imaginary line from the point all the way to the end of the handle, the pivot point is above that line meaning forces applied to the tip are transferred primarily to the lock more so than the bladestop. The lock in question being a liner lock that is somewhat less than ideal. Also, no curve in the edge means you're sacrificing slashing power. A curved edge simply cuts better.

If your looking for a folding self defense blade that has a sheeple friendlier appearance check out Cold Steel's American Lawman

 

[fishface5]

Actually in a short blade a wharncliff style slices flesh better - see the Ronin & Yojimbo testing.
When slicing the force will be transferred from tip to bladestop, the only time force bears against the lock is when force is applied to the spine, in which case the bladestop plays no part. It's not clear whether a liner-lock or framelock design is in fact more susceptible to accidental disengagement than other lock designs. The only lock that I personally have had fail during use was a (Gerber) lockback.
My biggest concern would be not trusting assisred-opening for an sd knife. Maybe de-assisting it and adding a wave? I might try that this weekend . . .

 

[JeremiahWeaver09]

Actually in a short blade a wharncliff style ,slices flesh better - see the Ronin & Yojimbo testing.
When slicing the force will be transferred from tip to bladestop, the only time force bears against the lock is when force is applied to the spine, in which case the bladestop plays no part. It's not clear whether a liner-lock or framelock design is in fact more susceptible to accidental disengagement than other lock designs. The only lock that I personally have had fail during use was a (Gerber) lockback.
My biggest concern would be not trusting assisred-opening for an sd knife. Maybe de-assisting it and adding a wave? I might try that this weekend . . .

yes i specifically chose the knife because it had a wharncliffe style blade.

unfortunately this knife does not come with any thumbstuds and probably wouldnt properly retain the blade in the handle once it was de-assisted.

 

[NetshadeX]

Sorry guys but there's a reason a butcher's knife and a surgeon's scalpel, are shaped the way they are. A wharncliff certainly isn't useless but a straight edge ALWAYS means more edge on the contact surface thus more resistance. It's not an opinion, it's physics. I get that a tip slash will do damage but if it's tip slashing you're after you should stick with a Karambit.

And ofcourse with tip slashes forces are transferred to the stop pin but with thrust attacks in this particular blade design the tip position simply favors the lock side with the pivot point being off centre.

Don't let any of this get in the way of enjoying your purchase, it's a handsome blade !

 

[jac_solar]

A frame lock is, *in effect*, a liner lock without the additional scale - a frame lock can, depending on design, place your grip on the actual lock, which can be awkward, especially in a hectic situation. A liner lock may have the same issue, but with a significantly smaller grip area. Of course, the implementation of the 2 locks tends to be slightly different, but remove the scale from the linerlock, and it becomes a frame lock, and add a scale to a frame lock and it becomes a liner lock.

Frame locks tends to look beefier, but since they have a cutout that's usually as thin as a liner, or even thinner, and since the design directly places your grip on the movable lock (At least more so than a linerlock does.), I'm not sure it's better than a linerlock. I like the look though.

Otanashi Noh Ken, for example, avoids this issue by adding a "LAWKS" system.

 

[NetshadeX]

Otanashi Noh Ken

It's funny you should mention the Otanashi since I was planning to use it's sibling the Hissatsu folder as an example of a defensive folder done right. Here's why:

The Hissatsu has a neutrally shaped handle meaning in both normal or reverse grip the position of the wrist is at an exact 90 degree angle to the blade. (the angle at which lines 2 and 3 meet). Line 2 illustrates the centre line of the knife butt to pivot point. as you can see that line essentially cuts the blade in half perfectly with the tip being on the blade stop side of the knife. In fact in case of the Hissatsu the tip is PERFECTLY alligned with the blade stop. (line 1)
In case of a thrust attack forces applied to the knife are transferred to the strongest possible points of the knife. The fact that the pivot point and blade stop are almost perfectly alligned means a nice even distribution of force over the 2. The liner lock get's relatively little force to deal with. The shape of the blade is the traditional Japanese tanto holding an extremely well balance between slashing and penetrating ability. it's an extremely well designed defensive folder


For comparison, here's that same schematic applied to the Kershaw Needs Work:

line 1 being the centre line you can see the tip clearly favors the locking side of the blade, in fact as line 2 illustrates, thrusting attacks transfer the vast majority of force straight into the liner lock. Also the general design of the knife heavily favors normal grip as reverse grip puts the edge at a negative angle meaning any object that comes in contact with the blade is pushed away rather than pulled into the cut. It's essentially a reverse Karambit minus the curve...meaning more edge on the contact surface, more resistance blabla.. you get it.

Is the knife utterly useless for defensive purposes? Ofcourse it isn't, but for a defensive folder there are far better options available.