I have been busy this month, I think I burned up the knife budget for a while. 
I noticed that the Outcast was undergoing an MSRP bump, from $100 (I think?) to $125, so I thought I jump on the old price while it was still out there - New Graham, $53 bucks ($56?) plus shipping.
Anyway, first impressions - I think I got one of the new production models. The sheath has no keeper strap with a snap, just the kydex friction fit. (Which is excellent.) And compared to other reviews I read here, mine seems to have been ground to a much thicker edge before sharpening. I can't find my vernier, my straight caliper puts the edge right about 0.080". That's well over 1/16", closer to 3/32" (or 2mm, for the rest of the world.) I'm wondering if that is a factory choice for the second run, or just production variation
That said - it's not marketed as filet knife, is it?
But that's thicker than any of my production knives - Cold Steel LTC Kukri, Blackjack Panga, Big Country Hookr, Spec Plus Survival Bowie - I stopped checking my smaller fixed blades when the caliper locked at that setting went halfway up the primary bevel of a couple of them. 
Interestingly, that seems to be just about the exact edge thickness of my modern Martindale and Collins machetes, although it's much thicker than the edge on my good, fullforged old machetes.
It is nicely ground. The variation is not of the cookie cutter machine flat grind style, thinner edged where the blade is narrow and thinner where it swells, like my Spec Plus. I'm guessing hand ground (in China), or else it's a nice case of programmed grinding but with some inconsistencies. Through the coating, it LOOKS hand ground - some spots where you can see traces of the coarse hogging belt (50 grit or so) and places where you can't.
I think this is the new black blade finish - Teflon rather than titanium oxide? I've only had it in the woods for an hour or so, but the finish is holding up OK - about the same as the old Benchmade BT2, not as good as their new BK ceramic or Ontario's baked epoxy. We'll see over time.
Based again on my eyeball on the caliper, the D2 is even thicker than Kershaw says - I think they advertise 3/16" (~0.188", right?) and I'm seeing about 0.200". Sweet!
The edge came sharp - it would *just* shave, but did it nicely - but a hair obtuse. Just as a quick confirmation, I kissed it with Sharpie and touched it down the Sharpmaker today - wa-a-a-a-y over 40 degrees included. Well, the edge should be tough as hell, we'll see about the cutting.
I'll try to get some pics tomorrow when I can get together with my digital camera guru.
I like the sheath - a nicer Kydex job than I'm used on a piece this big at this price. The pseudo-TekLok belt fastener, by "American Sportsmen's Products", I'm not sure about yet. Given that the belt part is multiply relieved for TekLok size Chicago screws, I wish it wasn't riveted together. The whole assemly is Chicago screwed to the sheath. I may drill those rivets out and see what kind of adjustability I get putting Chicagos in there. But again, I think Kershaw was trying to bring a lot of knife (and a lot of sheath) to market at an affordable price. I certainly have no quality beef with the fastener. I do wish it was set up to mount at more than one place, but it IS just Kydex - ten seconds with a drill or sixty with a pointy knife and you have a new mounting hole.
Only one immediate thing that annoyed me. While the knife is very prominently marked - the blade front is
Kershaw (r)
Ken Onion
tool D2 steel
and the back is
KAI 1079
and boldly molded into the top front face of the handle is
Kershaw
molded into back side, much more lightly, all the way down at the butt by the lanyard passage, is a teeny tiny little
CHINA
It just feels... Let me put it like this. Benchmade and Spyderco have some of their knives made in Asia. And they mark it on the blade, in the same size font as the company name, and they stamp or etch it just as deep as the company name. If you're going to make some of your knives in China, don't make me search all over the blade and squint to find out. It smacks of having something to hide, and abiding by the finest, skinniest letter of the law to further that intention.
I'm sorry, it's just a little thing. I knew the knife was made in China when I bought it. But the way it's marked obviously got under my skin.
And while the box (Wow, I guess this does bug me, I'm digging out BOXES to compare now! Call it a hobbyhorse.) says Made in China in smaller letters than the bold kai USA logo, the Benchmade Red box uses the same font for Benchmade and Taiwan. And the Made in China is only a little smaller than the kai USA.
But having obsessed, I have to give Kershaw points. I went digging through my box full of knife boxes. (You all DO keep your knife boxes, don't you? Please tell me it's not just me. ) And Kershaw seems well above industry average. While Benchmade, CRKT, Junglee, and Jaguar (Jaguar?!) mark their retail boxes with the knife's country of origin, those who don't include not just the junkers like "Super Knife" (not the razor blade) and EdgeCo, but Cold Steel, Outdoor Edge, SOG - and Spyderco (Spyderco?!!!) So kudos, Kershaw, for printing it on the box.
Now put it on the blade like you do with your Oregon USA knives.
Into the woods! It was lightly snowing, and I should have worn a warmer hat. I slipped the pooch off his leash to wreak havoc on the morale of the local squirrels, and started whacking. For comparison I took a Cold Steel LTC Kukri, a Spec Plus Survival Bowie, and my passaround BM Rukus.
It took me a while to settle into the handle, but that was because I was overthinking it. I was looking at the 10" blade and the big long handle and figuring I should choke back and slip-swing it with the last couple inches of butt in a two or three finger snap grip.
Nope. Tried that. It chopped - but was getting outcut by not only the slightly longer and heavier (and much more forward balanced) kukri, but the Survival Bowie as well.
So I said maybe Ken Onion knows what he's doing,
went all the way up, forefinger in the front finger stall, and - BANG. Like a hatchet. The kukri was still outchopping it, but it was much closer, and completely passed the Bowie.
Given the obtuse sharpened angle and thick edge, I wasn't expecting much on little stuff, and I was right. On greenery, twigs, suckers and brambles, it not only couldn't compete with the other choppers, it wasn't even in the same league with the folding Rukus. Edge geometry, baby.
But on sapling and thick branches it was pretty sweet. The edge geometry did cause some undesirable side effects. If my first (or fifth) chop went well over halfway through something that wasn't real hardwood, the fat, obtuse edge would put a lot of energy in, but not be able to penetrate farther, and the branch or sapling would tear with the grain and hang, ripped, from the other side - not severed, not necessarily out of the way, and harder to finish cutting than if it still had its integrity. Now anyone who has chopped brush knows this happens - but it happened a LOT with the Outcast, once in a while with the LTC Kukri or Survival Bowie.
Now back to the big kudos to Kershaw. Once I got myself into the performance groove with the new toy, I went for the tough stuff. I deliberately chopped right through knots in oak, both live and standing deadwood. The Outcast didn't quite keep up with the LTC Kukri, but outclassed the Spec Plus.
But the big difference was when I got home. The Cold Steel's Carbon V edge had performed well, but had some visible flat spots and tiny edge rolling from playing with oak knots in the freezing air. The Ontario's 1095 had no visible damage, but would no longer shave. Both still would cut printer paper.
The Kershaw's D2, while it had barely shaved out of the box, still barely shaved. As far as I could tell, the edge was completely unchanged. And in my book, that's a big, big plus mark.
I own this bad boy, so I have no proscription to baby it, and I plan to give it a lot of serious woods carry for at least the next month - and if it keeps showing that kind of edge holding in the face of hard use, it may just become my regular bush baby. I'm hoping the Kershaw rep who hangs out here will chime in - I'd like to know if my edge is an abberation, or the new standard. If it's the way they come now, then it will probably wind up having an appointment in the basement with Mr Burr King. I'll at least reset the edge to something in the 40 degree included range, and maybe thin out the edge of the primary grind as well. Of course, if I do that, I'll probably just convex the edge. And if it shows this kind of toughness and wear resistance with a thinned edge, well, I think I'll be recommending to my friends.
I hope Thomas W from Kershaw pops in, I'd love to hear his take on the edge thickness and angle and which surface treatment I have.
I noticed that the Outcast was undergoing an MSRP bump, from $100 (I think?) to $125, so I thought I jump on the old price while it was still out there - New Graham, $53 bucks ($56?) plus shipping. Anyway, first impressions - I think I got one of the new production models. The sheath has no keeper strap with a snap, just the kydex friction fit. (Which is excellent.) And compared to other reviews I read here, mine seems to have been ground to a much thicker edge before sharpening. I can't find my vernier, my straight caliper puts the edge right about 0.080". That's well over 1/16", closer to 3/32" (or 2mm, for the rest of the world.) I'm wondering if that is a factory choice for the second run, or just production variation
That said - it's not marketed as filet knife, is it?
But that's thicker than any of my production knives - Cold Steel LTC Kukri, Blackjack Panga, Big Country Hookr, Spec Plus Survival Bowie - I stopped checking my smaller fixed blades when the caliper locked at that setting went halfway up the primary bevel of a couple of them. Interestingly, that seems to be just about the exact edge thickness of my modern Martindale and Collins machetes, although it's much thicker than the edge on my good, fullforged old machetes.
It is nicely ground. The variation is not of the cookie cutter machine flat grind style, thinner edged where the blade is narrow and thinner where it swells, like my Spec Plus. I'm guessing hand ground (in China), or else it's a nice case of programmed grinding but with some inconsistencies. Through the coating, it LOOKS hand ground - some spots where you can see traces of the coarse hogging belt (50 grit or so) and places where you can't.
I think this is the new black blade finish - Teflon rather than titanium oxide? I've only had it in the woods for an hour or so, but the finish is holding up OK - about the same as the old Benchmade BT2, not as good as their new BK ceramic or Ontario's baked epoxy. We'll see over time.
Based again on my eyeball on the caliper, the D2 is even thicker than Kershaw says - I think they advertise 3/16" (~0.188", right?) and I'm seeing about 0.200". Sweet!
The edge came sharp - it would *just* shave, but did it nicely - but a hair obtuse. Just as a quick confirmation, I kissed it with Sharpie and touched it down the Sharpmaker today - wa-a-a-a-y over 40 degrees included. Well, the edge should be tough as hell, we'll see about the cutting.
I'll try to get some pics tomorrow when I can get together with my digital camera guru.
I like the sheath - a nicer Kydex job than I'm used on a piece this big at this price. The pseudo-TekLok belt fastener, by "American Sportsmen's Products", I'm not sure about yet. Given that the belt part is multiply relieved for TekLok size Chicago screws, I wish it wasn't riveted together. The whole assemly is Chicago screwed to the sheath. I may drill those rivets out and see what kind of adjustability I get putting Chicagos in there. But again, I think Kershaw was trying to bring a lot of knife (and a lot of sheath) to market at an affordable price. I certainly have no quality beef with the fastener. I do wish it was set up to mount at more than one place, but it IS just Kydex - ten seconds with a drill or sixty with a pointy knife and you have a new mounting hole.
Only one immediate thing that annoyed me. While the knife is very prominently marked - the blade front is
Kershaw (r)
Ken Onion
tool D2 steel
and the back is
KAI 1079
and boldly molded into the top front face of the handle is
Kershaw
molded into back side, much more lightly, all the way down at the butt by the lanyard passage, is a teeny tiny little
CHINA
It just feels... Let me put it like this. Benchmade and Spyderco have some of their knives made in Asia. And they mark it on the blade, in the same size font as the company name, and they stamp or etch it just as deep as the company name. If you're going to make some of your knives in China, don't make me search all over the blade and squint to find out. It smacks of having something to hide, and abiding by the finest, skinniest letter of the law to further that intention.
I'm sorry, it's just a little thing. I knew the knife was made in China when I bought it. But the way it's marked obviously got under my skin.
And while the box (Wow, I guess this does bug me, I'm digging out BOXES to compare now! Call it a hobbyhorse.) says Made in China in smaller letters than the bold kai USA logo, the Benchmade Red box uses the same font for Benchmade and Taiwan. And the Made in China is only a little smaller than the kai USA.
But having obsessed, I have to give Kershaw points. I went digging through my box full of knife boxes. (You all DO keep your knife boxes, don't you? Please tell me it's not just me.
) And Kershaw seems well above industry average. While Benchmade, CRKT, Junglee, and Jaguar (Jaguar?!) mark their retail boxes with the knife's country of origin, those who don't include not just the junkers like "Super Knife" (not the razor blade) and EdgeCo, but Cold Steel, Outdoor Edge, SOG - and Spyderco (Spyderco?!!!) So kudos, Kershaw, for printing it on the box. Now put it on the blade like you do with your Oregon USA knives.
Into the woods! It was lightly snowing, and I should have worn a warmer hat. I slipped the pooch off his leash to wreak havoc on the morale of the local squirrels, and started whacking. For comparison I took a Cold Steel LTC Kukri, a Spec Plus Survival Bowie, and my passaround BM Rukus.
It took me a while to settle into the handle, but that was because I was overthinking it. I was looking at the 10" blade and the big long handle and figuring I should choke back and slip-swing it with the last couple inches of butt in a two or three finger snap grip.
Nope. Tried that. It chopped - but was getting outcut by not only the slightly longer and heavier (and much more forward balanced) kukri, but the Survival Bowie as well.
So I said maybe Ken Onion knows what he's doing,
went all the way up, forefinger in the front finger stall, and - BANG. Like a hatchet. The kukri was still outchopping it, but it was much closer, and completely passed the Bowie.Given the obtuse sharpened angle and thick edge, I wasn't expecting much on little stuff, and I was right. On greenery, twigs, suckers and brambles, it not only couldn't compete with the other choppers, it wasn't even in the same league with the folding Rukus. Edge geometry, baby.
But on sapling and thick branches it was pretty sweet. The edge geometry did cause some undesirable side effects. If my first (or fifth) chop went well over halfway through something that wasn't real hardwood, the fat, obtuse edge would put a lot of energy in, but not be able to penetrate farther, and the branch or sapling would tear with the grain and hang, ripped, from the other side - not severed, not necessarily out of the way, and harder to finish cutting than if it still had its integrity. Now anyone who has chopped brush knows this happens - but it happened a LOT with the Outcast, once in a while with the LTC Kukri or Survival Bowie.
Now back to the big kudos to Kershaw. Once I got myself into the performance groove with the new toy, I went for the tough stuff. I deliberately chopped right through knots in oak, both live and standing deadwood. The Outcast didn't quite keep up with the LTC Kukri, but outclassed the Spec Plus.
But the big difference was when I got home. The Cold Steel's Carbon V edge had performed well, but had some visible flat spots and tiny edge rolling from playing with oak knots in the freezing air. The Ontario's 1095 had no visible damage, but would no longer shave. Both still would cut printer paper.
The Kershaw's D2, while it had barely shaved out of the box, still barely shaved. As far as I could tell, the edge was completely unchanged. And in my book, that's a big, big plus mark.
I own this bad boy, so I have no proscription to baby it, and I plan to give it a lot of serious woods carry for at least the next month - and if it keeps showing that kind of edge holding in the face of hard use, it may just become my regular bush baby. I'm hoping the Kershaw rep who hangs out here will chime in - I'd like to know if my edge is an abberation, or the new standard. If it's the way they come now, then it will probably wind up having an appointment in the basement with Mr Burr King. I'll at least reset the edge to something in the 40 degree included range, and maybe thin out the edge of the primary grind as well. Of course, if I do that, I'll probably just convex the edge. And if it shows this kind of toughness and wear resistance with a thinned edge, well, I think I'll be recommending to my friends.
I hope Thomas W from Kershaw pops in, I'd love to hear his take on the edge thickness and angle and which surface treatment I have.
