Kershaw quality is questionable

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steama

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I really enjoy Kershaw knives. I feel that Kershaw has the best designs, opening systems, cool materials and blade shapes.

I started accumulating Kershaws last fall. I use the damn things all for EDC. Collections knives for me need to be a little more extreme like the Boker Damascus knives and customs.

This is what I have purchased:

  • Three SG2 Blurs (one had problems and was sent back to Kershaw)
  • One 1660CB Leek. PERFECT!
  • Two 1660DAM Leeks (one had a finish that was just coming off, Kershaw replaced one but the finish is still not very solid),
  • Kershaw Tyrade, excellent and no problems but it has no BOD
  • The Nakamura --- AWFUL! especially a knife designed by Nakamura --- very, very disappointing, the scales do not fit against the bolsters properly so Kershaw simply filled it with some cheap putty. Comparing the Nakamura to my Buck Koji really disgusts me of the Kershaw sloppy quality on the Nakamura. I also had to send the Nakamura back to Kershaw because the blade alignment was flawed very badly.
  • The Black Chive, PERFECT

Out of NINE Kershaws I had to send THREE back and ONE was missing markings that all US Kershaws should have (especially a very early Tyrade IMHO). --- FOUR FLAWS TOTAL! --- Kershaw quality control batting average from my PERSONAL EXPERIENCE THE IS A SHOCKINGLY HORRID 44% FLAW RATE.

The most ROTTEN and shocking knife is the Nakamura. Great design but ULTRA poor QC. Kershaw bought a bunch of quince wood and cut all the Nakamura scales wrong so that it does not fit the bolsters. Kershaw knew the scales did not fit and opted to fill the gap with crap rather than creating a product where the scales fit properly. As stated earlier The Buck Koji, in the same price range is 5 times the knife of the Kershaw. I have always felt it should be the other way around.

Because of my Kershaw poor quality experience I have decided that for now NOT buy another Kershaw. I am going to follow the company in this forum and Blade magazine. Kershaw needs quality control restructuring and to fire the production manager that let the Nakamura out as trash.

ALL KNIVES WERE PURCHASE FROM DIFFERENT REPUTABLE VENDORS.

The best can have ZERO excuses and has NO quarters for rest.

If the best sleeps and lets things slip nothing falls faster than a sleeping giant.
 
Hopefully this gets to someones ears at Kershaw. At least you base our opinion on
several experiences. If this happned to me, I'd feel the same way. All they Kershaws
I've purchased have never had a problem. Have I been lucky ?
 
Do whatever suites you. Just know the responses might not be so nice since what you are doing is considered trolling in all respects. As long as you continue buying American made knives I have no issues with you, to each their own I guess.

Added...just consider that you might have had a streak of bad luck. I have never had a bad experience with Kershaw but rather had a few over-the-top experiences of great generosity and kindness. You really should look at their knives again in the future.
 
steama said:
I really enjoy Kershaw knives. I feel that Kershaw has the best designs, opening systems, cool materials and blade shapes.

I started accumulating Kershaws last fall. I use the damn things all for EDC. Collections knives for me need to be a little more extreme like the Boker Damascus knives and customs.

This is what I have purchased:

  • Three SG2 Blurs (one had problems and was sent back to Kershaw)
  • One 1660CB Leek. PERFECT!
  • Two 1660DAM Leeks (one had a finish that was just coming off, Kershaw replaced one but the finish is still not very solid),
  • Kershaw Tyrade, excellent and no problems but it has no BOD
  • The Nakamura --- AWFUL! especially a knife designed by Nakamura --- very, very disappointing, the scales do not fit against the bolsters properly so Kershaw simply filled it with some cheap putty. Comparing the Nakamura to my Buck Koji really disgusts me of the Kershaw sloppy quality on the Nakamura. I also had to send the Nakamura back to Kershaw because the blade alignment was flawed very badly.
  • The Black Chive, PERFECT

Out of NINE Kershaws I had to send THREE back and ONE was missing markings that all US Kershaws should have (especially a very early Tyrade IMHO). --- FOUR FLAWS TOTAL! --- Kershaw quality control batting average from my PERSONAL EXPERIENCE THE IS A SHOCKINGLY HORRID 44% FLAW RATE.

The most ROTTEN and shocking knife is the Nakamura. Great design but ULTRA poor QC. Kershaw bought a bunch of quince wood and cut all the Nakamura scales wrong so that it does not fit the bolsters. Kershaw knew the scales did not fit and opted to fill the gap with crap rather than creating a product where the scales fit properly. As stated earlier The Buck Koji, in the same price range is 5 times the knife of the Kershaw. I have always felt it should be the other way around.

Because of my Kershaw poor quality experience I have decided that for now NOT buy another Kershaw. I am going to follow the company in this forum and Blade magazine. Kershaw needs quality control restructuring and to fire the production manager that let the Nakamura out as trash.

ALL KNIVES WERE PURCHASE FROM DIFFERENT REPUTABLE VENDORS.

The best can have ZERO excuses and has NO quarters for rest.

If the best sleeps and lets things slip nothing falls faster than a sleeping giant.
Click to expand...

How do you know that ALL nakamura scales were cut wrong? Do you have any pictures of any of the defects?
 
melt said:
Well, get one of the Spyderco knives that is made in Golden, Colorado.
Click to expand...

Or a Benchmade, or a ZT, or a Busee, or a Bladetech, or a Barkie, or a Microtech, or anythng from custom makers operating in low price ranges. The point is, the options are endless and when presented with bad luck it is best to not focus in on one brand again but take a little of everything.....

Kershaw does make excellent knives at prices I find to be much more manageable for my meager budget. For example I find it difficult to justify spending 80ish dollars on a knife with no lock and simple G-10 slabs....plus Speedsafe works well on my hands that have too many broken fingers for my younger age.
 
Unless you have some pictures to back up the complaints, it is just hearsay, and even if it is all true, it just looks like bad luck. I have never had a bad experience with their products.
 
I really don't know if he is trolling. At least he doesn't base his opinion on one
experience like the last guy. He likes the knives but his beef is with the quality
and as such, has the right to tell us about it.
 
Telling and showing are very different things. If we had pictures some thoughts on future solutions might be plausible. Pics would be very helpful but not needed if he is set on looking into other brands. You should look into Zero Tolerance knives. They are a big step above most other knives and are readily available in the 100-300 dollar range.

I won a ZT 0500 and love it! :thumbup:
 
Steama I don't consider it trolling to voice your opinions and experiences with your purchases. All I can add is that your experiences seem to me to mirror pretty much what can happen with any of the manufacturers knives in the industry to anyone that buys their products more frequently than another companies knives. If for example, and just hypothetically speaking if I buy 15 Kershaws this year and 35 Spydercos and 4 BenchMades the chances of my feeling that Spyderco isn't keeping up for QC may seem higher if I happen to get a few bad ones out of that 35 purchased, which is more likely since I bought more of those. I may end up feeling that BenchMade is the best company around yet, I only bought four of their knives so its not really comparing apples to apples is it?

I've seen bad knives from any of the manufacturers in this industry and in fact I just returned a custom folder for full refund of the price recently due to some issues I simply could not accept. The real tell is this to me. Does the company that made the knife back up the product and take care of it?? Kershaw customer service is top shelf.

As for quality. In my experience, Kershaw is actually on par with some of the best knives being made out there. I've field tested their knives and other manufacturers knives too at the requests of the company making them and I also buy a great many on my own from all manufacturers across the board each year. If anything in most cases Kershaw seems to be a step above in many ways compared to a lot of their competitors. Right now I place them in the top three easily for best products made in the knife industry.

STR
 
just because you got a bad apple you want to cut the tree down, i find it ok that you posted this but it sounds a bit extreme, i have owned kershaws before and for a production knife i find it to be top knoch, i would contact them and i am sure you get your money back
 
STR said:
Steama I don't consider it trolling to voice your opinions and experiences with your purchases. All I can add is that your experiences seem to me to mirror pretty much what can happen with any of the manufacturers knives in the industry to anyone that buys their products more frequently than another companies knives. If for example, and just hypothetically speaking if I buy 15 Kershaws this year and 35 Spydercos and 4 BenchMades the chances of my feeling that Spyderco isn't keeping up for QC may seem higher if I happen to get a few bad ones out of that 35 purchased, which is more likely since I bought more of those. I may end up feeling that BenchMade is the best company around yet, I only bought four of their knives so its not really comparing apples to apples is it?

I've seen bad knives from any of the manufacturers in this industry and in fact I just returned a custom folder for full refund of the price recently due to some issues I simply could not accept. The real tell is this to me. Does the company that made the knife back up the product and take care of it?? Kershaw customer service is top shelf.

As for quality. In my experience, Kershaw is actually on par with some of the best knives being made out there. I've field tested their knives and other manufacturers knives too at the requests of the company making them and I also buy a great many on my own from all manufacturers across the board each year. If anything in most cases Kershaw seems to be a step above in many ways compared to a lot of their competitors. Right now I place them in the top three easily for best products made in the knife industry.

STR
Click to expand...

Steama: Listen to this man. visit STR's forum here on Bladeforums and browse a bit. You will see alot of the things he has done with various knives. If you can trust anyone's opinion on this, it's STR's
 
STR said:
Steama I don't consider it trolling to voice your opinions and experiences with your purchases. All I can add is that your experiences seem to me to mirror pretty much what can happen with any of the manufacturers knives in the industry to anyone that buys their products more frequently than another companies knives. If for example, and just hypothetically speaking if I buy 15 Kershaws this year and 35 Spydercos and 4 BenchMades the chances of my feeling that Spyderco isn't keeping up for QC may seem higher if I happen to get a few bad ones out of that 35 purchased, which is more likely since I bought more of those. I may end up feeling that BenchMade is the best company around yet, I only bought four of their knives so its not really comparing apples to apples is it?
Click to expand...
First, I am not trolling. THAT IS JUST AN IDIOTIC ASSERTION.

I am not just blinded by the love for this company or that. I also believe I stated several key aspects of Kershaw knives anyone should be able to appreciate. I know as anyone should there is a reason Kershaw is an industry leader. There is a reason I went nuts and purchased NINE Kershaws since November of 2007.

Leadership in any industry is not because products appeal to 'fanboys' that approve of most every move from the company they put their faith in. Leadership comes from a companies that realize those that care about picky details are what puts them on top in the first place. Kershaw is not the first knife company to begin slipping away from exceptional quality control. Quality control cost money and big companies are all about profit regardless what we would like to believe. They all are about cutting costs and making profits at the expense of all else. Thus slippage in quality. Most all companies do this. PERIOD. But why excuse it as a consumer. That companies only loyalty is ti the dollar anyway. I say make them earn it.

I am an knife enthusiast and for some reason I have a strange addiction to sharp pointy things. NINE knives from one company since November is kinda a problem. This is not ever counting my Buck Koji, Boker 2007 Annual Damascus or my Spyderco Turquoise handle Kopa. When you spend this much on knives it pisses you off when you have a quality problem of 44% of your purchases from a single manufacturer.

My loyalties are to design, material, function, usability, beauty and of course quality control right out of the box. When I open a new knife box I expect to get perfection at least 98% of the time. I do not believe that is picky in the slightest.

Loyalties to companies? To any company? Don't make me laugh. I do not have the time and cannot afford it. I just do not understand being a sheepish fanboy of any company.

So please excuse me if I choose to expect better of Kershaw. You can thank me and people like me for saying something later when in 2025 you may still buy a quality Kershaw.

Also, does it really matter if all or a few Nakamuras had ill fitting scales if you got the crap ones. Anyway, these are production knives so my guess is that all the Nakamura scales are FUBAR. No excuses.
 
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My Nakamura, purchased thru NGK, does not seem to exhibit this problem (looking at it as I type). Fit and Finish is excellent. I have purchased 15-20 Kershaws this year and the only problem was the lockbar on one of three damascus chives traveled far enough over that it touched the opposite handle slab. All the others were just about perfect. Just my experience for what it's worth.
 
If you have the ability to post some pics, please do so. As Rat said, this will eliminate all doubt of your intentions.
 
new guy spouting off bile and has no evidence. . . be easy to consider it trolling.

You should calm down. STR was saying the opposite- that you were not trolling. Post some pics of the knives and all doubts will be laid to rest. Spazzing out doesn't lend you any credibility.
 
bobg2 said:
My Nakamura, purchased thru NGK, does not seem to exhibit this problem (looking at it as I type). Fit and Finish is excellent. I have purchased 15-20 Kershaws this year and the only problem was the lockbar on one of three damascus chives traveled far enough over that it touched the opposite handle slab. All the others were just about perfect. Just my experience for what it's worth.
Click to expand...
Now you comment is great. Thank you.

It points out that not ALL the Nakamura scales are FUBAR and only some WHICH IS TOTAL BS and should piss everyone that likes this knife company!

This is just another example of inconsistent quality. Well, this Nakamura has already been back to Kershaw once for OTHER problems. Now it is headed back again to get the GOOD decent fitting quince wood scales!

Great customer service by-the-way (I have gotten to know them unfortunately). I better call on this one first.
 
Steama,

Did you receive replacements for the knives you sent back? If so did the replacements have problems also? I have never had a problem with Kershaw except for maybe a few knives that wont shave hair right out of the box, but I sharpen all my knives anyways. Their customer service is second to none. You may have just had a streak of bad luck, it happens.
 
steama said:
Well, this Nakamura has already been back to Kershaw once for OTHER problems. Now it is headed back again to get the GOOD decent fitting quince wood scales!

Great customer service by-the-way (I have gotten to know them unfortunately). I better call on this one first.
Click to expand...

Just wondering, why didn't you have the scale issue addressed
with the 1st trip to Kershaws CS??
:confused:
 
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