This is a Kershaw Ricochet 1520 - long discontinued -
it was available at the same time as the original Random Task -
both designed by Ken Onion and was one of the very first Speed-Safe assisted openers from Kershaw.
Both had polished G10 scales, titanium liners and a blade of CPM 440V - an exotic premium steel that had a reputation for edge wear, and notoriously hard to sharpen.
But as Ken Onion said at the time they were like handmade quality at factory prices.
Why am I writing about it now - since it is unavailable -
well it's kind of relevant because of the recent announcement of the Kershaw Random Task II -
Plus I feel kind of pleased with myself for "fixing" this knife -
First, some pics:
Some may remember this knife from when I did my review of polished G10 S30V Leek
For years since almost when I first got the Ricochet 1520 - the blade had developed an in-line up/down play - due to my over-zealous spine-whack testing - I think it was simply because the liner-lock was titanium and it butted against the CPM 440V steel - so it no longer was tightly flush against the tang.
I was so embarrassed by this that I didn't contact Kershaw to have it fixed and by the time I kind of mustered up some nerve the Ricochet and Random task had been discontinued and I was more concerned not losing what I considered a real gem.....
Sometimes it takes a while for information to be digested (by me) - at last year's Blade Show 2009 - I watched RJ Martin adjusting the tension on the liner-lock on one of his Zings.....
... and a whole year later I thought I wonder if just doing that would fix the Ricochet?
So all I did was to open up the Ricochet - whilst in there gave the liners, blade pivot and washers a good clean and re-lube with light knife oil. Then bent the liner lock part upwards - have to bend the heck out of it as it just returns to the its original position, and I didn't think I had made any difference.
But reassembling the knife - and yes the other liner came away revealing the Speed-Safe assisted torsion spring - I went "oh-oh" - and I had to figure out how to refit the knife - luckily it wasn't that hard.
Got the knife back together and adjusted the pivot screw the knife now locks open quite nicely without play -
ha! I had fixed it, feeling like a dunce - to think after all these years all I had to do was bend the liner-lock spring up, and could have been proud of this knife.
Being one of the earliest Speed-Safe assisted openers it never opened with a jump-snap - but more like a "snick", but positively and reliably nevertheless.
So this retrospective review really is a kind of apology to my Kershaw Ricochet 1520 (which I really did love) for not fixing it sooner.
But like they say:
better late than never......
--
Vincent
http://picasaweb.com/UnknownVincent?showall=true
http://UnknownVincent.Shutterfly.com
http://UnknownVT.Shutterfly.com
http://unknownvt.multiply.com/photos
it was available at the same time as the original Random Task -
both designed by Ken Onion and was one of the very first Speed-Safe assisted openers from Kershaw.
Both had polished G10 scales, titanium liners and a blade of CPM 440V - an exotic premium steel that had a reputation for edge wear, and notoriously hard to sharpen.
But as Ken Onion said at the time they were like handmade quality at factory prices.
Why am I writing about it now - since it is unavailable -
well it's kind of relevant because of the recent announcement of the Kershaw Random Task II -
Plus I feel kind of pleased with myself for "fixing" this knife -
First, some pics:
Some may remember this knife from when I did my review of polished G10 S30V Leek
For years since almost when I first got the Ricochet 1520 - the blade had developed an in-line up/down play - due to my over-zealous spine-whack testing - I think it was simply because the liner-lock was titanium and it butted against the CPM 440V steel - so it no longer was tightly flush against the tang.
I was so embarrassed by this that I didn't contact Kershaw to have it fixed and by the time I kind of mustered up some nerve the Ricochet and Random task had been discontinued and I was more concerned not losing what I considered a real gem.....
Sometimes it takes a while for information to be digested (by me) - at last year's Blade Show 2009 - I watched RJ Martin adjusting the tension on the liner-lock on one of his Zings.....
... and a whole year later I thought I wonder if just doing that would fix the Ricochet?
So all I did was to open up the Ricochet - whilst in there gave the liners, blade pivot and washers a good clean and re-lube with light knife oil. Then bent the liner lock part upwards - have to bend the heck out of it as it just returns to the its original position, and I didn't think I had made any difference.
But reassembling the knife - and yes the other liner came away revealing the Speed-Safe assisted torsion spring - I went "oh-oh" - and I had to figure out how to refit the knife - luckily it wasn't that hard.
Got the knife back together and adjusted the pivot screw the knife now locks open quite nicely without play -
ha! I had fixed it, feeling like a dunce - to think after all these years all I had to do was bend the liner-lock spring up, and could have been proud of this knife.
Being one of the earliest Speed-Safe assisted openers it never opened with a jump-snap - but more like a "snick", but positively and reliably nevertheless.
So this retrospective review really is a kind of apology to my Kershaw Ricochet 1520 (which I really did love) for not fixing it sooner.
But like they say:
better late than never......
--
Vincent
http://picasaweb.com/UnknownVincent?showall=true
http://UnknownVincent.Shutterfly.com
http://UnknownVT.Shutterfly.com
http://unknownvt.multiply.com/photos