- Joined
- Apr 15, 2002
- Messages
- 3,375
Kershaw Shallot 1840CKT
Made in USA
Black coated handle and blade Tungsten DLC coating . Plain edge blade with slight recurve. Assisted opening with flipper. Sandvik 13C26 blade (The blade is marked AUG 08) Frame lock and 410 stainless steel handle. 3.5 inch blade 4 3/8 inches closed. Weight 4.2 oz. Reversible pocket clip right hand carry only. Comes tip down but can be reversed to right hand tip up carry.
Closed:
Opened:
Size compared to a Spyderco Endura:
First Impressions: This is a sleek looking knife in a slim package. It is heavier than a comparable knife with G-10 or FRN handles so some might mind the weight. The coating of the handle gives some traction that bare steel might not.
Fit and Finish-
I bought this knife NIB. The out of box sharpness could shave hair with some difficulty. The Assisted Opening is activated by the flipper. On mine the lock failed to engage about 6 out of 11 openings. The times that it did engage I had to put a little more pressure on the flipper. I think the friction of the coating and the tightness of the pivot cause this. I can loosen the pivot screw lightly (it is a torx) and throw in some WD-40. The clip was secure but the knife was easy to remove from my pocket. The grind was even the entire length of the blade and the point was sharp. It is pretty thin. I wouldnt do much prying or digging with it.
Ergonomics
This knife felt comfortable in every grip.Saber hammer and FGEI were comfortable. RGEU was comfortable but RGEI the swell in the middle of the handle could create a hotspot. I didnt notice it as bad in FGEI
In hand:
I cut up a box for a 36 inch flat screen tv. The knife cut easily through the cardboard but like all saber ground blades it hung up in the cut. The heavy cardboard scuffed the surface of the blade coating but didnt scratch it off. The handle is thin but not slippery. In a white knuckle grip cutting with all metal handles can be uncomfortable but not so much with this one. The edges are all rounded off nicely and the tip of the clip doesnt stand up too much so it doesnt dig into my palm. The edge is still useable but doesnt shave hair after ten or twelve 3 foot long cuts through the cardboard.
I took this knife to work with me for my last hitch on the towboat. I used it for pretty much everything. Depending on the amount of work that we have the amount of cutting chores can vary greatly. This trip there was not much cutting of the heavy synthetic rope that we use. I carried the knife in my rear right pocket without using the clip for 5 days before we were taken off the vessel due to river flooding. For those five days I used the knife for all of my cutting needs.
One thing that I noticed is that the assisted opening mechanism failed to open the knife fully enough to engage the frame lock nearly 70 percent of the time I used it. I did not have a torx driver with me on the boat to correct this. (I did manage to loosen it at home and managed to get it to engage the lock much more frequently, but the lock only contacts the very outer edge of the blade tang with the very inner edge of the lock bar. I dont know if it is because of the coating on the blade and handle that causes this, it did it well before I carried the knife in my pocket where it did encounter sand, coal dust, pocket lint, etc. It was only slightly better after repeated openings and closings to break it in.)
I had to open the knife for the most part with the flipper and a flip of my wrist to engage the lock. I reversed the clip on the knife for tip up carry and this seemed to correct the problem of partial opening. The knife opens and locks up much better and there is an audible snap to the lock engaging.
The coating of the knife has held up to cardboard, plastic and and contact with heavy steel wire. Its needle like point was suitable to remove a thin sliver of metal from the sole of my foot. I had the knife in my pocket for 3 days of torrential downpours (the cause of the river reaching flood stage) and there is a single spot of rust, on the back side of the pivot pin that was concealed by the clip. Other than that the knife did not exhibit any spotting, even on the bare metal cutting edge and tang of the blade.
The knife carries well and the clip is secure enough to keep the knife from falling out of the pocket but loose enough not to tug on my pants when I try to draw it. The handle is extremely comfortable and fits the hand naturally in several different grips. The coating give some traction to the smooth steel handles. I like the clip on this knife. It is slim and extremely unobtrusive, compared to the clip on the JYDII (my only other large Kershaw EDC)
Clipped to pocket:
I resharpened the knife two or three times since I've used it using the Sharpmaker and the white rods. I used the corners of the rods to bring the edge back to shaving sharp. The recurve is slight and may be able to be sharpened on narrower flat stones but I have not used my Lansky on it yet to see. It did not take much effort to brint the blade back to a scary sharp edge.
I would recommend the Shallot for a working EDC. Personally, I would handle several knives first and check to see that they open consistently and lock up solid before buying, but barring that, a tweak of the pivot screw and moving the clip helped me. All in all this is a good knife for EDC in the $40-$60 price range.
Pete
Made in USA
Black coated handle and blade Tungsten DLC coating . Plain edge blade with slight recurve. Assisted opening with flipper. Sandvik 13C26 blade (The blade is marked AUG 08) Frame lock and 410 stainless steel handle. 3.5 inch blade 4 3/8 inches closed. Weight 4.2 oz. Reversible pocket clip right hand carry only. Comes tip down but can be reversed to right hand tip up carry.
Closed:
Opened:
Size compared to a Spyderco Endura:
First Impressions: This is a sleek looking knife in a slim package. It is heavier than a comparable knife with G-10 or FRN handles so some might mind the weight. The coating of the handle gives some traction that bare steel might not.
Fit and Finish-
I bought this knife NIB. The out of box sharpness could shave hair with some difficulty. The Assisted Opening is activated by the flipper. On mine the lock failed to engage about 6 out of 11 openings. The times that it did engage I had to put a little more pressure on the flipper. I think the friction of the coating and the tightness of the pivot cause this. I can loosen the pivot screw lightly (it is a torx) and throw in some WD-40. The clip was secure but the knife was easy to remove from my pocket. The grind was even the entire length of the blade and the point was sharp. It is pretty thin. I wouldnt do much prying or digging with it.
Ergonomics
This knife felt comfortable in every grip.Saber hammer and FGEI were comfortable. RGEU was comfortable but RGEI the swell in the middle of the handle could create a hotspot. I didnt notice it as bad in FGEI
In hand:
I cut up a box for a 36 inch flat screen tv. The knife cut easily through the cardboard but like all saber ground blades it hung up in the cut. The heavy cardboard scuffed the surface of the blade coating but didnt scratch it off. The handle is thin but not slippery. In a white knuckle grip cutting with all metal handles can be uncomfortable but not so much with this one. The edges are all rounded off nicely and the tip of the clip doesnt stand up too much so it doesnt dig into my palm. The edge is still useable but doesnt shave hair after ten or twelve 3 foot long cuts through the cardboard.
I took this knife to work with me for my last hitch on the towboat. I used it for pretty much everything. Depending on the amount of work that we have the amount of cutting chores can vary greatly. This trip there was not much cutting of the heavy synthetic rope that we use. I carried the knife in my rear right pocket without using the clip for 5 days before we were taken off the vessel due to river flooding. For those five days I used the knife for all of my cutting needs.
One thing that I noticed is that the assisted opening mechanism failed to open the knife fully enough to engage the frame lock nearly 70 percent of the time I used it. I did not have a torx driver with me on the boat to correct this. (I did manage to loosen it at home and managed to get it to engage the lock much more frequently, but the lock only contacts the very outer edge of the blade tang with the very inner edge of the lock bar. I dont know if it is because of the coating on the blade and handle that causes this, it did it well before I carried the knife in my pocket where it did encounter sand, coal dust, pocket lint, etc. It was only slightly better after repeated openings and closings to break it in.)
I had to open the knife for the most part with the flipper and a flip of my wrist to engage the lock. I reversed the clip on the knife for tip up carry and this seemed to correct the problem of partial opening. The knife opens and locks up much better and there is an audible snap to the lock engaging.
The coating of the knife has held up to cardboard, plastic and and contact with heavy steel wire. Its needle like point was suitable to remove a thin sliver of metal from the sole of my foot. I had the knife in my pocket for 3 days of torrential downpours (the cause of the river reaching flood stage) and there is a single spot of rust, on the back side of the pivot pin that was concealed by the clip. Other than that the knife did not exhibit any spotting, even on the bare metal cutting edge and tang of the blade.
The knife carries well and the clip is secure enough to keep the knife from falling out of the pocket but loose enough not to tug on my pants when I try to draw it. The handle is extremely comfortable and fits the hand naturally in several different grips. The coating give some traction to the smooth steel handles. I like the clip on this knife. It is slim and extremely unobtrusive, compared to the clip on the JYDII (my only other large Kershaw EDC)
Clipped to pocket:
I resharpened the knife two or three times since I've used it using the Sharpmaker and the white rods. I used the corners of the rods to bring the edge back to shaving sharp. The recurve is slight and may be able to be sharpened on narrower flat stones but I have not used my Lansky on it yet to see. It did not take much effort to brint the blade back to a scary sharp edge.
I would recommend the Shallot for a working EDC. Personally, I would handle several knives first and check to see that they open consistently and lock up solid before buying, but barring that, a tweak of the pivot screw and moving the clip helped me. All in all this is a good knife for EDC in the $40-$60 price range.
Pete
