Kershaw "Speed Safe" Defects...

Joined
Nov 24, 2007
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Howdy all. I am new to this forum.

I'm a contractor in the IT industry which requires me to travel in some unsavory parts of the city at sometimes the worst possible hours. I quickly realized the threat potential and acquired a permit to carry which has now enabled me to save my life twice, once from a group mugging boxed in by cars at a gas station and a car jacking attempt.

I am a man who likes to have some form of personal protection all the time. Unfortunately I can't always carry a firearm at certain client sites and since I have extensive training in edged weapons, I was looking for something that was small enough to use as a an everyday tool in an office/executive setting without looking threatening but had the proper blade and handle configuration for wet work as required so I'd have something to get me to my car where my firearm would be waiting for me.

Ergo, I want a blade that can be deployed quickly and that my life can depend on. My Emerson’s, while excellent fighting knives, are just too scary looking for a business environment and I don't want to alarm the sheep when I use it to open mail, cut open boxes, cut zip ties etc.

The KO/Kershaw Mini Mojo filled the requirements I need in those situations and the blade "sings" in my hand. It cuts and slashes deeply and efficiently with little effort due to the proper ghurka khukri like blade angle to overcome the shortness of the 2.25" blade and the point is down turned center line for a straight thrust preferred by me in a fighting knife.

Any item I buy for self defense, I immediately torture test it since my life has to depend on it.

The Mini Mojo passed (so far, I've only had it for two weeks) all my slashing and thrusting techniques on various media. The blade always sharpens well enough to shave (Yup I shave with either my Buck or Shrade Folders to save money on razors, they work just as good) the hair off my arm or back of my hands. I found the point to be a little weak on substances harder then bone but the point still cleaned up nicely after dulling it. The metal handle is sturdy and slides in an out of the pocket effortlessly without looking. The clip needed to be moved to the other end for rapid deployment and they wisely had the threaded mounting holes to do so. The handle has was definitely designed for a comfortable grip using your last three fingers on the handle with index finger parked nicely on the back side of the blade where the four grooves are there for thumb assisted closing. When held in forward grip the knife feels like a part of me.

Now I'd like some input from anybody who owns a KO/Kershaw knife with this "Speed Safe" Mechanism since that is the only defect I found with this knife.

In my leisure time, I have been reading books almost every day and while I have been reading I have been constantly opening and closing the knife trading off with both left and right hand. I also perform this exercise on the drive to and from work every day.

I bought the knife precisely two weeks ago and the "Speed Safe" mechanism broke last night. It sounded something like a spring snapping. Now the knife requires two hands to open and lock the blade and flops helplessly in the unlocked position.

I still have the receipt so I can still return or replace it. I really want to like this knife for EDC Monday's through Fridays and I probably was much harsher on the knife then it's intended purpose. I fidget so I always have to be "doing" something and I fear I will break another one if this mechanism isn't strong enough to take the normal opening and closing. I won't be putting the next Mojo through the rigors that I did with this one the last two weeks since I now know what the knife can do and how it handles. I will still be opening and closing it however and I don't know if the "Speed Safe" feature will last.

I'd be interested in any defects people have experienced with the "Speed Safe" mechanism found in any of the Kershaw/Ken Onion line of knives during normal everyday use.

I really want to like this knife.

Thanks for your input in advance.

db
 
First off, welcome to the forum!

Give Kershaw a ring or an e-mail, they will be happy to send you a new torsion bar(s) for you Mini Mojito. Apparently failures are very uncommon for Kershaw speed safe knives. I've never had any problems with the speedsafe knives I've owned.
 
Look at the sticky thread in this forum:" Kershaw FAQs - Check out Kershawknives.com " for contact info. They will send out a new spring, probably a few of them if you ask. Or you can send it in. They stand 100% behind their product and will take care of you quickly. I would contact them by phone as e-mail replies are probably already backing up due to the seasonal rush.
 
Ok, Idon't mind doing minor maintenence. I will have to get the one "torx" wrench I'm missing to properly disassemble the knife.

I had the same type of problem with the spring for my Streamlight M6 TLA which clips on the Pitcatiny Rail on my Springfield XD. The dang thing started flying off the end of the pistol after a couple thousand rounds. I emailed them with my problem and they mailed me a half dozen springs.

If Kershaw does the same, then by goddess I'd consider that problem solved!

You guys are awsome, thanks for the quick response, and many thanks!

I'd rather keep this one now that I've got it broke in. :-)

FYI, if anybody is having trouble working that spring loaded stud lock with one thumb, a little squirt of Microlon took care of it after it dried 24 hours later.

You made my day. I absolutely love this knife.

db
 
i don't want to give you wrong information, so someone chime in if im wrong, but i think that the torsion bar is supposed to work for 10's of thousands of cycles. A break is very rare, so i wouldn't worry too much about it.
 
I have the Needs Work and the bar broke twice. I really didn't cut anything with it. Like you I did open and close it.
If you are concerned about the bar look for something with a flipper. I find I can open it just as fast as the Needs work with a T-bar.
 
I've had my Mini Mojo for over a year now, and haven't had any issues with it, as a matter of fact it is one of my favorite Kershaws. The flipper safety and stud lock are great.

I would think that if a torsion bar were to fail, it would be much more likely to fail during a typical flipping frenzy with repetitive flexing, than during normal daily use. In the flipping frenzy scenario, heat and metal fatigue seem like they might be an issue.

In any case, Kershaw would stand behind it.
 
btw,forget the sheeple. if you gonna carry a blade for SD, go big.

spyderco military
junkyard dog 2
speebump g10 handle
large cyclone
spyderco endura
 
3mptin3ss, like your enthusiasm, but get to editing that post already. This is a family show.
 
Been trying to figure out what has happened here. My question would be how many open/close cycles in what period of time? Have worked with wire for at least the last 50 years -like most people who occasionaly work with solid wire - I have intentionaly brocken solid wire by repeatedly bending it at a fixed point- it will get HOT at the point of max flex and eventually break at that bend. Yah gotta bend it a lot in a short period of time to do this.
The torsion bars in the speed-safes are wire - if the original poster was really exercising the living day-lites out of his mojo - especially in a concentrated time period - it doesn't surprise me that the torsion spring failed.
My EDC and more imporatntly - everyday use knives have been speed safe kershaw's for the last 6 or 7 years (1510,1520,1500,1580) - I am currently evaulating a 1636 to see if this becomes my EDC /EDU knife. For me these are tools - haven't given a whole lot of thought to their defensive potential.
I had the same type of torsion bar failure in the 1580 I carried and USED EVERYDAY for 4 or 5 years. This had been opened and closed thousands of times over that period of time - sent it back to Kershaw and they replaced it with a brand new knife! If you use 'em - tools wear out . Question is - did the product hurt you or anyone else when it failed ? Was the tool basically still useable after a feature failed? What did you do to get it to fail? What did the people who made it do about the failure?
Made me want to look at what they had done lately - therefore the 1636.
 
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