Kershaw upping their game?

Let me clarify the issue that I have experienced, the knife arrived brand new and had a centered blade.During the course of days, waving the knife hard out of my pocket.I find that the blade is uncentered.First I thought it was a loose pivot screw but no.

So, I then proceed to center the blade and it was pretty easy.So I continue to use it over the course of a few days but I don't use the wave feature.Everything works beautifully with centering issues.So I put it away until the next time,the next time comes up. I carry it clipped in my pocket and also start waving it out again.Guess what's happening again,I'm having blade centering issues again.I say to myself DAMN these Kershaw Emersons have issues.

Never had these issues with any of my real emersons
 
I was interested because I’ve had good experience with my D2 Ontario Rat. I keep it in my “junk drawer.” Use it, toss it back in, have had it over a year and no signs of corrosion.

I guess I’m more excited for folders in D2 than a “kemerson”
 
To me the Kershaws are just a Kershaw with an allowed and sanctioned wave. The lines, manufacturing process, materials, and function of the knife are worlds apart from the real Emersons. The d2 version doesn't add anything for me that was missing to make me jump on getting one.

That said there is an obvious difference here in you get what you pay for. It's hard to pony up for what Emerson prices are at, but when you get one in hand it's just all there.
 
Yo Mama said:
Haha, what? What are you referring to, or just want to flame it up in here?
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Well, read the thread. There are PLENTY of fanboys that will take the bait.

Personally, I would love to see Kershaw upgrade their steels and keep doing what they do, which is design, design, design.

I hope they run their D2 nice and hard, though. I have an old Junkyard Dog that was one of their composite blades (remember this guy?)

upload_2019-9-14_13-40-46.png

and the D2 is fairly soft. Same with a couple of other Kershaws that have passed through my hands over the years. Easy to sharpen, good edge retention, and pretty rust resistant. I have had several other knives that were bladed in D2, and the steel seemed to be much harder. Most notably my Queen D2 knives, which to me were run harder and performed a little better.

As was posted earlier, I too have sweat that will corrode anything. And since in our South Texas weather I sweat all the way through my boots on occasion, corrosion is always a factor. Another difference between the Queen and Kershaw D2 was the Queen was more rust prone. Still, it was never so bad with either that I couldn't get the rust off with a pencil eraser.

Given the wide parameters that define "D2", not a surprise there is a difference between manufacturers. With their intertwined relationship with China, no doubt Kershaw will be using Chinese D2 so it will be interesting to see what we get if they start going more and more in that direction.

Robert
 
I gave away my XL because it was heavy, the blade never deployed smoothly, and the frame lock was difficult to manipulate. I loved the concept. This could have been a great value knife. Same with the Skyline XL. I have 2, and gave a third to my brother-in-law:eek:. He is a very hard user. The XL can't hold a candle to the original.
I am not a "heavy" knife user so I never really needed a knife for that purpose. For me the D2 upgrade is a downgrade due to it's lower rust resistance.
I have quite a few Chinese produced knives from CRKT, Kershaw, and Artison. Their quality control is still not on par with my Taiwan, USA production knives. On the other hand, my Kizer, Bestech, and Civivi knives seem to be top notch/consistent when it comes to fit/finish, and blade deployment.
 
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as far as Kershaw upping their game, it would be nice to see some of their popular models tweaked and with better steel. It would be nice to see a bigger OSO with a D2 blade, for example.

Side rail - when I read about centering issues, I wonder if people only look at a centered blade while it is closed. I have noticed that a significant amount of my folder blades have a slight lean to the right with the blade out, while perfectly centered when closed. Seen it on framelocks, linerlocks, lockbacks, even knives that use thumbstuds as blade stops. It doesn't take away from their cutting ability or create any deployment issues, but it puzzles me as how a closed centered blade has a light side lean when deployed.
 
midnight flyer said:
Well, read the thread. There are PLENTY of fanboys that will take the bait.

Personally, I would love to see Kershaw upgrade their steels and keep doing what they do, which is design, design, design.

I hope they run their D2 nice and hard, though. I have an old Junkyard Dog that was one of their composite blades (remember this guy?)

View attachment 1196331

and the D2 is fairly soft. Same with a couple of other Kershaws that have passed through my hands over the years. Easy to sharpen, good edge retention, and pretty rust resistant. I have had several other knives that were bladed in D2, and the steel seemed to be much harder. Most notably my Queen D2 knives, which to me were run harder and performed a little better.

As was posted earlier, I too have sweat that will corrode anything. And since in our South Texas weather I sweat all the way through my boots on occasion, corrosion is always a factor. Another difference between the Queen and Kershaw D2 was the Queen was more rust prone. Still, it was never so bad with either that I couldn't get the rust off with a pencil eraser.

Given the wide parameters that define "D2", not a surprise there is a difference between manufacturers. With their intertwined relationship with China, no doubt Kershaw will be using Chinese D2 so it will be interesting to see what we get if they start going more and more in that direction.

Robert
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Admittingly I did have an Emerson with lock rock, they took care of it and it came back a bank vault. Having a few other models that's been the same, just a tank of a lockup. It's not a defeating lock, it's a thick slab of titanium built to take plenty. I'm no fanboy, but it's not genuine to say an Emerson has poor lockup.
 
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zuluninja said:
as far as Kershaw upping their game, it would be nice to see some of their popular models tweaked and with better steel. It would be nice to see a bigger OSO with a D2 blade, for example.
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AGREE!! That would make them slicey, indeed.

zuluninja said:
Side rail - when I read about centering issues, I wonder if people only look at a centered blade while it is closed. I have noticed that a significant amount of my folder blades have a slight lean to the right with the blade out, while perfectly centered when closed. Seen it on framelocks, linerlocks, lockbacks, even knives that use thumbstuds as blade stops. It doesn't take away from their cutting ability or create any deployment issues, but it puzzles me as how a closed centered blade has a light side lean when deployed.
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I have had several knives that have a bit of an angle when open that are centered when closed. I think it has to do with the way they "tune them up" at the factory. Since most knives are closer to falling into the jewelry category rather than user, some people take centering very, very seriously. I am thinking of many posts here on BF where folks take their knives apart and can never seem to get them back to "factory". In those threads there have been YouTube links to guys that "fix" the centering by adjusting the screws on the scales/handles and then the pivot to get them centered.

Carrying knives for 58 years, we never worried about perfect centering when I got my hundred or so knives. In fact, I never really thought that it was an issue until I started coming here! I felt/feel that as long as the blade(s) don't rub on the liners I am OK. Why?

I have no safe queens, and I have also had knives that weren't centered when closed and weren't perfectly in alignment when open as brand new knives "correct" themselves after a few years of good use. That leads me to believe that like any tool with moving parts, they are subject to movement which would certainly affect blade alignment.

Robert
 
zuluninja said:
as far as Kershaw upping their game, it would be nice to see some of their popular models tweaked and with better steel. It would be nice to see a bigger OSO with a D2 blade, for example.

Side rail - when I read about centering issues, I wonder if people only look at a centered blade while it is closed. I have noticed that a significant amount of my folder blades have a slight lean to the right with the blade out, while perfectly centered when closed. Seen it on framelocks, linerlocks, lockbacks, even knives that use thumbstuds as blade stops. It doesn't take away from their cutting ability or create any deployment issues, but it puzzles me as how a closed centered blade has a light side lean when deployed.
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Kershaw has a lot of fun designs that are really only limited by the steel. That goes for a lot of knives in 8Cr13Mov and some that go as low as 3Cr13Mov, like the Hotwire. I'd much rather see them upgraded to 14C28N but I'll take D2 over 8Cr13Mov any day of the week. If they can do 9Cr18Mov as well as Civivi, I'd be happy with that too.

As far as centering, I don't care if a knife is perfectly centered when closed. So long as the action is good, it locks up without blade play, and the blade doesn't touch the sides when closing; I'm a happy camper.
 
:) Price point is important here . A real Emerson , or even a ZT Emerson is going to be substantially more expensive than the Kershaw versions .

IIRC , I got my brand new CQC-4KXL off Ebay for ~$25 or so . You're not gonna find a new real Emerson or ZT anywhere in that ballpark .

So what can you realistically expect , performance-wise ? :confused:

I've enjoyed playing around with mine and have so far not experienced any problems . But I don't expect a truly hard use "tactical" , (emergency ,survival ) dependably from this knife . I have others for that . ;)
 
I wonder how well Kershaw does D2 on average. It seems like that steel on budget knives is frequently horribly heat treated, if cut tests are anything to go by.

Sign me up for more budget Emerson models, though. I've always liked his designs, but hated the execution of the three that I had. At the very least, the Kershaw models seem to be made about as well and are reasonably priced.
 
D2 sounds good. But what sounds better is cpm 154. Why is kershaw only using it on the launch series?
 
fly36gti said:
Don't get it twisted, I love Emerson as long as Zero Tolerance builds it.
True story.
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So you out an accusation with zero backup on Emerson locks, and want to answer by saying you like ZT instead (talk about self defeating locks now ZT is a company that knows how to do that fo sho)
 
Yo Mama said:
Admittingly I did have an Emerson with lock rock, they took care of it and it came back a bank vault. Having a few other models that's been the same, just a tank of a lockup. It's not a defeating lock, it's a thick slab of titanium built to take plenty. I'm no fanboy, but it's not genuine to say an Emerson has poor lockup.
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Don't mean to offend but we surley must be reading different posts and have different first hand experience.
Had a thick slab of Ti on BM Vicar that would defeat, then your fingers are just along for the ride to the hospital or not if your lucky and patch yourself up.
For me its framelock or fixed.
 
If you understand the geometry of framelocks there the best. NEVER had an issue with ZT framelocks.
How is it possible for the lock to defeat when I'm gripping the handle? The same can not be said for linerlocks.
We'll just have to agree to disagree.
 
fly36gti said:
Don't mean to offend but we surley must be reading different posts and have different first hand experience.
Had a thick slab of Ti on BM Vicar that would defeat, then your fingers are just along for the ride to the hospital or not if your lucky and patch yourself up.
For me its framelock or fixed.
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Thanks man I did read it differently I appreciate the response. Problem is all liner and frame locks can fall victim to poor geometry. The titanium would have nothing to do with it. Instead it's the angles used between lockface and tang. Being just a bit off is really bad.

With your experience I'd definately go with an axis lock, demko, cbbl, or Buck has reused the strap lock that would be pretty hard to defeat.
 
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