- Joined
- Feb 18, 2009
- Messages
- 4,573
Okay, Ive finally finished the promised review of the new Kershaw Whiplash. The problems I had in getting this review out were mostly due to trying to get a twelve year old camera to work (turned out to be corroded contacts. Duh.). Remember, this thing is old; modern cell phones may take better pictures. Anyway, I apologize for the quality of the photos.
I hope that this review will help give you some idea of just how this knife fits your requirements. Ive tried to cover everything I could without doing anything destructive to the knife. Please feel free to ask questions if theres something you dont think Ive covered.
Incidentally, the squares on the background grid are 1/2 inch.
Box
The knife comes in a nicely designed box, as one would expect from a reputable maker like Kershaw. Im in the graphic design business and Ive designed a few boxes in my time. I certainly wouldnt be ashamed if this were one of my designs: its nicely done. I doubt any of you care about the box though, so on to the knife.
Whats in the box
Opening the box we find that it contains a plastic bag with the sheathed knife, one slip of paper with Kershaw information on it, and a second slip with a few words about the blade coating. Not all manufacturers bother telling you that coatings all coatings will scratch and wear with use. Nice touch, Kershaw.
Sheath
Materials:
The sheath itself seems to be a composite of what Im guessing is a type of ballistic nylon bonded to a semi stiff, yet flexible, plastic.
Construction:
The edges that form the belt loop are turned under and stitched, and theres a formed plastic channel riveted to the edge where the cutting edge would be. A nylon strap with a heavy duty snap holds the knife securely in place. The strap that holds the knife in the sheath is held only by a single row of light stitching, which doesnt appear to be very strong. There is a nice little tab with the Kershaw name on it sewn to the outside of the sheath. All in all, its a decent, secure, safe sheath for a knife in this price range. Nothing fancy, nothing exotic, but a good, serviceable sheath, non the less except for the weak single row of stitching on the strap. My personal preference on this particular knife would have been kydex, but I wouldnt go to the expense of replacing this one, since it is a decent sheath.
Knife
Blade: The 4 1/2 inch (1 3/8 inch thick at its widest point) blade itself has a fairly nice sweep to it up to the centerline, with the point itself pretty much in line with the handle, something that I very much like if I have to use the point for minor drilling of wood around camp. Above the cutting edge is an unsharpened clip point, with an unsharpened swedge going back about half the length of the Black Titanium Carbo Nitride coated blade. The cutting edge of the knife is how should I put this a less than a cutting edge. Neither the hairs on my forearm nor anything else are in any danger of being cut by this blade. Out of the box, this is the dullest knife I have ever seen, not at all what I would have expected from a company like Kershaw.
Moving on to the top of the .125 inch/3.175 mm thick blade we come to the 1/4 inch deep vertical cuts (6) in the blade. Im not yet really sure of the purpose of these deep, deep cuts. If theyre meant to be jimping, its pretty excessive (with sharp edges) although, with gloves on, it might be just what the doctor ordered. I must say that, when holding the knife as I would for fine work cutting notches in sticks or anything requiring good control at the back of the blade they are perfectly positioned. Just behind the deep cuts is a section of more conventional and smoother jimping revealed by an inset portion of the handle.
More
I hope that this review will help give you some idea of just how this knife fits your requirements. Ive tried to cover everything I could without doing anything destructive to the knife. Please feel free to ask questions if theres something you dont think Ive covered.
Incidentally, the squares on the background grid are 1/2 inch.
Box
The knife comes in a nicely designed box, as one would expect from a reputable maker like Kershaw. Im in the graphic design business and Ive designed a few boxes in my time. I certainly wouldnt be ashamed if this were one of my designs: its nicely done. I doubt any of you care about the box though, so on to the knife.
Whats in the box
Opening the box we find that it contains a plastic bag with the sheathed knife, one slip of paper with Kershaw information on it, and a second slip with a few words about the blade coating. Not all manufacturers bother telling you that coatings all coatings will scratch and wear with use. Nice touch, Kershaw.
Sheath
Materials:
The sheath itself seems to be a composite of what Im guessing is a type of ballistic nylon bonded to a semi stiff, yet flexible, plastic.
Construction:
The edges that form the belt loop are turned under and stitched, and theres a formed plastic channel riveted to the edge where the cutting edge would be. A nylon strap with a heavy duty snap holds the knife securely in place. The strap that holds the knife in the sheath is held only by a single row of light stitching, which doesnt appear to be very strong. There is a nice little tab with the Kershaw name on it sewn to the outside of the sheath. All in all, its a decent, secure, safe sheath for a knife in this price range. Nothing fancy, nothing exotic, but a good, serviceable sheath, non the less except for the weak single row of stitching on the strap. My personal preference on this particular knife would have been kydex, but I wouldnt go to the expense of replacing this one, since it is a decent sheath.
Knife
Blade: The 4 1/2 inch (1 3/8 inch thick at its widest point) blade itself has a fairly nice sweep to it up to the centerline, with the point itself pretty much in line with the handle, something that I very much like if I have to use the point for minor drilling of wood around camp. Above the cutting edge is an unsharpened clip point, with an unsharpened swedge going back about half the length of the Black Titanium Carbo Nitride coated blade. The cutting edge of the knife is how should I put this a less than a cutting edge. Neither the hairs on my forearm nor anything else are in any danger of being cut by this blade. Out of the box, this is the dullest knife I have ever seen, not at all what I would have expected from a company like Kershaw.
Moving on to the top of the .125 inch/3.175 mm thick blade we come to the 1/4 inch deep vertical cuts (6) in the blade. Im not yet really sure of the purpose of these deep, deep cuts. If theyre meant to be jimping, its pretty excessive (with sharp edges) although, with gloves on, it might be just what the doctor ordered. I must say that, when holding the knife as I would for fine work cutting notches in sticks or anything requiring good control at the back of the blade they are perfectly positioned. Just behind the deep cuts is a section of more conventional and smoother jimping revealed by an inset portion of the handle.
More
Last edited:
, but would like to have seen a longer handle. The tang of the knife protrudes from the back of the handle to provide anchoring points for the lanyard (more on that later), but is a little sharper than I would like and causes hot spots when holding the knife for work. Because of the deep choil on the bottom of the handle, the knife provides a surprisingly secure grip. So far so good, and if the designers had of stopped there, I think they would have had an instant winner on their hands. Unfortunately, they didn’t, and the next bit is what has stirred everybody up about this knife design: the lanyard, or more specifically, the cut into the handle above the choil for storing the lanyard.
