Kershaw Zing mini review

thejamppa

thejamppa

Joined
Aug 20, 2009
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Hi all!

I have now carried and used Kershaw Zing 1735 OR. And I decided to give my impression and more about mini review:
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The Good:
+ Ergonomics
+ 3 way carry
+ Solid Linerlock
+ Sharpness out of box
+ Light and slim
+ Fast deployment
+ Sturdy pocket clip

The Bad:
- Polyamide edges on handles were sharp and rough.
- Handle torxes portrud above the handles.
- Pocket clip is hard to use in thicker places.

The Ugly
* Rust spots on Bead blast after few month carry even with light oil coat

Zing is excellent utility knife. Orange version is also easy to spot and makes knife less dangerous looking for sheeple people. Some handle fit & finish were not up to Kershaw's level. The only real ugly thing was rust spots which appeared on bead blast finish in relatively short period even when blade has light oil cover. On the other hand I do live literally stone throw away from the Baltic ocean. Salt water is bad enemy of steels. Winter's are not helping either but on the otherhand I've carried Skyline almost as much and it hasn't got any rust spots despite same finish.

The lock up is very solid in Zing. I have never while using Zing needed to fear lock might fail:
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The spine thickness of Zing is a lot thicker than Skylines. This add's sturdiness of to the blade. Perhaps in some task spine is bit too thick. Spine could have been thinner without affecting performance anyway.
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There's one thing I noticed: While many people complained about Zing's plastic washer's I did found out that they work well. I had few times when temperatures below - 15 degree's C problem with Skyline with regular metal washer's problem of opening. In Zing's plastic washers I found to be more pervious against frost.

Now in future I would like to see Zing with G-10 scales and DLC tungsten coating or TiNi coating for improved corrosion resitance.

Some pictures of portruted torxes:
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Zing compeared to Skyline:
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Nice review. Thanks for posting. What do you thing of the unusual grind pattern on the blade? I looked at a Zing, but decided to get another knife instead because I thought the striations would hinder slicing.
 
The pattern is nice. I did not notice any advantage or disadvantage of it while doing general cutting or food prepping. Its certainly very nice knife. Zing slices really good. It would slice better if spine of the blade would be thinner. Grooves did not fill gunk nor got stuck. If they have some effect, its so marginal that I could not see or feel it. I think grooves are more for aesthetic than for anything else.
 
Thanks for the reply. It's good to know the grooves don't effect performance.
 
You're very welcome. Its good knife. I think Kershaw Groove is too, which is one reason why I have Rainbow Groove in order.
 
Nice review , I own a Zing and a Groove.

The Zing - I modded mine , took out the thumbstud ( actually oneof the more useful studs I have seen on a flipper ), completely polished off the beadblast after taking it apart ( I hate beadblast finish ) and got rid of those too long handle screws with a file. The whole knife carries and handles much nicer now.

I too wish they used G10.

Tostig
 
It"s definitely a shame that G-10 isn't used. I believe that they do use G-10 with the Damascus blade version so the scales have already been done, but I may be wrong on that.
 
Thomas, a quick question, if I may...
What is the composition of the Damascus y'all are using?

And, BTW, love those orange Zings. Too cool.:D
 
The only thing I've noticed with the grooves on my Zing is that the last few near the tip tend to hang up just a bit on piercing cuts.
It obviously hasn't bothered me enough to do anything about it, yet. A couple minutes on my Edge-Pro should smooth things out nicely, if I ever really need to bother with it.
The grooves are a fantastic help when cutting cardboard, plastic clam-shell packages and similar materials because they help guide the blade.
I'd love to see a larger version made! The ergonomics are nearly perfect! :thumbup:
 
Holmesmade: There's bigger version. Its called Kershaw Groove. Same designer: RJ Marting with grooved blade, G-10 handles and frame lock.
 
Great review!

Love the Zing, i've been edcing it for three weeks.
Perfect size, not too big not too small.
Pretty close in size to the Spyderco Delica but even though i love Spydies IMO the Zing has better ergos and no space wasted on choils.
Flicks open smoothly and for things like peeling apples the grooves seem to make it cut more smoothly.
Initially i experienced some tiny spots of surface rust on the Zing but after i cleaned it with nevr-dull it went away and hasn't really come back.
I think it being winter and the close body carry exposes the knife to more temperature/humidity changes.
I'll have to wait and see how it does in the spring and summer.
 
Holmesmade said:
The only thing I've noticed with the grooves on my Zing is that the last few near the tip tend to hang up just a bit on piercing cuts.
It obviously hasn't bothered me enough to do anything about it, yet. A couple minutes on my Edge-Pro should smooth things out nicely, if I ever really need to bother with it.
The grooves are a fantastic help when cutting cardboard, plastic clam-shell packages and similar materials because they help guide the blade.
I'd love to see a larger version made! The ergonomics are nearly perfect! :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Yup, the groove! Go get one!

The grooves in the zing/groove really do work when cutting up cardboard and the like--RJ Martin, the designer, made sure that they do what they're supposed to do.



@thejamppa:

The Spine of the Zing is thick for strength, but the Zing itself still has quite a slim slicing profile from a stepped, 3-D, layered, hollow grind.
 
The grooves in the blade are for reduced cutting friction and if you cut some meat or cheese you will see it instantly. There is less surface for material to stick to an if I remember correctly it reduces cutting friction by 80%
 
knivesandguns said:
It's Alabama damascus--I dunno the composition, but that should help some.
Click to expand...

Thanks! That does help.:thumbup:
Can't recall the company name, but, I remember they do make some pretty serviceable pattern welded steel. Fain Edwards founded or worked with them, IIRC.
That's good news.:cool:
 
Knivesandgun: Yeah, I understand its for strength but I just wonder bit how much strength do you want for that size folder? Its spine is thicker than most my fixed blades spine. I am just saying thinner spine would have been sufficient enough for Zing's use.
 
Personally I prefer a bit of blade thickness for strength, as long as the grind works well for cutting the blade thickness shouldn't be a problem.
I like the Zing's thickness/lack of swedge/lack of choil and lack of distal taper.
It has a good strong tip and its a good slicer.
 
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