- Joined
- Jan 28, 2007
- Messages
- 2,155
These photos are special and I had planned to share them at my thousandth post. Unfortunately things just fly too fast and furiously here at the Kershaw forum and I blew right past 1,000 without noticing. Oops!
I was digging through my collection wondering what my oldest Kershaw (or by extension, Kai product) was, figuring it would be my Amphibian. I had to have gotten that in the early 80's. Noticing the Amphibian had been made in Japan, I realized I had an even older Kai!
I dug around a bit more and found my kaicut. I have had it for at least 25, if not 30 years! Talk about edge retention! It still has the factory edge, I've never sharpened it, and it cuts like the day I got it. Until last October, I've never bothered with another one (more on that later).
As you'll see from the pics, its in pretty good shape considering its age and amount of use. There are some bits of rust here and there from time living in the swamp, and staying on boats.
Possibly what is most eye-catching about it are the amazing feline graphics (I'm sure Cougar can appreciate them). They definitely grow on you, since I have to admit I didn't get to choose the design on them.
As I mentioned I hadn't ever bothered with another until last October when I came across a ZT prototype. This is one of those cases where I simply had to have it (cost -and there was a lot of it- was no object). This was the answer to something I didn't know was missing. All black, and sooooo much more tactical that my kaicut. It has a slightly redesigned action to compensate for being shorter (seems to make up for the loss of leverage).
Apparently these were made to compete for a Gov't/SOCOM contract some time last year. I have been unable to get any more info on the winner of the competition, since it is all part of a black budget somewhere. You'll notice that there are no markings on it whatsoever. This is supposedly for plausible deniability, should a field operative be captured or detained for questioning. As a matter of fact, I hope I'm not endangering any personnel or an ongoing operation by posting these pictures here.
So far, pretty much everyone involved with this prototype has disavowed all knowledge of it, so it probably isn't worth contacting Kershaw about it. Maybe Thomas, Tim, or Craig would be willing to share some info?
I was digging through my collection wondering what my oldest Kershaw (or by extension, Kai product) was, figuring it would be my Amphibian. I had to have gotten that in the early 80's. Noticing the Amphibian had been made in Japan, I realized I had an even older Kai!
I dug around a bit more and found my kaicut. I have had it for at least 25, if not 30 years! Talk about edge retention! It still has the factory edge, I've never sharpened it, and it cuts like the day I got it. Until last October, I've never bothered with another one (more on that later).
As you'll see from the pics, its in pretty good shape considering its age and amount of use. There are some bits of rust here and there from time living in the swamp, and staying on boats.
Possibly what is most eye-catching about it are the amazing feline graphics (I'm sure Cougar can appreciate them). They definitely grow on you, since I have to admit I didn't get to choose the design on them.
As I mentioned I hadn't ever bothered with another until last October when I came across a ZT prototype. This is one of those cases where I simply had to have it (cost -and there was a lot of it- was no object). This was the answer to something I didn't know was missing. All black, and sooooo much more tactical that my kaicut. It has a slightly redesigned action to compensate for being shorter (seems to make up for the loss of leverage).
Apparently these were made to compete for a Gov't/SOCOM contract some time last year. I have been unable to get any more info on the winner of the competition, since it is all part of a black budget somewhere. You'll notice that there are no markings on it whatsoever. This is supposedly for plausible deniability, should a field operative be captured or detained for questioning. As a matter of fact, I hope I'm not endangering any personnel or an ongoing operation by posting these pictures here.
So far, pretty much everyone involved with this prototype has disavowed all knowledge of it, so it probably isn't worth contacting Kershaw about it. Maybe Thomas, Tim, or Craig would be willing to share some info?
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