My Scallion... Grrrr

H

Holden

Joined
Jul 1, 2001
Messages
86
I got my girlfriend a combo-edge Scallion with assisted opening as a kind of gag gift for Christmas (she cannot, for the life of her, flick the blades out on any of my knives). Anyway, I got hers from Galyans and it opens fast and hard every time. I liked it enough to order one from 1sks (I wanted the plain-edge one). Well, my Scallion will not open anywhere near as quickly as my girlfriend's... Kinda aggravating. I tried loosening the pivot but the result of that is the blade rubbing the liner. I also tried a bit of lube and that didn't really help either. My theory is that since my knife was apparently stored closed in a box and hers was stored open in a plastic package, mine is slower due to extended stress on the opening mechanism. Do you guys have any ideas on how to fix this?

Thanks,
-H-
 
I have taken apart a Boa , same assisted opening as scallion . Storing closed shouldn't cause a problem . Try taking it apart and lubing the opening spring . Also with a little use , and constant flipping it should smooth up .
 
Indeed. These are not a spring operated knife. They work on a cam assist and storing closed will not affect them. Ken onion (the designer) said that they are coming out with a "turbocharged" version of all speedsafe knives. Maybe your GF got the new turbo and you got the old? BTW, I had a scallion and think they are very cool. Perhaps Ken will stop by this thread.
 
My Scallion was a little stiff when I bought it. I tried some Rem Oil and it seemed to get worse, but after a few repeated openings and closings, the action smoothed up.
 
You probably just gotta break it in. With all my speedsafe knives, including those out of Ken's shop, they all got better after a few hundred openings! :) Just keep playing!

~Mitch
 
I cracked it open and cleaned out all of the existing lube and also found something very interesting... Both of the washers on the pivot were installed on the SAME side of the blade! I moved one of them to the other side and gave everything a light coat of lube. Everything seems to be ok now, and the blade is better centered between the liners. The performance of this knife is not comparable to my GF's Scallion.

As I said before, I really like this knife. This "goof" doesn't change that. It is my first experience with a Kershaw product, and I am quite impressed overall. Impressed enough to order a black Boa, which is a significantly larger investment.

Thanks for the help,
-H-
 
Hmmm... must have been made on a monday;) I like all my Kershaws - I'm sure you will be pleased with the Boa.
 
I think Ken's going to start using boron carbide coatings on more of his knives after the success of the black chive. This coating helps to increase the blade speed because if it's natural lubricity. If you've ever played with the black chive it is FAST. I'm going to wait to buy another Onion until I can get it with the boron. They're all great knives though. I think they're excellent values too.
 
I would suggest you email Kershaw and explain the difference in the two knives and they'll probably have you send it back for correction or replacement. Kershaw has great customer service!!;)
 
Well I finally got my Boa... I was extremely happy to finally have it except that this knife seems to have a lot of QC problems. There are some very, very rough grinds on this knife. The area around the pivot on the blade itself looks really rough, if not wavey. The edge of the blade nearest the pivot isn't as sharp as the rest of the knife. Finally, and most importantly, the blade rubs the liner on the non-clip side of the knife. I tried tightening/loosening the pivot, much as I did with the Scallion, and that didn't help at all... I'm kind of appalled at the fact that the Scallion, a $31 knife, had far fewer problems than this knife which I paid over $100 for. All grinds were perfect on the Scallion, and the blade was uniformly sharp along its edge. Anybody else here experience these problems? I hate to nit-pick... I'm not expecting this knife to be comparable to my MT's, but I expect better than this from a reputable company. On the + side, the Speed Safe on this knife worked perfectly right out of the box.

-H-
 
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