Opinions from Kershaw / Ken Onion knife lovers

Don't worry Ken.
I still love my Avalanche - it is a great knife not only because of Speed Safe. I already disassemble it and toke broken bar away. Now I want to play with it for a week and deside do I want it back or not. It is great knife even without Speed Safe. And I have Boa and Chive and I'll have Random Leek (S30V) soon to play with Speed Safe.
One more pros.
Avalanche and Boa assembled with screws - you may always fixed.

Ken, what kind of lubricant you recommentd for Speed Safe?

Thanks, Vassili
 
Ken, on the flip side. They need bigger and stronger springs. I know you are working on this with Kershaw, and I understand there are "public concern issues", but that's what needs to be done. In for a penny, in for a pound....BTW the Random Leek is slow as molasses in cold weather, obviously I just found this out, but it's still a great knife.:)
 
Back to Boink's questions, the blade would best be considered a flat grind (IMHO), but there are some convex characteristics. The Random Leek is also available as a plain edge only.The Random Leek is matte black TiNi only, for the blade and handle. There are multiple variations of the basic Leek (black shiny, rainbow, matte black, silver, and some with Stanhope Nudie Girls in the thong hole). As for handle material I don't know, except it's not Ti, could be Al or steel, (and I'm not scratching one up to figure it out)!:D
 
I would have gone for the Boa if it didn't have the flipper (I think it's actually called index-finger opening system). Instead I got an Avalanche. I love it. I have bought two (someone bought the first one off of me). I couldn't make either fail the whack test, but I still feel safer with the liner-locks on the newer of the two avalanches. It has a little indent taken out of the liner lock so it goes out a tiny bit more. Also, they were apparently able to improve the strength of the liner by doing this. My only wish were for it to have a longer blade, those this has always got the job done.
Richard
 
I think I have six or seven of the Speed Safe knives. Love em. I had a Whirlwind and it was a great yard knife. Lost it somewhere in the yard. Favorite EDC of these is the Random Task. My son likes his Mini Task, but not as much as his Chive which was given to him by Mr. Onion at the Eugene show two years ago. Now that is his special knife. ;)
 
Steve ,Kershaw uses a very light grease on the pivot area which is superior to oil in that the excess seals the pivot area from contamination and it doesn't dissipate as oil will.Which is probably why it slows down in cold weather. Kershaw and I have done alot of testing and have put knives in the freezer and played arround with different grease combinations untill we found a good blend that worked well in the cold. So although it may slow down very slightly it shouldn't slow down much . If it does then something is amis . Try to loosen the pivot shaft slightly ,release the lock and try to wiggle the blade .Then tighten back up (with the lock released) ever so slightly untill you have no side to side ,cycle the blade a few times and see what happens.It should work fine ,if not then something is wrong .All of mine pop very fast.

rev-jch, thanks , we test the crap out of the tortion bars and have very consistent results . Kershaw has to build these things using exact tollerances. figure if the average knife owner opens and closes his/her knife 300 +- a few every year the average speed safe owner can and usually does that every day for the first few weeks and then some . I have seen knives come back to Kershaw warranty dept that have been cycled so many times they wore a groove into the pivot and wore the washers down to nothing,and yet Kershaw gets very few back for tortion bar failure and most of them had a defect in the wire .

Vassili Kershaw uses a combination of lubricants. I start with Penn muscle grease (for Penn fishing reels) and mix Miltec into it with a popcicle stick untill it is very soft but will just hold a peak. It is the best I have used on any knife and it lasts a really long time

Speed Fan , I am working on some bigger knives for Kershaw.


Hawaiian, thanks again , that son of yours is a fine young man ,he was very polite ,well mannered,and a total knife freak like the rest of us. It was my pleasure talking with him.
 
I have 5 of the speed safes and have had zero problems. That being said I too noticed my random leek was a bit slow. I used some Breakfree teflon lube and just cycled it for awhile and it smoothed out and opened just as quick as the rest of the family.The leek has a very solid feel to it.I suspect its the frame lock construction that gives it the solid feeling.
 
So, since the speedsafe's have their own grease at the pivot, would putting some miltec down there have messed with anything? Anyways, as a testament to the avalanche (and they spyderco sharpmaker), I stabbed into a (what turned out to be empty) box, and therefore point first on the granite countertop. A few (80 for back beveling and 160 for sharpening) strokes against the sharpmaker later, and it's good as new. To really appreciate this you have to have witnessed how hard the point was stabbed into a slab of granite.
Richard
 
As far as the springs not being strong enough? I would have to say, just me personally, that they are good the way they are. Aside from the fact that it would cost more to build them with bigger stronger springs, the springs are good. Personally, I have never had one fail out of all the ones I own. they have always opened up just fine. They soemtimes may be a little slow, some may be faster than others, but the design is a good one. I have only had one not open fully all the way and thats because my finger was in its way!

I have never personally built a spring activated folder, but I will say that building any folder is alot of work. I have not had time to build anything in probably six plus months, but when I have its truly a labor of love. Ive probably spent anywhere from 14 to 23+ hours building a walker lock. Kershaw's tolerences are great as Ken said. CNC machining plays a big part in this. In the folders I have built (walker locks) that to get the same kind of fit, tolerences I have spent much time hand finishing (blades, liners, bolsters, pivot screws, etc. etc. etc.). I know much of the quality that kershaw puts out is directly related to Ken's "watchful eye" and supervision of their work on his designs. kershaw is good about the knives, that is the quality level, but without Ken there would be things thast would have slid by them by now.

Speaking of the Avalanche, I got some new knives for Xmas. A Schrade cigar box classic, a case brothers seahorse whittler, a blur (which unfortunately had to be sent back) and yes I keep ending up with that Avalanche in my pocket!!!

......yeah! thanks Ken!!!!!!
 
Thanks again for your kind words rev,We can make the action on these knives as fast as we want.We choose not to make them to racy because we are breaking new ground with this mechanism and every oportunistic politician,prosecutor and soccer mom are looking for a cause to make knives and knife sales even further restricted just like they have done with the gun industry .With new technology comes new responsibility. We do not want to give these liberals fodder for there cause nor do we want to be intimidated by there rhetoric.The last thing Kershaw needs to do is make a folding fighter call it widowmaker and put a super fast assisted opening mechanism in it and market it as a defensive weapon as that would be asking for trouble and irresponsible.
Besides Speed safe isn't about defensive or offensive uses .It is about making a pocket knife as simple and effortless to use as possable. Old men with arthritis,women with long fingernails,dexterity challenged individuals as well as the average guy can grab his /her knife with one hand ,open the blade with minimal effort ,use it ,close it and put it away with as little effort as possable. No macho wrist flicking needed no quick or threatening motions required just a flick of the flipper or thumbstud and it is done .Theatrics are not required .
 
Thank you Ken. I wish I could have thought it out that well, in so few sentences myself. My wife falls into the the category "with nails". She can't use thumbstuds or nail slots well.

WayLander
 
Posted by KenOnion:

We can make the action on these knives as fast as we want.
Click to expand...

WOW. . .

I think that they're fast enough already. . .and have a very nice, solid kick. In fact, I've had a few kick outta my hand (not paying attention to what the hell I was doing) during the opening process. . .which is a bad thing when facing a razor sharp Kershaw. :D
 
WOW. . .
Click to expand...

I think that they're fast enough already. . .and have a very nice, solid kick. In fact, I've had a few kick outta my hand (not paying attention to what the hell I was doing) during the opening process. . .which is a bad thing when facing a razor sharp Kershaw.
Click to expand...

Ever use a chainsaw with a key-start friend? Or an industrial trash compactor? A tool is a tool. Respect it. Never, ever forget that a knife has a blade! (They come that way, usually).

All "tongue-in-cheek". I am not calling you a dumb-a$$ or anything.

Your fellow-knife-knut,
WayLander
 
Removed most of the grease from the Random Leek and cleaned it with WD-40. Used a "touch" of graphite and things seem to be much better. We're going to get a cold snap with highs in the low 20s, so I'll know for sure if that fix works, (which I suspect it will).

I whoeheartedly agree with you Ken, we don't need knives like "widowmakers" out there. I'm just disappointed with the Boa, in terms of blade deployment. The smaller knives and the origional Random Task are much snappier than the Boa, which I sold. BTW the Kershaw lineup is in general, much better than the similar knives produced by SOG, although they are getting better.

I'm afraid that Camillus is producing your nightmare with the Dominator though.:(
 
Posted by WayLander:

Ever use a chainsaw with a key-start friend? Or an industrial trash compactor?
Click to expand...


No. . . :confused: . . .nor do I stroll down a busy freeway.



Posted by WayLander:

A tool is a tool. Respect it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice Dad. I'll have to keep that in mind. :rolleyes:



Posted by WayLander:

Never, ever forget that a knife has a blade! (They come that way, usually).
Click to expand...


Do tell. . .I've never noticed. But please, feel free to send me one so that I can judge first hand. :p



Posted by WayLander:

I am not calling you a dumb-a$$ or anything.
Click to expand...

I would like to think that you weren't.

Oh. . .nor I you.

"Tongue-in-cheek". . .and all.
 
You can really make them faster? You ought to have a side service, that nobody needs to hear about, where you can make the speedsafe faster for them. I really don't know why I want it faster, I just do. It's the same thing that makes me want to remove the speed limiter on my car, even though I've only hit the artificial top speed twice. If somebody saw me, they would have no fear of a super sharp knife being in my hand. I'm the kind of guy who considers long-sleeve, button down shirts with patterns (checks, stripes, etc) with chinos to be weekend casual.
Richard
 
I'm a big Kershaw/Ken Onion fan.

Loved the Speed-Safe assisted opening mechanism ever since it first came out - have the early Whirlwind, Blackout and Ricochet.

Unfortunately the Ricochet has a sort of a problem - the liner is titanium - and if you're from this forum and do vigorous spine-whack tests - then the knife is very likely to develop longitudenal play - ie: the blade becomes loose between the stop bar and the liner.

I've had 2 Ricochets that have done this. The first happened in the year between Blade Shows - when Doug Flagg saw that - he just replaced it.

My second and "current" one - developed play as soon as I did the spine-whack test - so that's how I know - so despite the wonderful polished G-10 scales - the CPM 440V steel and "custom knife" quality that Ricochet has been relegated to my desktop trimming knife - pity.

However when Ken and Doug introduced me to the Chive or more precisely the Black Chive - my jaw dropped - not only was it beautiful in the black boron-carbide coating (liken to brown tinted black chrome) but to fit the speed-safe mechanism to such a slim and tiny knife with a frame-lock......

Doug Flagg had to "ration" Ken with the Black Chives at the Blade Show since everytime Ken got one he was forced to give it away........ :)

Of course I have take just a tiny bit of credit -
when Doug Flagg asked me what name they should give to the as yet unnamed (black) Chive - I said why not just call it the "Black Chive" - not only is it obvious and descriptive - everyone is calling that already anyway...... I did say "tiny bit of credit" since I'm pretty sure everyone else probably told him that as well - it was just too obvious.

With all the attention on the Black Chive - the Vapor was introduced at about the same time - and I was really impressed with the knife - even before I knew the selling price - a really smooth frame-lock that was right-sized for me - so much so that I wrote a lengthy overview of frame-locks featuring the Vapor - originally on rec.knives then illustrated and re-posted it here in the Reviews section on BladeForums -

Frame-Locks (ala Sebenza)

Of course the knife that I had been wishing, hoping and waiting for - a right-sized (for me) Speed-Safe frame-lock - I completely missed the introduction........
that was the Leek - so it wasn't too long when I acquired one when I found out - which resulted in my enthusisastic review -

Kershaw/Ken Onion LEEK (pics)

The Rainbow Leek then beckoned, and instead of repeating many of the similarities using words, I let the photos do the talking............

Kershaw Rainbow Leek - a pictorial review

fbd4d96b.jpg


To this day the regular Leek is my at home EDC precisely because of the reasons Ken Onion gave:

"It is about making a pocket knife as simple and effortless to use as possable. Old men with arthritis,women with long fingernails,dexterity challenged individuals as well as the average guy can grab his /her knife with one hand ,open the blade with minimal effort ,use it ,close it and put it away with as little effort as possable. "

It is on my person at home despite the fact I can grab any of numerous knives - simply because with the Speed-Safe and being right-sized (for me) I find it more convenient to use than any other knife.......

Then I re-discovered the (larger) Vapor II - I made a tentative connection and did this somewhat cheeky review -

A $25 Sebenza? or is this just Vapor too?

So let me retract my opening statement about being a big Kershaw/Ken Onion fan......

I'm a HUGE fan.......
 
I have Random Leek now (not Rainbow). In addition to everything else I notice that this is a very slim knife - 7mm. It is not so noticable on Chive - it is small knife which you expect to be like this, but Leek is in EDC size. It is very comfortable to wear on jeans pocket.
It is S30V - second model from Kershaw with this steel (as I understand only Bump has it).
I am really impressed:
kershawRandomLeek-01.jpg

kershawRandomLeek-02.jpg

kershawRandomLeek-03.jpg

kershawRandomLeek-04.jpg

http://playground.sun.com/~nozh2002/Kershaw-Leek.html

Thanks, Vassili.
 
Thanks for the pictorial, Vassili. I was wondering what the "random" leek was, as opposed to the "rainbow" leek, of which I own two.

Interesting

WayLander
 
By the way, what does it mean? I can understand "Random Task" and "Leek", even "Rainbow Leek", but "Rundom Leek"? I am confused. Is any meaning in it or just sounds like Random Task?
Thanks, Vassili.
 
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