Quick review on a couple Kershaw folders.

[udtjim]

A month or so ago I received two knives from a member of this forum with the agrrement that I write a review and used them for everyday knife tasked. The knives were a Kershaw Leek and a Kershaw Junkyard Dog ll. Cold winter weather has kept me from really testing these knives outdoors much.

When I received the knives they were scary sharp He said he had thinned the Blade on the Leek. He may want to give you a rundown on his procedure. Whatever it is, it works, very good job indeed. I have the same two knives in my arson el already. The first thing i had to do was go back to the sharpener so that mine came close to comparing with the ones I got from him. After a trip through my sons Edge Pro and a bit of honing on the Sharpmaker mine were pretty close.

I have now used all four knives for some tasks around home like opening boxes, cuttin veggies, some whittling and in the outdoors I have cleaned a bunch of Rabbits with them The thinned blade on the leek I received excels at slicing and food preparation and holds an edge better than mine which could use the same thinning process. Both Junkyard dogs preform extremely well at all tasks that I have put them to so far. MY original JYD has been thinned a bit with the edge pro. I can't say enough about the JYD I considerer it a very good buy in a tough folder. Both knives lock up very well and show no sign of weakness in that area.

My thanks to vi vi who gave me a chance to try some very well maintained Kershaw folders and I will test them much more as the weather gets bearable around here.

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/5985/knifeandgun218oc9.jpg

 

[Vivi]

Thanks for posting your thoughts.

It's interesting you note extended edge retention in the Leek. I've heard of this happening before but haven't gotten to directly test this myself. I'm hoping to buy another folder I already have, like a Spyderco UKPK or Byrd Cara Cara to compare the factory edge with my edge and compare edge retention.

The leek was ground flat to the stone then convexed some right above the microbevel. The JYD was thinned out and I forget if I gave it a microbevel or not. Either way I felt with these types of edges you could see the advantages of the wonderful grinds these knives have. It seemed contradictive to me in the Leek for instance to have such a thin blade with a fairly obtuse edge bevel. The microbevels were applied with a DMT fine benchstone then given a strop.

I look forward to additional feedback. Thanks again.

 

[Dog of War]

Thanks for sharing your comments and observations, udtjim. And thank you, too, Vivi, IMO that's very cool that you gave a couple quality knives to someone, and the rest of us get the chance to learn something from his experiences.

Comment on factory edges: it's rare that I even use a new knife before taking the edge down to 12 deg/side or less, but I've come to realize there may be one significant practical advantage to the factories leaving edges more obtuse, which is that probably a lot fewer blades are getting overheated during sharpening. I know many of us have experienced problems with factory edges due to overheating -- very, very easy to do with a power grinder and buffer -- so just think how much more careful they'd have to be if they were running the edges thinner. Not only would it probably be more labor-intensive, but a thinner edge means less mass to act as a heat sink, plus I think more acute edges would necessarily require greater skill with still more blades being ruined just in the normal course of manufacturing.

Considering, too, that the average knife buyer out there likely doesn't have the understanding and skill required when using a knife with an acute edge, and probably wants his EDC to serve as screwdriver, prybar and all-purpose scraper as well ... you get the idea. Let those of us who are more blade-savvy, and have the sharpening skills anyway, tune the edge to our liking.

Of course I'm sure I couldn't resist a Krein-like grind on a factory blade, so if any of the manufacturers out there are considering it ....

 

[gunmike1]

Nice review, and kudos to Vivi for giving away a couple nice knives for others to test for the rest of us to learn from. The Kershaws I have handled all were factory ground around 20 per side or just over, but if you prefer (as I do) to thin then out a DMT XX Coarse makes that a breeze. In this case it seems the thinning really helped the cutting ability and edge retention for the cutting tasks performed. That is no big shock to a darksider like me, but it will be interesting to see how they compare at a little tougher cutting tasks and if the thinner blade takes any damage that the thicker one doesn't.

Mike

 

[Will Power]

Useful and well-written test and excellent that vivi makes these test-beds available. We all benefit!