Speedsafe

Lapedog said:
They should atleast include a detent in their speedsafe designs as a provision for deassisting them.
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I agree, since it literally means just drilling another tiny hole (at least on ones like the Natrix that have the ball on the lockbar but no detent hole).
 
McFeeli said:
Oh that damned rattling noise. I despise hearing that noise coming from my knife. It makes a good quality knife seem like a legitimate POS. I really don't mind Speedsafe all that much, but that noise haunts my dreams to the point where I haven't bought a Kershaw in years.
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That rattling noise is super easy to fix... just put some Vaseline around the torsion bar. It takes 10 seconds to fix, just take off the handle scale, slab some Vaseline on and boom you're done. After doing this never had the rattling come back.
 
evilgreg said:
I agree, since it literally means just drilling another tiny hole (at least on ones like the Natrix that have the ball on the lockbar but no detent hole).
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Yeah, i never understood why they put a detent ball and no hole. Seems like if you onlyput the ball that’s a waste of money. Why use the extra ball bearings?
 
Lapedog said:
Yeah, i never understood why they put a detent ball and no hole. Seems like if you onlyput the ball that’s a waste of money. Why use the extra ball bearings?
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I'm guessing it would be to keep the lockbar friction down, but it does seem silly to not also drill the hole.
 
I'm not a fan of Speedsafe, but I am a fan of the assist that you'll find on some of Ken Onion's custom knives. It's something that you really need to try out to appreciate. It's a combination of a very smooth pivot surfaces/tight tolerances and a light torsion bar that creates an action more akin to a Brian Nadeau "detent nub" than a regular assisted knife. Not something that Kershaw could achieve with its knives, in all likelihood, but something to consider.
 
Gideons said:
That rattling noise is super easy to fix... just put some Vaseline around the torsion bar. It takes 10 seconds to fix, just take off the handle scale, slab some Vaseline on and boom you're done. After doing this never had the rattling come back.
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All of mine have come back. Most of the KAI's that I've owned with the Speedsafe feature were relatively simple to break down. But I've put grease under the scale and around the torsion bar that fixed it from a week to a few months. It's just a pain to have to reapply grease over and over(though I've never tried vasoline).

Yonose Yonose

I'm actually more of a Sig man, myself haha. Pretty tough to beat out the 226 platform.
 
I don't mind Speedsafe. I was rolling with my ZT 0566 yesterday. One of my favorite knives.
 
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I had to leave my zt 0562 and 0804cf out of pocket for a week after I sliced my index finger real deep in a machete incident, still hurts a little to use the flipper feature.
 
I own a few Speedsafe knives, but prefer manual. Also, I agree it would be better to have a detent hole, or at least an option for it to be manual. I've never had a torsion bar break or misfire, but since I bought my last Speedsafe, I realized I prefer simpler designs, with less to possibly go wrong.

Jim
 
Had a scallion years back, never warmed up to the assisted feature. I gave it to a friend. There's a few Kershaw designs I would get if not for them being assisted.
 
I have a whirlwind and the torsion bar broke. I emailed kershaw asking what I needed to do to get it repaired. they sent a new bar. I replaced it. The knife works as intended. No drama. It’s never opened in my pocket, but I dropped it once and it opened when it hit the ground. I have other knives that I like better and carrry often. The whirlwind sits in a box. It’s a perfectly fine knife, but I’m over liner and frame locks.

I don’t get the speedsafe hate. You press the thumb stud and the blade opens. Depress the liner lock and you can close the knife- one handed if you like. The torsion bar keeps the blade closed without the need for a detent.
 
I wish they'd abandon AO altogether. With manual flippers being so good nowadays, it's totally unnecessary. That said, I totally agree that if they're going to keep doing them there should be an actual detent, rather than just using the torsion bar to keep the blade closed.
 
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