The Kershaw Scallion, definitely a sleeper hit!

M

MacTech

Joined
Jan 7, 2006
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611
As most of you here are aware, i'm currently on a Spyderco kick, Sal and Co.'s blades have hooked me in like no other, they're the only knives i own multiples of, and they comprise 99% of my meager collection

i discovered that my local sporting goods store (Kittery Trading Post in Kittery, Maine) takes knives as well as firearms in trade for store credit/cash, so i grabbed my least favorite knives (Buck 110, nice knife but just doesn't fit my hand, and the brass tarnishes easily in my humid house (note to self, don't store knives near crawfish aquarium...) and Gerber Truss 2.0) and traded them in for store credit

i went over to the knife counter, trying to decide between another Cricket, a used Pro-Grip, or....hmm, lets check out the Kershaws, they seem to be well regarded here on BF....

hmmm....i've always wondered about assisted openers, lets check out the Chive....
nice crisp opening, good blade design, but...it just seems too small (says the owner of a Spyderco Jester....;) ) and the metal scales are a little slippery, let me check out the Scallion, it's a little bigger and looks more "bang around in the pocket" freindly....

as soon as i pick up the Scallion, it just feels right, first knife brand since Spyderco that's just "felt right" in my hand, thick enough to give decent grip, durable plastic body with metal liners, decent blade length, and a *little* more "sheeple-freindly" (**Footnote 1) blade shape....

the blade snaps open with an authoritative snap, and locks up solidly, *no* motion, laterally or vertically, and even though it uses "low end" steel (420HC), it's *shaving sharp* out of the box...

this is a *very* nice little blade, the only "sheeple-scaring" capacity it has would be the assisted-opening system, i can already hear the "He's got a *SWITCHBLADE!*" cries of horror (***Footnote 2) from the addled masses

since i don't feel like explaining the differences between a switchblade and an AO to the addled masses, i'll simply do a mock "2-handed" open in front of sheeple, either that, or use my more "sheeple freindly" "cute" Spyderco Cricket (which, ironically is a *nastier* cutting knife than the Scallion, it just looks "cuter") if i have to cut something in front of the sheeple....

Nice work Kershaw and Ken Onion, you've got a winner on your hands, and i'm not easy to impress (Wow, a BLUE CAR!) (****Footnote 3) i look forward to adding some more Kershaw blades to my collection (*****Footnote 42)

(**Footnote 1 ) somehow, the sheeple in my area think the Native is a "scary looking" knife, i have *no idea* what they're smoking, how is it possible for anyone except the most brain-damaged sheeple to see the Native as "scary", heck, these morons even think the lowly Jester is "scary", must be the Spyderhole....

(***Footnote 2) yeah, like i can do any real damage with a sub 3" blade..... not that i'd want to, i'd imagine it'd be a real pain in the arse to clean out, lots of nooks and crannies to hold the melted butter....oops, wrong advert.... err....to hold the hemoglobin compounds

(****Footnote 3) i just spent a good half hour torture testing a brand new bone-stock (512MB RAM) Intel-based iMac Core Duo, trying to get it to crash by overloading the processor, with 25 QuickTime movies looping, iTunes visualizer running, a DVD playing, streaming video off the internet, running the Unix "TOP" command in the Terminal, and running Process Viewer, all at the *same time*, pegging the processor at 100% usage and reducing the QT vids to a slide show, the poor thing was screaming in pain (as was my external hard drive), after the test, the salesguys asked what i thought of the iMac....

"Meh, it's okay, i was expecting better....."
(that torture test is *designed* to bring a computer to it's knees, and make it cry for it's mother(board), it was actually pretty impressive a bone stock iMac could withstand that torture, but i was expecting more, as i said, i'm hard to impress)

(*****Footnote 42) Isn't it fun reading all the footnotes?....
 
I bought a Scallion recently too, only because I like the quality of two other Kershaw knives I own. It's sort of on the border line of being too small for me, but I got it to carry in dress pants at work.

If you like the Scallion , you should try a Leek.
 
MacTech, welcome to the Kershaw family, I'm sure your Scallion will give you years of service.

Thomas
Kershaw Knives
 
Thanks for the welcome, Thomas, just as an aside, my first *real* knife was the Vapor II, but i returned it as i wasn't a fan of the thumbstud, it was too rough on my thumb, and the action was a little stiff, even after lubing it up, still, i was impressed with it's shaving-sharp blade and overall solid construction....

and it's what brought me back to Kershaw, as aside from those little annoyances, it was a good, solid blade, the Scallion looks just as well built

i'm actually surprised how well the SpeedSafe system works, as it's already passed a few of my "drop it on the floor to see if it opens" tests with flying colors, not one "accidental discharge"

one question though, i'm not a fan of pocket clips on small knives, as i prefer to let them sit loose in my pocket (with the safety *on*, of course), with the clip removed, there are two small holes that could inadvertently collect dust/pocket lint/etc and potentially gum up the SpeedSafe system, should i put small screws in those holes just to seal them off?

i actually looked thru my "Box O' Screws" and found a couple tiny black PowerBook screws that fit properly (it's good to be a computer tech, got a huge box of hard-to-find tiny screws that it'd be nigh *impossible* for non-techs to find

the stock screws were too long to fully seat in the holes, as the pocket clip metal takes up some of the length of the screws, if i screw the clip screws in all the way, it pushes the liner towards the blade....

is it neccecary to have those holes filled?
 
Heh, the Scallion has a nasty bite too, and ironically , it bit me (my pinky finger, NARF!) not when i was opening it, but when i was *closing* it, nice, clean cut, i only felt the cut *after* the knife had closed....

"hmm, what was that sting...oops, better get a band-aid..."

now *that's* a sharp blade, when you don't feel the cut until *after* the knife is closed

...should i be worried now that the knife has tasted blood? ;)
 
I've had a Scallion for a long time - it was my first Kershaw in fact - and I really have to agree with your evaluation of the knife. I think it's really underappreciated. I hope you enjoy yours - it should last you a long time! :)
 
I found a nice solution for my little Scallion's "love nip" (actually a little deeper cut than i first thought, nothing serious, in the immortal words of the Hitchhiker's Guide... Don't Panic!)

after band-aiding it up, i stopped off at the drugstore and picked up a bottle of "New-Skin" liquid bandage, it sealed up the edges of the cut perfectly, i slapped a band-aid over it after it dried to protect it from abrasion, New-Skin is a great little "Knife-Love-Bite" solution
 
I wasn't expecting a whole lot when I ordered a Scallion but it turned into a pleasant surprise. I got mine along with a Twitch 2 and think the Scallion is the better small AO knife. The Twitch ended up being, well twitchy. The pivot needed to be adjusted and loctited just right while I have never had to make any adjustments on the Scallion and it fires perfectly. I was highly intimidated at sharpening the recurve blade on the Scallion but a few swipes on the Sharpmaker corners does the trick. It's "only" 420HC but seems to perform any cutting task I need with relative ease.
 
MacTech said:
i'm actually surprised how well the SpeedSafe system works, as it's already passed a few of my "drop it on the floor to see if it opens" tests with flying colors, not one "accidental discharge"
Click to expand...

I have my eye on a Kershaw. Can I ask you if the Assisted Opening system makes the blade 'flickable' with a good wack of the wrist? The knife will be coming from the US and has to get past Canada Customs.

From memory, I seem to remember that it is very secure until partially opened?
 
Andrew, it has to be opened 30 degrees before the speedsafe kicks in. It is nearly impossable, and probably impossable to flick it open. Sorry my spelling sux, it is Friday night, and my local pub has half off night!
 
I have a friend that is starting a part time business selling knives. He emailed me last night to tell me he just got in some Scallions and had one put back for me. My son has a Leek that he loves. I like it but wanted something just a little smaller to carry in a shirt pocket at work. I tried a Chive but it is just too small for my size 2XL+ hands.
 
I've carried one or the other of the two Leeks I have for over a year now, and neither has opened by itself, when I forget to put the safety on. I just tried flicking them, and they would not budge at all; and they've got some miles on them. Interestingly, I live in Canada, and bought one of them up here. I've also showed them to the local small town border guards here, and they don't get up tight about them, in fact I think two of the guys are going to buy one! I love these Leeks. They are very useful, easy to touch up, don't scare anyone used judiciously, and so far are trouble free.
 
this is how far you can push out the blade before SpeedSafe kicks in, if you move the blade really slowly, using both hands, you can open it this far without deploying the blade, at this point it's on a hair trigger, the slightest bump could cause the SS system to kick in and open the knife

Scallion.gif


and no, the knife is not "flickable" at all, at least not *humanly* flickable, pressing on the index or the thumbstuds will open the blade, and it can be opened 2 handed, but simply holding the knife and flicking the wrist will not open it
 
stevekt said:
I wasn't expecting a whole lot when I ordered a Scallion but it turned into a pleasant surprise. I got mine along with a Twitch 2 and think the Scallion is the better small AO knife. The Twitch ended up being, well twitchy.
Click to expand...

I also just bought a twitch II which i do like but I also ordered a Scallion (red w/combo blade) I am anxious to recieve the Scallion but i am also awaiting the new Leek with the G10 handles. i also purchase a kershaw Blur (w/black tanto blade) at the Gun and Knife show today.
 
Thanks Korbiaka, Waynorth and Mac for the picture and all the information. It sounds like it will pass the customs test and puts my mind at ease that I won't lose it.
 
I have enjoyed my Scallion and Chive for almost 2 years now. I recently purchased a Leek and love it. Shortly after getting the Leek , I was admiring these Kershaws and noticed the index trigger position relative to the pivot is different. On the Scallion the distance between the two is greater or more offset than on the Leek. If you push the trigger straight in on the Scallion, the knife will open. If you use the same technique on the Leek the blade doesn't move. On the Leek you must push the trigger at an angle towards the rear of the knife to open. I feel this is an intentional safety improvment by Kershaw. "Excellent job tweeking the design Kershaw!" Now I don't want to be misunderstood here. I love my Scallion, I rescaled it with textalite, burnt orange scales with a black blade and hdwre one sweet lookin' knife! I must say I have had only a few accidental openings with the Scallion and none with the Leek. If you own both knives - check it out - you will see what I mean.
Keyman
 
I just picked up a Chive after becoming fascinated by the Onion/Centofante but not wanting to pick it up just yet. Fantastic knife! Now that I realize that it's an index flipper and not a thumb stud knife like I thought before, it's really grown on me. Definitely shaving sharp, as well, very very sharp. This'll replace my spydie dragonfly as sheeple friendly edc for a while. (until I get the onion/centofante.) I'm not even remotely worried about the knife popping open with the safety off.
 
Andrew T. - Opening kershaw AO knives with a flick of the wrist will weaken or break the torsion bar. I learned this by torturing a poor Leek until it croaked.
 
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