The Seventh Natrix is the Charm?

J

John_0917

Joined
Apr 15, 2014
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Decided today that long enough had passed for the early QC issues among the Kershaw Natrix to be worked out that it was good time to buy a KVT model.

Well...went to a well known dealer and was unable to find a 7007CF with grinds or centering that were anywhere close to acceptable on a $45 knife, moved onto second choice of the tan/black wash and took 4 tries to find a decent example of fairly even grinds and decent centering.

Got home to discover that my even grind/centered model has detent rock when closed.

Why is it so hard to get this right?

I would ask Kai reps but they canned their forum because they don’t like hearing criticism for any reason.
 
Buy a CRKT or dang near any Gerber and look at the problems you will find. I think you are being kind of hard on a $45 knife. Centering is nearly always fixable when you set the pivot tension how you like it. Grind unevenness is something I really dislike and is far too prevalent in low/medium cost production knives.
 
thebrain said:
Buy a CRKT or dang near any Gerber and look at the problems you will find. I think you are being kind of hard on a $45 knife. Centering is nearly always fixable when you set the pivot tension how you like it. Grind unevenness is something I really dislike and is far too prevalent in low/medium cost production knives.
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I don’t think I’m being overly hard, the grind issues are the big thing for me, and it’s not the bevels, it’s the entire grind being significantly lopsided (fuller being 1/4” off etc)...I agree Gerber etc have lots of QC issues, Kershaw by and large part doesn’t. This model has been a chronic example of the opposite, first it was warped blades, then stop pins coming out, now this and so on.

I’m betting right now we will start seeing issues with the copper ones soon.
 
Gravy said:
When you say grinds do you mean the cutting edge or the actual grind?
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The actual grind, 2 examples had the top fuller groove as much as 1/4 of an inch uneven, it’s mind boggling they they made it past QC.
 
John_0917 said:
The actual grind, 2 examples had the top fuller groove as much as 1/4 of an inch uneven, it’s mind boggling they they made it past QC.
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That's unfortunate to hear. I've had good experiences with most Kershaw knives that I've played with/owned in the past, expect for that awful Cryo. My Injection 3.5 is an astonishingly good knife for what I paid ($18) I hope this isn't going to be a recurring issue with Kershaw moving forward. They can do some great work.
 
I am absolutely not saying I don't believe you by this but I really want to see a pic of the Fuller being off that much, that is crazy! I once had a KaBar USMC with the saber grind hight off the 3/16" and the Fuller off by the same in the other direction ,it looked fine if you only looked at one side or the other but not both. I also have an Injection 3.5 and it is pretty well flawless (and only paid $12 on the bay) an all my other kershaws are darn nice even the couple blems.
 
Most of my Kershaws were very good like the volt 2, the links, cryos, skylines etc....the natrix however is IMO one of the worst. I bought one when they first came out and the sub-frame lock would get stuck so bad I had to use pliers to close the thing. I don’t think one single knife should define a brand though, get yourself a method, dividend or Link (especially now that they have the M390 versions back) and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what you can get for the money... I just ordered a 2nd M390 Link AND dividend and for the price you can’t get a better knife
 
Although I'm not a big fan of the Natrix stop pin only being supported by a thin section of G10 I have had no problems using it for work aside from bending the pocket clip. I think for $45 bucks it's a great looking knife and the drop point blade is very functional for what I do. I use to carry a Blur at work but I wanted something a little lighter so I switched to the Natrix. I have had nothing but good luck with Kershaw over the years but lately there has been a lot of talk about Blur blades snapping and Natrix knives falling apart. I hope this isn't a new trend for Kershaw
 
Kershaw used to have terrific quality. Buying them now is a crapshoot — I have a drawerful of more recent models that rattle or squeak, or have stripped screws, screwed up pivots and off-center blades.
Sad.
Buy from a dealer you trust with a good return policy.
 
I think Kershaw went a little overboard on the tapering of the G10 towards the front of the Natrix causing stop pins to loosen and pop out under load. As for the jimping, Grinds on the blade, and the fuller, They are perfect. Could you post a pic of yours?
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I've owned and used a lot of kershaws over the years. Had a few tiny problems that were more a product of my expections than anything for the price points.
There are a couple that do slip through for sure but come guys I'm having a hard time believing every kershaw ever made now is crap.

I still buy a few a year and they sure dont have these problems I'm hearing from the youtubes and forums a like. Waiting on my cu natrix and If there is a problem.ill report back here. But if not I'll use it like I do any other perfectly serviceable knife and carry on.

Ps: what's this about blur blades snapping? I still have 9 left and all the blades are intact. Where was this "revelation" born from?

Cheers,

Justin
 
Good question, the blur is also one of my favorite Kershaws especially the s30 version....although I don’t beat em up too bad I just cut cardboard, plastic and shrink wrap mostly, no prying or anything like that
 
I heard the stories about the Blur issues but it was with locks failing, never heard about blades snapping.

I don’t have pics, I didn’t buy the bad ones and I wasn’t about to be like “hey let me take pics of these crap knives you’re selling”, the store staff are very nice and it’s not their fault for the issues so I wasn’t about to do that.
 
45 bucks? I don't expect too much. It should be fairly simple knife. I'm not too familiar with the Natrix. China made?
 
John_0917 said:
Decided today that long enough had passed for the early QC issues among the Kershaw Natrix to be worked out that it was good time to buy a KVT model.

Well...went to a well known dealer and was unable to find a 7007CF with grinds or centering that were anywhere close to acceptable on a $45 knife, moved onto second choice of the tan/black wash and took 4 tries to find a decent example of fairly even grinds and decent centering.

Got home to discover that my even grind/centered model has detent rock when closed.

Why is it so hard to get this right?

I would ask Kai reps but they canned their forum because they don’t like hearing criticism for any reason.
Click to expand...
You can always ask them directly.
 
By the way a couple of my Natrix knives look it appears that the fullers and possibly some of the blade profile might be drop forged.... With forging it also brings up the physical properties in addition to creating the shape...…… It is certainly quicker than machining all the facets on a knife blade..... Forging can get squirrely with the metal moving around which could lead to some dimensional problems that are being observed...
 
Makael said:
You can always ask them directly.
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Yea it’s chinese made, which doesn’t necessarily meant anything bad these days.

As far as asking them directly, you can’t really since they closed their forum on here and the forum they have on the “green” one isn’t really a discussion, it’s more like “tell us how good our products are or we act like a-holes and say you’re wrong”. Their sales director already brought up this thread after I complimented one of their ZT models in an unrelated post...
 
bad_juju said:
I've owned and used a lot of kershaws over the years. Had a few tiny problems that were more a product of my expections than anything for the price points.
There are a couple that do slip through for sure but come guys I'm having a hard time believing every kershaw ever made now is crap.

I still buy a few a year and they sure dont have these problems I'm hearing from the youtubes and forums a like. Waiting on my cu natrix and If there is a problem.ill report back here. But if not I'll use it like I do any other perfectly serviceable knife and carry on.

Ps: what's this about blur blades snapping? I still have 9 left and all the blades are intact. Where was this "revelation" born from?

Cheers,

Justin
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The so called revelation was from some kook on Youtube I found. He was :poop:ing on Kershaw and was whacking two new Blurs showing how they could spring open in pocket and stating that people had blades snapping on them. I also found another guy who was warning people not to buy Blurs because his blade had snapped but the broken knife he showed was very well worn looking lots of Ano wear and deep scratches. I also noticed the guy whacking the Blurs had XXXX marked on the blades so they were factory seconds. Neither guys statements or claims of Mass QC problems with Kershaw hold any water with me. With Kershaw Being so popular we surely would have heard more about it on this board by now so I'm holding of judgement till I see some pics. BTW I have my eyes on that copper Natrix also
 
bad_juju said:
I've owned and used a lot of kershaws over the years. Had a few tiny problems that were more a product of my expections than anything for the price points.
There are a couple that do slip through for sure but come guys I'm having a hard time believing every kershaw ever made now is crap.

I still buy a few a year and they sure dont have these problems I'm hearing from the youtubes and forums a like. Waiting on my cu natrix and If there is a problem.ill report back here. But if not I'll use it like I do any other perfectly serviceable knife and carry on.

Ps: what's this about blur blades snapping? I still have 9 left and all the blades are intact. Where was this "revelation" born from?

Cheers,

Justin
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bad_juju I slogged through hundreds of videos on Youtube to try to find the ones I was talking about to no avail. I think they are lost in a sea of Youtube garbage or have been taken down. All I could find was vids of broken assist springs:( Sorry about that but that tells me there is No wide outbreak of QC problems at all. People use their blades for prying and blades snap and an assist springs break, all springs eventually fail and to replace a Blur spring takes 10 minutes, Hardly a big crysis.
 
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