What other designs have the Leek style...

C

ColtM1911A1

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Dec 27, 2007
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Wonderful forum that I just became acquainted with -- you folks sure know your way around knives and all their nuances...

My question is simply: what knife designs have a blade opening system as found on the Kersaw Leek?

Thanks in advance for your help...
 
Welcome to Bladeforums!

The Leek is what we call an assisted opener. It is not an automatic knife, or auto, as we call "switchblades" so it is legal carry. (There are some jurisdictions that may hassle you over one.)

Kershaw probably has the largest selection, to the extent that we generally expect a new Kershaw model will probably be an AO. But other companies like Buck and CRKT also have their own similar systems.

Is there a particular size or price range that you're interested in?
 
Several companies make A/Os, or assisted-opener knives. Kershaw is probably the best known for it, but Benchmade and Buck also have A/Os on some of their models, and other companies probably do as well.

Kershaw has several models that are A/O. You can check their web site to see which ones use it. I'm not familiar enough with Kershaw to be able to give you a listing.

IIRC, Benchmade has a couple of different A/O systems for their knives.
 
Thanks for the quick replies...

I just found the Leek AO systems very nice when working one handed in the deep cold as we have here in Minnesota, Esav Benyamin. And if it's a quality knife, price is not a problem (unless we're talking over $500.00 for a knife that's going to get alot of work)...

A larger knife (and a true drop point) would be better for my trapline -- there are times when a tip, as on the Leek, might get snapped off -- not by neglect/intent as I use my knives as knives, not pry bars or whatever...

Recommendations appreciated, and I will visit the Kersaw website, dalefuller...thanks again
 
Buck knives make a couple AO's. The Rush is a Leek sized knife and the sirus is it's big brother. Both have flippers to activate the AO feature.

If you want to stick w/ Kershaw, check out the Mini-Cyclone and get one w/ ZDP189 blade and Titanium handle.

If you're looking for a bit bigger one check out the sirus. It's also a broader blade but still a spear point. I got mine w/ ATS34. Very sharp.

Check out the BM Apparition. I used mine last year to help a guy gut his elk. His knife was more of a skinner shaped, so couldn't do the 'bung hole' operation. My apparition did the job. I did have to boil the gook out of it when I got back to camp, tho. Just re-oiled it.
 
Kershaw just came out with the Shallot, which is a bigger leek with a different blade profile. Might want to check that out.
 
Kershaw makes my favorite AO knives and they have the largest selection to choose from. I'll second the Mini-Cyclone as a great knife, but the tip could still be an issue for you. I'd also recommend the Shallot, Bump, Offset or Blur.

As stated, Benchmade, CRKT and Buck all make AO knives. I personally wouldn't recommend any of these over the Kershaws (I do like the Nitrous Benchmade models), but this is purely my opinion and you may think differently.

There is also SOG (I don't like them as much as Kershaw either) and Zero Tolerance. ZT is an offshoot of Kershaw and they are much sturdier, heavy duty knives. If you're willing to spend the money, and it looks like you are, I'd check out a ZT model. They are quite a bit larger than the leek, but they'll handle just about anything you throw at them.
 
You really have to handle a ZT before you buy one. They are massive and extremely heavy. I personally collect megafolders, and I think the ZT 200 is the heaviest one I've got. But not everyone is going to want to handle it.

The Shallot looks like the classiest of the large Kershaws. It's slimmer than others with similar blade lengths.
 
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