Hello all
. I recently "lost" my ZT0500 when my son saw it and declared it perfect for his needs
. He has recently become a volunteer fireman. This knife had been put through it's paces and was still as smooth and tight as the day I got it. I had used it for yardwork, and also some inside work involving drywall. It did it all!
So, with it gone I had the perfect excuse to replace it with a new one. Let me back up a minute. For the past 5 months I have carried one of 2 knives; either a ZT0200 or a Kershaw G-10 Tyrade, so getting the new ZT0500 had me giddy as a youngin' on Christmas morning. I still get excited about new knives! Anyway, it came in yesterday, along with an Ontario Ranger RD-9, but the Ontario is another story. I went through my usual routine of checking everything out. The blade was perfectly centered, absolutely no wiggle in the blade when open, edge would pop hairs off my chest, blade grinds were even and symmetrical, and all screws were tightened down as they should be.
From my inspection I got the needed implements and tightened the pivot to my liking. I also added a laynard made from steel green paracord, tying a Hangman's knot with a skull on the bottom and then applied super glue to the knot, covering it, just something I do.
The only modification I made involved the clip. With the tighter pivot, the clip will move back and forth in your hand when opening the blade. Since I wanted the tighter pivot I was going to have to "fix" the clip. The first thing I did was to use my dremel and elongate the screw hole that holds the clip on, on the opposite side. I then cut about a 1/4" off of the clip, just below the original hole in the clip. This allows the clip to be slid further down towards the handle and actually settle inbetween the "ears" in the back of the handle. The final thing I did was to shorten the clip on the front side, or the pocket clipping side. Before shortening anything the clip was about 2 1/8" in length. I cut it so that it is now just under 1.5" in length. I had to round off the square cut, but my dremel made that a cinch. I also had to rebend a little tab back into the clip and that was also easy and quick to do. Now when the knife is clipped in my pocket, especially blue jeans and other dark pants, the knife simply disappears. If you do see anything, it is only the clip. Btw, I did cover the clip with black 3M Stair Step tape.
The ZT0500 may look a little strange at first and may even look uncomfortable to hold, but when you first pick it up you immediately notice how good it feels in hand. The short clip, clip point blade is 3.75" length X .157" thick and is swedged up top for much of that length. There are oversized thumbstuds that allow you to get a very good purchase on them and will work well with gloves on. The handle is 5.0" long and constructed of aluminum alloy with black G-10 covers. The blade rides on an oversized pivot, and the pivot screws are large diameter. Just a word about the aluminum handle. Most aluminum used for knife handles is 6061 which is a good aluminum alloy, but the ZT0500 uses 7075 aluminum alloy which is a step above the 6061 in strength and other attributes. This knife was really built to take on the elements! Gavin Hawk even mentioned that thei custom versions use the 6061 aluminum and that it was Kershaw's idea to go the extra step in building this knife!!
The sliding lock works well. It does use a coil spring to apply forward pressure and slide the locking plate into lockup around two hardened steel posts that are found inside on the blade tang, the lock plate itself is also hardened steel so durability should not be a problem.
As I said earlier I knew what I was getting, it was just that I had not carried the ZT0500 in a while. I am glad that Kershaw went the extra mile in building this knife and in doing the little things that make this such a great piece of cutlery.
Btw, the weight of this knife IS NOT 4.8 ounces as all sites list, rather it is a hefty 6.8 ounces and feels great in the hand with the extra heft.
So there you have it. Just some impressions on what I believe to be a great knife!:thumbup:
:thumbup:
EDIT: just noticed I hit the big 3000 post count!
. I recently "lost" my ZT0500 when my son saw it and declared it perfect for his needs. He has recently become a volunteer fireman. This knife had been put through it's paces and was still as smooth and tight as the day I got it. I had used it for yardwork, and also some inside work involving drywall. It did it all! So, with it gone I had the perfect excuse to replace it with a new one. Let me back up a minute. For the past 5 months I have carried one of 2 knives; either a ZT0200 or a Kershaw G-10 Tyrade, so getting the new ZT0500 had me giddy as a youngin' on Christmas morning. I still get excited about new knives! Anyway, it came in yesterday, along with an Ontario Ranger RD-9, but the Ontario is another story. I went through my usual routine of checking everything out. The blade was perfectly centered, absolutely no wiggle in the blade when open, edge would pop hairs off my chest, blade grinds were even and symmetrical, and all screws were tightened down as they should be.
From my inspection I got the needed implements and tightened the pivot to my liking. I also added a laynard made from steel green paracord, tying a Hangman's knot with a skull on the bottom and then applied super glue to the knot, covering it, just something I do.
The only modification I made involved the clip. With the tighter pivot, the clip will move back and forth in your hand when opening the blade. Since I wanted the tighter pivot I was going to have to "fix" the clip. The first thing I did was to use my dremel and elongate the screw hole that holds the clip on, on the opposite side. I then cut about a 1/4" off of the clip, just below the original hole in the clip. This allows the clip to be slid further down towards the handle and actually settle inbetween the "ears" in the back of the handle. The final thing I did was to shorten the clip on the front side, or the pocket clipping side. Before shortening anything the clip was about 2 1/8" in length. I cut it so that it is now just under 1.5" in length. I had to round off the square cut, but my dremel made that a cinch. I also had to rebend a little tab back into the clip and that was also easy and quick to do. Now when the knife is clipped in my pocket, especially blue jeans and other dark pants, the knife simply disappears. If you do see anything, it is only the clip. Btw, I did cover the clip with black 3M Stair Step tape.
The ZT0500 may look a little strange at first and may even look uncomfortable to hold, but when you first pick it up you immediately notice how good it feels in hand. The short clip, clip point blade is 3.75" length X .157" thick and is swedged up top for much of that length. There are oversized thumbstuds that allow you to get a very good purchase on them and will work well with gloves on. The handle is 5.0" long and constructed of aluminum alloy with black G-10 covers. The blade rides on an oversized pivot, and the pivot screws are large diameter. Just a word about the aluminum handle. Most aluminum used for knife handles is 6061 which is a good aluminum alloy, but the ZT0500 uses 7075 aluminum alloy which is a step above the 6061 in strength and other attributes. This knife was really built to take on the elements! Gavin Hawk even mentioned that thei custom versions use the 6061 aluminum and that it was Kershaw's idea to go the extra step in building this knife!!
The sliding lock works well. It does use a coil spring to apply forward pressure and slide the locking plate into lockup around two hardened steel posts that are found inside on the blade tang, the lock plate itself is also hardened steel so durability should not be a problem.
As I said earlier I knew what I was getting, it was just that I had not carried the ZT0500 in a while. I am glad that Kershaw went the extra mile in building this knife and in doing the little things that make this such a great piece of cutlery.
Btw, the weight of this knife IS NOT 4.8 ounces as all sites list, rather it is a hefty 6.8 ounces and feels great in the hand with the extra heft.
So there you have it. Just some impressions on what I believe to be a great knife!:thumbup:
:thumbup:EDIT: just noticed I hit the big 3000 post count!
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