Kershaw Knives (kai USA) ~ Great customer service!

michael_w

If you're planning on getting a knife anytime soon, I'd recommend Kershaw. I own a Kershaw Blur (straight edge black 1670) and not only is it a great knife it's backed up by their lifetime warranty that they actually follow through on.

Anyways, the assisted opening crapped out on me last night (opens like a regular knife now) and so I fired off an email to customer service worried I'll have to ship it across the border and asking if I can fix it myself. About six hours later I get a response and they're going to send me the part to fix it and a torx screwdriver no questions asked all at their expense! Not very often does this stuff happen nowadays so I'm a bit amazed. Looks like I found the polk audio of knives

MikeC78

Nice, good to know! Another knife company that has astounding CS is Benchmade.

SLOCOOKN

I have 3 kershaw knives. I have had no problems as of now. But, that is good to know!

madmax

I have one of the assisted opening ones, great knife!
madmax

michael_w

The speed safe seems to attract a lot of negative attention here (especially with police) but it all depends how you use it. As long as you're using it discretely and as a tool it hasn't caused me too many problems in public.

If you've never tried a speed safe / assisted opening knife you owe it to yourself to try one. Not only is it handy and fast but additively fun

dkg999

Kershaw's are great knives, good to know the customer service is also good!

I have also had great luck with the CS for Russell Knives. They sell their own brand plus many other brands. I stop at their outlet when I am in the Bentonville AR area. They are very good and reasonable on shipping so I don't have to check my bag when I fly home!

MikeC78

michael_w wrote: »

The speed safe seems to attract a lot of negative attention here (especially with police) but it all depends how you use it. As long as you're using it discretely and as a tool it hasn't caused me too many problems in public.

If you've never tried a speed safe / assisted opening knife you owe it to yourself to try one. Not only is it handy and fast but additively fun

They are nice, but they are also illegal to carry unless you are military or police.

bobman1235

MikeC78 wrote: »

They are nice, but they are also illegal to carry unless you are military or police.

I would assume that's a state by state decision, so it depends where you lvie.

Considering michael_w is from Canada, I doubt they have such laws

michael_w

Fortunately, they're legal here. Most cops will see it and think it's a switchblade and you'll lose it, but according to the weapon laws here it's perfectly legal. Since it's opened by pushing the thumb stud that's mounted to the blade itself rather than pushing a button and cannot be opened 'by gravity' (like a balisong / butterfly knife) it can be carried just like any other knife. Balisong / butterfly knifes and switchblades are, however, totally banned here. I believe that most states allow switchblades as long as the blade is under 2" (except california), but that's not the case in canada.

shepx2

They are nice, but they are also illegal to carry unless you are military or police.

Then you are in one of the few states they are illegal. Their design allows them to be exempt from most laws governing single-handed opening knives. And they've been making them for years.

MikeC78

shepx2 wrote: »

Then you are in one of the few states they are illegal. Their design allows them to be exempt from most laws governing single-handed opening knives. And they've been making them for years.

I understand that, I'm talking about auto-blades, the ones that open with a spring mechanism of some sort with a push of a button. Not all single-handed opening knifes are illegal, just the ones that are mechanically opened of any sort.

Those are illegal in most states...

audiobliss

That's great to hear, as I'm a huge Kershaw fan. Dad sells them, so I've accumulated a few. I kind of passively collect them, anyways.

I couldn't remember what my daily knife was, so I looked it up on their website...and it's a Blur! 1670!

Lemme see, what else...
A Chive, a Liner Lock, an Amphibian (with the boot sheath), two or three special editions that Dad got as 'awards' from SnapOn, and then a special edition Whirlwind (1 out of 500).

audiobliss

MikeC78 wrote: »

I understand that, I'm talking about auto-blades, the ones that open with a spring mechanism of some sort with a push of a button. Not all single-handed opening knifes are illegal, just the ones that are mechanically opened of any sort.

Those are illegal in most states...

These Kershaw Ken Onion Speed Safe knives are opened by mechanical means. They have a torsion bar, as they like to call it, laying in a groove in one of the handles that compresses when you close the blade and then pushes the blade open when you initiate the movement. Key part being, you have to push the thumb-stud on the side of the blade (just like on a normal knife) before the torsion bar takes over and flings it out the rest of the way.

Legal here in NC.

audiobliss

Oh, and by the way, it's not too hard to take apart/put back together one of these knives. It's obviously a bit more complicated than with a normal knife, but it's definitely doable. I took apart my Chive once and didn't really have enough time to devote to getting it back together at the time, but when I sat down to do it it wasn't too bad. I imagine it'd be easier on a larger knife, though...the Chive is just sooo small!

MikeC78

Let me clarify myself a little...

Any AUTO opening blade is going to be considered illegal, by that it means with no wrist action or help of anything else, besides a push of a button/lever to open the knife.

Something like this, http://www.benchmade.com/products/product_detail.aspx?model=9100

madmax

There is a very fine line in whats legal. The assisted opening ones are legal. I bought mine at walmart. Push against the little thumb knob to start it and it whips itself out. I like stuff like that. I don't see why fully automatic ones should be any more illegal than these assisted ones but laws are laws...
madmax

audiobliss

MikeC78 wrote: »

Something like this, http://www.benchmade.com/products/product_detail.aspx?model=9100

Ahh, my friend has one like that. Very nice knife. I wouldn't mind having one like that.

I'd also like to add a few SOG and Cold Steel knives to my collection.

Bill Ayotte

http://www.benchmade.com/products/product_detail.aspx?model=4200
I have one of these and two of the one posted above......I got those through the army...
I really want one of these....:eek:
http://www.benchmade.com/products/product_detail.aspx?model=3300

audiobliss

Bill Ayotte wrote: »

http://www.benchmade.com/products/product_detail.aspx?model=4200
I have one of these and two of the one posted above......I got those through the army...
I really want one of these....:eek:
http://www.benchmade.com/products/product_detail.aspx?model=3300

:eek: is right!

I'd love to have one of those! BUT, I can see me getting in a lot of trouble...and putting holes through all my pockets! :eek:

MikeC78

Bill,

I received the 9100 as posted above through the Army also. They are fabulous knifes, I can't even count how many car seats and doors I cut through with that in Iraq.:)

michael_w

I was looking for a second knife to cary but this time a bit smaller. After looking online I decided on the chive... that changed dramatically when I went into a store and held it in my hand. Not the safest feeling when you can only get three fingers on the handle :eek: . I decided to stick with the blur since none of the smaller knives (except maybe a leek) fit my hand well. Not very good prices in canada so I'm pretty much stuck with msrp on any knife. I'll probably be sticking with the blur for a while.

Getting an auto into Canada would be a tough feat, not to mention it'd be gone for good the first time a cop sees it. Just not worth the effort.

Lots of great information at www.bladeforums.com .



Oh and Justin, if this thread gets out of line with the bording weapons topic just speak up and it'll stop. The idea was to share my experiance with another companies great customer service not break the forum rules

MikeC78

audiobliss wrote: »

:eek: is right!

I'd love to have one of those! BUT, I can see me getting in a lot of trouble...and putting holes through all my pockets! :eek:

There is a locking mechanism on them to prevent that. I should of acquired me another one before I got out, damnit!

audiobliss

Whao, that 9100 will cut through doors?! Impressive! What are the prices on these things? Can they only be purchased by military/LEO personel?

michael_w - Yeah, the Chive is REALLY small! I carried it around with me for a while right after I got it, but with it being small AND slick...that didn't last very long. The Scallion didn't suit you? It's been a while since I held one, but I thought it felt pretty good in my hand.

While not my favorite, most expensive, cheapest, sharpest, or strongest knife, the one I enjoy carrying with me every day the most is my Kershaw Liner Lock. It's cheap enough that you don't have to worry about it, it's got just the perfect amount of heft to it for you to hold on to, it's aluminum so it's not heavy at all. The list goes on and on. While it doesn't have the Speed Safe technology, it has a thumb stud and is EXTREMELY easy to open. There's a detent in the liner lock at closed and half-way so it won't just open on you, but it's VERY easy to overcome it and open it when you want it. Really, just the perfect balance. I can open it just about as fast as any of my speed safe knives.

And now that I've told you how great it is and sold you on it (now I flatter myself), I have to break it to you that they obviously don't make it anymore. It's not on their website, WalMart's website, or Smokey Mountain Kife Works website (great place!).

venomclan

michael_w wrote: »

I decided to stick with the blur since none of the smaller knives (except maybe a leek) fit my hand well. www.bladeforums.com .

I have a Kershaw Ken Onion Speed Safe Leek and I love it. Great knife and legal in FL. I know a knife dealer and he says that all switchblades are legal here too, as are stun guns. Hell in FL I can walk down the street with a Howitzer cannon and a whoopi cusion singing the theme from shaft and nobody will care.
V

Bill Ayotte

I think the autostryker is about $240 msrp....The other one I have was about $250....the other thing is I carry my knife in my right pocket....so It doesn't cut through my pocket if it opens......It doesn't get enough force going to cut through anything, the blade is facing the back side of the pocket.....I rarely lock mine, and it has only opened once or twice on me....Both times it was the stryker, not the other one....It has that pull back lever on it, solving that problem.

michael_w

I was close to getting the scallion but decided it just wasn't worth the $75 since I already had the blur. I'm still contemplating a silver leek for more of a 'formal' knife The main idea for the second knife was to get some small for work, something a little more discrete. Since I work in an office I don't really like the attention from pulling the blur out but noones really said anything about it yet.

The spyderco dodo would be awesome for work, but it's a little expensive (and I think discontinued).

michael_w

Bumping an old thread here but I got the parts yesterday. I was expecting a cheapo torx bit but they actually sent me a really nice aluminum keychain driver. Holds three bits in the handle, two torx and one phillips, and even has a magnetic tip. Turns out the torsion bar in the knife (what makes it an assisted opening knife) did actually snap in two. The bar is supposed to be rated for 10,000 openings and since it broke in under three months I guess I played with it a lot more than I thought

It's little things like this that grabs me as a customer and makes me trust and enjoy dealing with a company. Another thumbs up for kershaw :cool:





Picked up a spyderco / byrd meadowlark for $30 cdn at house of knives yesterday. It's a lot smaller than the blur but it feels bigger in my hand because of the shorter blade and how one of your fingers sits on the blade instead of the handle. This is what I've been looking for in a second knife. It has that controlled paring knife feel to it. Not anywhere near the quality as the kershaw but at that price it'll do just fine
Link to image

audiobliss

Awesome. Glad to hear Kershaw didn't disappoint. I've yet to hear anything disparraging (sp?) about them.

That knife you picked up looks pretty neat for the dough. I like that idea of having one finger rest on the blade. That way you can have an overall shorter knife, but still have enough for your hand to hold on to.

michael_w

Firefox version 2.0 = automatically spell checks all text fields :cool: It's awesome for typing emails and posting on forums.

A lot of the time when I cook I find myself holding the blade (when I'm using an 8" chef knife) with my thumb and index finger with the other three on the handle itself for a bit more control. This one uses the same principal but in a different application.

The Spyderco Kiwi is probably going to be next on the list if I can find some major excuse (for myself) to shell out the cash for one Knives are nearly as bad as audio when it comes to spending money. I'm just glad I don't live in the states or I'd be trying to convince myself I don't need a microtech otf.

Rivrrat

I have a Scallion, and it's a great little knife. It's also good to know they'll back them up if I have a problem.