A close look at the Onion designed Kershaw Storm II

STR

STR

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Lately I have had several frame locking folders and a good many liner lockers of mine completely apart to give them a very detailed check over. This all started after getting the opportunity to handle a Strider SNG, and PT as well as an Emerson HD7. I guess for the money these knives cost the buying public I had very high expectations of them. As it turned out as some may or may not already know from my posts in another thread I was not at all impressed with the SNG or the HD7 lock up or the tolerances. The PT however did impress me but that is another story.

Since I had already checked all the liner and frame lock folders I owned I started going out about the town looking over what was being sold by various companies in my local area. I also recieved feed back from other individuals on the details of their knives. People like Cliff Stamp and others were gracious enough to take time to examine their own frame locks closely to give me the details of how they were made as well as other feedback to get a feel for the quality of what is being sold today.

During my checking out the local area one knife stood out to me as an exceptional value in frame locks for the dollars spent: the Kershaw Storm II. You can buy this knife at Wal-Mart. My total cost was $32.36 after taxes.

What a great knife! Now lets get to why its a great knife. First the facts:

The blade is a 3.5" recurve made of Sandvik 13C26 steel. This steel is said to have
C Si Mn Cr
0,65 0,4 0,65 13
Rc hardness is said to be between 55 and 57 Rc. The blade thickness is .120.5 thick. Or just over 3mm. The blade is approximately 1.25" wide at the widest point. (nearly 1.5" if you count the flipper.) The blade sports an ambi thumb stud. My blade is a combo edge with the back portion partially serrated and it centers perfectly when closed.

Closed the knife measures 4.75" and it weighs appx. 5.8 ounces. The body is very comfortable in the hand and there are finger grooves in the top of the spine area of the knife for added grip security. There are also grooves on the back and on the frame lock to help release it easier.

The knife is a mere 8.8mm thick not counting the pocket clip. This is a very nice thin knife for those of you that like that. You don't know you have it on you until you need it. The skid guard type inserts for grip are also quite excellent for easy retrieval of the folder when you need it and only found on the non clip side. It comes predrilled for tip up or tip down carry and the body of this folder is easily taken apart for detailed cleaning being all screw construction. The entire body of the knife is 410 stainless steel. Being that 410 has a max hardness of 45 Rc I would assume it is safe to say this lock face is at least that hard. I would also assume it will wear better than an equal thickness or even thicker titanium lock. The total thickness of the liners/scales on this knife is .098 or appx. .100.

Now. What makes this knife so exceptional?

First off it has the recessed half moon shape built into the contact area of the blade where it comes into contact with the blade stop pin. This is something I believe Chris Reeve started and found in his Sebenzas. It is said to increase wear at these two contact areas since it evenly distributes the pressures across a greater surface area.

There is a convenient flipper built into the blade on this model as mentioned above. Nice touch.

Conveniently, the knife also has a lanyard hole and there are numerous holes cut out in the body on the non clip side to help reduce weight and add to the eye appeal.

There is approximately 6mm of lock contact area made into the blade tang where the lock and blade mate up. All 6mm is utilized; as every bit of the available lock hits the blade. Also no light shines through where these two surfaces (lock and blade) meet. 100% lock up! How nice! Imagine that! And in a $30 knife at that.

The lock comes out to engage the blade approximately 75% which is more than ample lock width behind the blade and again reminiscent of the much more expensive Sebenza. The lock comes out the same distance with both a light or heavy thumb opening of the blade. There is no sticking of the lock whatsoever when you want to close the blade. In short the tolerances are dead on with this knife. It is in a word: "Exemplary".

If there is a negative to be found with this great knife it is surely in the fact that it is really for right handed only. The ambi thumb stud is nice but the clip cannot be mounted for a south paw and even if it could the textured grip is not something that is on both sides of the body. The only other negative I find is in the factory pocket clip. In tip down carry it is a fine mount and it conceals deep enough to satisfy most people in this sheeple friendly world. The tip up carry mode, which is what I personally prefer leaves room for improvement though. Far too much of the knife sticks out of the pocket for my tastes when the clip is mounted for tip up carry but this was remedied within the first hour of owning this fine Kershaw piece of work. It now sports one of my custom low rider pocket clips.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3644209&postcount=67

My hats off to Kershaw and Ken Onion on this one. Another fine value in the knife world. Great work here guys.

STR
 
What a great review STR. I have to agree with you too.

I had a Storm II that I traded off because it was too large for me. I have been meaning to replace it with a Storm due to the nice 3" blade.

The Storm and Storm II are great deals. I think they'd still be great deals at $50 too.

:)
 
Yes and it is so nice to know you don't have to spend $400 to get a great frame lock that is made in the USA!

One thing I left out is the thumb stud details. The studs on this knife are made in such a way as to be angled and serrated but situated so that there is a flat contact area for the thumb when you hit it. It is hard to describe but simply put it works and its comfortable. Normally I wipe the serrations or knurls off of thumb studs because I don't like my skin being peeled off but that is not an issue with this knife.

STR
 
Sweet, I've been preaching this knife the last couple of days on here. Glad to see someone else pick up on this. Check out my Storm II challenge that I've issued on here also.
 
Good deal. This knife should be a best seller by the time I get done selling it to everyone I meet. :thumbup:

The Storm knives have got one other thing going for them that I noticed when making the low rider pocket clip. As many know Strider builds in a "Lockbar Stabalizer" on their frame locks that keeps one from over bending the lock bar out when closing the blade. While rare this can and does occur and when it happens the lock bar no longer will travel as far across the blade and sometimes won't even engage the blade properly anymore if the lock bar is bent out toward the clip too far. In this case the only solution is to take the knife apart and rebend the lock bar.

On this knife the pocket clip is placed in such a way as to function as both a clip and a lock bar stabalizer to add even more tension and/or resistance to it that can be felt when you push the lock. I duplicated this in the low rider I made for it and forgot completely to make mention of it.
The clip is made wider at the tail end. I copied this in my low rider and even if the clip was flimsy and weak the fact that your fingers are on it holding it in place, and the fact that it is wide enough to encompass the lock and block it when you depress it to release the blade makes the pocket clip a very effective lock stabablizer.

STR
 
These knives also make unusally nice gifts. They're beefy and yet don't leave buldges. The quality also appears to be very good. The material on the handle is a bit rough, like sandpaper...very abrasive. If there's anything I don't like about it, the blade is a bit too curvy. Still, it's a beautifully crafted knife that has a good feel to it. It cuts beautifully.

K1475.jpg
 
Confederate. Thanks for posting a pic. I should have done that besides the link showing just the pocket clip side. I will post this one though since I have gone ahead and copied the holes of the original clip. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=54488&d=1143256389

Also, as to the recurve. That gentle recurve will allow the blade to cut when dull better than it would if left as a straight edge. Once you have used it and dulled it some that recurve will pay for itself.

Joe, most people I've shown this to since buying it are completely amazed at the quality. It is an absolute steal at $30. I'm of the opinion that it would be a bargain at $100 if the blade steel was one of the super steels. It is certainly as good as knives I've paid that for and more as it is though.

One more thing I like about the design of this knife is how your hand is behind the blade where the flipper is which allows such a grip that even if the lock did defeat in use the blade is blocked from closing by your hand position. Another reason why I am always amazed at the well thought out designs of that Kershaw in house genius, Mr. Ken Onion.

If I were in Kershaw's marketing and sales division I think I'd re-write the add for this knife and include further details like I have mentioned so people know just exactly what they are getting when they purchase this knife. If presented the right way especially to internet buyers who have to rely on the info given where they are looking to buy it, I can't see why it wouldn't rule the roost in the frame lock market share.

STR
 
I liked the looks of the matching bead blasted finish on this low rider I made but by copying the original pocket clip to a large extent I duplicated the one thing about this knife that is a bit of a "sheeple weakness" in its design. The knife screams "look at me" from that big a$$ clip on your pocket. I finally broke down and gave it a littel urban camo by making it blue jean blue. Now at least it is harder to see against my jeans. In fact it blends in nicely so well that you hardly notice it hanging there. I like this on the pocket much better.

STR
 
I've been a long time fan of this knife. I think SS is so underused in low-middle end knives...the Byrd series is definitely a positive movement, but then, they're Chinese. Really, FRN is a nice material, but for those who want a knife that looks nice as well as performs, ss is a good affordable alternative (if you can stand to lose some gripocity).
 
Nice looking knife, too bad they are running that steel so soft, that steel is actually designed to offer full martensite hardness + high stainless at the same time due to the carbon / chromium ratio, underhardening likely reduces wear resistance, strength and corrosion resistance.

Nice to see some solid knives which are also inexpensive, it would be interesting to run some of those against the Byrd and CRK&T blades as they are all in the same general price range and that class of knives is probably far more attractive to the general public than the $150 G10/S30V blades.

Interesting details on the lock, it is odd that it can be so well done in very inexpensive knives and yet have problems in high end blade. Makes it hell on a consumer, I don't think it is reasonable to expect a user to need to know how to make a frame lock to buy a decent one.

You should consider writing a supplementary FAQ to Joe's liner lock FAQ if you have the time, some pictures and commentary from a makers perspective on common issues with liner/integral locks would go a long way in solving a lot of the problems and maybe even stimulating better locks in general. If people were more aware of the problems there may be less tolerance of slop.

-Cliff
 
Very good points and suggestions Cliff.

I wonder if this blade on my Storm II could be sent off and rehardened to it's optimal hardness to improve it or if stainless is not that forgiving? I know with high carbon steels you can do it again if it isn't as expected but not familar enough with the stainless ones.

Reading your comments it makes me wonder why Kershaw elected to make it less than the optimal hardness. Maybe chipping prevention? I hope that one of the guys from Kershaw sees this thread and chimes in some additional comments. I know there are a couple of them here from time to time posting.

I agree with you that the Byrd line and these Kershaw knives are worth checking and comparing. I also have the Cara Cara and I must say it is a very impressive $18 knife. In fact it has a better lock up than some customs in my collection that I paid significantly more for that were made in supposedly the state of the art CNC shops and some productions that are both USA made and Japan made that I'd stand this China made Byrd one side by side with. Its that good. I was as blown away by the quality of this one as much as I was with this USA made Kershaw.


STR
 
STR said:
Reading your comments it makes me wonder why Kershaw elected to make it less than the optimal hardness.
Click to expand...

The austenization temperature is too high, over 2000 F, you need to go that high to get enough carbide dissolved to get the carbon and chromium into solution, this also removes the large primary carbides from the matrix which allows finer edge sharpening and prevents carbide tear outs.

Yes you can get the blade rehardened, you would likely need a full anneal and then retreatment. It would likely cost more than the blade when you include shipping and only worth while for someone to do it in bulk, maybe an option for a dealer who was selling them and there might be issues with the edge during the process.

The Byrd line is indeed a fine value for its cost, very nice production. The CRK&T blades are in general too full of "speed holes" for my tastes (though they make some clean designs), but general contruction is solid, I would like to see harder metal in the liners and LAWKs.

I took apart the Point Guard I mangled awhile ago by pressing it against the scale, and the liner was so weak I could bend it easily by hand. I actually fixed it by cold working it straight with a hammer and then rebending it, it was not nearly as stiff as a spring could be.

While I don't consider the force I applied against the blade to be excessive (25 lbs) I doubt that many would apply it in use though so there is little reason in general for CRK&T to be concerned, however not what I would rate as a "tactical" folder.

-Cliff
 
Hopefully I'll take to more of the CRKT knives later this year. I've had a Serengeti folder for some time and it is an impressive piece. The LAWKS does suck on it though. Its kind of just there and very thin and flimsy. I've never understood why they would go to the trouble of getting permission to use that and then not doing it right to be honest with you.

As for the Rc hardness of the Storm blade. I should add that this info did not come from Kershaw. It came from Knivesplus, Fernknives.com and several other web sites that sell this and the Storm 1 knives. I can only hope it is accurate. Perhaps if not one of the Kershaw guys can straighten that out for us. I hope after reading your comments that it is an error.

STR
 
First off, STR, I thank you for your kind words concerning the Storm. It makes me feel very satisfied when I read a post(s) like what you wrote. I agree with you, that the USA built Storm is an exceptional value. I trust it will bring you years of service.

In regards to the RC on the 13C26, it ranges 57 to 59.

Cliff, I noticed you have been on board with a couple of current Kershaw knife reviews. We have yet to run into each other on the forums to date. Good to hear from you, and hello.

Thomas
Kershaw Knives
 
I also like the design of Storm. However, the steel of this knife is a bit too soft (from reading only, never actually use one). I think it would be interesting to put this knife into some special edition with higher grade steel. I personally would purchase this knife if it has better steel.
 
I bought one of the smaller Storms from a local sporting goods store. #1470BLK and have to say, I agree that this is a great knife value. I liked it so much, I bought another one at a gun show. A #1470, with a manu. date of 12/04. Both blades are PE. I like these knives!:thumbup:

Thomas, thanks for the info. After reprofiling both, I tend to agree with RC of 57/59. Mine put up quite a fight on the reprofiles and have me thinking they are 59. (just a guess)
 
I, too, have been impressed with the Byrd stainless knives. Like the Storm, it's a solid, heavy duty knife with a 440C blade. Now I have several Cold Steel knives with 440A blades. My question has largely been: Is the Byrd 440C blade better than my Cold Steel 440A blades? The prices would not suggest this to be so, which is why things like this are so confusing.
 
surawut said:
I also like the design of Storm. However, the steel of this knife is a bit too soft (from reading only, never actually use one). I think it would be interesting to put this knife into some special edition with higher grade steel. I personally would purchase this knife if it has better steel.
Click to expand...

I hear you. I love the high end steels also, but I going backwards with steel perferences. I'm buying more lower end stuff these days. I haven't really done a lot of cutting with this Sanvic steel, but I'm certain it will hold it own. These will be great little knives!:thumbup:

*for ~30.00, how can you go wrong?:D
 
Confederate said:
I, too, have been impressed with the Byrd stainless knives. Like the Storm, it's a solid, heavy duty knife with a 440C blade. Now I have several Cold Steel knives with 440A blades. My question has largely been: Is the Byrd 440C blade better than my Cold Steel 440A blades? The prices would not suggest this to be so, which is why things like this are so confusing.
Click to expand...

I remember someone saying (Sal?) that the Bird 440c was really not up to 440c specs but more like AUS8. I would say the Bird steel is better than CS 440a but not as good as BM's 440c. This would be only a reference to edge holding. Hope that helps somehow.:confused: :)
 
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