Best production Kershaw currently

Atmos, quick 1 handed operation and disappears back into the pocket.
Great for my job when i have to open boxes, never put it down somewhere.. already lost 1 because i'm in and out of retail stores.
Also the amazing action and lock up. Can't be without at least 1 of these in the collection ;)
 
The M390 Knockout and Natrix are my current favorites.

Different price points, weight and steel. Pick the one what suits your needs best.
 
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Love the CF Leek...

The best version of one of Kershaw's best blades.


iDjy8FN.jpg
 
I like cpm-154 also, but I kind of wish they'd do a cf leek with the normal 14c28n steel - they could probably do it for $20-30 less ... which would put it in the $60 range

Those would sell like hotcakes (imho)
 
mwhich50 said:
How could it get any better?
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I love my M390 Dividend but I only carry it in shirt pockets and it only sees light use. It's more of a gentleman's assisted folder (if that makes sense). The Link would get a lot more casual carry in a pants pocket. It would probably get used for a lot more stuff. Given that, I don't love the feel of metal scales in my hand.

So for me, this could get better with wood or G-10 scales. :D

dirc said:
I like cpm-154 also, but I kind of wish they'd do a cf leek with the normal 14c28n steel - they could probably do it for $20-30 less ... which would put it in the $60 range

Those would sell like hotcakes (imho)
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I kind of wish they'd use 14C28N for the basic Link and Dividend. I'd also like to see some of their 8Cr13Mov models promoted to 14C28N. I know those are Chinese models but Ruike is using it at reasonable prices. I'm guessing Kershaw could too.
 
Goofcat said:
Wow! Thanks for all the responses so far here are the results:

Atmos: 2 Votes
Bareknuckle: 9 (2 for 20CV)
Blur: 8
Chive: 1
CQC: 2
Decimus: 1
Dividend: 10 (6 for the M390 version)
Fraxion: 1
Knockout: 5 (2 for M390)
Launch: 2
Link: 7 (2 for M390)
Leek: 10
Cooper Natrix: 4
Oso-Sweet: 1
Shallot: 1
Skyline: 4
Strobe: 1
Zing: 1

That’s quite a list! I hope at some point I’ll get to own a couple of them.
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That is quite the list. I only have six of them.
 
I’ve only had a couple and haven’t purchased one in years but the dividend was a pretty solid choice. USA made and I think only $40
 
There is a wood-handled version of the Concierge out now. It looks good but it's still $40-something for 8Cr13Mov. If it was 14C28N or another more cost-appropriate budget steel, that money would already be missing from my account. Companies like Civivi, Tangram, Ruike, CJRB, etc. have made 8Cr13Mov obsolete for me at this price.
 
I never liked the recurve on the blur, and for some reason the dividend just feels funny in the hand. I really wanted to love the bareknuckle, it looked amazing on paper, but when I got to try one, I just didn't care for it much. Maybe I just got hold of a bad one.
The link feels good, but is heavy heavy. Stupid heavy. It needs to be put on a diet bad. The chill is a nice carry size, but is built so cheaply it's action is garbage. Skyline is all right.

I love my leek in elmax, and the launch 1 feels great. I have high hopes for the launch 11 as well. And the cheap little fraxion has one of the best actions I've ever felt on a knife. I feel like the real problem with Kershaw is that neither Ken onion, nor the rest of the team can design a pocket clip.

My brother used to work with Kershaw on their sales and brought me a big sample package one time of a bunch of knives. I was astounded at how bad many of the cheap ones are. I was also astounded that this was the sample bag that was sent to Walmart for them to evaluate, and the knives were in terrible condition. Nobody had turned them or looked at them or tested them at all. Blades were off center quality control is garbage, it was not impressive at all. Clearly neither Walmart nor the Kershaw sales department are knife people. He also asked my opinion when he was designing a Black Friday special edition for Walmart. The most Salient point of that for me was that a steel upgrade from 8CR13mov to 154cm or S35v was only going to be 10 or 15 bucks. I said please please do that then I would buy it in a heartbeat and he pitched it to Kershaw / Walmart but they didn't go for it. All they decided to go with was a new blade and handle color combo. I want that also pressed him about the delay on the bare-knuckle, and he said that essentially Kershawwas having real problems building a decent knife at a cheap price on their equipment. Ever Bloom and prosper also said that Kershaw had bought a couple CNC machines how to make tactical pens about the time the bottom dropped out of that market. So they sat around scratching their heads going what can we use these machines for, and that's why we have many of the more intricately-designed pivot pins now on zt knives.
 
G greyling really? I find it hard to believe that a company as huge as KAI USA would send such horrible examples as you’re saying they did. Saying they aren’t “knife people” about a company who makes knives seems antithetical at the very least.

And now the new pivots are a result of using CNC machines that were purchased for tactical pen production? What kind of special CNC machines are required to make pens and you’re sure they specifically bought a few just to make pens? Wouldn’t a standard CNC be able to make pens?

And having issues building a decent knife at cheap price point? The Link and Dividend are cheaper than the Bareknuckle and are built at the same facility so I can’t see how that can be true...
 
Ken Onion hasn't been at Kai for 7 or 8 years..... Nothing wrong with their pocket clips IMO.

Now the JYD clip was messed up and on the wrong end, but that was years ago too.
 
metsfan said:
G greyling really? I find it hard to believe that a company as huge as KAI USA would send such horrible examples as you’re saying they did. Saying they aren’t “knife people” about a company who makes knives seems antithetical at the very least.

And now the new pivots are a result of using CNC machines that were purchased for tactical pen production? What kind of special CNC machines are required to make pens and you’re sure they specifically bought a few just to make pens? Wouldn’t a standard CNC be able to make pens?

And having issues building a decent knife at cheap price point? The Link and Dividend are cheaper than the Bareknuckle and are built at the same facility so I can’t see how that can be true...
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Like I said, I was surprised by the lack of quality control by the samples. There must be knife people at the company, but they're not in the sales/marketing Dept apparently. The bareknuckle is not assisted. I think that is the issue. The link and dividend have the assist that overcomes the need for a smooth pivot and tuned detent. He said Kershaw was essentially trying to make a budget zt, and we're struggling to get the tolerances and feel right. Remember how the original run had issues?

As far as the CNC machines, that's just what I was told.
 
G greyling I preordered the Bareknuckle back when it was first announced and mine does not have any issues, so I’m not quite sure which issues the original run had because I never heard of any problems with them with evidence attached.
 
Just bought a Lucha off of the Exchange. Very nicely made and a good value if you are into butterfly knives, which among other things I am.
 
the only issue my first run Bareknuckle has is a spinning pivot. they either machined the hex in the scale slightly too big, or the female half of the pivot's hex too small. my 20cv Bareknuckles don't have this problem, so they must have fixed it.

other than that, action, detent, tolerances on my Bareknuckles are excellent. my 14c28n is a little off center, but no big deal. my 2 20cvs are dead center.

in my mind it is a budget ZT, especially now with the 20cv. love those knives.
 
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