Kershaw Chive... any experience

DEVILZ BLADE

DEVILZ BLADE

Joined
Nov 18, 2001
Messages
43
2buy or not 2buy. Just considering buying my self a little chive but havent handled one b4. Has anyone had any experiences they'd like to share. Also what does everyone think about the boron carbie coated chive? Just concerned about scratches and chips.

All opinions are appreciated.
DB
 
I like my chive. I carry it sometimes when I wear dress pants, It will do a lot of cutting for its size, due to the recurved blade.

The "neat factor" is also pretty high with the speed safe opening.

I don't think you can go wrong for the money.
 
Great little knife, but small. Keychain small. Does have a big cutting edge, and wicked sharp out of the box. Only slightly bigger than the crkt peck on my keychain. Safe speed is quite cool.
 
Before buying the Chive, you should consider the Scallion. The Scallion bigger and makes it more versatile.
 
I have the black Chive. I bought it specifically as a little gents' folder, to be carried in the watch pocket of my jeans most of the time, and provide a little gee-whiz factor while looking good and cutting well. Overall, I love the Chive for this role. It's fun to play with, it looks great, it's incredibly easy to carry, and despite the small size can handle a lot of cutting chores. The integral lock is holding up nicely, not that I torque it very hard or anything. This is defitely my choice in knives of this class and size.
 
I have a chive and love it. It is a great knife for the money, much better than offerings from CRKT IMHO. The blade steel is good, and it comes razor sharp form the factory. The recurve also makes the knife much more useful than another folder with a 2" blade without recurve. Finally it is impossible to argue against how high on the coolness scale the speed safe puts the knife.

I would highly recommend you buy one, especially at the low price it sells for. It is a nice little knife to throw in your pocket, or wherever, so you always have a knife handy.

Erik
 
I'm not that impressed by the Chive. I've been picking up various smallish/gentlemen's knives for a couple of months now (Spyderco, WH, Katz, Solo, small CRKT Viele, BM, KISS, etc.) and the Chive is about my least favorite. As a "gadget" it's ok, but as a knife it's not so hot. Best overall is the WH Evolution. For minimum expense the itty bitty Spyderco rules. And for a bit more than the Chive ($50 on the net) you can get a lot more knife with the BM "Big Spender".

Ron Fanning
 
DB,
I highly recommend the Chive, and I've got the plain and Boron Carbide coated one. They are my favorites out of all of my knives! I am a woman, but have somewhat large hands for a woman and have no trouble opening/closing one-handed. I think you'll love how fast they open. I've found that cycling my Chives is addictive and rather therapeutic, especially after a stressful day! :D Give 'em a try, I think you'll like them! Great little knife for the money.
 

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Cycling my chive without looking got me a nice big cut across my thumbprint :)
It's an extremely nice little knife, but I don't carry it. Without the safety on I'm far too afraid that it will open in my pocket, from where it would easily sink an inch into my butt the first time I sat down. With the safety on it is slower to open than say, a spyderco dragonfly.

Adam
 
Initially I loved the Chive. Now I feel, after a few week's on the pocket, it is just a bit too slow to bring into use. Even for just mundane, everyday use.

Way sharp out of the box? Definitely. Will I still clip it? Probably so.

Maintain as an EDC in addition to my other blades? Probably for a while. I like everything about the Chive, except for the fact that, IMO, it takes longer to manipulate, and unlock than it should.

Shiney black attributes? It resists scratching big time. Keys/change are no problem.
 
...at the BAKCA show, an epiphany really...but, alas...

"Eye's a cheap bastid", so am looking at the Kershaw production models in the mean time...

I'm thinking the Chive is a little on the small size, the Scallion may do it...(comments here please...on the Scallion I mean), but the knives I played with were larger I believe...

So, is there a larger model with 'Speed-Safe' available through Kershaw? And if so, what's the make and model?

Also, I didn't know about these knives having 'safeties'....are they really needed? And what are the issues concerning not using one? (Serious answers here please)

My interest? Having roughly 100 nice knives, maybe 5 are folders..a SAK, a couple o Spydies, and a few collectibles...

I'd like a new EDC after using an Endura for the last 8 years, and I realllly like the KO designs. I just don't want to drop $450 for an EDC at this point.

Please help guys. I'll be nice, I promise...lol :rolleyes: Anyone?
 
There are a few other Kershaw folders with "speed safe" mechanism on the market. I'm just waiting for the payment on my credit card to clear to order a few knives, one of which is the Kershaw Whirlwind, with the 3.375" blade.
 
Melvin, the Boa has the Speed-Safe feature as well (and seems to be popular among the forumites), and you might find that one more to your liking. I have tried the larger models and found that the larger bladed models open more slowly, due to the weight of the longer blade and sheer physics. The Chive just flies open since there is little mass to its smaller blade. The Boa seems to "glide" open and has a more subdued click when it locks open. Same goes for the Whirlwind. The Scallion opened about the same as a Chive for me, but did not click open as loudly. It had more of a "thunk" to it. Hope that helps you some. To me, the Scallion lacked the substance I wanted, and frankly I didn't want yet another "plastic" handled knife. Nothing against it personally, Ken designs great knives, it just didn't fit my wants as a knife consumer.

As for the safety feature, I am glad it's there. This little knife (I'm speaking of the Chive) opens so easily that I could see it opening on its own in my pocket if I was in a real hurry to pull it out. So I don't mind it at all, in fact it puts my mind at ease.
 
Dangnabbit! I was still signed in under my boyfriend's username when I posted the above! Gotta get that man to log off when he's done!

Anyhoo, Melvin, I was the one who posted above. Sorry for the confusion!
 
I just picked up my Chive last night and I love it. Fun little thing to play with, though the "snick" of its opening is driving my wife nutz. :)

I see the safety as a good thing, for the reasons mentioned. As for adding to the amount of time it takes to draw the knife... Well, it's a < 2" blade, and a little tiny handle, so I don't see trying to use this as a defensive knife. And I can't figure out in what other context "draw speed" would come into play. So for me it's a non-issue.

If you're seriously thinking of using this knife as a defensive tool, don't. Get something bigger, and with a guard to keep your hand off the blade.

-- PG
 
The chive's safety mechanism is at the base of the knife, opposite the blade end of the grip. It's a small sliding widget that locks the blade and doesnt allow it to open. It's definately needed, in my opinion, on this knife as just a light tap on the spine side protrusion and the blade whisks out. It's cool, but seems -way- to easy to open. If the safety weren't there, as noted by others, there's a reasonable chance it would open in your pocket!

I found the secondary lock a bit annoying and a clumsy (though necessary) addition to an otherwise cute little knife. That's why I didn't buy one. YMMV.

Cedric
 
...good comments all. I understand that speed comes with practice, and after opening and closing my old style Spyderco 50/50 Endura about 20 times a day, daily, for the last 8 years, it's a pretty natural motion...

One of my buds at work calls it my 'ghost' knife, because you never really see it straight on, usually it's just out of the corner of your eye...and I close it one handed on my leg too...so it's a fast motion, and then it's gone...

That being said, I'm looking for a replacement, and I think the Speed-Safe knife in roughly the same size and weight of a Zytel Endura might do the trick...

The only concern would be accidental folding up under abusive prying, stabbing, cutting motions...that simply wouldn't do... :eek:

Also, I'm not to hip on safeties, firearms or knives, seems a little silly to me...(No flames here kids, it's how I feel...)

That being said, thanks again for the comments, and I'll look into the KO Kershaws I think.

Mel
 
Melvin,
I'm fairly certain (guys correct me if I'm wrong) that the Boa and Whirlwind do not have safeties on them. I'm not sure if the Scallion has one, but perhaps a Scallion owner could enlighten us. While I was checking out the Boa and Whirlwind, I failed to note if there was a safety on either one, but my memory is telling me that I didn't see one. I was too busy trying out their Speedsafe features to really take note of much of anything else. I did prefer the handle of the Boa over the handle of the Whirlwind.
 
The only one I remember seeing a safety on is the chive. I don't recall seeing one on the boa, whirlwind, or blackout. The scallion I haven't seen, so I can't comment on that.

Of all of the speedsafe knifes I've seen, the only one that was REALLY easy to open, was the chive. The others took a bit more oomph to open (though not difficult by any stretch of the imagination), and didn't really need a safety per se.

Good luck with your choice. All of the Ken Onion designs I saw seemed to be pretty comfortable. Of all of them, the G10 versions had the best, grippy, feel to me. They were just a bit longer in blade length than I wanted, thus my ending up with a mini-griptilian. :)

Cedric
 
Amy, what the nice photo!
You are right, playing with this little sweet knife allows to cope with stresses :)

I also have both Chives and it's really hard to consider which one I like better. Probably black looks nobler, but it's difficult to keep it clean. Each fingertip is quite visible at polished, boron carbide coated surface.

Boa has the safety, this is small plastic slide at the handle's spine just behind index trigger in closed position. Sliding it forwards (towards the pivot) locks the knife closed, unlocking movement before triggering speed safe mechanism is very natural and comfortable.
 
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