Kershaw Quality - US vs China

R

rootshot

Joined
Aug 28, 2006
Messages
8
Folks, let me start by saying that I'm a big fan of Made in the USA.

I bought a Kershaw Compound 1940ST (made in China) recently for under $20 and have been thrilled with the knife and amazed at the quality. I liked it so much, I decided up upgrade the following week by buying the similar but US made Kershaw Turbulence 1790 which I received tonight.

There are many positive qualities about both knives, but since this is a complaint, I'll ignore the positive bits.

I was a little disappointed to find that the finish on the US Made Turbulence was not as good as the similar Chinese model.

Most visibly, the edge of the liner has tool marks it looks like there was an attempt made to buff these marks out, but it still doesn't compare to the quality in the 1940ST.

The thumb studs are non-functional for opening the knife and appear to act as rotation stops in the open and closed position.

The liner lock is almost even height with the edge of the handle and has rounded corners. This prevents me from unlocking the knife using the flesh of my thumb - I have to use my thumb nail.

The opening action is also not as smooth as the Compound 1940. If I slowly depress the flipper, it will not open into the fully locked position.

Kershaw - if you're listening, here are a few observations / feedback after playing with both knives:
- Take the 1940 design and upgrade it with better steel and real G10 handles - made in the US
- Create a plain edge 1940 style blade but with the flipper design of the 1790 (looks and feels better)
- Either make the thumb studs functional for opening or revert to the 1940 locking design
- Fix the height of the liner lock and use a titanium liner :)
- Upgrade your US quality
- Minimize / eliminate the "dip" between the front guard and the beginning of the cutting surface. This can catch rope or other material you are trying to cut.
 
I can't speak for the Turbulence 1790 but I picked up a Kershaw Compound 1940ST on a daily deal for 14.99 shipped a few weeks back. I was not expecting much but could not pass it up given the price. I was very surprised with the quality of the knife as you were. I did not like the design of the knife at all until I held it. Fits my hand like a glove. For the price it's a homerun. I also had the same thoughts as you after coming to really like the knife. Would love to upgrade to a version with better steel and G-10 if ever available.
 
Last edited:
rootshot said:
Folks, let me start by saying that I'm a big fan of Made in the USA.

I bought a Kershaw Compound 1940ST (made in China) recently for under $20 and have been thrilled with the knife and amazed at the quality. I liked it so much, I decided up upgrade the following week by buying the similar but US made Kershaw Turbulence 1790 which I received tonight.

There are many positive qualities about both knives, but since this is a complaint, I'll ignore the positive bits.

I was a little disappointed to find that the finish on the US Made Turbulence was not as good as the similar Chinese model.

Most visibly, the edge of the liner has tool marks it looks like there was an attempt made to buff these marks out, but it still doesn't compare to the quality in the 1940ST.

The thumb studs are non-functional for opening the knife and appear to act as rotation stops in the open and closed position.

The liner lock is almost even height with the edge of the handle and has rounded corners. This prevents me from unlocking the knife using the flesh of my thumb - I have to use my thumb nail.

The opening action is also not as smooth as the Compound 1940. If I slowly depress the flipper, it will not open into the fully locked position.

Kershaw - if you're listening, here are a few observations / feedback after playing with both knives:
- Take the 1940 design and upgrade it with better steel and real G10 handles - made in the US
- Create a plain edge 1940 style blade but with the flipper design of the 1790 (looks and feels better)
- Either make the thumb studs functional for opening or revert to the 1940 locking design
- Fix the height of the liner lock and use a titanium liner :)
- Upgrade your US quality
- Minimize / eliminate the "dip" between the front guard and the beginning of the cutting surface. This can catch rope or other material you are trying to cut.
Click to expand...

First off, welcome to Bladeforums! :) (And the Kershaw/ZT subforum!) :thumbup:

My black Turbulence has none of the issues that you speak of. In fact, it's one of my fastest knives and is very well finished all around. :confused: The studs are functional if you have technique, but here again the flipper is the main opening method. Also, if you unscrew the pivot a tad (and lubricate with something such as mineral oil), it should fix your opening issue.

Warranty would be able to address your finish concerns - sounds like you got an odd one. warrantyinfo@kai-usa.com is their email

To address your other points:

My turbulence liner is raised, too. If you raise it too high, you can unintentionally unlock your knife while twisting it (not good).

Titanium is expensive for a knife at this price point, both for the material and for the tooling; also, it has the tendency to gall.

US quality, in my examples, and in the thousands that I've seen is top-notch. There is no "upgrade" of quality - they compare with knives costing twice as much. If you want something a little bit more hand-finished, then ZT is the ticket.

The "dip" / "ricasso" thing that you speak of is meant for sharpening, and believe me, you do want it there to keep the heel of the knife from getting too thick. :)
 
Titanium is actually not as good choice for a lock compared to a high quality steel. There's a reason springs are made of steel and not titanium. :)

(A liner lock/frame lock is a simple leaf spring. :D) But interesting commentary on the quality of the 1940... Have to check one out.

China can produce great quality, it just requires more effort/focus than in the Americas....
 
I have a total of 6 kershaws. I couldn't tell you which is made i in the US and which is Chinese, but i haven't seen any QC issues worth mentioning

JYD II
JYD II CP
Spec Bump
Needs Work
Blur
Compound

If anyone knows which is which let me know
 
BePrepared said:
I have a total of 6 kershaws. I couldn't tell you which is made i in the US and which is Chinese, but i haven't seen any QC issues worth mentioning

JYD II
JYD II CP
Spec Bump
Needs Work
Blur
Compound

If anyone knows which is which let me know
Click to expand...

The only Chinese one on your list is the Compound.
 
rootshot said:
I bought a Kershaw Compound 1940ST (made in China) . . . the following week by buying the similar but US made Kershaw Turbulence 1790
Click to expand...

Sounds like you have been watching Nutnfancy. :) Me too. But if not:

[youtube]4RyPr1ox7Lk[/youtube]
 
powernoodle said:
Sounds like you have been watching Nutnfancy. :) Me too. But if not:

[youtube]4RyPr1ox7Lk[/youtube]
Click to expand...

I made it to 4:30 before I lost the will to live, and tried to strangle myself. Luckily, an employee was present, and was able to shut down the vid before I was successful with my suicide. Moving on.

I'll always buy US made. Sorry Kershaw 2012 lineup, but I'm seeing a lot of "Imports" that don't make my list. I'm hoping to see more US made (assisted) knives from Kershaw in the future. I will continue to buy US made until they start out pricing thier performance. In this last week, I received an Avalanche and the Turbulence mentioned here (thanks KershawGuy). I'm very impressed with the Turbulence. It is very under rated for such a great knife. Very comfortable in the pocket and a good usable design. I'll EDC it for a week before I set my opinion on it. But I'm sure by this time next week, I'll still love this US made blade. Others have said here that the Kershaw imports are just as good. I'm sure they are. But it's just not for me when there are so many great US made blades out there.
 
Like everyone else, I would prefer Kershaw made more and more knives in the USA, but that being said, the chinese made ones are pretty fantastic. My Nerve, which I got for $13, is almost flawless. It just amazes me that Kershaw can pack that much value into one knife for so little money. The thing that surprises me most is that I didn't have any problems with screws stripping or not seating in the G10 properly, a problem I have oddly had with a few USA made Kershaws (I'm not making that a judgment of value at all).

You really can't be mad at Kershaw for their 2012 lineup because the few USA made knives are all so fantastic: the Piston, Echelon, and Knockout have to be some of the highest demanded production knives I've seen since I got into knives.
 
I think the made in US ones are higher quality, but you do pay a little more for it. I've owned a few Chinese made Kershaws and the F&F was good and the blades came reasonably sharp. Definitely solid user knives and I don't hesitate to recommend them to people who are looking for an inexpensive folder.
 
I would MUCH rather have a china made Kershaw than absolutely anything else in their price range. They have the sub-$35 price point completely locked up in overall quality and design.

A $20 Chinese Kershaw is every bit the equal of a $65 Gerber folder IMHO
 
Have the chinese select fire and absolutely love it. Though it is mostly because it is a more all around tool (have a T-6 and T-8 bit in it so I can actually use it for working on other knives), but it works perfectly. It's been used to change and bleed my breaks (couldn't remove any nuts of course, but took care of any and every screw), and was the ONLY tool needed for assembling my new grill.

It kicked an 0350CBZDP out of my pocket because I don't really need anything that sharp. This knife still cuts the hair off my arm and deals with everything else I need.

After reviews, I'm thinking of getting the 1950, because it's nice solid size. My first knife (ever) was the 1830 OSO Sweet (but I lost it) and it was a great knife.

Actually, with the OSO Sweet as an option, I wouldn't ever really get a Leek.
 
I just want to make a comment about Kershaws quality control. When they make something like the Tilt or any other low volume high quality knife, they plan on making lets say 1000. Well only like 800 actually get sold as first quality. The rest are sold as blems or used for spare parts. (these numbers are made up)

What I am getting at is that Kershaw checks all the knives before they go into a box, yes everybody does make mistakes, but I have bought a knife listed as new and it has some little issues. Kerhsaw takes the hit for these issues whether or not they actually caused them. Sometimes its just a bad seller. Keep that in mind. Sometimes they are perfect out of the box, and some times they take some fine tuning to work perfectly. Most all take time to wear in to flip smooth as glass.

In my experience they will go above and beyond whats necessary to fix any issues the buyer has. Even possibly giving you a new different knife in exchange, just to keep all their customers happy.

I don't have either knife talked about, but I have found for the price, the offshore knives are a great value, but a little more clunky and less refined. Whereas the US made knives are assembled in Oregon and inspected before sent out. They are not having their best designed knives made overseas, thats for sure.

The sister company Zero Tolerance gets its name from overly scrutinizing the knives they send out (even fewer are 1st quality), they have zero tolerance for any correctable issue. ZT stands for very little size, shape or functional discrepancy, they only send out flawless examples.

This is the first time I have heard anybody saying that their China made knife is better than a US made knife. To each their own. Welcome.
 
bluejayburly said:
I just want to make a comment about Kershaws quality control. When they make something like the Tilt or any other low volume high quality knife, they plan on making lets say 1000. Well only like 800 actually get sold as first quality. The rest are sold as blems or used for spare parts. (these numbers are made up)

What I am getting at is that Kershaw checks all the knives before they go into a box, yes everybody does make mistakes, but I have bought a knife listed as new and it has some little issues. Kerhsaw takes the hit for these issues whether or not they actually caused them. Sometimes its just a bad seller. Keep that in mind. Sometimes they are perfect out of the box, and some times they take some fine tuning to work perfectly. Most all take time to wear in to flip smooth as glass.

In my experience they will go above and beyond whats necessary to fix any issues the buyer has. Even possibly giving you a new different knife in exchange, just to keep all their customers happy.

I don't have either knife talked about, but I have found for the price, the offshore knives are a great value, but a little more clunky and less refined. Whereas the US made knives are assembled in Oregon and inspected before sent out. They are not having their best designed knives made overseas, thats for sure.

The sister company Zero Tolerance gets its name from overly scrutinizing the knives they send out (even fewer are 1st quality), they have zero tolerance for any correctable issue. ZT stands for very little size, shape or functional discrepancy, they only send out flawless examples.

This is the first time I have heard anybody saying that their China made knife is better than a US made knife. To each their own. Welcome.
Click to expand...


I don't think that it's a china made Kershaw being of higher quality than a US made Kershaw. I think it's that a China made Kershaw can be of higher quality compared to another company's knives, US or China made. I've seen that first hand. It may not be exactly apples to apples, but my Kershaw Crown has better fit and finish that a couple of Bear & sons knives that I've owned.
 
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