Kershaw Scallion - "Well there's your problem"

Moxy

Moxy

Joined
Oct 30, 2011
Messages
1,648
I use this knife constantly. I literally open and close it 500 times a day. I suppose this was bound to happen.
Out of the blue I noticed that the knife lost all spring. I thought the pivot was all mucked up with cardboard, but no, upon further inspection...

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yeah...:(

Just thought I'd share.

-Tony
 
Yeah, all assisted mechanisms will break after enough openings and pressure.
All the assisted knives I've had have not had their springs last more than 2 weeks of hundreds of openings a day.
The shortest life of a spring I've had was a Kershaw Needs Work. Thing lasted 2 days before the spring weakened and broke on the third day.
 
Yeah I'll call em tomorrow. Too bad this is a common problem.

-Tony
 
Its the nature of the design. Some last for a very long time, especially if you maintain your knife. Kershaw has the best CS in the biz!
 
ya just go to their web site. and go to the contact us thing and itll show you how to order new parts. no proof of purchase or anything either. theyll send you a spring, no questions asked.
 
I must have some freak of nature knives. I've never had a Speedsafe bar break on me. It's not that I don't use them either, my favorite EDC right now is the ZT0350 and I've also got an S30V Blur, a Leek, and a Needs Work that all get regular pocket time. I haven't had an issue yet after thousands of openings with the Blur and ZT and a few hundred on the Leek and Needs Work.
 
Moxy, I wouldn't call it common either...especially when you think about how many A/O Kershaws are out there being used every day. It's a whole frickin' lot, I can tell ya;)

I've owned and used literally hundreds of Kershaw Speedsafe knives and have never actually had a broken torsion bar. The only ones I've had to replace were for a couple of customers over the years, but it was quick and easy. I will say that part of the problem is your own doing. I can understand nervous habits (trust me, I've got a couple of my own:D), but a pocket knife like this isn't really designed to cycle open and closed 500 times a day! The Speedsafe torsion bar is a great design that works extremely well and very smoothly under normal circumstances but when cycled that many times in a day it should be no surprise that the bar suffers from quite a bit of heating up and stress. Ever try to break a paper clip by bending it back and forth? (you know, to shoot it at somebody with a rubber band?)

Bottom line, if you need to open your knife that many times a day just to do it, be prepared to change out a few torsion bars. At least the good folks at Kershaw are happy to send them out to you free of charge.

Moxy said:
Yeah I'll call em tomorrow. Too bad this is a common problem.

-Tony
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I didn't mean to insinuate that it's a design flaw, definitely not. I totally understand how the bar cracked with so much use. It's just wear and tear. Nevertheless, it lasted a few months of that amount of use. I have a fair few of Onion's Speedsafe knives myself (4 Leeks, 2 Scallions, 2 Chives, and a Shallot :D) and I do maintain them well. I just meant that with so much use it will be a common occurrence.
I've tried other knives but the "Speedsafe" is just that... fast. The assisted opening makes my job that much easier.
I'm glad to hear Kershaw has great CS. They're, hands down, my favorite brand of knife.

-Tony
 
Mephtyrm said:
Yeah, all assisted mechanisms will break after enough openings and pressure.
All the assisted knives I've had have not had their springs last more than 2 weeks of hundreds of openings a day.
The shortest life of a spring I've had was a Kershaw Needs Work. Thing lasted 2 days before the spring weakened and broke on the third day.
Click to expand...

You can't be serious... you've managed to break all of them within 2 weeks?
 
Tsujigiri said:
You can't be serious... you've managed to break all of them within 2 weeks?
Click to expand...

Two weeks seems a little extreme, but I've never had a spring bar last for anywhere close to the advertised 1000 or 10000 (whichever one it is...) openings. I'm always baffled by people who claim that they use their speedsafe/outburst/whatever assisted knives every day for years and years without ever changing the spring bars - In my experience they last a matter of months at best. They last a lot longer if they're sitting in a drawer, of course.

Good thing Kershaw's got the best Customer Service in the industry IMHO - call them up and they'll help you out, for sure. :thumbup:
 
Maybe some people live in more humid or corrosive environments? I live in Southern California, which is very dry. Haven't had a torsion bar break yet.
 
I know that they can break but its only actually happened to me once. The torsion bar broke on my first Scallion about two months after I got it in 2002. I foolishly just went and bought a new Scallion before realizing Kershaw would replace it. I have pre-emptively changed a few torsion bars since then but have not had another one break.
 
Tsujigiri said:
Maybe some people live in more humid or corrosive environments? I live in Southern California, which is very dry. Haven't had a torsion bar break yet.
Click to expand...

Corrosive environments? LOL, like what, Mars? :D
Just kidding, no I don't think so. If properly greased humidity shouldn't be a problem, unless you're going swimming with the knife.

-Tony
 
kershawguy said:
I have played with hundreds and never broke one, 500 times a day, seriously ? Hope you don't play with all your stuff that hard :D
Click to expand...

I mean the bar is exorcized 500 times a day counting both openings and closings. So I open, cut, and close the knife 250 times a day. LOL
It's no exaggeration I do use it alot on a busy day. It lasted about 6 weeks of that.

-Tony
 
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