Best Kershaw Knives

The History of Kershaw Knives

Kershaw Knives was founded by Peter Kershaw, an avid outdoorsman, who knew the importance of guaranteed quality in a hunting knife. In 1974, he started his own knife company in Lake Oswego, Oregon. On the other side of the world, Kai had been making high-quality bladed tools for more than 65 years and was focused on exporting their products to the American market. Kershaw and Kai’s paths converged, and the two have been linked ever since. In 1998, Kershaw’s SpeedSafe assisted opening mechanism was introduced, changing the knife industry landscape forever. Today, Kershaw continues to innovate with new designs and technologies at its facility in Oregon.

The Best Kershaw Knives

Lucha Butterfly Knife

Do you flip? Do you want to flip? Then, the Lucha Butterfly Knife is for you! This is a high-quality butterfly knife that’s made in the USA. Next level materials include a 14C28N stainless steel blade and all-steel handle. Next level performance comes from Kershaw’s meticulous design. For instance, the blade tapers so that the top has more weight to pendulum around smoothly. The Lucha features dual KVT ball-bearing pivots for extra-easy operation. The handle has a rounded bevel, so it rolls effortlessly in the hand. Even the latch is rounded so it never catches as you flip. The latch also features a positive stop, so it never contacts the blade. The full-sized Lucha was designed with feedback from real flippers. This light, fast butterfly knife will jump, fly, and spin in your hands.
Pros:

• The large belly of the blade makes deep cuts easy and the swedge at the top ensures it won’t get stuck in thick materials.
• The cuts in the handle provide a good, textured grip and make the butterfly knife lightweight for easy flipping.
• The KVT ball-bearing pivots allow the knife to swing into action smoothly and the latch locks the knife and continues to remain tight.

Cons:

• It’s still a butterfly knife and makes an awkward EDC, if you’re not used to using this style of pocket knife.

Blur Assisted Opening Knife

Kershaw’s ergonomic Blur Assisted Opening Knife is specifically designed to be a work knife. It features a 3 1/2” 440A stainless steel drop point blade with a slight recurve on the edge, which makes the knife easy to sharpen. It also has a swedge running along the top that makes the tip of the drop point strong, providing a good combination of strength and piercing ability. The dual thumb studs allow for ambidextrous, one-handed opening with Ken Onion’s SpeedSafe assisted opening technology. The handle is 6061-T6 anodized aluminum with Kershaw’s rubberized, “Trac-Tec” handle inserts, giving you traction when using but is still comfortable to the hand. It has a sturdy pocket clip for ease of carry.
Pros:

• The drop point blade has a swedge along the top, which provides a good combination of strength and piercing ability.
• It has Kershaw’s special “Trac-Tec” inserts, which give plenty of traction without being abrasive to the hand when using.
• The Blur is a reasonably priced Kershaw pocket knife.

Cons:

• The thumbstuds are cut at an angle, which dig into the thumb, and some people find them uncomfortable to use.

Leek Assisted Opening Knife

The slim and stylish Leek Assisted Opening Knife was designed by legendary knife maker Ken Onion and is crafted of solid stainless steel. It is firmly planted in the EDC category (no pun intended) and has become almost the gold standard for EDCs. It has a modified Wharncliffe blade that comes to a very fine tip, which makes it perfect for piercing tasks and detail work. It also features the SpeedSafe assisted opening mechanism that enables it to be opened quickly using either the ambidextrous thumb stud or the index finger flipper. The stainless steel handle is drilled for both tip-up and tip-down clip carry, and it has a sturdy pocket clip. The handle is constructed with screws rather than pins, so if you need to disassemble the knife, then it can easily be done with a T6 torx bit. The Leek has become a favorite of both hardcore enthusiasts and casual pocket knife users.
Pros:

• It has a slim and stylish design that is also sturdy and solid, making it the perfect everyday carry pocket knife.
• The Wharncliffe-style blade is really easy to sharpen compared to other styles of blade and allows for good leverage when using.
• Even after years of substantial use, the blade locks into place firmly without blade play in any direction and releases with no sticking.

Cons:

• The fine tip of the Wharncliffe blade is somewhat fragile and there is almost no “belly” (forward curvature) to the blade.
• There is no significant texturing on the handle scales to give you traction when using the pocket knife.

Emerson Bushcrafting Knife

The Emerson Bushcrafting Knife is an incredible hunting knife but it’s equally adept at survival, camping, and bushcrafting or for just about any outdoor activity. It has a razor-sharp, stonewashed, 3 1/2” blade crafted of D2 tool steel. This high-carbon, high-chromium tool steel is a great choice for a knife blade, offering good edge retention and hardness, while being more corrosion resistant than other high-carbon steels. The big blade offers a full belly for skinning and other game processing tasks and superior slicing for in-camp tasks. The framelock handle has a G10 front scale with stainless steel back and Emerson contouring for a secure, comfortable grip. The Emerson Wave Shaped Feature ensures the knife can be opened quickly and easily as it is withdrawn from the pocket or the thumb disk can be used for simple, manual opening.
Pros:

• The D2 steel offers good edge retention and hardness, while being more corrosion resistant than other high-carbon steels.
• The Emerson Wave Shaped Feature ensures the knife can be opened quickly and easily as it is withdrawn from the pocket.
• It has a full-bellied blade that’s great for skinning and other game processing tasks.

Cons:

• Using the quick “wave” opening looks aggressive and probably not suitable for every situation or environment.
• The jimping isn’t as pronounced and only provides so-so traction when in use.

Static Ball Bearing Opening Knife

The Static Ball Bearing Opening Knife offers dynamic performance and eye-catching appeal. With its cleaver-shaped blade, it excels at cutting, slicing, and chopping. The 8Cr13MoV blade takes a sharp edge and is easy to re-sharpen when needed. It features a slightly curved belly for even more versatility and the stonewashed, brown PVD finish adds a distinctive look, protects the blade and hides use scratches. The manual pocket knife easily opens one-handed with KVT ball-bearings and a flipper. Its stainless steel handle features angled machining that adds to the knife’s good looks and provides traction for a solid grip.
Pros:

• The kitchen cleaver shape of the blade allows the knife to excel at cutting, slicing and chopping.
• It has the Kershaw KVT ball-bearing opening system, making one-handed opening a breeze without a mechanical assist.
• Its stainless steel handle features angled machining that adds to the knife’s good looks and provides traction for a solid grip

Cons:

• Since there is no sharp point on the blade tip, it’s not a good general utility knife because you can’t use it for penetrating tasks.
• The frame lock mechanism takes a little more effort to manipulate, making closing the knife a little more difficult.