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reswright
3850
Oct 1, 2019
Kershaw 1760 Skyline, 14C28N/G-10


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Kershaw is a brand name that a lot of Americans know. They don't necessarily know that Kershaw is owned by KAI, a Japanese company that maintains some production in America for Kershaw and Zero Tolerance knives. This is one of those knives -- the Skyline. Some might ding them for that, but so long as they're using American labor I will give them some extra consideration. I don't know that it matters a lot to the rest of us which set of executives make the profits anyway. I wanted to pick up this knife for three reasons. One, I like the Sandvik. Two, I wanted to see what US budget knives looked like these days compared to what I'm seeing out of China. The third is I'd heard a few people say the Skyline was a pretty good knife, so I wanted to see for myself.
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First impression is that it's definitely a budget knife. It''s only got 1 steel liner -- on the side with the liner lock. It has a pivot, two long screws that go all the way through the handle to bite into the far side, and a backspacer. A fat clip that can be reversed for tip up carry, though not for left hand open. Does it flip?
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Yes, but it takes some wrist. I was unable to flip it open all the way without using wrist to give it a little more oomph, using the flipper tab. The thumb stud is a little better, but this knife still isn't all that smooth on the flip. Doesn't feel bad, just a little slow and tight.
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The blade's nice, but also very simple. No stop pin but the thumb stud. No overtravel stop either -- I'd expect one or the other. Sharp, tho. How's it break down?
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Very easily. And a nice surprise -- with the other cost cutting measures I was seeing, I figured for sure I was going to find some kinda crap nylon washers in this thing, like on the Reverb. So it's nice to see the phosphor bronze -- and not thin, either. Stout washers. What this means is that the blade will have maximal stability and will be more resistant to dust getting into the works than a bearing knife will. PB fits better with use, so the flip will improve with time as the washers wear in. I could swap these out for something faster, in theory -- like a multiwasher setup -- but there isn't much room on this knife for stacked washers or a layer of teflon. So I'm going to content myself with a little Blue lube. Back together -- it took longer than getting it apart, because the backspacer has no standoffs to hold it in place, the screws just go straight through the bores. Getting it all to line up properly was a faff -- took maybe ten minutes? Nine more than it usually takes to put a knife together. I switched it over to tip up as is my preference.
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So how's it rate? Honestly I didn't expect to like it as much as I do. For $40 you can get more knife if you shop Chinese -- but this thing has a lot more build integrity than I expected, especially once I saw that it was fairly stripped down for hardware. It's got a good design. I don't think I'd make this a workhorse knife on account of the lightness and the single steel liner, but it should stand up to regular pocket duty just fine and with this grind, it's hella slicey. Nice to see signs of life in American budget knife manufacturing!
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