Kershaw Flythrough Knife Review

Kershaw Knives designs and manufactures a wide range of knives, including pocket knives, sporting knives, and kitchen cutlery. Kershaw is a brand of Kai USA Ltd., a member of the KAI Group, headquartered in Tualatin, Oregon.

Kershaw Knives was started in Portland, Oregon in 1974 when knife salesman Pete Kershaw left Gerber Legendary Blades to from his own cutlery company based on his own designs. Early manufacturing was primarily done in Japan. In 1977, Kershaw became a wholly owned subsidiary of the KAI Group. In 1997 the U.S. production facility was opened in Wilsonville, Oregon. Due to an expanding market, the facilities were moved to a larger production site in 2003. Currently, Kai USA manufacturing facilities are located in Tualatin, Oregon with some goods coming from their Japanese and Chinese factories.

Kershaw has collaborated with a number of custom knife makers over the years to produce ground-breaking knives. Collaborations include working with Hall of Fame Knife Maker, Ken Onion on Kershaw’s SpeedSafe knives, Ernest Emerson, Grant and Gavin Hawk, Frank Centofante, Rick Hinderer, RJ Martin, and more.

Kershaw was founded in1974 to design and manufacture tools that knife users would be proud to own, carry, and use. This has meant that every Kershaw knife must be of the highest quality. Whether it’s a hardworking pocket knife, a hunting knife, or a special collector’s edition, Kershaw always chooses appropriate, high-quality materials and is dedicated to intensive craftsmanship. Along with extremely tight tolerances and state-of-the-art manufacturing techniques, this ensures that Kershaw knives provide a lifetime of performance.

Like earlier mentioned, Kershaw Knives is a brand of Kai USA Ltd, a member of the Kai Group. For over 100 years, Kai has been Japan’s premier blade producer. Kai takes an innovative approach to product development based on the close coordination of research and development, production, marketing, and distribution functions. While many of Kershaw’s quality products are made in Tualatin, Oregon, they also draw on Kai’s resources to provide the very best for their customers.

Kershaw says, “if this is your first Kershaw, be prepared. You just may be back for more. If it’s not your first Kershaw, welcome back. We’ve got some cool new blades to show you—along with a wide selection of your favorites. For design, innovation, quality, and genuine pride of ownership, Kershaw is the one.”

Today we will be discussing the brand new Kershaw Flythrough.

The Blade:

The blade on this knife is made out of 8Cr13MoV steel. This is a Chinese produced steel that belongs to the Cr series. Compared to another steel, it is similar to AUS-8. At its low cost, it is a good cutter. Especially when the steel has undergone a suitable heat treatment, the steel can maintain the sharpness of the edge for long periods of time as well as having extremely high corrosion resistance. This steel hardens to a level of 56-59HRC steel. Because of this is a softer steel, knives made out of these steel will always keep sharpening well as well as being easy to sharpen. This steel has a good balance in regard to strength, cutting, and anti-corrosion properties. The biggest characteristic that this steel boasts is how inexpensive it is. It is extremely inexpensive but still has a good balance of all the best characteristics. That being said, you do get what you pay for, so this steel will not compare to the other super steels on the block.

The blade has been finished with a black-oxide coating. This is created when a chemical bath converts the surface of the steel to magnetite. Kershaw uses this coating on some blade and pocket clips, mainly for appearance, though it does add some corrosion resistance. The pros of a coating is that it is going to prolong the life of the blade because it does cut does on corrosion and wear. However, a coating can and will scratch off after long periods of time or heavy use. Once the coating does scratch off, you lose out on all the coating benefits.

The blade has been carved into a drop point blade shape. The drop point blade shape is one of the most popular blade shapes that you are going to find in the cutlery industry. This is because the shape is tough and still all-purpose. The blade is formed by having the unsharpened edge of the knife run straight form the handle to the tip of the knife in a slow, curving manner, which creates a lowered point. When a knife has a lowered point, the user is going to have more control when they are cutting. This is a great everyday carry knife, so having control over what you do is important. The lowered point is also a very broad point, which gives the knife shape its character strength. One of the reasons that this blade shape is so versatile and makes for a great everyday carry blade is the large belly area that is perfect for making slicing easy. The majority of tasks that you are going to be completing throughout your day are going to involve slicing, so the large belly is especially important to this knife. The drop point blade shape does have one significant drawback, which is that because of the broad point, this knife is not going to excel at piercing or stabbing.

 

The Handle:

The handle on this knife is made out of stainless steel and has the same black-oxide coating that the blade does.

Stainless steel provides excellent durability and resistance to corrosion. Unfortunately, it is not a particularly lightweight material, in fact, it is going to be one of hte heavier knife handles that you are going to have. Plus, stainless steel handles can be slippery, so manufacturers have to put in the extra work to add etchings or ridges so that there is enough texture that you can have a secure hold on the knife. The overall advantages to having a stainless steel handle is that it is going to be strong, durable, and corrosion resistant. However, it is also going to be heavy and it can be slippery.

The coating is going to give the same advantages to the handle that it gave to the blade, meaning the life is going to be prolonged.

The handle is one of the unique aspects of this knife, because there are more angles than curves which gives this knife a futuristic edgy look. There is a finger guard, but because of the flipper, which turns into extra finger guard, the finger guard is quite large on this knife. This just means that you won’t have to worry about cutting yourself if you do slip. There is also a very deep finger groove, which helps to make this straight handle comfortable to hold. The spine and the bottom of the handle are completely straight, both angling towards the butt, which is tapered. The butt is also flat. To add texture, the middle of this knife handle comes outwards in a straight line down the middle of the handle. This creates enough texture that you do not have to worry about your grip when it comes to this knife.

 

The Pocket Clip:

The pocket clip on this knife is a reversible deep-carry pocket clip.

The clip is reversible in the sense that you can attach it to either side of the handle, making this knife a fantastic option for left or right handed people alike. However, the clip can only be attached to carry the knife tip-up.

This is a deep carry clip, so you can easily conceal the blade in your pocket while also keeping the Flythrough more snug in your pocket. This means that if you are using this knife as an everyday carry knife, you don’t have to worry about the knife sliding out while you go about your daily business.

 

The Mechanism:

This is a manual knife that uses a flipper for assisting you. This knife is equipped with the KVT ball-bearing opening system as well as a frame lock.

The flipper is a small rectangular sharks-fin shaped piece of the blade that extends through the spine of the handle when the knife is closed. The flipper enables fast and easy one-handed opening. It is also completely ambidextrous. To open a manual knife that uses a flipper, you are going to hold the knife handle in one hand with the butt end resting firmly in the palm of your hand. Place your index finger on the highest point of the flipper. Push down strongly and quickly on the flipper. At this point, the blade is going to move out of the handle and lock into place because of the frame lock.

In a frame lock, the knife handle consists of two plates of material on either side of the blade. When the knife is opened, the metal side of the frame, the lock bar, butts up against the backend of the blade and prevents the blade form closing. To close a frame lock knife, the user pushes the frame to the side, unblocking the blade, and folds the blade back into the handle. Like locking liner knives, frame locks are manufactured so that the locking side of the frame is angled toward the interior of the knife, creating a bias toward the locked position. Both the blade tang and the lock bar are precisely angled so they fit together for a secure, reliable lockup. The thickness of the frame material blocking the blade open makes the frame lock extremely sturdy.

The Kershaw KVT ball-bearing system makes one-handed opening of this knife fast and easy—without the need for a mechanical assist. While SpeedSafe assisted opening uses a torsion bar to help move the knife blade out of the handle, KVT relies on a ring of “caged” ball bearings that surround the knife’s pivot. Caged just means the ball bearings are secured within a ring that surrounds the pivot. It keeps the ball bearings in place, while still allowing them to rotate freely. When the user pulls back on the built-in flipper, the blade rotates out of the handle as the ball bearings roll in place. KVT makes one-handed opening quick, easy, and smooth as butter. In knives with the KVT ball-bearing system, you will also notice the knife has additional “detent.” This is a design feature that helps hold the blade safely in the handle when the knife is closed. When opening the knife, you may notice a little ‘stickiness’ just as you pull back on the flipper and before the blade rolls out of the handle on the KVT ball bearings. Just a little extra pressure on the flipper overcomes the detent and the knife will open with ease.

 

The Specs:

The blade on this knife measures in at 3 inches long, with a handle that measures in at 3.9 inches long. The overall length of the blade measures in at 6.9 inches long. It weighs in at 3.7 ounces.

 

Conclusion:

When Kershaw is talking about this new knife of theirs, they say, “Designed by RJ Martin, the new Flythrough features his unique ‘See-Through Pivot.’ This oversized pivot is hollow in the center, letting you ‘see through’ it. What’s more, the Flythrough also has a handle cutout behind the pivot that lets you see the end of the blade tang when the blade is open. Both of these features add interest to this striking knife. The Flythrough’s drop-point blade has a sculpted top swedge and is made of 8Cr13MoV stainless steel with black-oxide coating for a monochrome look and additional corrosion protection. A concave thumb-ramp on the top of the blade provides a secure place to rest a thumb or forefinger for controlled cuts. The steel handle features sweeping, sculpted lines that add to the dynamic look of the Flythrough. Lockup is secure thanks to a sturdy frame lock and a reversible deep-carry pocket clip lets the Flythrough ride comfortably low in your pocket.” Come pick up this brand new Kershaw knife today at BladeOps.