Kershaw Outright Knife Review

Kershaw knows that there is nothing like a Kershaw. From award-winning technologies and advanced materials to the solid sound of the blade lockup, when you’re carrying a Kershaw, you know you’re carrying the real thing.

The real thing means value and plenty of it. With Kershaw, you get incredible bang for your hard-earned buck. Even their inexpensive models are impressive. In fact, everything about a Kershaw is solid, crafted, reliable. That’s why they can back each of their knives for the life of its original owner against any defects in materials and construction with their famous Limited Lifetime Warranty.

Kershaw was founded in 1974 with a mission 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 collectors’ 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.

Kershaw has a commitment to innovation. They pioneered the use of many of the technologies and advanced materials that are today standard in the knife industry. They say, “Our SpeedSafe assisted opening knives were first-to-market. We introduced the concept of knives with interchangeable blades in our Blade Traders. Recently, our Composite Blade technology, which combines two steels into one blade, gives knife users the best of both worlds by enabling us to use steel known for edge retention on the edge and steel known for strength on the spine.” They promise to keep on innovating, bringing new and better technologies and materials to today’s knife making industry and knife using public.

Kershaw Knives is a brand of Kai USA Ltd, a member of the Kai Group. For over r100 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 Kershaw’s 55,000 sq. ft. facility in Tualatin, Oregon, they also draw on Kai’s resources to provide the very best for the customer.

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.”

Today we will be discussing their brand new knife, the Kershaw Outright.

 

The Blade:

             The blade on this knife is made out of 8Cr13MoV steel. You may have heard that 8CR13MoV stainless is basically the equivalent of AUS8A. And it’s true. For everyday use, even a serious “knife knut” would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between a well-made 8CR13MoV blade and a well-made AUS8A blade. Nevertheless, there are slight differences in the steel formula. While most other components are relatively equal, 8CR13MoV has slightly more carbon for hardness and wear resistance and slightly less nickel. The key to blade performance for both of these steels is manufacturing quality. That’s where Kershaw’s expertise comes in. Kershaw precision heat-treats 8CR13MoV steel to bring out its best high-performance characteristics: the ability to take and hold an edge, strength, and hardness. 8CR13MoV is top-of-the-line Chinese steel and, we believe, offers our customers an excellent value.

The blade has been coated with a blue PVD coating. A PVD coating is a physical vapor deposition. Specialized materials are vaporized via a vacuum process. Then the vaporized material is deposited as a thin layer on selected objects. In our case, it enables us to finish our blades and/or handles with a thin coating that adds color and offers excellent wear and corrosion resistance.

The outright blade has been carved into a trailing point blade. This is a lightweight blade shape that has a spine that curves upward, instead of the typical downward slope. This blade shape got its name because the point trials higher than the middle axis of the spine of the knife. Some of the benefits to a trialing point blade shape is that they provide a large belly. They also give the user the sharpest point for detail and precision work. However, it does have a weak point that may be easy to bend or break if use don tougher materials. This trialing point is much thicker than your typical trailing point, so it is not going to be as fragile. However, you will want to still be careful with it.

 

The Handle:

The handle is made with a G10 front and a blue PVD back. G10 is similar to carbon fiber in that it is tough, hard, lightweight, and strong. To make this material, the manufacturer takes layers of fiberglass cloth and soaks them in a resin, then compresses them and bakes them under pressure. This is a tough, light, and durable material. But some people complain that it is brittle and it can lack elegance. The black G10 contrasts nicely against the electric blue color. IT also gives the user the needed grip that they wouldn’t get if it was an all steel handle.

The stainless steel portions of the handle are going to give this knife plenty of durability and corrosion resistance. The stainless steel portions are also coated with a blue PVD coating, which extends the life of the handle as well. Because of the high quality coating, the user is not going to have to worry too much about maintenance, other than making sure that the blade is dry before you put it away. The stainless steel portion of this handle make the knife much stronger.

For more security and grip abilities, there are rows of jimping scattered across the handle. There is a long row that extends form the back of the blade onto the spine of the handle that will allow you to have more control when you are cutting. Then, on the spine of the handle near the butt, there is another row of thicker jimping that will help give you a solid grip. Lastly, near the finger guard, there is a row of jimping that will also help to guarantee that your fingers don’t slip and get sliced.

The handle is more angles that curves. The spine of the knife goes about 1/3 of the way slanting upwards, before reaching a point and slanting downwards towards the butt. The butt is flat. The belly of the handle is mostly flat, but there is a slight curve where your fingers can rest more comfortably.

 

The Pocket Clip:

The pocket clip on this knife is a single positon pocket clip, which means that the pocket clip is in a fixed positon on the knife handle. On the Outright, it is attached for left hand carry and tip down positon. The clip is a deep carry pocket clip, which does help to keep the knife a little bit more secure in your pocket. This means that you can move about freely throughout your day and not have to worry about your knife sliding out.  It also means that this knife is going to be a little bit more concealed in your pocket, so if you don’t want everyone knowing that you have a knife, they don’t need to know. The clip is skinny and coated with the same PVD coating that the blade and handle have been. Two blue screws hold the clip in place that match the rest of the hardware on this knife.

 

The Mechanism:

This is an assisted opening knife which is a type of folding knife which uses an internal mechanism to finish the opening of the blade once the user has partially opened it using a flipper or thumb stud attached to the blade. Because it is not a fully automatic knife, you do not have to worry about the strict laws surrounding it. But, you still get a knife that opens quickly and efficiently.

This knife has been equipped with a flipper which is a protrusion on the back of the blade that the user can pull back on, or flip, in order to move the blade easily out of the handle. On this knife, it is triangular to match the finger guard that is already there. When the knife is opened, the flipper acts as an extra-long finger guard to add an element of safety to this knife. The flipper is ambidextrous by design and doesn’t extend out of the blade and get in the way. This is also a simple feature to use. One of the last benefits to a flipper instead of a thumb stud is that the flipper keeps your fingers out of the blades path during the opening and closing of the knife.

This knife also has SpeedSafe Assisted Opening mechanism. Kershaw was the first to bring SpeedSafe® assisted opening knives to market, launching a revolution in opening systems—and winning numerous industry awards along the way. Originally designed by Hall of Fame knife maker, Ken Onion, Kershaw’s SpeedSafe knives flew off the shelves. Today, almost all knife companies offer some sort of assisted opening knife, but none matches the popularity or proven durability of the original. The heart of SpeedSafe is its torsion bar. Closed, the torsion bar helps prevent the knife from being opened by “gravity;” it creates a bias toward the closed position. To open the knife, the user applies manual pressure to the flipper to overcome the resistance of the torsion bar. This enables the torsion bar to move along a track in the handle and assist you to open the knife. The blade opens smoothly and locks into position, ready for use. SpeedSafe® was specifically designed for sporting, work, or everyday situations where one-handed opening is preferable and safer. It’s safe, efficient opening has made it a popular choice for hunters, fishermen, and those who require the one-hand opening function on the job-site.

Lastly, the Kershaw Outright has been equipped with a frame locking mechanism. In a frame lock knife, the knife handle—its “frame”—consists of two plates of material on either side of the blade. To ensure a secure lock up, one or both of these plates is usually metal. When the knife is opened, the metal side of the frame, the lock bar, butts up against the backend of the blade (the tang) and prevents the blade from 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 Specs:

The blade on this knife measures in at 3 inches long with a closed length of 4.4 inches long. The overall length of this knife measures in at 7.1 inches long and weighs in at 4 ounces.

 

Conclusion:

When Kershaw is talking bout this knife, they say, “Kershaw decided to go blue sky on this one. Literally. The durable and scratch-resistant PVD coating on the Outright is bright blue—and the color is definitely the first thing that you will notice about this attractive pocketknife.

But there’s a lot more to the Outright. Its upswept blade makes it an excellent slicer, while the 8Cr13MoV blade steel ensures good edge retention, strength, and hardness. The Outrights handle is matching blue PVD-coated steel with a sturdy frame lock. For additional style and enhanced grip, the handle has an overlay of black G10.

This medium-sized knife opens with SpeedSafe assisted opening with flipper or thumb stud. Hardware (except handle standoffs) and the single-position pocket clip are PVD coated in blue to maintain the knife’s colorful aesthetic. The Outright comes in at an outright affordable price, too.”

You can pick up this new knife today at BladeOps.