Kershaw Thermite Assist 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 form 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.

Kai USA Ltd. has three lines of products; Kershaw Knives, which is a brand of sporting and pocket knives; Shun Cutlery, which is handcrafted Japanese kitchen cutlery; and Zero tolerance, which is a line of premium and professional knives.

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

In 2002, Kershaw released a Steven Seagal model featuring stingray leather on the handle. In 2004 Kershaw developed a multi-tool for the National Geographic Society with National Geographic filmmaker Bryan Harvey. Kershaw has also released models in collaboration with Jeep, Orange County Choppers, the American Professional Rodeo Association, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

Kai USA Ltd and its Kershaw brand have a history of garnering industry awards. In May 2005, Kai USA Ltd. won four of the top awards at the Blade Show in Atlanta, Georgia. This was the first time in the show’s history that one company won this number of awards in one year: 2005 Overall Knife of the Year, 2005 Most Innovative American Design, 2005 Kitchen Knife of the Year, and 2005 Knife Collaboration of the Year. 2009 brought a Kershaw win for the Speedform. In 2010 Kershaw won “American Made Knife of the Year” for the Tilt.

Kershaw knives have been featured in a few different entertainment scenarios. Steven Seagal and his Kershaw collaboration knife appear in the movie, Driven to Kill. Their knives have also made appearances in numerous other television shows and movies, including Lost and Supernatural.

Today we will be talking about the Kershaw Thermite Spring Assist knife.

 

The Blade:

The blade on the Kershaw Thermite is made out of 8Cr13MoV steel. This is a popular budget brand of knife steel that is made in China. This steel is often compared to the Japanese steel of AUS-8 steel in terms of composition. Knives made of this steel keep sharpening well and at the same time they are easy to sharpen, and have highly aggressive cuts on soft materials. This steel is well balanced with regard to strength, cutting, and anti-corrosion properties. This steel is a good steel overall, but you do get what you pay for, so you need to remember that it isn’t a super steel. The biggest advantage that this steel boasts is how inexpensive it is.

This blade has been finished with a stonewash finish. To create the stonewashed finish, the blade is tumbled with small pebbles. This finish easily hides scratches, while also providing a less reflective nature than a brushed or satin finished blade. One of the biggest advantages of this blade finish is that it preserves the look of the blade overtime and hides scratches and smudges, which keeps maintenance very low key. The stonewashed finish creates a darker, rugged, well-worn look.

Kershaw calls the blade shape on this knife a “spanto”, which is a tanto and spear point blade mixed together. This is mostly a tanto in terms of shape. The blade has a high point with a flat grind, which leads to an extremely strong point that is perfect for stabbing into hard materials. The front edge of the tanto knife meets the back edge at an angle, instead of the usual curve. This means that the blade does not have a belly, and instead you get a stronger tip. But, it does sport the sharp point of the spear point. In terms of what the spear point ads, the Thermite has a symmetrically pointed blade with a point that is in line with the center line of the blade’s long axis. The spear point part of this blade has a strong point that is still sharp enough for piercing. And the spear point portion allows you to complete some of the finer detail work that you wouldn’t have been able to with purely a tanto blade shape. The combination of both of these blade shapes mean that you will be able to easily pierce through tough materials without worrying if your blade can handle it.

This blade sports a plain edged blade. The plain edge will give you cleaner cuts than a serrated blade. The blade is able to take on a wider variety of tasks, while also being easier to sharpen. Because there are no teeth, you will also be able to get a finer and sharper edge on this blade.

 

The Handle:

The handle on this knife has two different handle scales. The front one is made out of black G-10 and the back one is made out of 410 steel.

G-10 is the common term for a grade of fiberglass composite laminate that is used in a number of knife handles. This material is very similar to carbon fiber when it comes to properties, but not in terms of how it is made. This handle material is completely immune to corrosion and rust. Unfortunately, this material is brittle and if subjected to hard or sharp impacts, it will crack.

The back handle is made out of 410 stainless steel. This material is not going to be as light as aluminum, but it does offer greater resistance to dents and scratching. This metal is also pretty resistant to corrosion as long as you are maintaining it after each use. This metal is also one of the heaviest of common handle materials. While it will add a lot of heft, because it is just one handle scale and not both, the knife won’t weigh too much.

Aside from the two different handle scales, this is a pretty typical handle. It has more angles than curves, but will still be comfortable to use because of the shallow finger groove. This knife for your fingers, because the flipper turns into a finger guard. There is thick jimping across the spine of the handle which helps with your grip on the knife and adds an element of control when you are slicing with this knife. The butt of the knife does have a lanyard hole carved into it.

 

The Pocket Clip:

This knife features a steel pocket clip that matches the back handle scale. This is a four position pocket clip, which means that the user may position the pocket clip for tip up or tip down, and left or right handed carry. This is a deep carry pocket clip which means that it is going to stay in your pocket more securely, even if you are doing a lot of active things.

 

The Mechanism:

This knife features a thumb stud as well as a flipper. It also sports a SpeedSafe Assisted Opening mechanism and a frame locking mechanism.

The flipper opening mechanism is there to help with fast and easy one-handed opening. It is ambidextrous my nature and works with the SpeedSafe opening mechanism. To open this Kershaw knife using the flipper, you hold the knife handle vertically in one hand. Place your index finger on top of the flipper and gently apply downward pressure on the flipper. SpeedSafe opens the knife quickly and easily, and the blade locks into place. You should remember to keep your fingers away from the blade edge while closing.

The thumb stud is one of the more common one-handed opening feature and essentially replaces the nail nick found on more traditional knives. You would open the knife the same way as if you were using the flipper.

Kershaw was the first to bring SpeedSafe assisted opening knives to market, launching a revolution in opening system and winning numerous industry awards along the way. This opening mechanism was originally designed by Hall of Fame knife maker, Ken Onion. The SpeedSafe is a patented system that assists the user to smoothly open any SpeedSafe knife with a manual push on the blade’s thumb stud or pull back on the flipper. The heart of SpeedSafe is its torsion bar. When the knife is 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 on the thumb stud or 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. One of the biggest benefits of the SpeedSafe is how safe it is. When the user overcomes the resistance of the torsion bar, SpeedSafe assists in opening the knife. Once opened, a locking system secures the blade in position so that it does not close accidentally. When releasing the lock, the blade won’t snap shut due to resistance provided by the torsion bar. Since the torsion bar provides a bias towards the closed position, it will normally hold the blade securely closed.

Lastly, the Thermite boasts a frame lock. The frame lock consists of two plates of material that are 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 back end of the blade 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 3.5 inches long, with the handle measuring in at 4 7/8 inches long. When the Thermite is opened, it measures in at an overall length of 8 3/8 inches long. This Kershaw knife weighs in at 4.9 ounces.

 

Conclusion:

When Kershaw is describing this knife, they say, “A thermite is a mixture that, when ignited, produces a huge amount of heat. And we think you’ll agree, the new Thermite is hot.
With tactical styling and practical performance, the Thermite, designed by Rick Hinderer, has a great look and great features. The Thermite offers Rick’s no-nonsense functionality, but with enough style that co-workers will look on with a satisfying touch of envy when you take the Thermite out of your pocket.
The 3.5-in. stonewashed blade is hollow-ground for excellent slicing capabilities with a flat-ground “spanto” tip for strong piercing. A machined G-10 front scale and a heavily textured back spacer add to the Thermite’s good looks. On the practical side, the back handle is stainless steel with a frame lock and lock bar stabilizer.
For easy opening, the Thermite is SpeedSafe-equipped and can be accessed with the ambidextrous flipper or thumb stud. It comes equipped with Kershaw’s four-position deep-r pocket clip.” Pick up this perfect everyday carry knife today at BladeOps.