Kershaw Tickfaw Knife Review

Kershaw knows that there is nothing like one of their knives. From their 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.

So what does the real thing mean? It means value and plenty of it. With Kershaw, you get a ton of bang for your 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 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. They say, “Whether it’s a hardworking pocketknife, 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 also has a commitment to innovation. They say, “Kershaw pioneered the use of many of the technologies and advanced materials that are today standard in the knife industry. 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. And we will 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 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.

Today we will be talking about the Kershaw Tickfaw.

 

The Blade:

The blade on this knife is made out of 3Cr13 steel. This steel has been hardened to a 54-56 HRC. This steel is a value-priced high-chromium stainless steel.

The steel on this knife has been bead blasted. Using abrasive, glass or ceramic beads, the finish is made by blasting the materials at a high pressure against the metal, resulting in an even grey finish. The blasting creates an increased surface area and micro-abrasions make the steel more prone to rust and corrosion. A blasted blade, even from stainless steel, can rust overnight if left in a very humid environment.

The blade on this knife has been carved into a drop point blade shape. The drop point blade shape is a great all-purpose blade shape that can stand up to almost anything. A drop point is one of the most popular blade shapes that is on the market today because of how versatile it is. The shape is formed by having the back edge of the knife run straight from the handle to the tip of the knife in a slow curved manner, which creates a lowered point. It is this lowered point that provides more control and adds strength to the tip. This tip is not as sharp as the tip on a clip point, which is very similar to it, but it is much stronger. It is because of this tip strength and the ability to holdup to heavy use that makes drop point blades a good option on tactical and survival knives. Because the tip is easily controllable, a drop point knife allows you to perform fine detail and tip work. Plus, drop points have a very large belly that helps to make them very versatile and great at slicing. The bigger the belly, the easier it is to slice something with your knife. Drop point blades are a great option for everyday carry knives, because they are tough enough to take on the unexpected and the belly is big enough to slice through your daily chores. Drop point blades do have one major disadvantage, which is its relatively broad tip. This makes the drop point blade less suitable for stabbing than the clip point would be, but you do need to keep in mind that the broad tip is where you get so much strength.

 

The Handle:

The handle on this knife is made out of glass filled nylon, or GFN. This is the same material as Fiberglass Reinforced Nylon, or FRN, as well as the name brand Zytel. All of these materials are a thermoplastic material which is very strong, resistant to both bending and abrasion, and is almost indestructible. As an added bonus, this material is very cheap.

GFN is similar to materials such as Carbon Fiber and Micarta, but those other materials are brittle and GFN is not. This is because in GFN the nylon fibers are arranged haphazardly throughout which makes it strong in all directions. With Carbon Fiber, G10, and Micarta, all the fibers are arranged in a single direction. This makes the other materials strong in that specific direction, but not in any other direction. Many people did not originally like GFN because they felt like it felt cheap, plastic-y, and even a little hollow. Plus, you are not going to get as much grip from GFN as you would from G10.

This is such a cheap material because it can be injection molded into any shape and textured in the production process, instead of manually adding in texture, like Micarta needs. These characteristics lead to a high manufacturing volume, which creates a low cost.

The overall benefits of a GFN handle is that it is going to be strong, tough, and inexpensive. And, because it is more plastic-y and not a natural material, it requires no maintenance. This is a great knife to have in the outdoors because you don’t have to worry about rusting and corroding of the handle. The overall cons of the GFN handle is that it does have a cheap plastic feel and it is going to provide less grip than some other materials could.

The handle on the Tickfaw is pretty simple. For texture, there are four sections of extra texture that are raised on the face of the handle. In between, are lowered, smoother diagonal cross sections. This texture should be adequate for all of your basic tasks. The spine of the handle angles towards the middle at a slow angle and then sharply angles towards the butt of the handle. This creates a ridge that you can grip onto as well as creating a more comfortable grip. The belly of the handle does have a finger guard that is enhanced by the flipper when the knife is opened. There is a slight finger groove that is very elongated and angled downward. This will give you a secure but still comfortable grip. The butt of the handle is an angle, rather than a curve. As a bonus, there is a lanyard hole on the butt of the handle. The lanyard hole allows you to keep the knife close to you at all times without it getting in the way.

 

The Pocket Clip:

The pocket clip is reversible for either left or right handed carry, which helps to make this knife completely ambidextrous. The pocket clip has been skeletonized to cut down on weight. The hardware along with the pocket clip is black, which matches the handle well.

 

The Mechanism:

This knife uses the Kershaw SpeedSafe Assisted Opening mechanism. Kershaw says, “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.” 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. SpeedSafe is built into many of Kershaw’s best-selling selling knives. 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 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.

The blade uses a flipper to assist the user in opening the knife. The flipper is a sharks’ fin shaped piece of metal that is part of the blade. The flipper works to enable fast and easy one-handed opening. The flipper is also ambidextrous, which is perfect for making this a more comfortable knife for anyone to use. One of the biggest advantages for a flipper is how safe it is—when the user is opening the knife, their fingers stay completely out of the path of the blade. This is opposite of a thumb stud, which puts your fingers directly in the path. To open a Kershaw SpeedSafe flipper knife, Hold the knife handle vertically in one hand. Place your index finger on the top of the flipper or thumb on the thumb stud. Gently apply downward pressure on the flipper or push outwards on the thumb stud. SpeedSafe opens the knife quickly and easily, and the blade locks into place. Keep fingers away from blade edge while closing.

The knife has also been equipped with a Liner Lock. The liner lock is the most common of today’s blade-locking systems. In knives with locking liners, the handle consists of two metal (usually steel or titanium) plates (the “liner”) on either side of the blade. Handle scales, which can be made from a variety of materials, such as G10, aluminum, plastic, or natural materials like wood or bone cover the plates. When the knife is opened, one side of the knife’s liner, often called the lock bar, butts up against the backend of the blade (the tang) and prevents the blade from closing. The lock bar is manufactured so that it angles toward the interior of the knife, creating a bias for the locked position. To close the knife, the knife user applies manual force to move the lock bar to the side so that the blade is unblocked and can be folded back into the handle.

The Specs:

The blade on this knife measures in at 2.25 inches long with a handle that measures in at 3.1 inches long. The overall length of this knife measures in at 5.3 inches when it is opened. This knife weighs in at 2.0 ounces, which is a good weight to have with you at all times. In fact, you are not even going to notice this knife in your pocket.

 

Conclusion:

Kershaw says, “Tickfaw is a small town in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana. The Tickfaw, endorsed by the Duck Commander Pro Staff, is a small knife that should be in your pocket.

With its two-inch blade, it’s the perfect choice for when you don’t need a big blade, just a nice, sharp one. The Tickfaw is easy to open thanks to SpeedSafe® assisted opening. Just pull back on the built-in flipper and the blade moves out of the handle quickly and easily. A locking liner locks the blade safely open when in use. The stainless-steel blade resists chipping and corrosion and is easy to resharpen, too.

Glass-filled nylon handles make this knife lightweight and sturdy, while dimensional grooves in the handle provide a non-slip grip. The pocket clip is reversible for left- or right-handed carry.” You can pick up this knife today at BladeOps.