Kershaw’s Knockout folding knife design (1870) isn’t exactly new, but it’s a model I haven’t really looked at in the past. Their upcoming new Knockout knife, model 1870OLBLK, caught my attention with its olive handle scales and blacked-out blade, and drew me in for a closer look.
Like the original Knockout, the new olive-black Knockout knife is made in the USA. It also features a SpeedSafe assisted-opening mechanism, Sandvik 14C28N stainless steel blade, black DLC blade coating, and olive-green anodized aluminum handle.
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Features
- Made in USA
- SpeedSafe assisted opening spring mechanism
- Sub-frame lock (stainless steel lock component)
- Flipper blade deployment and thumb stud
- 4-position deep-carry pocket clip
- 3.25″ Sandvik 14C28N stainless steel blade
- 4.6″ overall length
MSRP: $115
Street Price: under $75
ETA: 2014
Preorder(via BladeHQ)
Buy Now(Original via Amazon)
Buy Now(Original via BladeHQ)
First Impression
My experiences with Kershaw knives and their SpeedSafe assisted opening mechanism have been quite positive. The Kershaw Leek knives I reviewed a while back remain favorites in my EDC knife rotation.
In the past year and a half of so, I have become very fond of flipper-style knives. Flipper-style folding pocket knives tend to deploy quickly and easily, and with greater fluidity than other manual folders.
The Knockout seems like it could be a very work-friendly knife. Its blade composition (Sandvik 14C28N) is marketed as being a top-grade knife steel with a unique combination of excellent edge performance, high hardness, and good corrosion resistance, and its 3.15″ blade length should be suitable for a lot of general jobsite and workshop cutting tasks.
If you are interested in the Kershaw Knockout knife but want to spend a little less, the original version (model 1870), with black anodized handle scales and a satin stonewashed blade, is still available and for a few dollars less. The tradeoff is that the original lacks the wear-resistant DLC (diamond-like carbon) coating that is featured on the 1870OLBLK Knockout knife blade.
And if you want to spend even less than the $65-70 for the original Knockout, Kershaw’s Cryo II ($40 via Amazon) is a decent flipper knife for the money. I recently began using and testing one that I purchased during the holiday season, and my experience has been quite positive thus far.
fred
Probably just like many other spring assisted and “easy opening” knives – including some of the new Milwaukee offerings – this will probably be illegal in NY State
Stuart
It’s a grey area, but assisted opening knives are designed such that considerable effort must be exerted to overcome the resistive spring forces.
It is my understanding that assisted opening knives are currently legal in NY. Readers are encouraged to check with their local knife laws before purchasing knives for public use or carry.
Milwaukee’s Fastback knives, on the other hand, edge the line even closer.
Personally, I don’t carry spring-assisted, one-hand opening, or even locking knives when in NYC. Even if a knife is legal to use and carry in NYC or NYS, there is still the risk of confiscation at a minimum. There have been too many cases of LEOs being acting on their (often incorrect) interpretation of NY knife laws, resulting in unjustified confiscations at the least. Instead I’ll carry a small Swiss Army Knife, a small two-handed-opening knife, or Leatherman multi-tool with inside-opening knife blade.
If I needed to carry a spring-assisted, one-hand opening, or locking knife in NYC for work, I would make sure it’s in a tool bag or other bag, and not on my body.
fred
If you look at Home Depot’s listing for the some of the Milwaukee knives – that say that they can’t be shipped to NY
Stuart
You’re right. For the Fastback knives, Home Depot says: item cannot be shipped to the following state(s): AK,GU,HI,NY,PR,VI. Looking further brings up news articles (and memory) about the NY DA indiscriminately classifying all one-handed and assisted-opening knives as gravity knives and switchblades. Home Depot and other retailers and dealers halted sales of such products in NY to avoid litigation for “illegal” knife sales.
jesse
Illegal in Mass.