KershawS30V Blur Pocketknife, 3.4" S30V Powdered Stainless Steel Recurved Blade, Assisted Thumb-Stud Opening EDC

So I have been wanting to get a small knife as an upgrade to my very old swiss army and looked around and read a ton of reviews on various knives. I ended up looking at Kershaw knives because they're associated with Ken Onion and Shun... I own Shun knives and find them to be spectacular knives so I thought why not give some Kershaw Ken Onion designs a try. As a side note, before looking for a knife upgrade I had no idea there would be so many options and I didn't even know there was a cult following of knife collectors/etc out there. I thought it would be hard to find reviews about knives but I came to find out that there were enough reviews out there to make my head spin!So... the point is, please know that this review is from the point of view of someone who is not a knife collector and knew very little about knives/steel/etc before this. All I knew was that I wanted to get a few new knives for me and my wife and I wanted to get something that was quality as I had become accustomed to using knives as sharp as my Shun's in my kitchen. I wanted to get something extra small, small, and medium in size so I went with the Chive, Leek, and Blur. Below you'll find mini reviews on each knife that I have bought including pros and cons.On to the actual reviews!Kershaw Chive Black--------------------Pros:1. Compact yet fits in hand nicely (I have normal size hands)2. Stylish! The black is really sleek and even professional looking.3. Incredibly sharp! I think this has 420HC steel... it's razor sharp as expected with anything Ken OnionCons:1. Amazon's picture make it look like the handle has contours to it because of the reflections... not so. It's flat on both sides... not sure if that's a con or not but be aware that if you think there are contours in the handle, there aren't!2. Thumb studs are useless unless you have tiny hands...3. Can be slippery4. Fingerprint magnet!Conclusion: Though my cons list outweigh my pros, this knife still gets 5 stars. After all, it's still a razor sharp and compact knife that's stylish to boot! The cons I have for this knife are really just nitpicking... Couldn't be happier with this one!Kershaw Leek Black--------------------Pros:1. Perfect size for every day carry... not too small and not too big2. Great looking knife. The flat black looks really good IMO.3. Incredibly sharp! The 14C28N steel is great... it's razor sharp, slightly sharper than the Chive in my opinionCons:1. None, this knife is pretty great.Conclusion: This knife is pretty perfect as an every day carry knife. Looks great, feels great in the hand and is very very sharp. I actually gave this one to my wife so she could keep it on her every day for her commute to and from work as sometimes she has to walk to her car in some dark spots in my neighborhood in the city. I was afraid she wouldn't use it but she actually takes it with her every day and carries it in hand every day to her car. She has said that she likes it a lot and likes the locking mechanism because she knows that when its locked the blade won't accidentally come out.Kershaw Random Leek with partially serrated blade (grey)--------------------Pros:1. Perfect size for every day carry... not too small and not too big... as expected with the Leek2. Great looking knife. The flat grey looks very good in person.3. Incredibly sharp! This leek came with s30v steel and it has not disappointed me. While I feel that all Kershaw Ken Onion knives will be razor sharp, this s30v blade seems and even looks to be sharper than the others I've mentioned in this reviewCons:1. The grey does look nice but the handle kind of has the texture of a chalk board. I'm hoping this goes away with continued use as I really don't like the feel of chalk board...Conclusion: Besides the texture of the handle, this knife seems to be perfect in every way for me. I like that it's only partially serrated with a scallop serrated edge rather than the pointy serrated edges. I never really find the pointy serrated edges that useful. The scalloped serrated edge seems much more useful to me as it gives just enough serration to cut through things without getting caught on them which is my experience with other serrated edge knives. As of right now, this knife wins as my every day carry knife.Kershaw Blur with s30v Steel--------------------Pros:1. Good size, has some heft to it unlike the Leek and Chive2. The Easy-grip Trac-Tec inserts are great... give it a nice feel in the hand3. Incredibly sharp! Having read up on the s30v steel I definitely wanted to see this one for myself. The blade on this is slightly longer than the leek and it has more of a curve to it, which makes it useful in certain situations over my trusty leek.Cons:1. Would have liked to have a quick release speed safe mechanism on this knife like the leek and chive. The thumb studs are ok but take some getting used to if you haven't used anything like them before like me.2. No lock... a con for me but probably a pro for others.Conclusion: All in all this knife is great. I use this knife for when I need something a bit more heavy duty than the leek and chive.SO... Which one is my favorite?If I had to choose it'd be the s30v leek with serrated edge. For me, the leek has the best size for an every day carry knife and the s30v blade just tops it off. The Chive, Leek, and Blur really do have different purposes for me though. The Chive is something I can keep in the office, the Leek is an every day carry, while the blur is more heavy duty for camping/etc when you need a heftier blade. In any case, after getting these knives I think I'll be set for quite some time in the knife department!

Apparently there was a run of faultily manufactured or assembled Blurs over a decade ago which would not keep the blades locked in place even when subjected to merely mild levels of forces. You can Google or search YouTube for the details. This is unusual for liner locks in general and Kershaw in particular, which is noted for the high quality of the materials and manufacturing of its pocket knives, and consistent quality control. I have watched "knife stress tests" on YouTube where blades from many makers are clamped in vises then weights hung on the rear of the handle until the lock fails, and I didn't see a single catastrophic, close-on-our-fingers type of liner lock failure - the failures were all a bend in the liner lock bar that made the liner locks knives unclosable.That having been said, the problem is obvious once you know what to look for, and so I checked all my many Kershaws and put on leather gloves and did the spine whack test, and no problems at all. It's just that coming across those videos makes me want to spine-whack test ALL my knives, something we always did in the late '60's and '70's but skip today.The look and feel of the Blur are fantastic. The steel - whether Sandvik or S30v - is superb and paper cutting sharp (free handing sheet of copy paper). The grippy rubber inserts make a huge difference in grip. The beveled thumb studs are a revelation in comfort (the bevel "spreads" the otherwise "bite" effect into my thumb).There are only two things I have reservations about (I own both Sandvik and S30v versions): first, I wish it had a hilt or finger indent behind the blad to further lessen the risk of slipping the hand onto the blade. However, I don't intend to use the knife for forward thrusting against hard objects - it is for package opening and sandwich/bread/chicken slicing and the Blur is similar to most other pocket knives - and kitchen knives - in not having a protective hilt.My second concern is about aluminum for the handle. The weight isn't too heavy and it's rock solid, but in freezing weather, IF the knife is in a pack instead of a pocket, the aluminum could become quite cold to the point where flesh might momentarily adhere (momentarily since unlike the usual frozen flagpole, the pocket knife is too small to be that frigid for long). My preference is almost always for plastic handled knives, or at least for Micarta or plastic scales/handle overrlays. It's undeniable, however, that steel and aluminum are much superior in terms of durability.I put off exploring the Kershaw line for a long time, mentally placing them in the same budget category as CRKT and Gerber. They are not. IMHO they make a much higher quality product, even in their mass market blister pack products with the necessarily cheaper, and easier to shape, 4Cr steel (in the $15 Filter).I highly recommend the Blur, it is American Made, and S30V is a wonderful steel. But to be honest my favorites right now are the Oso Sweet (SpeedSafe) and the Chill (flipper, with bearings); these have run-of-the-mill 8Cr13MOV steel (which according to Clifford Stamp is close in formula to AUS8).Kershaw gets great results with its 14C28N Sandvik steel, with 8Cr13MOV, and even with its blister-pack 4Cr (which doesn't hold an edge long, if you use it on boxes, but resharpens to a wicked sharp edge). Great heat treatment and consistent steel from their reliable vendors seems to do the trick for Kershaw (the Sandvik is even a special formula that Sandvik developed in collaboratin with Kershaw).Highly enjoyed, highly recommended. If you haven't tried SpeedSafe yet, it's great, a much more consistent, solid lockup with much reduced risk of dropping the handle.