Kershaw Echelon 1880 Pocket Knife

This knife is durable, lightweight, and the broad hollow-grind edge is wickedly sharp. The natural (dye free) G-10 handle fits perfectly in the palm, and the shape of the blade is boisterous and great for utility use, on the worksite or in the backyard.Kershaw decided to affix a thumb stud to the blade for the opening assistant instead of their signature rear-flipper. When i first saw the knife I though "thumb stud?! No flipper?! Why?!!", but after holding the knife, I wouldn't want it any other way. The thumb stud is a winner.The pocket clip is the lowest profile you'll find on a Kershaw, identical to the clip on the legendary CRYO.This knife is made in the USA and made to last. Buy one. Buy two!

I loved this knife in pictures and I still love it. This is my daily knife and it keeps its sharpness through many uses. The handle looks like it will glow in the dark, but it does not, but it looks really freakin' cool. I have gotten many complements on the knife. The only drawback is the clip on the knife, for me the lip is a little too bent upward and I have gotten it caught more than once on different things, this was easily solved with a rubber mallet and a block of wood, I flattened it out a bit and now it is closer to the surface of the knife, but still goes into my jean pockets smoothly. Overall this is a great price for a great knife, just make sure when you are buying a Kershaw that it is made in the USA. The ones made in China ARE cheaper, but you get what you pay for!

Still good blade quality from kershaw but handle feels cheap and it don't swing open very good.. Personally for the money I can find a better knife..

This is probably my fifth or sixth Kershaw. Unfortunately it doesn't live up to the others.Firstly, the looks of this knife are AWESOME. The natural G-10 is sexy and the blade shape is nice too. The jade color of the scales and the black hardware blend together very nicely. Along with the stone-washed blade, this is a nice looking knife. Tri-position deep carry pocket clip can be oriented left side tip up or right side tip up or tip down, it's finished black.More on the handles, the G-10 is grippy but not overly so. Your pockets will survive. It is also milled through enough on the left side that you can see the Speedsafe functioning. Pretty cool. This knife distinctively lacks ansort of jimping, on the blade or liner lock. What's the deal with that? Don't use this to stab or you'll likely lose fingers. The handle has what Kershaw calls an 'inset liner lock'. That means there are not full steel liners, rather about 60% of the right side scale has a slab of steel where the lock is located. I don't have many concerns about the strength of the knife, but the lack of liners provides weight saving. The left side has a thin metal cover over the Speedsafe mechanism that is only there to retain the spring.The Speedsafe on this knife works as well as can be expected. However the spring is thick and requires quite a bit of effort to actuate. I see that as good and bad. Good since it keeps the knife closed in your pocket. Bad since it requires more force to open. That's not to say you have to be Mr. Universe to open it, but the design of the 'floating' thumbstuds can lead to difficulty.The thumbstuds are smooth as a baby's ass. There is nothing there to aid in purchase. No jimping at all. This could lead to problems when opening. If your thumb slips, you could slice yourself pretty good on the Sandvik steel. I've not had an issue with it, but be prepared, just in case.Back to the thumbstuds, in the picture you see the hole the studs are mounted in. In the Amazon picture that hole has triangular sections milled out. My knife did not have that. That's kind of depressing since that small touch made such a huge difference in the aesthetics of this knife.Fit and finish on my model is excellent. This knife is made in the USA and it's certainly a quality knife.This offering from Kershaw is so back and forth in my eyes. Open the box and fall in love, then when you begin to play with it and use it you see it has shortcomings. Certainly not enough, in my eyes, to deter anyone from buying it. But there are caveats that buyers should be aware of before spending the money. I think it's better than a 3, but not quite a 4. Maybe 7.5 out of 10.

I spent hours searching for the best knife for me. I owned a gerber knife a while ago and the blade broke prying on sheetrock, GARBAGE. I owned a kershaw folder that i loved. It was extremely strong, i dug through plywood with it and put a ton of pressure on the tip. It stayed sharp and did not break. The echelon looks awesome. Its lightweight and the perfect size. The g10 handle probably doesnt have the grip that kershaw says it does but is much better that raw metal. The material is perfect for keeping the knife stuck to your pants. The pocket clip alows the knife to go all the way down into your pocket, this was one major seller for because thats what made my other knife feel clunky in my pocket and is the reason it was lost. The blade is sharp as expected from kershaw. The blade is thin at the blade and widens nicely to make a thick strong blade, the spot for you thumb at the top is wide enough to be comfortable when putting pressure on the knife. It fits nice in a very large hand like mine for a small knife. Over all it is thin and sits in your pocket light and unnoticed. The thumb stud is a little tight to the handle to get grip on for opening and the speedsafe mechanism takes a good amount of pressure to open but is livable once used to it. I also thought the blade was a little fat and would make the knife wider than necessary but does not effect overall profile. Im happy with my purchase

The detent (the mechanism that keeps the blade from falling open by itself) on my Echelon was so stiff that I couldn't open the knife without putting tremendous pressure on the thumb-stud. I feared that when the blade finally released, my thumb would go flying across the blade, ending with a trip to the hospital. I returned the knife.