I did a search on the forum and didn't find any reviews on it. Puled mine out along with my camera/shaky hands combo and snapped some pics.
It was given to me by a friend as a birthday present last year in April. He had one for about 6 months and gave them out to all our friends that year. His version is a bit different, it sports the National Geographic logo and Japan on the blade. Overall comparing the two his has a little better fit and finish but both lack in functionality.
My initial thoughts were "wow this looks cool", and I did edc it for roughly a year. What I think of it today is very different.
Specs: Blade Steel listed as AUS6A stainless. Aluminum body. Blade length 3 1/4. Overall length 4 1/8. Country if manufacture China (on my example).
Here's the breakdown of the features: As a knife it does a good job of cutting, easy to sharpen and the serrations are good for heavy rope cutting jobs. Today the liner lock barely engages when opened one handed. I need to lock it in place ether by closing it slightly and opening it again with a snap or use my second hand to lock it in. The grip leaves a lot to desire, granted this wasn't meant to be a knife first. The knife takes a few seconds to deploy ( I can get to my sak blade faster) rendering it useless in a defensive situation if attached to a belt loop.
The screw drivers provided are flathead and philips. Both see use on a regular MT, but what is lacking on this tool is relatively short shaft which limits you to work only on exposed screws. The second thing I didn't like with them was the lack of some kind of locking or spring tension mechanism, both screw drives tend to close on you while working.
The one thins I tend to use the most other than a knife on a sak or mt is the bottle opener (I'm a beer drinker). This would be the one thing that could of been easily executed but for some reason they messed it up royally. The protrusion in the gap that makes the cap lifter is tiny, and barely gets any grip in the cap, it's very difficult to use and requires multiple passes to get the job done.
As a carabiner it actually delivers somewhat. It will carry your keys, and will stay locked until you need it open.
The finish is ok and wears out with time (creating character), sharp keys and other implements we all carry on our key chains rob the tool of it's coating. It can double as brass knuckles in a pitch, I haven't tried this feature yet.
From what I've learned Kershaw doesn't stamp them with the NatGeo logo anymore, and the production was moved to China.
Final thoughts: If you can get your hands on one for free, or get the one made in Japan relatively cheap go for it, but I wouldn't pay for one myself.
Donations
Community Links
