Kershaw’s Bump knife was named so because of the hump that is in the middle of the cutting edge on the blade, designed by none other than Ken Onion. Ken has been designing knives for Kershaw for many years now, and his speed-safe mechanism has shot the company to the top of the sporting knife industry.

I was able to do much more controlled push cuts using the front edge of the blade, giving me the control of a wharncliffe blade, with the belly of a spearpoint. The 6AL4V titanium handles also presented no noticable hotspots, however with use I think the color will wear.

Opening the knife is as easy as 1-2-3. The speed safe assisted opener combined with the one-push trigger make opening it a breeze, and quick too. Just push the trigger and it fires open, like many assited openers on the market today. A solid Framelock keeps the blade locked open, and contact between tang and lock is solid. The Kershaw Bump is an extremely versatile and formidable knife.

Blade length: 3.5″
Overall Length: 8″
Blade Steel: CPMS30V
Handle Material: Annodized Titanium
Lock: Framelock

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The Kershaw Blur is one of my favourite Ken Onion designs from the Kershaw line. I love the grip tape look that was made popular by Microtech several years ago. The Blur takes that signature Onion style and takes a more tactical flat handle approach, which is not typical of Ken Onion designs.

The biggest downside to this knife is the lack of a trigger. I really wish Kershaw put a trigger on this one, because I do not like using speedsafe knives with only a thumbstud. I feel like I’m going to cut my finger when it flies open, even though it’s never happened before. Almost all the early Speedsafe designs suffered from this flaw until the Boa was released.

You can snag the Blur online for around $60 or so, which is pretty amazing for the amount of knife you get. Granted, the blade steel is only 440A stainless, but its a tough using steel and unless you are a steel snob like myself, you won’t have any problems with it. Handle is anodized 6061-T6 aluminum and comes in various colors such as Black, Red and Grey.

One problem I do have with almost all of Kershaw’s knives is that the blades are almost all bead blasted and the Blur is no different. Why do I have a problem with that? Rust. It gets on the blades almost invariably. Perhaps it is the moist, west coast climate, or maybe it is where I store my knives. Either way, the blades eventually get specs of rust on them. I treat my bead blasted blades with a bit of militec to keep them rust free, but even my carbon steel blades seem to have no problem staying clean in my display cabinets.

However, at approximately 3.5″ blade length, and a nice wide recurve blade, you can’t do much better than the Blur at this price. It cuts like a champ and comes razor sharp from Kershaw. Also available in S30V and SG2 Laminated blade steel.

Blade Length: 3 3/8″
Blade Steel: 440A
Closed Length: 4 1/2″
Handle: Aluminum

Another design by Custom Maker Ken Onion from Hawaii, this one is the Avalanche and was released about the same time as the Boa. The general pattern of this knife is similar to the Blackout and Whirlwind knives which are lower end models with cheaper materials and steel.

The Avalanche features rough textured G-10 handles which have phenomenal grip, but also grip very tightly to your pants when clipped, to the point where if carried daily for a month or 2, you will have shredded pockets! I know this from experience, yes! I solved this by sanding down the part of the G-10 handles that is under the pocket clip area.

This knife, like most from Kershaw and Ken Onion these days also has the Speed Safe Assisted opener mechanism, which fires the blade out automatically once you push it open about 1/8″. Most of the newer Kershaws have a “trigger” which protrudes from the back of the knife and is part of the blade.. it facilitates easier usage of the Speed Safe technology. However this knife being older, does not have that, and the thumbstuds must be used. That is unfortunate since this is such a great simple design that could benefit so much from the “trigger”. New knives like the Kershaw Bump are very pricey ($180US+) and demand a premium when new… while older knives like this Avalanche can be purchased for a mere $60US.

The quality of the knife is excellent. There are a few imperfections such as the machining marks on the edges of the Titanium liners, but the liner lock engages positively on the blade tang and there is no blade wobble.

Overall i would say this knife is a superb value for the money, and with a little sanding can be made for excellent day-to-day carry tool.

Specs:
Blade Steel – CPM-440V Black Ti Coated
Handle – G-10
Blade – 3-1/8″
Closed – 4-1/2″
Weight – 4.5 Oz.

Ever since Ken Onion formed a relationship and collaborated with Kershaw on their knives they have been releasing some amazing peices. The Boa is among around a dozen knives designed by Ken Onion for Kershaw, which include the Steven Segal folder.

This knife has the Speed-Safe Torsion bar mechanism that Kershaw and Ken Onion Developed, and was the first knife to add the Index Finger Trigger for easy opening. I love the trigger.. It is much safer-feeling than the thumbstud when opening the speed-safe mechanism. For those that don’t know, the speedsafe opens the knife via a torsion spring after its pushed open about 1/8″ or so. It snaps open pretty good after that, and a Liner Lock kicks in.

One gripe i had about the trigger was that its sharp angles dug into my finger nail when i closed the knife and didn’t pull my thumb away quick enough. This didn’t happen with the rounded trigger of the newer Leek or Scallion models.

The blade has a heavy recurve which is great for draw cuts and a big belly which is good for cutting meat or fleshy substances. I personally thing the knife looks great asthetically but found the blade a bit small for the handle. The pocket clip is positioned for tip down carry, but i would have liked to see a tip-up position tapped so it could be switched.

All in all a very well designed knife that doesn’t need a whole lot of improvement. It is a few years old now and never updated models have improved on this then-groundbreaking design. However it is still an excellent knife that will outlast most.

Length, Open: 7.875″
Length, Closed: 4.75″
Blade Length: 3.325″
Blade Material: CPM-440V
Handle Material: 6061 T6 Aluminum
Weight: 4.9 oz