Kershaw Skyline

Reviewed 07/11/2012 by Ben B.

-Price Paid: $35.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 6 months

Comments:

Great Knife. Carry it all the time and gets the job done right every time.

Reviewed 02/01/2012 by Devin

-Price Paid: $34.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

This is definitely in my top three for EDC knives under $70. (Delica and Mini Griptilian being the others) I'll start with the Skylines best feature in my opinion, the handle. The shape of the handle fits my hand like a glove. The large "Choil" area near the front aids in an excellent grip on the knife. The G-10 scales are also great. They have the right amount of texture. Another great thing is the weight. Kershaw built this knife with only one liner, the lock side. Making it thinner and lighter. The lock up and strength IMO have not suffered from the absent liner, infact it has the second best lock up of all my knives (Mini Grip is better)The clip is actually my favorite clip design. I'm pretty sure it was designed after the Strider clips. It is great because it is strong and fully adequate, but it is shorter than any other knife clip I own.The blade is also great. Kershaw packed a lot of blade in this small package. The flipper makes opening fun and easy. The thumb studs, I think, are not designed for opening the knife, just as a blade stop, which they do wonderfully. The 14c28n sandvik steel is also excellent for edc purposes. I'd put the edge retention a half notch below Spydercos VG-10. If you're looking for a heavy use edc, this may not be the knife for you, but for normal tasks it is perfect. And USA made to boot!

Reviewed 08/17/2011 by Jason

-Price Paid: $29.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

Bought my Skyline at Wal-Mart on sale two years ago and haven't carried nary another blade since. I love the ergonomics, the flipper action is crisp and deploys with authority. I like the shape and size of the blade as well.... it is substantial enough in size but hides well in the flat profile of the G-10 handles. A very good quality of Swedish Sandvik steel went into the blade, and it holds a decent edge after cutting cardboard over extended periods. Don't encounter problems with sharpening either. A couple laps over a ceramic rod and it's right. I guess my favorite atribute of this knife is that it's made right here in the good old U.S.A.

One thing I will mention.....DO NOT MESS WITH THE SMALL SCREWS HOLDING THE HANDLE TOGETHER!! Seriously, they're easy to strip out. Stupid me just had to take them out to clean the knife, and when I put them back in I stripped them...so now they're epoxied in. It's best to just blow it out with an air hose instead. The blade screw is the only screw you don't have to worry about messing up. I take this apart to clean out lint and residue from the blade and oil the bearings. But again, the Skyline is a Kershaw Masterpiece and one of my most favorite knives ever.

Reviewed 07/29/2011 by Jay

-Price Paid: $29.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 3 months

Comments:

The Kershaw Skyline is a fantastic knife. If you can get it for less than $35, you're sure to love it.

Pros:

* Great steel

* Sick sharpness right out of the box

* Great G10 handles

* Great fit-n-finish

* Fantastic usable blade shape

Cons:

* The clip is too tight

I absolutely love this knife and it's my EDC blade. I don't anticipate ever switching to another knife.

I'm of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" school of thought. Consequently, I assumed the flipper opening was a useless gimmick. But I was wrong. I love this style of knife.

You can't use the thumb studs for opening the knife (not that you'd want to, what with the flipper feature). But if you somehow limp-wrist the flipper, you can use them to complete the lock-up.

The clip is way too tight. It's almost impossible to use; it has to be bent a bit so it's looser.

The G10 handles are well-machined and they feel great in hand.

I think the blade geometry is perfect. It gives me everything I want in an EDC knife.

The only thing that can make this knife better is a more useable clip out of the box (it's perfectly useable once I loosened it up a bit).

I'm tempted to buy a few more of these just in case Kershaw does the unthinkable and stops producing them.

Great job Kershaw!

Reviewed 06/11/2011 by Kyle

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Outdoor/Survival
-Owned for Less than 1 Month

Comments:

I recently traded by Gerber Evo for this knife, I only wanted It then because it had a good texture and sounded great, but after using it this is what I thought.

The positives

Easy to sharpen

Strong

Doesn't slip when wet

Bigger than it looks

Great finger protection

Adjustable pocket clip

Fast flipper

Inexpensive

The negatives

Useless thumb studs

I have to say that this is a knife is a tank, it does anything I ask it to easily. The only thing I didn't list was the liner lock, it looks very strong to me but I haven't put it thought to much heavy work yet. Love this knife buy it.

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Reviewed 02/20/2011 by Steven

-Price Paid: $10.00
-Used for Light Duty/General
-Owned for 3 months

Comments:

This knife is a great little guy to have around. i think that to say that it cuts would be an understatement. it slices. it takes an amazing edge, and keeps it for a while. it is extremely thin, and is almost unnoticeable thanks to the tiny clip. the only problem with it being this this is that the liner is thin enough to scare me away from using for heavy tasks. it fires quickly, and feels decent. it is a bit angular, but that is acceptable. Buy the knife. even if it only rides with you when you need something thin but long, it is totally worth it.

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Reviewed 02/11/2011 by Jon G.

-Price Paid: $35.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 3 months

Comments:

This is an outstanding EDC knife, and should be perfect for any general purpose task you might throw at it. The blade itself is hollow-ground and of a drop-point design, measuring out at 3-1/8". It cuts like an evil villain's laser beams out of the box (absolutely shaving sharp), and the hollow grind makes the Skyline an outstanding slicer. The blade is fairly thin, which lends itself nicely to precision cutting work, but may not be well-suited to hard-use tasks like a saber-ground Spyderco Delica 4 might. The blade is made from 14C28N stainless steel, and holds its edge quite well. I've carried this knife continuously for about a month now and used it every day (mostly opening packages and cutting lots of food), and it only once needed a few swipes across the fine stones on my Spyderco sharpmaker to bring it back to paper-slicing, hair-popping sharpness. The blade had some minor cosmetic scuffing and wear near the pivot at delivery, but was otherwise flawless.

Unlike many of Kershaw's offerings, the Skyline is NOT an assisted-opening design. However, it doesn't really need it. A firm push inward on the flipper (and occasionally a slight wrist flick) brings out and locks the blade. There are also dual thumbstuds on the blade, but these are difficult to access because they are situated almost flush to the handles/scales when the knife is closed. (Docked points for ergonomics) The pivot action is buttery smooth and offers just enough resistance (so you won't easily slice fingers off trying to close the knife one-handed) and the locking liner is rock-solid: absolutely no wiggle in the blade in any direction.

The scales are made of medium-textured G-10, which is grippy enough to inspire confidence. The G-10 material is well-machined, with no sharp points or surfaces along any of the handle contours. The deep finger choil makes controlling the knife quite easy, and adds confidence in handling the knife. The pocket clip is repositionable for tip-up or tip-down carry (right hand only), and is quite rigid and tight (which works fine with great pocket retention in my jeans, but might cause some fabric wear over time with other materials). The knife weighs around 2.6 ounces, and is so slim and light that in terms of overall pocketability, I often forget that I am carrying this knife (until I need it).

Kershaw hit a home-run with the Skyline. It is well-constructed, comfortable, and extremely good at its intended purpose. The fact that it is $35 and made in the United States is icing on the cake. If you're in the market for a lightweight ~3" folding blade, and aren't bothered by the flipper opening design, this knife seriously deserves your consideration.

Reviewed 11/19/2010 by Eric

-Price Paid: $35.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 3 months

Comments:

Got this knife about 3 montha ago and has been my EDC ever seince. The skyline comes very sharp and holds an edge well. I dont know about reshapening as i have not had to sharpen this knife other than a few strokes on a steel. G-10 handle provides great grip. I mainly use the flipper to open but unlike the other reviewers i find the thumb stud pretty easy to use after the knife has been broken in. These guys must just be pussies. The flip is quick and lockup is perfect. I put this knife throu some good use and lock up is still as good as new absolutly no wiggle.

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Reviewed 08/12/2010 by Guns4Hire

-Price Paid: $25.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Less than 1 Month

Comments:

I bought my Skyline at the local Wal-Mart because it was on clearance for $25 and is made in the USA. The first time I held it I found the grip profile to very comfortable. The blade is longer and thicker than I expected for this size of knife. I had some concerns about the single liner but after a few weeks of carry and working with it, the action has stayed tight with absolutely no play. The flipper is excellent and glass smooth. The G-10 scales are iron hard and I can't even get them to flex. The weight of this knife is feather light for the 3" blade. I went back and bought 2 more for fear of Kershaw discontinuing the Skyline. For everyday anything it's hard to beat the value and functionality of the Skyline.

Reviewed 07/11/2010 by Travis

-Price Paid: $17.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 6 months

Comments:

I snagged it off ebay for a killer price ($17)

G10 is very gripy

blade shape makes for a nice slicer

holds a good edge and came razor sharp

lock up is good

super light for the size

Flipper is addicting making you just want to open and close it once you break it in

Reviewed 05/11/2010 by JDM

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 6 months

Comments:

Great knife for a great price. Extremely lightweight with an excellent blade profile. It has only one liner with G10 scales. It has an unassisted flipper as well.

At first I found the flipper to be a bit difficult, but eventually I found the trick. Instead of using the pad of your pointer finger, you need to use the tip, like almost by your finger nail. I got to the point where I could draw the blade with absolutely no wrist flick whatsoever. Also, you have to use the flipper with this knife. The thumbstud is too small to be useful. If you were planning on relying on the thumbstud to open this knife, I think you will be disappointed.

Other than that, the liner lock locks up nice, no blade play. Kershaw paid attention to detail when assembling the skyline it seems, because I have no gripes about the fit and finish of this knife. The build quality is very good, in fact exceptional for a 30 dollar knife. I'm also impressed by how well the steel holds an edge. I'm usually an S30V man, but have to say this does the job(of course the s30v does much better, but besides the point). The steel used here beats out some of the other comparible steels used on similar knives.

Overal a great knife for the money!

Reviewed 02/13/2010 by Matt

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Light Duty/General
-Owned for 3 months

Comments:

The Kershaw Skyline is a sweet little knife.

When buying a knife like this, it always comes down to three: The Kershaw skyline, the spyderco tenacious, and the buck vantage pro. Each knife has their merits, but if you are looking for a lightweight EDC general use knife, the skyline is tough to beat. I own a tenacious and skyline, and have handled the buck, but could never bring myself to buy it.

The Skyline is made in the USA, and when compared to the spyderco(made in china) and buck(made in usa) is much lighter. The skyline only has one liner, whereas the buck and spyderco have two. The kershaw has a very sleek profile and hardly feels like it's there in your pocket. The tenacious and buck are both bigger knives as well.

The handle on the skyline has great G10 on it with a nice texture. Comparible to the Tenacious in quality. Superior to the Buck. The skyline also has a stout clip. The liner lock is great, snaps open, and locks up tight. I'd say it is equally as good as the tenacious, the vantage pro is much thinner. The handle on the skyline is also long enough to be used as an impact device and possibly break glass, although would be better for this task if it had two liners.

The blade on the skyline is a hair over 3". The steel is good, takes an edge, and holds it for a reasonable amount of time. The blade is much thinner than the buck and spyderco. On the skyline, I'd say the thumb stud is useless. Literally, you can't open the knife with it. I even have strong guitar fingers. Still have a hard time getting it open with the stud. Fortunately Kershaw gave us the convenient flipper, which allows you to deploy the knife with your index finger. It opens quickly, but you need to readjust your hand once you get the blade open, something not necessary when opening the Tenacious or the Vantage Pro with the holes in their blades. For this reason I dinged this knife a little bit on ergonomics.

In terms of overall, I'm going to say that it's a tossup between the skyline and tenacious, depending on how you use the knife. The skyline is a little more EDC/light use than the Tenacious but the weight savings as a result are tremendous. The Tenacious is more robust, but probbaly unnecessarily so for what most people would do with it. The Buck just falls short in every category for me and does not stack up well against these two.

Reviewed 08/26/2009 by james duckett

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 3 months

Comments:

I bought this knife from the local wally world so needless to say, I got it at a real good price, $35, my first thoughts were this knife has a great feel in the hand, very good balance,a larger blade than I expected from the size of the grip, it almost seems impossible to tuck that much blade in that small of a grip, this is a left or right handed flipper but only right handed thumb stud as the left thumb stud is used to stop the blade from going to deep into the grip so it is not user freindly for devoted thumb stud lefties, the blade has bronze washers so the action is very smooth, the blade takes and holds a razor sharp egde, the clip is strong and very tight, the scales are very grippy g-10 style, the lock liner locks up tight, I have tried to get it to fail, but it has held it's own so I have no concern of lockliner failure, while this is a very light knife, the lockliner is full lenght on one side so the knife is very strong, I would suggest this knife to anyone for light to medium use and or great edc knife!