Kershaw Leek Reviews

Great overall value for money. Slim,sharp,and more durable than it looks.Kershaw also has the best serrated blades for price range in the biz. Have owned cold steel,spyderco,case,Crkt,and many others. For price and quality Kershaw Kai and Lonewolf in my humble opinion are the best value knives on the market!

Price Paid: $40.00

Length of Time Used: Greater than 1 year

Use: Every Day Carry

I recently picked up a Kershaw Leek for my EDC needs. I have been puting the knife to the test on the job daily. What I have found is that the Leek is a very solid knife for the price. The blade is very durable and easy to sharpen and stays sharp. I cut a variety of materials such as insulated wire, coaxial cable, tie wraps, tape, etc. and the blade holds up well. This is a spring assisted knife and it deploys very fast using only one hand. I would recommend this knife to anyone needing a nice everyday working knife and I would definately buy one again.

Price Paid: N/A

Length of Time Used: 6 months

Use: Every Day Carry

I bought a kershaw leek with the composite blade as a blemish so it was expected that there would be a flaw. The only flaw I found was that the tip was slightly bent, I fixed that by sharpening it a few times.

This knife came very sharp and it is super comfy to use. Also, the composite blade looks cool! Build quality is great, phosphor bronze washers, assisted opening, speed safe, all made very well. Plus it's made in the USA!

Overall,I would buy this knife again.

Price Paid: N/A

Length of Time Used: 3 months

Use: Every Day Carry

I purchased my 1660OLBLK as a blemish for $29 delivered. I was not expecting such a great blade for this price.

The knive is finished in a "dusty" black/olive handle with a black coated blade. The entire knive is "flat" as in no glossy finish here.

It feels very good in hand - very high quality feeling, with a chalky-smooth feel. The knive has a good heft without being heavy in pocket.

The model and date of manufacture are emblazoned on the blade in gold, a classy touch.

The blade is 3 inches, with a 4 inch handle. It weighs in at 3.1 oz.

My knife was just a tad loose, the three torx screws holding the handles together were not fully tight. I tuned it by tightening the handle screws and the pivot screw to my liking.

The Leek as Kershaw's "Speed-Safe" assisted opening design, with a actuator lump on the bottom of the blade that is pressed with your index finger to quickly deploy the blade with one hand. The Leek also sports ambidextrous thumb studs, which allow you to deploy the blade even more forcefully - i.e. lightning fast.

The 440C stainless steel blade is what I would call a modified Wharncliffe design that is more slender and pointed. The blade is extremely pointed, and it is very thin. One would be asking for trouble using this blade as a pry-bar, but for cutting needs it is outstanding.

The knife came sharp enough to rough shave, and with a little work on a leather stop it now is able to cleanly shave the hair on my arm. The profile of the cutting edge makes it very easy to sharpen.

The blade lock is a frame lock, and its simple elegance makes it a joy to hold and play with. The lockup is strong, and there is just the slightest lateral blade-play as I have it adjusted at the pivot screw.

There is a sliding anti-deployement lock on the butt-end of the handle on the clip side, which simply slides over the tip of the blade when closed to prevent the blade from coming open accidentally.

When I received my example, the anti-deployment slider was too loose, and it would slide to the locked position while in pocket. I cured this by tightening it down to hold it firmly in the unlocked position, as I feel it is not needed.

The clip is designed for tip-down carry only, and it allows about a half-inch of the knife to protrude from your pocket. The Leek is VERY slim, and you could easily remove the clip and carry it loose in pocket if you wanted - it would be unnoticeable.

I have been carrying it daily for about two weeks now, and I really enjoy having it around for my cutting chores.

High quality, slim, great ergonomics, decent clip, razor sharp blade, and inexpensive price make this made in the USA beauty a must have for any lover of great knives.

Price Paid: N/A

Length of Time Used: Less than 1 Month

Use: Every Day Carry

one of the sharpest blades ive had come out of the box. its also the thinnest knife ive ever handled, just a little too petite for my every day liking.

Price Paid: N/A

Length of Time Used: Greater than 1 year

Use: Other

The Leek is a really cool little knife. It is pretty compact, pretty light, and has a surprising amount of cutting power. The blade has a very slim profile, and I like the overall feel.
The knife is relatively easy to sharpen and holds an alright edge for quite a while. The knife has also stayed smooth without adjustment to the pivot over the course of time that I owned it.
Kershaw really did a nice job with the Ken Onion series knives(well Ken Onion did a nice job too). The assisted opening mechanism is great, as is the frame lock.
Overall, there really aren't many flaws with the Kershaw Leek, especially for a 50 dollar knife. As others have mentioned, it does get a little slippery when wet, but I don't find it to be a problem very often.

Price Paid: N/A

Length of Time Used: 6 months

Use: Light Duty/General

This is a great knife for light duty and edc use. I got this knife quite a while ago and it makes its way into my poket quite frequently. I have the discontinued white and black anodized aluminum handled version. The handle is really slippery and not very good in wet conditions. It will slip out of your pocket if you dont keep an eye on it. Aside from that small flaw its a really great knife, I use it a lot for opening up carboard boxes. The slim blade and needle-like tip is great for piercing packaging and cardboard boxes. My only other concern about the knife is that when I purchased mine I found that the blade was warped to one side. This makes it somewhat difficult to sharpen. I feel like this was probably an isolated incident however and have handled several other versions of this knife without this flaw. Overall its a pretty nice knife.

Price Paid: N/A

Length of Time Used: Greater than 1 year

Use: Every Day Carry

I have a Random Leek with a sheepsfoot plain stonewashed blade. I originally got it for the assisted opening and because it was US manufactured. I think it's important to support US manufacturers and jobs, and I vote with my money. The Random Leek is beautiful. It snaps open seemly instantaneously with a flick of the index finger on the flipper, making a satisfying "clack." I've never had any problems with the framelock, and it seems strong enough for anything I'll use the knife for. The blade shape seemed weird when I saw it online, but in use, it's practical. The tip is super sharp, should I ever need to stick something, and the blade has enough of a belly to be useful. The stonewash finish is pretty as well. The knife arrived razor sharp and is stupidly easy to keep that way. By far the easiest knife I've ever sharpened, and it stays sharp. The handle. The only thing I don't completly like about this knife is the steel handle. I haven't experienced any problems with it yet, but I see some big potential ones. If the knife was muddy and wet, or had some glop on it, it'd be slippery. I must add that the knife being smooth makes it super-easy to slide out of my pocket without damaging my pants. The handle could also potentially get too hot to handle if it was left in a car on a sunny day. (Which is why you always carry it on you!)The clip can be switched to tip-up or down with two torx screws, and the entire knife can easily be taken apart with the same screws. The clip does it's job well, never had a problem. I prefer really low profile clips, but most people are so oblivious, it could have lights on it and people wouldn't notice. I'd recommend this knife for EDC, there are probably better choices if you need a hard-use knife. I know I love my Random Leek far too much to abuse it. There are also damascus steel versions and limited edition leeks. Now go check one out!

Price Paid: N/A

Length of Time Used: 1 year

Use: Every Day Carry

The Kershaw is my first "real" knife, and as such I can't give much comparison to other knives. I can however say that I have used this knife for almost a year carrying it almost every day. It holds it's edge very well and is very easy to open with one hand if needed. The knife feels a little narrow in your hand, but otherwise great and not enough so that it's a problem. I do like it better than a friends similar quality/design Buck knife and the Kershaw holds it's edge longer. The buck feels a little more comfortable because it's wider. I feel it's a great value for the money compared to the other knives I've used and discussed with other knife carriers. One thing I will warn against is that it WILL slip out of your pocket if you use the clip. I'm actually on my second one, and it almost got away too.

Price Paid: N/A

Length of Time Used: 1 year

Use: Every Day Carry