Kershaw Eris Spring Assist Knife Review

Kershaw was founded in 1974 with a founding mission to design and manufacture tools that knife users would be proud to won, carry, and use. To do so, Kershaw knew that each and every one of their knives must be of the highest quality. Whether it’s a hardworking pocketknife, a hunting knife, or a special collector’s edition, Kershaw always chooses appropriate, high quality materials and is dedicated to intensive craftsmanship. Along with extremely tight tolerances and state of the art manufacturing techniques, this ensures that Kershaw knives provide a lifetime of performance.

Kershaw is actually a sub brand of Kai USA Ltd. For over 100 years now, Kai has been Japan’s premier blade producer. Kai takes an innovative approach to product development based on the close coordination of research and development, production, marketing, and distribution functions.

Just like Kai, Kershaw also has a commitment to innovation. In fact, Kershaw has pioneered the use of many of the technologies and advanced materials that are today standard in the knife industry. As some examples, Kershaw’s assisted opening knives were the first to market. The technology behind that is the Speed Safe. Next, Kershaw introduced the concept of knives that have interchangeable blades in their Blade Traders. Lastly, they released the Composite Blade technology, which works to give users the best of both worlds by combining two steels into one blade. This means that the user can get the longest lasting edge as well as a crazy strong spine.

Kershaw has award winning technologies and uses advanced materials, so when you are carrying a Kershaw, you know that you are carrying the real thing. This means that your blade has value and plenty of it. Even Kershaw’s more inexpensive models are impressive. This is because everything about a Kershaw is solid, crafted, and reliable. You know that your Kershaw is going to last a lifetime.

Kershaw has recently released a brand new knife, and it is going to be a game changer. Kershaw named it the Eris. The Eris got its name because Eris was in the Greek pantheon and was always known as the troublemaker. Eris was always stirring up jealousy. Now, you can always stir up jealousy whenever you take the Eris out of your pocket.

 

The Blade:

To keep the overall cost of the Eris down, Kershaw chose to use 8Cr13Mov steel. They finished this blade with a stonewash finish that has satin flats. 8Cr steel comes from a Chinese steel series. Out of the series, 9Cr steel is the strongest, most durable, and long lasting. 8Cr is close behind it. The biggest advantage that 8Cr steel boasts is how inexpensive it actually is. This works really well to keep down the overall cost of the knife. This is considered an average that is going to get the job done, but it isn’t going to excel at anything it does. You can get a very fine edge on this steel, and it will last awhile. And, because of the softness of this steel, it is extremely easy to sharpen. This steel is also considered a stainless steel, so it does resist rust and corrosion well, just not as well as a premium steel would have. On the flip side, you do get what you pay for with blade steel, so like I said, this steel does not excel at anything.

Kershaw chose to finish the blade with a stonewash finish and satin flats. This means that the majority of the blade does have a stonewash finish. This finish is created by tumbling the steel around with an abrasive material, which is almost always small pebbles. This creates a very textured, well-worn look on your blade. The next step in the process is to smooth out and polish the steel. This steel does cut down on glares and reflections well, but the biggest advantage to a stonewash finish is how well it camouflages scratches and fingerprints that accumulate overtime. This finish definitely preserves the look of the blade overtime.

The flats of the Eris have been finished with a satin finish. This is one of the most common finishes, because it provides you with a very classic look. However, in terms of what this finish can accomplish, it seems to fall right in the middle. It does work to cut down on glares and reflections, and it isn’t as shiny as some. However, it isn’t completely matte either. This finish is reliable and classic. This finish works to show off the lines of the knife and is accomplished by sanding the steel in one direction with increasing levels of an abrasive material.

The steel has been carved into the favorite blade shape: a drop point blade shape. However, this particular blade boasts an attractive top swedge. The drop point shape is easily one of the most versatile blade shapes on the market. Almost all of its features work to accomplish a plethora of tasks. The unsharpened edge slowly curves down to meet the sharpened edge, creating a lowered point. The lowered point is the features of this blade shape that makes it so popular among hunters; it provides you with exceptional control over your cuts. Plus, the lowered point means that it is going to be thicker than a regular point, providing you with plenty of strength. This means that you won’t have to worry about the tasks that the Eris will be able to take on, because this blade shape is designed to take a beating. One of the last reasons that this blade shape is so useful is that the sharpened edge provides you with a large belly and plenty of length for slicing. This is the key feature that makes the Eris great for your everyday carry knife.

The Handle:

The handle is made out of stainless steel. This has a handful of advantages and a handful of disadvantages to it. Let’s start with the advantages. First of all, this is a very durable handle material that can easily take a beating and help you perform the harder tasks that you are presented with. Secondly, this type of handle material is very resistant to rust and corrosion which does work to cut down on maintenance time. On the flip side, this is a heavy material that is going to add a decent chunk of weight to the Eris. Secondly, this is a slippery material that does take some manufacturing to provide you with a great grip. However, you aren’t going to have a solid grip on this knife in some environments.

This handle has been finished with a Titanium CarboNitride coating. This is sometimes known as a TiCN coating. This is not one of the more common coatings, so we’ll go into depth about it. This type of a coating is a thin film coating that was developed from Titanium Nitride or TiNi. This type of finish offers a slightly higher hardness compared to TiN and can show a slightly lower friction coefficient in many applications. This type of finish really helps to increase the handles abrasive wear resistance and help make it last for years.

The finger groove on this handle is shallow and elongated, but to help protect your finger, Kershaw has added a finger guard. Another big benefit about this handle is that there has been a lanyard hole carved into the butt of the handle. There are so many benefits to tying a lanyard onto your pocket knife, and this hole will come in handy in a variety of different situations.

 

The Pocket Clip:

The pocket clip is long and silver, which does add a nice contrast against the dark gray handle. The pocket clip matches the rest of the hardware on this knife. It is held into place by two small screws. This is a reversible pocket knife. The handle has been drilled to carry this knife either left or right handedly. However, the handle has only been drilled to attach the pocket clip in a way that requires you to carry your knife tip up.

 

The Mechanism:

This is an assisted opening knife that sports Kershaw’s Speed Safe assisted opening mechanism. Speed Safe is a patented system that assists the user to smoothly open your knife with a manual pull back on the flipper. This mechanism works by using a torsion bar. When the knife is closed, the torsion bar helps prevent the knife from being opened by “gravity”, it creates a bias toward the closed positon. To open the knife, the user applies manual pressure to the flipper to overcome the resistance of the torsion bar. This enables the torsion bar to move along a track in the handle and assist you to open the knife. The blade opens smoothly and locks into position, ready for use. Because the Eris features the Speed Safe mechanism, you can easily open this knife one handedly. And no, this knife is not a switchblade, even though it will feel as smooth as one.

This knife uses a flipper mechanism to assist you in opening the knife. The flipper is a small protrusion that juts out of the spine of the handle when the blade is closed. You push down on the flipper, which puts enough pressure on the blade to flip it open. One of the benefits about the flipper is that it keeps your fingers out of the way and safe from harm when you are opening the knife.

The Eris also features a Frame Lock, which is a portion of the handle that moves behind the blade to lock it into position during use. This is a safety feature of the knife.

 

The Specs:

The blade on this knife measures in at 3 inches long. When the Eris is opened, it measures in at 7.5 inches long, and when the Eris is closed, it measures in at 4.1 inches long. Because of the hefty handle, this is a much heftier knife—weighing in at 4.7 ounces.

 

Conclusion:

Kershaw designs their knives to last a lifetime with you. They are designed to make you proud to carry them, so Kershaw uses appropriate high quality material on all of their knives. They have plenty of budget options, one of which is the Eris, but you can still be proud to carry it. Kershaw will still use the high quality materials that will help you get the job done and help this knife last.

Like I previously mentioned, the Eris was named after the troublemaker in the Greek Pantheon, the man that was always stirring up jealousy. This is because now you will be the one stirring up jealousy every time you pull out this knife to show it off. But, what I didn’t mention was that this knife actually has two namesakes. The other one is the celestial Eris, which is the most massive dwarf planet in our solar system. So while this knife looks large and gives you a solid and hefty feel, it won’t be one to weigh you down.

Kershaw believes that everyone should be able to afford a high quality pocket knife, so they work to give you appropriate high quality materials. To start out with one this knife, Kershaw used 8Cr13MoV steel. This is a steel that will be able to get the job done, while also reducing the overall cost of this knife. To finish off the blade, Kershaw chose to use a stonewash finish with satin flats. The stonewash finish provides this knife with a well-worn, texturized, rugged look. The satin flats work to provide a hint of elegance to this knife, because you need a hint of elegance when the knife gets its name from a God and a Celestial planet. The handle is durable and rust resistant, but does add a chunk of weight to the knife. The handle has been finished with a matte gray titanium carbo-nitride coating, which drastically improves the hardness of this handle. This knife actually has two cherries two top it off, one being the lanyard hole and the other is the reversible pocket clip.  Order your Eris today on our website here.