I can often see myself, in my mind, going back in time, to when I would be on the front stoop, with my grandfather, spending many hours, just whitling on an old stick or a tree branch. Those were the days, in memories that still come to my mind. We didn’t waste those hours, on the contrary, they created memories of a much simpler time – long before any such thing as video games – that people play on their cell phones today – by themselves. It honestly was a great time to be alive as a child.
I don’t recall what kind of a folding knife my grandfather gave me, but it was something with three blades, and it had a plastic handle on it, and we whittled enough wood to build a house with. We didn’t really talk much, just sat there slicing off little pieces of wood, into a pile in front of us. And, before the day was over we had to sharpen our knives, my grandfather was s shoe maker at one time, and he knew how to bring a dull knife back to life.
Back when I was a kid in Chicago, every kid had a folding knife in their pants pocket, and there weren’t thoughts of harming anyone with our knives. We even played a game called Mumbly Peg, seeing if we could stick a knife in the dirt.
This brings me to one of the newest knives from Kershaw knives. One of their new automatic folders called the Launch 15, and I’ve collected most of these new yearly releases over the year. To be sure, you can’t own an automatic knife in some states today, due to some laws passed in the 1950s and 1960s. This legislation was inspired by the use of “switchblades” featured in some movies – these knives were only used by the gang member characters in those movies. An automatic knife opens with the push of a button. They looked deadly in the movies. However, it was the opening method that made them any more lethal than a manual opening knife. It was the use of the knife – not how fast you could open it. There are laws being proposed these days to repeal those old laws that will bring those automatic opening knives legal once again in many states. I don’t think it will pass in Illinois, though.
The new Launch 15 is a full-sized folder with a 3.5-inch blade and being made in the USA at Kershaw means it is first class all the way. The blade is made out of CPM Magnacut high tech stainless steel, and it will hold an edge a good long time before you have to touch it up. The point on the folder is a bayonet-style blade, with Aluminum handle scales on both sides of the handle and spine. The pocket clip has a deep carry design, so it rides in your pocket and won’t slip out of the pocket. A blackwash is on the blade so scratches won’t easily show up on it – nice! Plus the pocket clip is reversible if you want to carry the knife in a left front pocket.
When you close the blade it stays locked in the handle, until you actually press the button, and then the blade is released and locked open, until you press the button once again, and lock it back in the handle. The handle is two-toned, black and tan – very cool looking, if you ask me.
This is one classy-looking folder – good enough to be called a “Gentleman’s folder” if you ask me. Right now this little folder is on sale for only $199.99 from the regular price of $239.99 just know that this folder is often sold out and you have to get one from a Kershaw dealer. You can’t order it directly from Kershaw.
Over the years, I’ve had my hands on a lot of automatic folders, from many different sources, and per Federal law, a full-size automatic folder can NOT be imported – they can only be made in the USA. Just about all the automatics I had back in the 1970s and 1980s were usually assembled from a manual opening folder and they were illegally converted into an automatic folder, Without a doubt, those were all junk – plain and simple. But things began tp change after the turn of the 21st Century. There are now some high-quality automatic knives on the market.
The Launch 15
The Launch 15 is a real lightweight. It weighs a mere 3.1 ounces, so you easily forget you are carrying it. Every time I had to check to make sure the knife hadn’t slipped out of my pocket and gotten lost – no worries the stout pocket clip holds it very secure in the pants pocket. BTW, the Launch 15 was designed in-house at Kershaw. I’ve toured their Oregon plant several times and have always walked away with the workmanship of all their knives and how well-made they are by their crew of craftsmen. None of those working on assembling knives minded in the least if I stood there and looked over their shoulders when they were working.
My Practical Tests
Long ago, I stopped doing torture testing on guns and knives – anything can be broken under the right circumstances. I did subject the Launch 15 to a variety of tests, and one of the first things I do with a knife is check to see how sharp they are right out of the box, and how long they hold a good edge. I used to design knives and had a lot of them made by custom knife makers. And, you’d be surprised at how many custom knife makers simply could not put a really hair-poppin’ edge on a knife. Not only that, some of them when they were done with a knife, couldn’t get a good edge it it – no matter what I did, or what other knife makers did. The steel wasn’t properly heat-treated, and you couldn’t get a good edge on their knives – I kid you not.
The CPM Magnacut stainless steel used in the Lauch 15, can be scary sharp right out of the box, and I could easily shave the hair off my arms, and it held an edge a really long time, and it wasn’t any problem touching-up the sharpness of the blade.
One test that I’m sure all my regular readers have gotten tired of hearing about, is how easily a knife blade will sever blackberry vines – living or dead. I take a single swipe at one of these vines, to see how sharp a blade is. And, believe it or not, the dead blackberry vines are harder to cut completely through than a live vine is. The Launch 15 easily cut right through a dead vine – several times – no problems.
Yellow polymer rope is really hard to cut – serrated blades make it easier to cut through, however a plain edge blade has to be extremely sharp to slice right through it in a single cut – we are talking about free-hanging rope. Many lesser knife blades will slip off the rope or only partially cut through it, without “sawing” through the rope. The same goes for wet cotton rope. The Launch 15 didn’t disappoint.
Look, no matter what you might think, this writer isn’t paid all that much, and we rarely eat steak, and more than likely, when we do, it is a “cheap” cut of beef, and it is a real chore to cut through a steak. I used the Launch 15 around the kitchen and at the table and it made cutting beef easy, and my wife used it in the kitchen and loved it – and It was not designed to be a kitchen knife.
Cutting open cardboard boxes was never a problem and even the strapping on some boxes was easy to cut though. To be sure, cardboard is rough on a blade and will dull them in short order…not so with the knife sample I tested.
I carried the Kershaw Launch 15 in my right front pocket for about two weeks, it was my main cutting tool during that time, and it didn’t disappoint me. I showed off this folder at the local FFL and everyone loved it. These guys at the shop are really tough on a knife and if there is something they don’t like, you’ll hear about it. But there were no negative comments at all. I don’t believe I’ve ever had a “bad” knife from Kershaw, and I’ve been using and testing their knives for a lot of years – in fact long before I became a writer. Some of the Kershaw products are made overseas, and I’ve seen no difference in the quality of those blades – but they are less expensive and that’s a good thing for the consumer.
During one of my tours at the Kershaw factory, I happened upon a bin full of various knives and asked about it. I was told those were “rejects” and not sold to the public. I examined a lot of those knives and for the life of me, I couldn’t see the defects – not even when they were pointed out to me – go figure?
I was more than a little impressed with the Launch 15. Check one out!