Kershaw Thermite 57% Off

Amazon currently has the Kershaw Thermite for $23.64, which is 57% off of MSRP, and it's prime eligible. I've been carrying one for the past several months and it's a darn nice knife. It's also cheap enough to replace that I don't mind beating and I wouldn't be upset if I lost it. At typical $30 to $40 online retailer prices it's a great buy: You get a real G10 front scale with milled texture, aluminum back spacer, assisted opening flipper, steel frame lock with over travel stop disk, 3.5" blade with a correctly ground Hinderer Spanto tip, and stone washed finished on the steel parts. For $23 and change it's insane.

Y'all remind me to quit slacking and do a full review of this thing.

I was just looking at youtube vids of the Thermite, and was thinking about buying it @ $24 or Tremor @ $18... decisions decisions... ugaarguy and hso, any thoughts?

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I see you've already ordered both. I don't have any experience with the Tremor, but it is discontinued so buy another quickly if you fall in love with it.

RC is also spot on regarding the combined price you paid for both: The Thermite is $38 plus shipping from Cabela's, and I'd still pay that price if Cabela's was the only place I could get one.

In fact, the folks at the KAI USA booth at Blade told me that there will be a roughly 3" blade length mini length Thermite released later this year, and that knife will be a Cabela's exclusive. I'm guessing they'll sell the new mini for $5 less than the full size Thermite. If Cabela's does hit the $33 or less price point on the mini I'll almost certainly buy one, and I suspect I'm not alone in that assertion.

Bought one based on this thread. I'm 90% happy with it. It opens nicely with the flipper thingy, but use of the thumb stud threatens injury. I lubed it and have played with it a bit. If it loosens up enough to fly all the way open from a nudge on the stud, I will change my rating to 100%

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Play with the tightness of the handle liner and blade pivot screws

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Having pulled mine apart and looked at the shape of the assist spring I don't think the Thermite is ever going to open with just a nudge on the thumb studs. The spring / blade relationship provides a camming action that gives the blade a strong bias toward closure. I like that bias toward closure because it requires an intentional push against the flipper to open to the blade, so it's far less likely to accidentally open in the pocket from a bump on the flipper. I consider the thumb studs to be a backup in case the spring assist fails.

Gordon, if you want a slicey grind Kershaw on the cheap there's always the RJ Martin designed Zing for literally a few pennies more. It's smaller (3 inch blade), the back spacer is plastic instead of aluminum, and there's no over-travel stop. But it's thin, light, and slicey.