Sweet onions: Kershaw's custom collaborations with Ken Onion are a hot ticket

Admittedly the "coolness quotient" is probably the reason most of these knives sell, but the assisted opening design has real merit. We must give credit where it's due--Spyderco brought us the one-hand-opening folding knife with the handy pocket clip, and millions of sportsmen. workers and craftsmen have voted their enthusiasm for this idea with their wallets. The Speed-Safe design is simply the one-hand-opening knife taken to the next level.

So Many To Choose From

With the variety of Speed-Safe designs offered by Kershaw, it's tough to know where to start, but let's begin with one of the most visually stunning--the Rainbow Leek. Slip one of these from your pocket in a crowd of friends and it won't be a moment until you hear, "Hey, let me see that!"

The Rainbow Leek is finished with tough, scratch resistant Titanium Oxide. The unique coloration comes from the varied application of electrical current. The Rainbow Leek is beautiful but it's capable too, with a sleek dropped-point 3-inch blade.

This is a frame-lock design, meaning a heavy section of the knife's "handle" springs into line with the blade as it opens. The result is a more rugged and dependable locking system than many of the more common liner lock designs.

One additional distinction should be noted. The Leek is a "flipper" design, meaning that when folded, a small segment of the blade extends through the back of the frame. This forms a trigger that when pushed against the torsion spring of the Speed-Safe mechanism opens the knife smoothly and easily. It's a great design. Like nearly all of Kershaw's similar designs, the Leek incorporates a small safety slide which may be engaged to positively secure the blade against accidental opening. MSRP for the Rainbow Leek is $99.95.

Want all that "neat-o" engineering without the flash? Go for the standard, vapor finished stainless Leek for only $69.95. Both carry a stout pocket clip and at 4" overall (folded) and 3.1 ounces, are just the right size for an everyday carry knife.

Hot Off The Drawing Board

Next let's look at a new design from Kershaw and Ken Onion, the Blur. The Blur is larger than the Leek, at 4 1/2 inches folded with a 3 3/8-inch blade and a weight of 4.2 ounces. Those figures don't sound large, but put the Blur in your hand and it feels like it's ready to be worked--hard.

The scales are hard-anodized aluminum with Trac-Tec inserts (think skateboard tape). Grip this cutter and it almost seems to grip back. This is one blade that won't squirm around in your hand when you're wet or greasy or stiff with cold.

The Blur does not employ a flipper or trigger. To deploy the blade, push on the ambidextrous blade stud. It's uniquely angled and serrated and just plain comfortable. The blade is slightly recurved, looking like a gull's wing in flight. An edge of this shape generally offers an especially aggressive cutting action.

We looked at two different versions of the Blur, a low-profile model with black, TiN coated blade, black anodized scales and a 40 percent serrated edge. The second wore scales anodized to a pleasant red color, not too bright, not too dull, with an uncoated, plain edged 440A stainless blade.