That spine has three separate surfaces, with a thumb ramp at the rear, a flat section in the middle and then a gradual turn down towards the tip – it’s strange looking, but it manages to make the blade thin where it benefits from it but thick enough to still be strong behind the tip. That primary bevel is a high flat grind, with a deep swedge along the spine to thin the blade out towards the tip. It’s a very broad drop point, measuring 1.05” from blade to spine at the widest point, so in addition to having super thin blade stock, it has a tall profile to create a narrower primary bevel angle. The shape of the blade is unconventional for sure. 0.09” puts the Heist near slicing-specific designs like the ultrathin Spyderco Chaparral folder – and the same as the full-sized Bugout. The majority of folders around this size are sporting blade stock in the 0.12”-0.15” range, and while we spend a lot of time talking about grinds and shapes and bevel height, the biggest determinant of how well a blade is going to slice is how thin the stock is. The Heist’s blade shape is a modified drop point, measuring at 3.10” inches long but with very thin 0.09” wide blade stock. Let’s dive a little deeper into this budget hit. I ended up really liking the Heist, the first affordable Kershaw that’s blown me away since the Bareknuckle back in 2019. It’s also inexpensive, coming in at $55 retail price ($68 MSRP) at time of writing. So if it lacks the super-slick deployment of ball bearings, this allows the Heist to be very light and very thin, things that make it a better EDC in most ways that matter. While the other three models feature KVT ball bearings, and the Covalent and Monitor use flippers for deployment, the Heist has phosphor bronze washers and thumb studs. The Heist was a knife that didn’t immediately impress me, but upon carrying it for a couple weeks I realize what an absolute masterstroke Kershaw have pulled off: if the Iridium is a budget version of a Benchmade Anthem, the Heist is a budget version of a Bugout. The Iridium is absolutely a cool knife, and hopefully we’ll check one out in the future (they’re sold out and not currently available anywhere) but the Heist seems to have been overlooked in the hype around the Iridium, and I think that’s a mistake. Right off the bat the Iridium became a viral sensation with a lot of videos from big YouTube channels praising its looks, construction and value for money. Kershaw launched their line of DuraLock knives at the beginning of 2023 with the hugely popular Iridium, as well as this knife- the Heist – and two other knives we’ll be talking about more soon, the Covalent and Monitor. Thus, we have the Kershaw DuraLock, another new name on a familiar concept – a spring-driven lock bar that slides in a channel over the top of the blade tang to hold it in place. As we’ve mentioned in previous reviews, including knives from Gerber, SOG, and Ritter/Hogue, after the functional patent on the AXIS lock expired, other manufacturers were able to integrate it into their knives, just not using the same name. While Kershaw is certainly not new to making folding knives (they’ve been in the business since 1974), only this past year have they introduced their first sliding-bar lock knives, or AXIS-style lock knives. After carrying the Heist for a while, I think I may have figured out whose family heirlooms Kershaw is stealing out from under their nose, but we’ll get to that later.įirst, some background: this is yet another sliding-bar lock knife from a company that didn’t previously dabble in them. The Heist is a remarkably good "budget Bugout" from Kershaw and we love to see it.Īccording to, a Heist is either a noun – “a robbery or a holdup” – or a verb, “to take unlawfully, or to rob or hold up.” The implication is that something’s being stolen right out from under your nose. Cons: The base of the pocket clip catches on the hem of your pocket going in.
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