If you were asked to name the most comfortable and useful EDC gun/blade combination possible, you wouldn’t get (very) many arguments you chose a Smith M&P Shield and a Kershaw Skyline. See all of Chris’s gear at Everyday Carry . . .

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16 COMMENTS

  1. I like Kershaw. They are good enough quality for daily jobs and they don’t cost a small fortune when you lose them. I’ve lost one on a hunt. Easy to replace. Also a good reminder of why 1 is none.

    • Have they fixed the issues with their blade thickness/crystalline flaws in the metal?

      I broke a few Kershaw blades back in the day and haven’t bought another because of that.

      • Haven’t had any issues with mine. But I use my knives just for cutting. Learned hard lessons about using knives for pry bars and screw drivers.

        • I never misused the knives like that. They were flawed and prone to breaking during normal cutting activities in my experience. Pardon my French, but 10-12 years ago they were, IMHO, cheap shit. When the blade snaps cutting a 1/2″ piece of rope that’s either shitty production across the board or a QC issue. Two LEAK’s snapped a blade and some other knife of theirs had a terrible joint.

          When things like that happen with multiple knives from the same company I simply stop buying from that company.

          I swapped to SOG back then, before they outsourced to China, and never had another problem like that.

        • My experience has been different. But I wasn’t using Kershaw 10-12 years ago. I had a spyderco fall apart just from carrying it in my pocket every day. Not using, just carrying.

          I used to carry bucks. And then I bought a new one and didn’t notice till I got it home that it had “China” stamped into the reverse of the blade. Never used it or bought another.

      • Some Damascus patterns are prone to being brittle to anything but cutting force.
        I break about one a week trying to center it in the handle.
        Everybody in the shop hears it.

      • I’ve owned a few kershaws. The first was very well made. (A U.S. made $100 knife someone gave me.) The last couple were well designed but made in China knives that were on par with a Gerber. I never broke any of them and I do abuse mine.

        • Kershaws have a brand dilution problem, they have both mid market and entry level knives and the quality is not across the board. That being said the skyline is one of the hardest, sharpest knives I have. Probably not good for batoning but great for everyday cutting

  2. This looks surprisingly similar to my setup. The variation being a S&W M&P 9C in a Galco King Tuk with a CRKT M16-13ZLEK.

  4. SKX with a sapphire crystal mod. Somebody knows watches.

    Chris, I’m curious if you have pressure tested since you changed the crystal and how that went.

      • These days, the ‘glass’ over a watch face is either:

        Acrylic – cheap & scratches very easily. Flexible so doesn’t shatter easy. Found on inexpensive Casios, Timex, and other budget watches.

        Mineral crystal – very scratch resistant, though easier to shatter than acrylic. Don’t drop your watch on concrete. Found on entry-level-respectable to midrange watches. Not all mineral glass is equal. Seiko’s proprietary Hardlex glass is better than some others. I believe about 7 on the Moh hardness scale.

        Sapphire – most scratch resistant and expensive. Like mineral, it’s not shatter-proof. Found mostly on high-end watches. Although the new Chinese watch company PHOIBOS is offering it at a lower price point than most and may pressure the market to adapt. It’s not the sapphire gemstone that comes out of the ground, but a synthetic version made by crystallizing aluminum oxide at very high temperature . It is chemically identical to the natural stuff and just as hard.

        Sapphire rates about 9 on the Moh hardness scale, right behind diamond which measures 10. A knife blade or screwdriver might scratch the mineral crystal on your watch, but not likely the sapphire. This is nice to have on a quality EDC watch that you don’t want to baby, and one you want to keep looking good and easily readable. It’s not a cheap upgrade, but generally less than a new quality watch, and certainly less than a new watch that comes with factory sapphire.

        • moh= minute of hourhand?

          i lost the auction for the blue handled skyline- i don’t remember it being damascus. kershaw chose to release that tool in dozens of blade/ handle configs, so completists have some pursuing to do.
          got a black one. it’s a good drop point, but i’ve since become enamored of mod wharncliffes and sheepsfoot for edc. the light handle causes it to balance poorly.
          the leeks are nice for pocket. i toothpick my knives more than anything. if you are a fidgeter, kershaw will send you free replacement springs for the auto feature- they lose their sproing a bit prematurely. in fact they’ll pretty much repair or replace no matter what.

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