Kershaw Iridium Folding Pocket Knife, 3.4 inch D2 Steel Blade, DuraLock Locking Mechanism, Pocketclip

As close to perfect as it gets. Great design. Flawless fit and finish. Sharp perfectly centered blade. Smooth precise action and solid lockup. Great materials and price.

This knife has been my every day pocket companion for about a year now. It has faithfully handled everything I've thrown at it which is relatively light use. The blade keeps and edge reasonably well and has t picked up any damage so far. The chassis is durable and still looks brand new. It's aluminum so don't go opening bottles with it. The action is excellent. Very fidgety with a solid lock up and zero wiggle. I don't think I've ever had to adjust the tension either.

The media could not be loaded. This is a very smooth operating knife. The blade opens with a flick of the wrist. It can be opened with the ambidextrous thumb stud, or pull back the Duralock button, and swing the blade open. With a release of the button lock, the blade effortlessly swings back into handle. The Duralock locks the blade securely. The knife fits well in the hand, as well as in the pocket. The pocket clip is tip up oriented only. This knife was received in arm-shaving sharpness right out of the box. The thickness of the blade is adequate for EDC and light duty work. There isn't any side to side play with the blade in any position, and feels solid. Overall, I'm happy with this knife and feel it will serve me well.

I've been carrying this knife on and off since October of '23, about 5 months as the writing of this review. Overall the knife is well made. I have a Kershaw Leek as well and I have to say that the made in China Kershaws are getting close in quality to the US made ones. I try to avoid Chinese made knives when I can but lately that has been more and more difficult and I decided to break my own rule for this Iridium as it seems like such a great deal and so many good reviews within the knife community about it.The knife is a large knife, larger than I expected actually. Not so much the length but the width of the blade. Its a broad flat blade with large chamfer that runs about 3/4 of the way across the top of the blade. It makes the blade seem thinner and wider than it actually is. The entire knife is well finished for the price. The crossbar lock is solidly built and engages very positively. The bronze backspacer is especially nice and adds a subdued bit of color to the knife making it look very elegant.My biggest beef with this knife are the scales. They are made of aluminum and are really slippery even when your hands are dry. I cannot imagine how it would be if I were having to use this in a damp, wet environment. This could be easily remedied by Kershaw by putting some kind of non-skid texturing in the scale paint or adding some kind of grooves or checkering to the scales.If this were done and the knife was made anywhere else but China (I hope you're listening Kai/Kershaw) this would easily be a 5 star knife. While it's not perfect, for the money it's a pretty good deal.

I don't typically consider Kershaw to be all that impressive in regard to ease of action, blade retention, or even aesthetic appeal, obviously the last is strictly subjective to my own preference and can't be taken as anything objectively disagreeable comparatively. That being said, after one of the chefs I worked with picked up the original release with mirror blade and brass liner I was intrigued, the blade design and scales were sleek, edge was definitely sharp and the bar lock offered multiple action options all of which were smooth and fast. I bought the black option the same day from blade hq, and then a 2nd one from Amazon. I work in a kitchen and breaking down boxes, cutting into multiple layers of cater wrapping when new guy gets too ambitious with the plastic wrap, and a myriad number of other needs this knife gets a lot of action daily. After a month of heavy use it's still sharp, I keep my chef knives razor sharp whether it's a honing steal, ceramic, porcelain, or leather strop, and regularly run my knives on whetstones to keep them savage sharp, it's habitual daily ritual, I haven't given this knife the treatment because it hasn't needed it. It will hold an edge, I can't speak to retention for people using the knife for whittling wood or using it to cut carpet, rope, or whatever other things put a strain on the edge more than cardboard, varying spec plastic, and butchers twine. Action is still smooth, and is honestly enjoyable enough to be considered a bladed fidget spinner, it's entertaining and incredibly satisfying to feel the blade lock into place, just a tip if you are using the lock bar to deploy, only hold it down until the blade releases from closed lock position, otherwise you'll run the risk of having it kick back and close or fail to lock into open position on your first swivel, I typically thum flick the stud to open and then only use the lock bar to release and close but whatever your preference is just be aware of that. I would recommend this knife to anyone looking for an incredibly reasonable priced edc that offers more bang for your buck than almost any knife I can think of. Does it measure up to a Benchmade bugout, in a lot of ways, absolutely. Obviously blade quality isn't comparable but that's where the 180-300$ price point for a bugout comes in. You could buy 3-5 of these Kershaw for one Benchmade. Just saying...

So far I've had the knife for a few months and have yet ti have a problem. The blade is pretty tough and I've put it through its paced. The lockup could be a bit tighter. I don't feel that its unsafe at all. It could just be a little tighter. I bought this knife to carry around as a knock-around knife so i dont beat up my expensive knives too much. It's been in my pocket every day since I bought it. The blade shape is great and is a useful size. The tip is very pointy. Its the first knife ive had with this blade profile and I love it. It seems small and lightweight but has a nice and solid feel. I set it up as I do with every new knife. Adjusted the screws and hinge to my liking and it hasn't needed any adjustment since. Great value for what you get. The blade also stays usefully sharp for a long time. Which is definitely a plus.