A purpose-built rescue folder: SpeedSafe assisted off either a flipper or a thumb stud, a carbide glassbreaker in the butt, and a built-in cord cutter Kershaw states will cut seat belts and cord. 3.5 inch blade, 4.5 ounces, black.

Specifications

• Blade steel 8Cr13MoV
• Blade length 3.5 in (8.9 cm)
• Closed length 5 in (12.7 cm)
• Overall length 8.5 in (21.6 cm)
• Blade thickness 0.106 in (2.7 mm)
• Weight 4.5 oz (128 g)
• Blade finish black-oxide
• Edge plain
• Lock liner lock
• Handle glass-filled nylon
• Pocket clip single-position deep-carry, right side, tip-down
• Carbide glassbreaker
• Built-in cord cutter

How it opens: SpeedSafe assisted

SpeedSafe is Kershaw’s assisted-opening mechanism. You start the blade moving with the flipper or the thumb stud, a torsion bar takes over partway through, and the blade completes its travel and locks. It is not an automatic knife — nothing happens until you push, and the bar resists until you do. But it opens faster and more surely with one hand than a plain folder, which is the whole point when the other hand is holding a strap, a rope or a steering wheel.

On the glassbreaker and the cord cutter. Kershaw publishes a carbide glassbreaker in the butt of the handle and a built-in cord cutter which they say cuts seat belts and cord. Both are real, published features. What neither we nor Kershaw can tell you is how any particular vehicle’s glass will behave — laminated windscreens do not break the way tempered side glass does. Treat it as a tool worth having, not a guarantee.

About the steel

8Cr13MoV is the workhorse stainless of the value end of the market. It sharpens readily, resists rust, and is honest about what it is: plenty for cutting cord, tape, food and packaging, not a steel for competition chopping.

Origin. Kershaw lists this one as designed and quality-controlled in the USA, manufactured in China. That is their own split and we pass it on as they state it.

Before you order — please read

Knife law in the United States is set at the state, county and city level, and the rules on blade length, on carry, and on assisted-opening mechanisms specifically are not the same in any two places. Kershaw does not publish a jurisdiction list and neither will we — we would get it wrong, and a wrong answer here is worse than none.

What we do instead is tell you exactly what this knife is: the mechanism and the blade length are stated plainly in the specifications above, which is what the law actually turns on. Checking that it is legal where you live, and legal to carry how you intend to carry it, is yours to do before you order. Your local district attorney’s office is who Cold Steel and Kershaw both point people to, and it is the right answer.