The Leek is the one that made the shape famous: a long, narrow, almost surgical 3 inch blade that slices far above its size, SpeedSafe assisted off a flipper, and a Tip-Lock slider that holds it shut in a pocket. 14C28N Sandvik steel. Made in Oregon.

Black Cerakote blade, contoured stainless handle, partially serrated. The least reflective Leek in the range.

Specifications

• Blade steel 14C28N
• Hardness 58–60 HRC
• Blade length 3 in (7.6 cm)
• Closed length 4 in (10.2 cm)
• Overall length 7 in (17.9 cm)
• Blade thickness 0.09 in (2.29 mm)
• Weight 3 oz
• Blade finish black Cerakote (older production used black DLC)
• Edge partially serrated
• Lock frame lock, plus Tip-Lock blade-closed slider
• Handle 410 stainless steel
• Pocket clip reversible, right side, tip-up or tip-down

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.

A detail worth knowing before you choose. On the Leek the lock follows the handle material, not the model name. The steel-handled Leeks are frame lock; the aluminum ones are liner lock. Steel is heavier and feels more solid; aluminum is about half an ounce lighter. Neither is better — but they are different knives, and the catalogue name does not tell you which you are getting.

Tip-Lock. The Chive, Scallion and Leek all carry a small sliding lock that holds the blade closed, independent of the main lock. It is the reason this family is comfortable to drop in a pocket with keys in it, and it is a genuine advantage over the Blur, which has no such slider.

Where it sits in the family. Chive 1.9 in → Scallion 2.4 in → Leek 3 in → Blur 3.4 in. Same design idea scaled four ways; the Leek is the one most people settle on.

About the steel

14C28N is a Sandvik stainless developed with knifemakers: it takes a fine edge, holds it well for a stainless, and resists rust better than most steels in its class. The best all-round choice in Kershaw’s mid-range.

Where these numbers come from

The dimensions above are Kershaw’s published figures for 1660, the plain steel-handled Leek, the same-platform sibling of this model — Kershaw does not serve a spec table for this exact variant. The platform is identical; we are telling you where the numbers came from rather than presenting them as this SKU’s own.

Origin. Kershaw’s own wording for this model is “made in the USA with American and global materials.” We quote the sentence rather than shortening it to “USA,” because the sentence is what they actually say.

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.