• Opening is an extremely easy and safe one-handed operation, for right or left handed people. By holding the knife in my hand, with the back of the knife in my palm, I used my index finger to flick the indexing pin (see photo below). The patented Speed-Safe technology snaps the blade into an open-locked position in a fraction of a second, surprised me the first time I did it. Once opened the blade is securely locked in position.
• Closing the blade is not quite as safe, and requires some attention. The locking mechanism (used to lock the blade in it's open position) is located in the front of the knife body and must be moved out of the way. The safest way I found to do this is to hold the knife with the back side in my palm (just as when I opened it), then I used my thumb to move the locking mechanism out of the way. Now, using my other hand, I closed the blade part-way, moved my thumb out of harms way, then finished closing the blade. This is where I felt uncomfortable, if I had closed the blade too quickly there would be a possibility that I could close the blade on my thumb. This is difficult to visualize, and the photos don't do it justice, you really need to examine the knife in its open position to see the locking mechanism, and how it operates.
• In the closed position there is a Safety Lock (see photo below) that, when slid into the rear position (as shown) prevents the blade from accidentally opening in your hand or pocket - a really good idea considering how easy and quickly the blade snaps open. Operation of the Safety Lock is straight forward, slide it towards the body of the knife to prevent the blade from opening, slide it towards the tip of the body to unlock the blade so that it can be opened.
• The blade is well-constructed, rigid with less than a 1/8 in (3.2 mm) deflection over its length, and it took a good deal of pressure to achieve that much deflection. The blade is 7/8 in (22.2 mm) at the hilt, tapering to a point at the end of its 2-7/8 in (7.3 cm) length. It is sharpened to a smooth edge (not serrated), beveled on both sides of the blade.

The first thing I wanted to do as soon as I opened the Kershaw Rainbow Leek was to use it, and so I did. I conducted three in-house tests to see just how the Rainbow Leek would perform in various tasks: slicing a tomato, shaving a carrot, and slicing an onion (photo to right).

1. A tomato is a difficult item for a smooth-edged blade to slice, the skin of the tomato is tough, but the inside is tender. This means that the knife must cut through the skin (something meant more for a serrated edge), while keeping the inside together. The Kershaw Rainbow Leek not only sliced the top off of a tomato, but sliced it into several thin pieces - impressive for a smooth-edge blade!
2. Shaving a carrot is similar to shaving slivers off a branch for tinder, or making a fuzz stick as a fire starter. Unfortunately, the photo of the carrot didn't come out (will rectify that in a future report), but the ability to shave thin strips off of the carrot, and to make a "carrot" fuzz stick, was amazing.
3. An onion is firm all of the way through, making an easy slicing operation for any well-sharpened knife. What I was interested in seeing here is the amount of control I would have with the Rainbow Leek - in other words, how thin of a slice could I obtain? As you can see in the picture, the Rainbow Leek sliced the onion thin enough to see the blade right through the onion. Considering how thick the blade is the amount of control I had was excellent.

My plans, over the next four months, are to use the Kershaw Rainbow Leek exclusively on my hiking and backpacking trips. Testing will occur during the months of November thru February, late fall thru mid winter. In this area (Southwestern Pennsylvania), conditions will range from temps in the mid-60's and low 40's F (17 - 5 C); snow has already begun, which is early and probably indicative of the type of winter we will be having. This will probably mean a lot of usage with gloved hands, as a full metal body could result in difficulties in below-freezing conditions.

I use a wood-fired backpacking stove, especially in winter, and use a knife to prepare tinder, kindling, and fuel for the stove. Additionally, there is the preparation of food, opening of sealed bags and containers, and other food related tasks.

There also exists the standard outdoor tasks of cutting ropes, tape, fire starters for cooking and warming fires, and many other miscellaneous tasks for which a knife is a necessity.

• Kershaw recommends sharpening with a steel which I find strange. Steels are OK for rough sharpening of blades, but a ceramic rod will provide a much keener edge than any steel. I will try both and report back my findings in future reports.
• As stated earlier, I feel uncomfortable with the instructions for closing the Kershaw Rainbow Leek knife, the instructions put my thumb in harms should I close the knife a little too quickly, or should my hand slip as I am closing the knife.
• The Rainbow Leek comes already sharpened to a fine edge, ready to use right out of the box - always a plus and, for me, a sign of a company that goes just a little further than necessary for the customer.