Let us just be honest; most tactical knives are not that impressive. At least, not impressive in various iterations. M48 United Cutlery seems to specialize wholesale in the tacticool category of blades, and many are scalded justifiably for being cheaply constructed mall ninja crud. Then there is RMJ tactical, which is high quality produced military grade tomahawks and knives, but pushes the pricing into "might as well just buy a sword" territory. The Kershaw is the tactical blade that is really not tactical in much of any sense of the word. The tactical play of this knife owes more to its cosmetics than its functional value, which should be the case in most scenarios. Other times, it should be skipped for a hunting/survival knife look that does the job, but does not flaunt its apparent militaria value. Enough with the anecdote about how tactical, when it comes to knives, should be defined, and on to the actual review.
First let us start with the blade specs. The material of the blade is classified 8Cr13MoV, which is a variant type of stainless steel. As discussed before, the properties of stainless steel make it soft for certain applications, but it depends on what you are doing with it. In this case, the lack of hardness does not impair it because the folding knife is meant for smaller scale applications anyway, in contrast with the more rugged conditions of the outdoors where a fixed blade becomes more suitable. As such, the blade cuts like slicing knife: more clean draw across the surface of the material with adequate blade length for some good cutting than anything else, though opening letters can be finicky if your edge and blade are not lined up just so. I know I dogged on the Gerber Air Ranger a lot in this category, but marketing a blade with such a name gives you the expectation of a suitable outdoors knife with how much survival training air force members have in past times, and even today, gone through to ensure survival behind enemy lines. The RJ knows who it is marketing to in a more complete sense. The tactical folder crowd, while popular, has not been the defensive knife category of choice; merely an EDC knife. Opening a boxes only requires about 3 to 3.5 inches of blade length, as well as other everyday mundane tasks, and this knife, at 3.5 inches of blade, knows its edc category well enough. The blade profile, by all accounts, is more mundane than menacing, keeping a conventional blade style in mind, foregoing the tanto blade profile vogue with tactical knives today. So the blade itself is nothing to thumb ones nose at.
Next category is the knife handling. The knife handle is as good as expected. The glass filled nylon is durable and feels adequate in the hands. Smooth enough for great ergonomics, but with enough texture to prevent looseness in the hand. Especially great are the sculpted handles scales. The indentations around the index and middle fingers naturally rest the hand on the handle with glove like comfort. The ring and pinky finger are given adequate spacing at the bottom sculpted region of the knife handle to comfortably rest so the hand is comfortable at all times when using the blade. Before someone rails against the web like texture pattern on the handle scales, the pattern is so shallow, your hand barely registers its presence. It really is more cosmetic than anything else, and it demonstrates how plain, but good, the knife is. No unnecessary handle styling for decorative purposes that detracts from ergonomic value: just a simple touch to make the knife look a tad better.
As far as other features included, the jimping and base are two unique areas. The jimping on the knife is a bit of an outlier on the market for knives, and here is why. The jimping on the knife situates at the base on the knife, not on the top section of the handle like it usually does. The use of jimping is usually associated with finer work when using a knife for cutting, but this is clearly not the case. The jimping seems to function less in the forward grip, and more in the reverse grip. The reverse grip stab is one of those things that tends to not carry much utility value because of how much easier it is to slice materials. The reverse grip conventionally is a knife combat grip, of which some enthusiasts practice and study for health and self-defense like in most martial arts, but purposely avoid the use of when it is within our power to do so. Even the pommel section of the knife, with a triangular base, seems to function akin to a tactical pen, a simple blunt striking surface. These techniques are not necessarily bad when it comes to edge or blunt surface striking, just bear in mind the legal consequences if you apply a tool or technique at the wrong level of the force continuum. The last feature of unique consideration is the opening mechanism. The RJ model for Kershaw is an assisted opening knife. For the laymen out there, an assisted opening mechanism depresses a flipper or thumb stud section of the knife to release a spring which completes the opening of the knife. Contrary to popular belief, the mechanism is not a switchblade/auto-knife. A manual action to the blade section itself is required before the spring opens the rest of the knife, not manually activated by a spring loaded press of a button. Thus, depending on where you live, it is free to carry because it does not legally classify as a switchblade. All in all, the more unique features, with the exception of the AO mechanism, seem to be dedicating to the defense tool option this knife semi-markets toward.
So, what makes this knife good. This knife knows what it goes for, does it well enough, and depending on the retailer, does not overcharge you for what it is offering. The Kershaw website charges $40 per blade, but most manufacturers overcharge for buying straight from them. You are better off with Amazon if buying online, which charges only $20 per blade (obviously shipping increases the cost, but the total cost is still cheaper than the Kershaw website price). I say, the knife is $15-$20 because of what it is. Especially because of the minor imperfection on my RJ liner lock where there is mild side to side blade play (the blade can be partially moved side to side, so the lock on it is not perfect). However, the lock works rock solid on vertical rotary axis, so not much to complain about. All in all, the RJ is a fine choice for an EDC, and do not let anyone tell you any different. Kershaw scored with this one, and they keep scoring with their product line. I will just explain it to you this way. When it comes to brand like Kershaw, Schrade, and CRKT, you really cannot go wrong.