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Last Updated: March 19, 2019
The Skyline is often regarded as a reference point. A knife we compare other knives to. It’s also a damn good Every Day Carry (EDC) knife. Back when I originally reviewed the Skyline in 2010, it was among the first reviews to be published on the site. It was a great knife then. Today, it is just as relevant and excellent of a knife.
Buy the Kershaw Skyline at BladeHQ
This is an in-house design from Kershaw, meaning it wasn’t designed by a popular custom knife maker, and I doubt that when they originally created the knife they expected to have such a run away success on their hands. The Kershaw Skyline is an American-made, high-value, lightweight, EDC knife with all the features you would expect from a modern folding knife that is widely available and accessible at almost any budget.
General Dimensions and Blade Steel
The Skyline has an overall length of 7.375″, a 3.125″ long blade, weighs 2.3 ounces, and is made in the USA. In addition to being long and light, the knife is slim, measuring an inch across when closed and 3/8″ wide. The Skyline is ideal for EDC.
The Skyline sports a long spearpoint blade shape with a plain edge and a hollow saber grind. This is a very practical blade shape that is good for piercing and slicing. It is surprising how much blade you get considering the weight. The full size blade and handle lend a lot of versatility to a little 2.3 ounce knife.
The blade, liner, and pocket clip are all made of Sandvik 14C28N stainless steel. This is a hearty Swedish steel that holds an edge well and is easy to sharpen. My Skyline came sharp out of the box and is easy to maintain. The blade and the clip has a beadblasted finish. This isn’t my favorite finish, because it is more susceptible to rust than a stonewash or satin finish, but it works here (especially at the price).
Given the tremendous popularity of the Skyline, Kershaw has released this knife in a number of different handle colors and blade steels (including carbon fiber covers, a damascus blade, etc). So the knife can also have a collectible element to it if you want to go that route.
Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip
The handle of this knife is made of lightly textured G10. The G10 is lightweight, feels nice and provides decent grip. The liner lock has received some jimping which works well however the spine of the knife has no jimping at all, which means your thumb has no real grip on the top of the knife when in use. This can be a problem, especially if you were to do some stabbing or thrust type cuts or were working with something like slimy foods, and is one of my few complaints with this knife.
The Skyline has a a pocket clip that allows for tip up or tip down carry. I found the clip to be very tight and I had to bend it with a plastic spatula before I got the desired pocket retention – an easy adjustment. One problem I do have with the clip is that it is not ambidextrous. Being left handed, this is something of a concern, and I would prefer if they drilled and tapped the handles for 4 way carry. They may have opted not to do that because there is only 1 liner.
The pocket clip rides fairly low in the pocket, there is about an inch of knife sticking up when the clip is mounted for tip up carry. I would prefer a lower riding clip, but the knife is still pretty discrete.
Deployment and Lock
The Skyline uses a flipper to open the blade. This was back before flippers were cool. Consequently, it does not have the dialed in, rocket the blade out action that we have come to expect on modern flippers. You need to pre-load the flipper tab or use your wrist to ensure fast opening, but it certainly gets the job done. There are thumb studs, but they are primarily blade stops. You can use the thumb stud if you are right handed to roll the blade open, but the flipper is the preferred way of opening the knife. Inside there are phosphor bronze washers, a feature typically found on higher end knives – especially when this knife originally came out.
The Skyline uses a liner lock to lock the blade open. This knife has only one steel liner (on the side of the lock) which greatly reduces the weight and thickness of the knife. I think this was a wise decision by Kershaw although some might prefer a beefier knife. In that case, I would simply suggest buying a bigger knife. The lock itself performs admirably. I like liner locks in general and this knife has a good one. Blade centering on my knife is perfect.
Here is a size comparison with the Skyline and another top shelf EDC blade, the Benchmade Mini Griptilian:
Kershaw Skyline Review – Final Thoughts
This is an amazing knife that has stood the test of time. The build quality is extremely high. Everything feels nice, the knife is well put together, and the materials are all of high quality. The Skyline is thin, lightweight and unassuming, which makes it an ideal choice for EDC. I often forget that I have it in my pocket. For around $40, you can use it guilt free.
In a perfect world, the Skyline would come with a 4 way pocket clip to ensure maximum versatility, and the detent strength would be improved to ensure better flipping action. Beyond that it is tough to find fault with the Skyline.
There is a reason why the Skyline remains so popular among knife enthusiasts for years and years: it is an excellent knife.
- 3.1” blade made of high-performance Sandvik 14C28N stainless steel, offers excellent strength, corrosion and wear resistance
- Lightweight G-10 handle scales offer a secure grip with texture and a deep index-finger contour
- The drop-point blade offers good balance and a strong, hard tip. The rugged Stonewash finish is capable of hiding scratches and fingerprints
- The perfect EDC for cutting tasks such as opening difficult packages, breaking down boxes, removing zip-ties, cleaning small game, aggressive animal defense, slicing fruit, and stripping small wire
- An excellent gift idea for any hunter, hiker, hobbyist, carpenter, angler, backpacker or any knife enthusiast in need of a highly reliable, American made pocket folder
I recommend purchasing the Kershaw Skyline at Amazon or BladeHQ. Purchasing anything through any of the links on this site helps support BladeReviews. Any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.
Great review. I have one of these, and I’ve discussed most of the same issues with it. I’d love to see a skyline 2 with the jimping, better clip, and improved thumbstuds. As it stands its a good knife and an excellent deal. I firmly believe an improved version would stand next to the griptilians in greatness.
Thanks Roadkill! Glad we see eye to eye here. The Skyline is an excellent little blade and I still carry mine all the time. Some upgrades on this classic design would make it perfect.
skyline simple design great materials good flipper.
Matt I think you summed this one up pretty well! The Skyline is a USA made classic. It’s not the fanciest knife but it will get the job done for not a lot of money.
Dan
I’ve read many reviews about the Skyline and based on the positive reviews I finally bought one. Although it is always said that this knife isn’t comparable to knives much more expensive, I would have expected more.
The thumb studs are a joke. I’m not able to open the knife using the studs even with two hands. When trying to do so, I’m horrified how coarse the edges are. I’ve seen someone saying that the thumb openers are simply blade stoppers and that’s true. But they are the worst way a blade stopper could be implemented.
Since it has been designed to be a flipper, the flipping action should be looked upon. “Action” is the wrong word, though… You can flip it by 90° at best. The rest needs to be done with a strong movement of your hand. There is no way to open the knife unobtrusively.
Since I would like to use the knife as an EDC, I would like to be able to use it in any situation where a knife comes handy. But I feel uneasy when pulling out a knife and openening it in a theatrically way.
That there is no way to open the knife in a simple way is a major drawback.
After opening the knife you have to close it again. I’m unsure what the exact reason is, but when I try to close it, I really have to force my thumb on the liner lock to be able to close it. Maybe I do not have to and it is only because I don’t get enough tactile feedback, maybe it is to deep between the handles, maybe it is too small or simply too stiff – I really can’t tell. Opening isn’t easy and closing isn’t easy, too
“Fit and finish” is quite bad. One of both handles has sharp edges on the opposing edges and the other handle doesn’t fit on the knife! It looks as if it is too short. Not really easy to describe, so here is a photo:
http://bayimg.com/LaIlHAAGl
I own a Real Steel from China which I bought for nearly the same price and its quality is much better.
There are a lot of positive things to say, also. I love the design. The blade is sharp as hell. It’s very lightweight. The ergonomic of the grip is great.
But I wish someone would invest some more money and make it a flipper worth being called a flipper, leaving away the useless thumb opener dummies.
Still the Skyline is a good knife, but based on the one I own since today, I would say the Skyline is great design idea done cheap and without love.
Hi Robin,
Thanks for the detailed comment. I honestly think you got a bad knife. I have owned a couple of these knives, and while the flipping action isn’t amazing, the knife still opens with the push of a finger. The poor fit and finish on your handle leads me to suggest that this one may have slipped past their QC somehow.
The Skyline is a pretty old design at this point. There have been big strides in terms of flipping action, but this knife still remains intriguing and useful to me. I don’t think I will ever sell mine. It’s thin, light, and it works. We are all entitled to our own opinions, and I certainly appreciate yours. I agree, it’s not a perfect knife, especially by today’s standards, but I would recommend sending yours back to Kershaw to see if they will send out a new knife.
Best,
Dan
I live in Germany that’s why contacting Kershaw and even asking for a replacement would have taken too long 😉
But I returned the knife to the online shop and asked for a replacement. The shop online returned me the money and did not send a new Skyline and I took that as a sign to look for another knife…
From time to time I feel the need to buy a new knife. I fell in love with the Skyline but was disappointed and so I had to continue my search. I’ve searched for other pretty knives with a spear point blade but found nothing. While reading about the Skyline I often found Kershaws Speed Save technology mentioned and since I haven’t owned a Kershaw before, I decided to give it a try. I’ve picked the Cryo II.
That’s really a good knife, as far as I can tell. The only thing which irritated me at first was how heavy it is. The second thing I noted was that I will cut my thumb in pieces if I use the thumb stud! When I use it, the spring assisted opening will do its work and opens the knife by 90°. But my thumb wasn’t fast enough to keep contact to the thumb stud. So when I move my thumb to opn the knife, the blade opens faster than my thumb is, the comes to a rest and then my thumb arrives at the sharp edge of the blade. Somewhat hard to describe.
Then I’ve taped the blade to see if I can get used to some sort of thumb action which will open the bladde completely without cutting into my thumb, but I wasn’t successful with that. But that’s no pitty: the flipping action is really great and it makes a lot of fun opening the knife.
Closing it with one hand is less funny, but you can get used to it.
But what should I say? I really fell in love with the Skyline design and so I kept looking and finally found something which made me think that someone really has taken the Skyline design and improved it: I found the Kershaw Bevy! It’s hard to find information in the net about that knife, which is kind of strange. It’s really cheap, even in Germany and so I didn’t hesitate to order one.
It was delivered yesterday and today I had time to look at it. It also feels quite heavy, but the design closely resembles to the skyline. The blade looks exactly the same (though bigger) and the handle design is also obiously very close to the Skyline. In contrast to the Skyline it comes with speed safe technology so flipping it open is a breeze. When closing the Skyline there is not much room to get a grip fo the lock but looking at the Bevy you will find that there is much more room for your thumb which also makes using the thumb stud possible. But I don’t think I will ever use it: I still fear cutting myself when the blade rushes out.
And guess what I’ve ordered, too? Another Skyline! Yes, I thought that so many positive reviews must be based on a good product and I have to give the Skyline a second chance. I do not regret it. This one is perfect! Flipping could be better but I guess I will disassemble it, oil it and hope that it will get better, but right now it is good enough. While I was disappointed above the rough handle of my first Skyline, this one is great. it wasn
And now I have a Bevy and a Skyline and both are looking great! Comparing them one by one is fun: the slim and lightweight Skyline and its bigger and bolder version, the Bevy. The Bevy comes with a deep carry clip and speed safe, but the size and the weight makes me think of it more like a tool than as a knife, while looking at the slim, lightweight and elegant Skyline leaves n doubt that it makes a great EDC.
Here are some “family” pictures…
http://bayimg.com/kaiaLaAgM
http://bayimg.com/KaiamAAGM
http://bayimg.com/kaiANAAGm
Is this still USA made? There are some reports now that people are receiving made in China version where it says “USA MADE” on the package up top but says “made in China” towards the bottom. Can you please clarify this? Thanks.
After reading this review a while ago, I bought one from Amazon US and started using it – I am very happy. This one says “Made in USA” on the blade and the excellent quality does not suggest this has come out of China.
The Skyline is a very nice quality knife for a very reasonable price, it is surprisingly thin and light, ideal for EDC. For heavier knives, I prefer a belt pouch, but the Skyline easily goes into a pocket without bulging.
The blade comes very sharp and I love the surface texture and shape of the blade.
I will have to get used to the opening mechanism, I’m used to opening knives using a thumb stud. The hinge of my copy is too stiff to flip it open. But that’s just a question of getting used to a system that’s new for me.
This knife would not stand up to much abuse, but the tougher jobs should be left for fixed knives anyway.
Hey Peter, Thanks for checking out the review. The Skyline is a classic light duty EDC knife. Great blade for opening mail and boxes, cutting fruit, etc. Glad you like yours!
Dan
Slippery when wet.