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QSP Leopard 14C28N Liner Lock Knife

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QSP Leopard 14C28N Liner Lock Knife

Name: QSP Leopard 14C28N Liner Lock Knife
Brand: QSP Knife
SKU: qsp-leopard-14c28n-liner-lock-knife
Price: 39 USD
Availability: OutOfStock
Rating: 4.5 (28 reviews)

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Product Description

With a sleek, ergonomic shape and a premium build, the QSP Leopard knife lives up to its name. Like the claws of its namesake, this compact all-rounder is quick to deploy, thanks to smooth ceramic ball bearings Read More

Customer Reviews

4.5

(28 reviews)

(17)

(9)

(1)

(0)

91% would recommend to a friend

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Omniseed

1972

Nov 2, 2020

Verified Buyer

Pros The blade stock is nice and thin there is good distal taper to it the grind is good, it's ideal for the type of knife and handle design. thin but not delicate, good for fairly precise cuts holding the knife curled in your fingers instead of all the way up in your palm the handle is very narrow, but it is wide enough to give a good if specific grip the pivot and every other screw except the clip screws are flush to the scales and it adds to the generally well finished character of the knife the stop pin is blade mounted and I just think it's super neat and nice for the price point the pocket clip is really great, works with the handle and it's a good deep carry the action is very good, got a nice flopshut feel to it despite the light blade, the tab does well with a lightswitch Could be improved pocket clip screws are the only ones that are not countersunk plunge grind leans further forward than anyone wants to see it not possible to push button, that isn't really something that can change without giving up the distinctive and cool low profile flipper tab I like it, it's a cool medium duty sort of knife that should be a sweet daily driver **update** now Nov. 18, I carry this quite a bit at work lately because it's not too expensive and I work in a gritty place, it's been doing really well on the rare occasions I cut something without a torch. I discovered that the tip is supremely good at piercing with minimal effort while making a nozzle out of a soda bottle top, this is definitely the design's strong point. The factory edge is great too, just like the other QSPs I have.

(Edited)

Recommends this product? Yes

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jmatthew

Nov 13, 2020

Verified Buyer

Trim form factor, excellent blade

I like this knife even more than I thought I would, and it's quickly made its way into my daily rotation. It's smaller than I expected -- the handle is very slim, which felt odd at first, but the weighting is good and the fat bolster at the joint provides a sure grip even if it's less full-fisted in the rest of my hand. The upside of that trim handle is that, when closed, it sits great against the back of a pocket and doesn't get in the way of reaching for your keys or whatever below. The way it wants to be held given that design -- pinched at the joint and loosely in the back of the hand -- lends really well to delicate and precise work, for which the blade is also excellent. It feels like "just enough" knife for everyday tasks. Hard to beat it for the price. Handsome and functional. Very satisfied.

Recommends this product? Yes

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reswright

3850

Nov 13, 2020

Verified Buyer

I picked this knife up because the flipper tab looked interesting to me. It ended up being a decent knife -- I give it four stars and would give four and a half if that were an option, because it's stoutly put together, it's centered, it locks up fine but it's still a slight bit of a disappointment to me personally -- because it turns out it's just an ok design for a flipper tab. I have several QSP knives now and if I had to characterize the brand I'd say it's legit, with a strength in fit, finish and original designing, but it's never the smoothest flip -- QSP hasn't found that magic touch when it comes to setting the detent and the lockbar spring, there's often a bit of residual stiffness to the flip. This knife flips ok, and it's not insanely stiff but between the design of the tab and the tendency of QSP knives to take a while to break in, the flip loads heavily before it fires -- i.e. it takes real force on the flip tab to snap the blade open. Why's that? Geometry.

When I was looking at the tab shape I got all excited because it looks like a pushbutton. Some flipper knives, like the Dogtooth that Drop sells, have a tab that you can fire by pushing inward instead of raking your finger along the spine -- we call that 'pushbuttoning' if the action is light enough. And this definitely looks like it's meant to pushbutton. Alas, you can press in on that tab for all you're worth and due to the geometry the blade is going nowhere - if the tab were connected to the tang in an off centered way, that push would create torque, but with the Leopard you're more or less pushing straight at the pivot point, which will never generate the necessary torque. No, the flip action comes from the top edge of the tab -- kind of like a Smock flip tab. It's almost a top flipper in other words, but the tab doesn't stick up far enough to be a true top flipper. So why's any of this worth all this talk and a deducted star? After all I said it was put together pretty well, and it's made out of things I like, why am I being picky? Because between the detent strength and the small surface available on a tab like this for your finger to apply leverage to the point, repeated opening and closing, let alone fidget flipping, will dig up your fingertip. There's just not enough surface area to spread out the force -- in fact your finger often ends up right on the 90 degree angle of the tab, which is the least comfortable way to actuate a flipper. To me, they were trying to do something cool with the flip tab but I don't think it worked for them. Maybe if they pushed it out another couple millimeters, they'd be in better shape. I know some people hate big flip tabs sticking out from the side of the knife, they think it ruins the look, so those folks are probably listening to this and shaking their head... but for me, ergonomics count for more than looks. You want a flipper tab to be such that your finger can apply full force directly into a flat area and rake it 'parallel' to the pivot point because that gives you the most torque for the least force, but you cannot do that well with the Leopard. This 'front quadrant' style of flipper has recently come into vogue, a lot of designs are incorporating it and the way I see it they're all tackling the same learning curve. Let's see if a picture helps explain it. Here's my Leopard on the bottom -- my Spyderco Smock at the top. The Smock is an example of a design that's more usefully incorporated the front quadrant flipper feature and is much easier to flip open as a result.

As you can see they both have that squarish tab profile. But you might notice four main differences -- the first being that the tab is further ahead of the pivot point on the Smock than it is on the Leopard, the second is that the point of the Smock flipper tab is just a bit further away from the center of the pivot than the point of the Leopard flipper tab is from the center of the Leopard pivot (about 1/16"), the third is that the tip of the Leopard flipper is further out from the centerline of the Leopard than the tip of the Smock is from the centerline of the Smock, and the last is that there's a larger area on the Smock flipper tab for your finger to come into contact with. There's little point in an apples to apples comparison between two knives when one literally cost five times what the other does and indeed the Smock is bringing several technologies you won't find on a budget knife that further ease its flip. But setting all that aside and purely looking at the differences I just called attention to, the Smock style tab will let you a) load on more force for b) a longer stretch of space while c) spreading out that force over a larger are of your fingertip when compared against the Leopard. Furthermore the Leopard tab geometry is such that very quickly into the flip, the direction of your flip is immediately tangential to the arc of rotation and behind the pivot point, which is a less efficient angle to transfer energy to the rotation of the knife blade. By placing the flipper further back and further to the side while presenting a smaller surface area, they're making you work a lot harder to produce the same result and also concentrating the resultant force on a smaller part of your fingertip overall, raising the likelihood that you won't find it comfortable to fidget flip. If the QSP flip tab came even a millimeter further forward more people would find it easily flippable. Basically the one thing QSP got right that Spyderco did not is that they applied some jimping to the flipper tab, which is in itself not unimpressive considering that the Leopard costs one fifth what the Smock does. Hat tip to QSP, zero irony. If you've already ordered one of these and are dismayed to read all this? Don't panic. QSP knives are decently built. You'll quickly see what I mean about the flip angle but everyone's hand is different and yours might be better suited to the design. Either way, when you get yours, you want to make sure you apply a tiny dab of lube to the detent -- this is a good trick for most knives with a fierce detent. That will help it flip, and also help the detent wear in a track with repeated use until it reaches an equilibrium point. Alternately if you're used to a hard flip and your fingertip is heavily callused you might decide the Leopard is ok as is, but I think most people will benefit from lubing their detent a slight bit and then working the action to help it break in. QSP continues to come along as a knife manufacturer, and this price moves them closer to the best Chinese budget brands. A brand to watch. But if they tinker with this knife I'd like to see them improve the flipper tab, because as it stands this one's kinda annoying to your humble narrator. Your mileage may vary, though.

(Edited)

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gui3gui

Nov 12, 2020

Verified Buyer

Beautiful compact knife

Great little knife with an original flipper. When it's open, the lock dissapears almost completely in the handle.

Recommends this product? Yes

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method_burger

563

Nov 9, 2020

Verified Buyer

First Impressions - Its ok. Second Impressions - Nope

Only had it for a few days, and it's an interesting knife to be sure. Theres a lot to like about this knife, but theres a lot of questionable choices as well. So far, what is pretty awesome is, great flipping action, nicely ground knife, fit and finish is great, and the curved scalloping on the inside of the liners gives you just enough extra grip to close the liner lock, but it is all smoothed out so your fingernails aren't chipped. And the not so great part, the clip is really tight. compared to the qsp penguin which had a perfect clip, it was very difficult to get it into the pocket. There is so much loctite, that I am unable to disassemble the smaller screws, which seems to be a common occurance in QSP, and I need to now get a heating element to soften the loctite (the pivot is always easy though). Rather slender handles, but the scales are a little beefy so it makes up for ergos a little bit. The backspacer is also a bar of black plastic, which is weird considering the rest is steel and micarta. Could be a cost saving measure but I'd rather see some steel standoffs like the qsp penguin. The blade grind is also weird, as it terminates at an off angle and there are some machining marks there. It could also affect performance when cutting with the heel, but this is just speculation as i havent tested that yet. It also doesnt follow the lines of the handle, which slightly annoys me. And the worst part, the flipper tab. It is a weird one, sort of placed in between a regular flipper and a front flipper. It does not function as well as either. You have to use the part between distal and middle phalanx to flip consistently; this is also not the strongest part of my hand, so my skin is quite sore after flipping this a hundred times. Using the tip of your finger in any direction requires a LOT of pressure because the way it is angled, you either have to dig your fingertip into the scales to get the correct flipping angle or you press the down at the right angle part of the flipper and flick backwards. It actually tore some skin off and is not a pleasant experience. But it flips out every time. The flipper tab knocked 2 stars off of this otherwise near perfect slender flipper. Not sure if i like this knife or not as of yet. Theres a lot of good but a lot of ugly that i am trying to get used to. A safe bet would be, just get the qsp penguin. Sure it is not a flipper, but compared to this, it is a perfect knife at half the price. I'll add some updates below in the future. Update: nope, not recommend. that flipper does not seem to get easier. the basic geometry of the flipper and pressure of the detent ball make this a difficult knife to operate. on top of this, i have chipped and bruised my fingernail because of the poor design of not just the flipper, but also the scale/liner/internal stop pin setup, which if mis-flipped would jam your nail into the knife and feels like you are getting your fingernail simutaneously jammed and pulled off at the same time. the blade grind is also pretty bad, as any cutting/slicing with the base of the blade is difficult because of how the grind is terminated. great fit and finish though, but asides from that, design, function, utility etc. is subpar. i thought this would be a great buy like the qsp penguin, but was sorely mistaken.

(Edited)

Recommends this product? No

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reswright

3850

Nov 13, 2020

method_burgerSounds like we're on the same page :)

B2020

Nov 1, 2020

Verified Buyer

Smooth action for the price

Blade was sharp on arrival, only criticism is there could be a small amount of extra resistance on opening mechanism.

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simon.c

Nov 21, 2020

Verified Buyer

After the huge hit from the QSP Penguin, I thought I'd give the new Leopard a try. Reviews were not very positive online but I hoped for the best. Straight out the box: -Grittiest action I've ever felt -Worst lock stick I've ever experienced -Absolute ergonomic nightmare, makes no sense in my small size hands so all you larger hands would probably be worse. -Off-centre Update: Did a tear down and it's better, not amazing but better. It seems they all come out the box like this which is pretty poor form. The hardware is nice though 🥲 Update #2: Finally it's properly smooth, but it's still not ergonomic and wasn't very sharp out the box. I mean it cuts paper but it's fluffing the edge a bit

Recommends this product? No

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johnnylongstreet

Nov 14, 2020

Verified Buyer

Very close to my ideal knife.

When I saw this one it seemed like QSP was listening just to me. It checks so many boxes on my list: classy looks, cool micarta in a relatively nonstandard color (read: OD), deep carry pocket clip, midsized blade with a belly and a lower profile flipper tab. And a liner lock, not frame lock. At this price I can forgive the steel choice. And that flipper tab, wonderfully low profile, i love it. I get three fingers on the handle and my pinky wraps around the point at the end, so a little small in the fist but what you'd expect, about a good as it gets from a knife this size.

So I really like this knife. Read the rest as nitpicks. Out of the box it was snappy, but after about ten flips it started to grind. Gritty. Applied some oil and it has better but not perfect action. Either the detent is a touch too mushy or the pivot is a micron too tight. Will play with it some more. Only other complaint is the beautifully high polished liners are a touch thick. Meaning the knife could have been that much thinner, and the lock is pretty stiff, gave me the Nintendo thumb after five or ten minutes of fidgeting. Actually, that may contribute to the softer deployment, this whole thing feels just a touch stiff and tightly wound. And design wise, it has a few extra angles and a point it doesn't need. All in all, it's a great knife and amazing value. If you're thinking about it, get it now.

(Edited)

Recommends this product? Yes

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DrivenUnder

Nov 4, 2020

Verified Buyer

Solid for $40.

The QSP Leopard is smaller in-hand than the pictures indicated, and feels even smaller when open. The handle is an odd shape. The shape of the back of the handle tends to dig uncomfortably in the hand during opening, and the closed detent is a bit harder to overcome than I'd like when using the flipper, but very easy when pinch-pulling the blade out. The blade is nicely flat ground but the grind marks were not thoroughly removed before they moved to the rouge wheel. It's not a bad look, but if you're going with satin, stick with satin, don't do a strange mix of both. The high chromium steel really polishes up, and therefore shows every single fingerprint. The jimping is functional without being too aggressive. The deep-carry clip is not reversible and is not comfortable to hold when it use. I don't often use pocket clips, so this is not a big deal for me, but others may want to take note. The action was really gross out of the box, felt very gritty and tight. I took it all apart, cleaned a fairly substantial amount of crud from the bearings, detent hole and reassembled with a couple drops of TriFlow. Once cleaned and lubed, the knife transformed from a regret to a very nice little flipper. It's very drop-shutty, and flies open very reliably. No play in the blade, and the icky squeaky sound the frame lock was making is gone. The blade was decently sharp, and just a bit of cutting work seems to indicate that it's on par for 14C28N. No immediate issues apparent with the heat-treat. With the thinner stock and drop point blade shape, you'll want to avoid any prying. I do actually worry that dropping it with the blade open and catching the point just right at impact would snap the tip right off. Overall, I like it for carry when I want more than a gentleman's dress pants pocket knife and less than a regular working blade. It can be left in the bottom of a jeans pocket very unobtrusively, and the action is more than good enough for a bit of fidget flipping. Just fine for a couple of $20 bills, maybe even more than just fine.

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