Looking at this against Neeves and Cedric and Ada. The general consensus seems to be that the Bel Air is a “Bugout Killer”, given that it comes with standard Aluminum scales and Magnacut for essentially the same price point as the others. For $5 you can get new washers if you want to upgrade or replace the spring for a slightly improved action. But right out of the box the Bel Air is a great USA-made knife. Not to mention that Kershaw has a fantastic lifetime warranty and free sharpenings, which are values you didn’t capture here.

Disclamer: i did put an 18º edge on the Bel-Air before I shipped it

This is the comparison we all needed!

I like the bel air the best out of the three. Thanks TKE

Cool video. Already had Bugout and Deka so I'll prob get the Kershaw.

Interesting. Thanks for sharing and thanks to mr.Eddy and Stephen!!

sweet video. not many other like it for sure. definitely helps get a feel for the other two only having one of the three. side note. i feel like if you made the audio on your videos a bit better it would help ten fold. js my two cents. thanks for the comparison

The Hogue & Benchmade use washers instead of bearings like the Kershaw. Once the Hogue & Benchmade are worn in the blade will drop freely. I personally prefer washers on a working knife.

I’m definitely gonna pick up a Belair at some point, have the deka and bugout and IMO the deka magnacut smashes the bugout. Much easier to get good Acton without blade play than on the bugout, better steel and personally I like the feel of the stock scales more than the grivory on the bugout (not that either of mine still have the stock scales on them 😂)

Great video! really good to see all these lined up.

Well said, agree 💯! Great video!

Fun video. Good stuff

Kershaw Bel Air one day special at BladeHQ for $129.99. May 6th 2024

Thanks for sharing

Nice comparison video. Overall I would choose the Bel Air. My next choice would be the Hogue. Honestly, CJRB Hectare is a nice alternative.

🤙

The Belair is quite small and the small bearings kill it for me, the deka is a solid knife but not a huge fan of the blade grind as it gets thick real quick after a couple sharpenings... as much as I'm not a benchmade fan girl and as much as I'm not a bugout fan girl the blade shape and grind of the bugout make it the winner for me. If they made a 3.5ish inch blade bel air, keep the grind and stock thickness the same and use washers or larger bearings then imho it would be definitely the winner out the 3. I have had 4 kershaw magnacut knives tested and the was all in the high 63s the two post heat treat protocol change dekas I had tested was one 62.8 and one 63.1. My sub zero dekas (first rub hogue magnacut) was both in the high 59s and was absolutely sad, I was one of the first people raising hell about them because as soon as I touched them to the stones I knew there was issues and I knew it wasn't a burnt edge so I had them tested. First run hogue MC was terrible. Kershaw is not doing magnacut well as is hogue, the first releases of kershaw mc in the leek and the dividend was both just to soft with 61rc target and the heat treat it's self didn't feel very good on the stones I can say that now that they have adjusted their protocol and raised the hardness to a 63 target kershaw is doing damn decent magnacut and not just the hardness, the heat treat it's self is good and they feel great on the stones and cut test performance is neck in neck with golden spydie magnacut. Out of these 3 I would definitely take the bel air over all but th3 small bearings kill it for me, I really wish it was on washers.

Belair holds the bearings inside the blade, not inside the frame and it has washers over the bearings... This brings to blade play very fast and thats a bad design, not for a 140$ knife. Just because of that ill go with bugout. This is a bad designed knife...