I carried a fancy version of the Leek for years. It was my “office carry” and served well enough in that role. However, there are three things about the Leek that I don’t like.
1. First is the little safety doodad. It shouldn’t have been a necessary feature but mine also had a weak detent and could be edged out slightly before the assist became active. Given the blade shape, that could mean just enough to bite if the safety wasn’t engaged. I came to hate this.
2. Second is the pocket clip. For the kind of carry and situations where I wanted the Leek, this was the wrong kind of clip. I often ended up carrying it loose in a pocket, which isn’t always very comfortable.
3. This is the fancy anodized aluminum that I was always worried about scratching. This is only a problem on some models of the Leek.
At the end of the day, I feel like the Dividend in decent steel is a good replacement for the Leek. Unless you really love the blade shape on the Leek, the Dividend will often a better choice. The Dividend can also be had with a deep-carry loop-over which makes carrying it a dream. It works well either tip-up in a pants pocket or tip-down in a sturdy enough shirt pocket or inside breast pocket of a suit or jacket.
I have a CF/Alu version with just a plain satin blade and it’s awesome. I carried it for years. My only gripe is either I suck at sharpening it or the blade is profiled at such a sharp/thin angle that it dulls too fast if I carry it every single day.
I ended up getting another Protech in thicker blade and different steel and it fixes that problem but it’s WAY too thick and bulky for anything but jeans (IMO):
I’ve had a Cryo II and a Spline in the past, both were fantastic knives. I’ve since upgraded to a ZT0456CF Sprint run, don’t think I’ll find a better knife to replace this one in my pocket everyday.
I’m going to continue hijacking this thread cause I got some good suggestions.
I decided against the Leek because of the tip lock, frame shape, and clip. It did come in good steel options and other ergos seemed very good and the price was right.
I was still on the fence with the Dividend but it’s hard to tell how wide that blade is when closed.
I ended up with a Zero Tolerance 0450 ( ) cause it made even better use of space with a smaller footprint and larger blade with Ti handle and instant gratification and low price on Amazon.
The fun starts and stops there.
The second I unbox I instantly think “this is the size i’m looking for”. I had also read that if you call and ask nicely Kershaw/ZT and many other brands will send deep carry pocket clips if they have one that fits your non deep carry knife (for free usually).
Well the fun stops there. I couldn’t even flip open the blade. It fits so snugly inside the handle I couldn’t manually pull it either and there is no thumb stud for the 3rd option. Needless to say the harder I tried to open it the more it would not budge. The reason was because I was pressing on the F’ing frame lock. The harder I tried to open it the more I pressed on the lock, lol.
I did finally mostly train myself to hold it in such a way as to not interfere with the lock and it flips right open quickly but it’s not where my hand wants to go casually and the knife is so thin there’s not much room for error.
Will carry it and practice opening it some and see if I can get used to this.
Did you ever get this issue with opening resolved. I had the same knife and it takes a bit of practice, the other thing to check is if the clip has slid to the side on to the frame lock side. It should sit on the frame side and not the lock side. If it has moved over it will be borderline impossible to open and slow opening.
A little light oil is all it should take and the little guy should just fly open. I tell people to this day I believe it was one of the fastest opening knives I have owned. It is a great discreet EDC, small but very functional size and not to heavy.
Okay. I read all the posts about how Gocomma knives are amazing. I finally got the two models people were talking about. I want to spend some EDC time with them but I’ll be getting a review up sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving.
Sorry I hadn’t responded until now — lost track. Yes, I have looked at the Pico, Leek, as well as the Onion. All very nice looking. I know these are all made in China in their budget production line, but it sounds like they’ve overcome most deficiencies. Hard to tell they’re not made in USA. Was looking for a good solid under 3” flipper made of D2. Found one by the Chinese brand “Lemifshe”, called the Warrior D2. It’s a bit on the heavy side, but I’m really liking the design and flip action.