A question about my new Spyderco Para Military

peacefuljeffrey

peacefuljeffrey

Joined
Feb 24, 2001
Messages
1,308
Ooooh, I love this knife. It arrived today and I am very taken with it -- the better because I got it at a very bargain price in an Ebay auction.

One question, though: What's up with the copper-penny-colored part at the back of the tang -- that section of angle that you see when the knife is closed? Are they all like that? I'm talking about the part of the back of the tang that hits the stop pin when the knife is opened. Mine is copper-colored on that part, and there is similar discoloration inside the Spyderhole. (If I didn't know better, I'd say it looks like the blade is made of copper and then steel-plated! :p

Are other Para Militaries like this?

Blue skies,
-Jeffrey
 
I have only seen one Para Military so far and it didn't have any discoloration that I could see. You may want to ask this question over on BladeForum's Spyderco Forum. Sal should be able to give you the definitve answer.

The discoloration that you are referring to could have been caused by the steel being overheated in the areas that you mentioned. I have seen steel take on a bronze like colour when heated to around 450°F. This is just an idea and may not be what you have encountered.
 
selfinflicted said:
PJ, I saw your eBay win...you did get a great price. Hope the knife is kosher. It probably is.
Click to expand...

Selfinflicted:

Heh, that's somewhat the same thing I wondered. If this knife were not a "kosher" specimen, then it is an astounding counterfeit. It even has that "SAL" icon engraved on it, and all the tang markings ("Golden Colorado U.S.A. Earth," and "Spyderco CPM S30V"). Yes, I did get a great price on it -- I am still puzzled as to why I was not outbid! $85 for a knife that is selling for $99-115 on various websites -- criminy, even with shipping it was cheaper than the others without! :eek:

But the seller has listed others of its kind now, and now has a reserve to be met (unknown amount). If he's putting out counterfeits, someone'll eventually figure it out and come down on him. I don't suspect it, though. But I am curious about this copper-colored thing I mentioned. I'd like to hear from others whose knives also have it, so that I can be assured nothing is wrong with my knife.

Oh, btw, when I inquired about buying two Para Militaries each at the auction price, and combining shipping, he emailed back that he had probably lost money on our deal and so the answer was a polite but curt "No." I guess I can't really blame him given that the final price was fifteen bucks under the lowest going price on the internet.

So again, if anyone knows something about the back of the tang of a Para Military being copper colored, please inform me. Thanks.

Blue skies,
-Jeffrey
 
Are you sure it's not corroson? The angled part of the tang, and inside the hole are probably the mostly roughly finished parts of the knife, and most likely to corrode...
 
My Chinook II is the same, at first I thought, what? It has a rainbow quality so I don't think its rust.
 
My Para has also has that discolouration - in exactly the same places. It's not rust - looks like it is heat-related.
 
Both of mine have discoloration in those areas, but it's dark gray rather than copper. I wouldn't worry about it.
 
Guess it's not corrosion then (what are the odds a bunch of people have it in the same place on various knives?). My Paramilitary doesn't have the discoloration on the tang, but looking in the hole under direct light, I can see a hint of it on the inside surface of the hole.
 
Madfast, thanks for posting that link.
I guess I can rest a little easier now, knowing that there's not some weird individual anomaly with my knife. I like knowing that others' have the same characteristics.

Now, another thing. Where the blade meets the tang, a lot of knives have a crescent-shaped cutout where there is no edge -- just space. I think the Para Military would be improved if it had this, because while the blade is not per se a "recurve," it does have a tiny bit of recurve as it meets the tang. So when I do finally sharpen this one, I'd have to leave that little bit unsharpened because the edge of my stone won't lie flat against that part of the edge of the blade (sharpening on a Spyderco Ceramic Whetstone).

I plan to use my Dremel tool with a grinder bit and make -- however ugly it may end up being, though I'll try to keep it neat -- a little cutout so that the blade edge ends before the tang.

I know it's a risky, iffy proposition to do this -- and will of course ruin any resale value (of a knife I plan to never sell, anyway) -- but in the end if it works it will make sharpening easier for me. I also know that I must avoid overheating that part of the blade or I will "ruin" the heat-treat -- whatever that means. I don't profess to know how exactly that happens or what the result is in practical terms. I do know that when I do this operation, I'll give the knife a chance to keep cool while I grind, going in short spurts.

Has anyone else done this with a knife and can offer tips or suggestions?

Blue skies,
-Jeffrey
 
Well, I did it -- I used the Dremel to grind down just a small crescent at the hilt-end of the blade of my new Paramilitary, just so that I could be rid of that bit of recurve where the blade meets the tang (to make it easier when sharpening). It seems to have come out just fine. It didn't take much grinding, and the blade sure didn't heat up much at all, so I'm confident that the temper was not affected. Let me tell you, I have screwed up good things before because I got picky about little details, so I was a bit apprehensive about how this would go on an $85 knife, especially when I know that a replacement will run me more like $110! :p But all's well that ends well. I'm in no rush to go sharpening this Paramilitary since it came with a very respectable edge on it, but I know I will before long because I like to replace those fine striations on a factory edge with a nice polished edge.

Just thought I'd let you all know about how relatively simple this minor mod is to do on your Paramilitary, and I think it's worthwhile. So far it's the ONLY thing about the knife that I didn't like as-is.

Blue skies,
-Jeffrey
 
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