Another Byrd Cara Cara 2 in G10 for me this time

eccvets · Aug 19, 2011

I did a review of the Byrd Cara Cara 2 in G10 which I gave to a friend of mines about a year ago and didn't really have a Spyderco Police to compare it to right next to it so when I got my new Byrd Cara Cara 2 in G10 in today which is gonna replace my ususal edc Spyderco Police in G10, I was quite shocked at how much shorter it is then what I remember it to be. I had not seen my old spyderco police for about 4 years or so and a year ago I could have sworn they were the same lenght and holy crap was I wrong. Closed the Cara Cara 2 is a little over a 1/4 inch shorter then the Police and the blade is another 1/4 inch shorter so when open, it's at least a half inch shorter which some how makes a difference to me (personnaly) even though in real life it doesn't. Looking at it closer, they could have made the blade a bit longer to fill up the handle. Again would this really have made a difference, probally not to anybody but me. This Cara Cara 2 opens quite a bit smoother then the other one I gave to my friend although at the very end it seems to hang just a bit and is not as smooth as my Police. It might actually be that the spring is tighter at the very end just before it locks open actually and compared to my Police, its quite a bit more stiff. IDK, I have to play with it more I think. It's not gritty feeling though. Lock up is very tight and there is no play at all in the blade that I can tell. There is a slight hump in the blade about a 1/4 inch from the tip of the blade and I think im gonna use my belt sander to take it down. I mean its just a hair high but it irks the hell out of me for some reason. I never noticed how wide the blade is on the Cara Cara 2 compared to the police either. The serrations on my Police is probally making it look even more exaggerated as well. The clip on this Cara Cara 2 can be mounted on all 4 corners although the clip itself sorta reminds me of my Crossbill SS which took a chunk of skin from my thumb when I accidently scraped it against it about 3 years ago so I don't really like that. I might sand down the edges from the clip a bit or modify it later. The clip is also not as stiff as my Police and it rides higher too which sorta sucks. The full flat grind of the blade resembles my Police model although I had to bring the edge back about a 1/4 inch in some spots to get the angle I wanted on the edge which btw has gotta be the worst out of all the spyderco/byrd edges stock I have ever gotten! It really doesn't matter to me as I can sharpen it but right out of the box, def one of the worst spyderco/byrd edges ever and in the bottom 3 of all the knifes I have ever bought. Ok, it will cut rope and paper but not newsprint and it def did not wittle free hanging hair (something my 10 dollar Mora did right out of the box!). Like I said I took the edge back nearly a 1/4 inch in some areas and at least 1/2 that in others to get an angle I wanted on it and now it will easily wittle free hanging hair. In fact I just used it to shave my face. How long it will hold this edge, only time will tell. I don't think I have really used the 8cr13mov a lot before although I have had a few knifes with it. They were all serrated edges though and I could never really get a sharp edge on them (well as sharp as I like my edges). I some times wonder how the knife I gave my friend a year ago is and if he ever sharpened it. It was no where near as sharp as my current knife is and I doubt it ever will be unless he sends it out to a pro to sharpen. As for the eye hole, I some how remember the old Cara Cara 2 I got for my friend some what awkward to open (i could have sworn it felt weird, esepically at the very end of opening it) but this one feels pretty much as good as the Police hole does. Jimping is good on the Cara Cara 2 which my police doesnt have although to be honest, I've never used jimping before on a blade or at least I haven't ever noticed it before. G10 resembles my police and is nice and grippy. I notice that the steel liners are skelotonized which is nice and probally reduces weight. The blade rides just a hair to the right when closed but its far from scraping or touching the liners. I'd love to take pics and post them but my camera is about 2500 miles away right now. I'd love to possibly wave this handle and know about the ziptie trick but was thinking about either grinding into the eye or possibly having someone tig weld a small peice of metal on top of the eye so it will snag and open by itself. That's all for now, I'll post more as I use it.

In the end, being less then a 1/3 of the cost of my police, I think this will be one hell of a beater/edc/replacement. I'd highly recommend it to anyone as long as they can sharpen it or send it to someone which can. It can take an amazing edge if you have the skill to put one on there.

eccvets · Aug 19, 2011

got to carry the knife tonight and it seemed much smaller in my pocket then my Police. its only a 1/4 inch shorter when closed but it really does seem quite a bit shorter. I think the pocket clip being mounted a bit lower leaving a bit more exposed makes it feel shorter as well. To be honest, I'd rather have it ride much lower leaving very little to none of the handle sticking out of my pocket.

230grains · Aug 19, 2011

you removed a half inch of stock from a blade to sharpen it? You're doing something terribly wrong.

eccvets · Aug 19, 2011

230grains said:
you removed a half inch of stock from a blade to sharpen it? You're doing something terribly wrong.

I'm not removing that much of the entire blade. what i meant by taking it back 1/4 of an inch is that I have sand down the blade to get a more accute angle and it goes from the edge to about a 1/4 inch. stock there is about an 1/8 of an inch for the primary grind but angle was too obtuse for me.

Finedges · Aug 19, 2011

230grains said:
you removed a half inch of stock from a blade to sharpen it? You're doing something terribly wrong.

Don't think you understood quite what op meant. I have a Cara2 and the flat grind is so gradual, it leaves a very thick edge behind the main bevel. To get a good slicing edge, he had to remove alot of steel behind the edge to reduce the thickness of the blade. Out of the box, the grind made me laugh and say to myself it was a saber grind with a flat ground relief edge. Have to agree with op when he says grind is worst I've had on a new knife. Waves all through the blade and thick as can be.

eccvets · Aug 19, 2011

Finedges said:
To get a good slicing edge, he had to remove alot of steel behind the edge to reduce the thickness of the blade.

+1, couldnt have put it better myself!

230grains · Aug 20, 2011

eccvets said:
I'm not removing that much of the entire blade. what i meant by taking it back 1/4 of an inch is that I have sand down the blade to get a more accute angle and it goes from the edge to about a 1/4 inch. stock there is about an 1/8 of an inch for the primary grind but angle was too obtuse for me.

Gotcha, I read your post quickly before work and just pictured a fillet knife. I've seen some sharpening jobs where there wasn't much left to the knife haha.

eccvets · Aug 20, 2011

230grains said:
Gotcha, I read your post quickly before work and just pictured a fillet knife. I've seen some sharpening jobs where there wasn't much left to the knife haha.

\

haha I understand. Unfortuantly I have also seen knifes like this which make me cringe. I took less then a hairs width away from the blade's width to get it to wittle free hanging hair and although it lost some of that keen edge in about 2 days of usage. I have been cutting thicker plastics, paper, rope, and some wood when I wittled for a bit. The only thing I can't bring myself to cut thru just for fun is metal because to be honest, I'd rather use a hacksaw as it would be faster. I think it did pretty good considering what I went thru and how little of its edge it lost. They got the heat treat/temper/steel right on this one. I'd say I have been using it more then I usually use a blade just to play around with my new toy/tool and see what it can do against various materials and it has been going thru them like a champ! I just ran it across my slotted paper wheel 2 times in each direction and it has got that true hair wittling edge back. I didn't notice any rolling of the edge or anything like that with this fine edge and it would still shave hair on my arm really easily as well as cut thru costco toilet paper fairly well (wouldn't push cut toilet paper though before the slotted wheel!).

Does an EDC need this type of edge... probally not but I figure why not if keep it at this sharpness. I mean the slotted wheel really doesn't take that much metal away and it takes me less then 10 seconds on the slotted wheel to get this edge back.

BTW: I don't think my Police was ever this sharp (which is not to say it isn't sharp) as it had that spyder serrated edge on it and I'm not very good at sharpening serrated edges.

Chris "Anagarika" · Aug 24, 2011

Similarly, when reprofiling the Navy K631 'FFG', I ended up with grind line between 1/3 to 1/2 inch wide to reach the apex

now it's about 25 degree inclusive.

NG VI · Nov 25, 2015

eccvets said:
I did a review of the Byrd Cara Cara 2 in G10 which I gave to a friend of mines about a year ago and didn't really have a Spyderco Police to compare it to right next to it so when I got my new Byrd Cara Cara 2 in G10 in today which is gonna replace my ususal edc Spyderco Police in G10, I was quite shocked at how much shorter it is then what I remember it to be. I had not seen my old spyderco police for about 4 years or so and a year ago I could have sworn they were the same lenght and holy crap was I wrong.

Closed the Cara Cara 2 is a little over a 1/4 inch shorter then the Police and the blade is another 1/4 inch shorter so when open, it's at least a half inch shorter which some how makes a difference to me (personnaly) even though in real life it doesn't. Looking at it closer, they could have made the blade a bit longer to fill up the handle. Again would this really have made a difference, probally not to anybody but me.

This Cara Cara 2 opens quite a bit smoother then the other one I gave to my friend although at the very end it seems to hang just a bit and is not as smooth as my Police. It might actually be that the spring is tighter at the very end just before it locks open actually and compared to my Police, its quite a bit more stiff. IDK, I have to play with it more I think. It's not gritty feeling though. Lock up is very tight and there is no play at all in the blade that I can tell.

There is a slight hump in the blade about a 1/4 inch from the tip of the blade and I think im gonna use my belt sander to take it down. I mean its just a hair high but it irks the hell out of me for some reason. I never noticed how wide the blade is on the Cara Cara 2 compared to the police either. The serrations on my Police is probally making it look even more exaggerated as well. The clip on this Cara Cara 2 can be mounted on all 4 corners although the clip itself sorta reminds me of my Crossbill SS which took a chunk of skin from my thumb when I accidently scraped it against it about 3 years ago so I don't really like that. I might sand down the edges from the clip a bit or modify it later. The clip is also not as stiff as my Police and it rides higher too which sorta sucks.

The full flat grind of the blade resembles my Police model although I had to bring the edge back about a 1/4 inch in some spots to get the angle I wanted on the edge which btw has gotta be the worst out of all the spyderco/byrd edges stock I have ever gotten! It really doesn't matter to me as I can sharpen it but right out of the box, def one of the worst spyderco/byrd edges ever and in the bottom 3 of all the knifes I have ever bought. Ok, it will cut rope and paper but not newsprint and it def did not wittle free hanging hair (something my 10 dollar Mora did right out of the box!).

Like I said I took the edge back nearly a 1/4 inch in some areas and at least 1/2 that in others to get an angle I wanted on it and now it will easily wittle free hanging hair. In fact I just used it to shave my face. How long it will hold this edge, only time will tell. I don't think I have really used the 8cr13mov a lot before although I have had a few knifes with it. They were all serrated edges though and I could never really get a sharp edge on them (well as sharp as I like my edges). I some times wonder how the knife I gave my friend a year ago is and if he ever sharpened it. It was no where near as sharp as my current knife is and I doubt it ever will be unless he sends it out to a pro to sharpen.

As for the eye hole, I some how remember the old Cara Cara 2 I got for my friend some what awkward to open (i could have sworn it felt weird, esepically at the very end of opening it) but this one feels pretty much as good as the Police hole does. Jimping is good on the Cara Cara 2 which my police doesnt have although to be honest, I've never used jimping before on a blade or at least I haven't ever noticed it before.

G10 resembles my police and is nice and grippy. I notice that the steel liners are skelotonized which is nice and probally reduces weight. The blade rides just a hair to the right when closed but its far from scraping or touching the liners. I'd love to take pics and post them but my camera is about 2500 miles away right now. I'd love to possibly wave this handle and know about the ziptie trick but was thinking about either grinding into the eye or possibly having someone tig weld a small peice of metal on top of the eye so it will snag and open by itself. That's all for now, I'll post more as I use it.

In the end, being less then a 1/3 of the cost of my police, I think this will be one hell of a beater/edc/replacement. I'd highly recommend it to anyone as long as they can sharpen it or send it to someone which can. It can take an amazing edge if you have the skill to put one on there.

Better