hi fellow Spyder-knuts,
about an hour ago i recieved my ATR-SS plain edge. am i happy with it? totally! this knife is awesome!
some observations and 1st impressions:
feel, look and weight of this knife is fantastic! like a $1000-custom almost. the knife much more bulky and wide in looks than, say, a Police. the weight is almost the same as the Police, but you won't notice that. the weight-distribution is so well done that the knife feels more like a Delica. great!
ergo's are great. "yeah...", you think, "with SS-handles?!", yes, with steel handles, doesn't matter! it holds very well in a straight saber-grip as well as in the horizontal 'slash-grip'. no doubt the layout of the handle and cobra-hood account to this mostly.
accidental lock-release is out of the question due to the layout of the top-compression lock. there's one you can trust for sure! opening the knife is easy and smooth due to the large spyderhole, cobra-hood and positive handle-purchase, perfect. the tang of the lock is initially still a little 'sticky', some wear and tear will probably solve this given enough use. it's brand-new out of the box so i wasn't expecting any better than it is now. its fine. additionally, opening the blade produces a satisfying but subtle "clack" of the compression-lock, very nice.
closing the knife one-handed with right hand takes a little practice, but i got the hang of it within 5 minutes. its not much more difficult than with a front-locker. just put your thumb on the first hole of the handle's left scale, hold your index-finger against the right side of the hole near the hood, use your middle-finger to disengage the lock and close the blade with your index-finger, simple enough really, even despite the initially snagging sticky lockup.
closing it one-handed with your LEFT hand is a totally different story though. it's doable and i''ve got my method for it sorted already, but it takes some dexterity. lefties, you've been warned......
the blade: finally a new blade-shape with a slightly stronger tip. the steel is VG-10 and i wouldn't want to have it any other way. as usual, the edge is Spyderco-perfect and Spyderco-razord sharp. it's amazing how everytime when i feel the edge of a brand-new Spyderco, it makes me feel humble about my own sharpening-skills. this knife is scary sharp! the blade-length is perfect for me, not too long, not too short. the utilitarian belly near the front end of the blade is most useful in cutting. choking up on the blade is easy because of the choil and good purchase on the blade's spine. peeling some fruit is slightly impaired in ease because of the cobra-hood, but it's not that bad.
the clip: it's short, it's strong, but it's also 'sharp'. the inner-side of the clip that touches your pants-pocket is thin sheet-metal that touches the denim straight on. this makes a for grippy clip (really strong, you won't lose this knife in a bungee-jump) but also a potential pants-eater. time will have to tell if this is the case. one con: tip-up carry only.
interesting feat: on the right side of the blade near the hole is a peculiar marking, i'm guessing this is the designer's logo. if anyone can tell me what it is, i'd like to know
is is really that good and no cons or problems at all? well, almost, yes. there's is ofcourse the compression-lock that may take some getting used to for people with less than perfect motoric skills........, but most importantly, i've noticed a slight metallic sound, kind of a rattle, near the butt of the handle. i think it's one of the steel handle-spacers. if anyone can tell me more, i'd definitely like to know about it. one other interesting/disturbing discovery is that all of the screws used on the knife are of a very strange kind. they look like a cross-breed between Allen and Torx, but they're not. they might look like Torx-Plus, but yet again, they're not. these are apparently some new sort of anti-tamper Torx-screws that i've never seen before, and sure would like to have identified. the reason why this could be a problematic issue is obvious: should your handle/pivot-screws need tightening because of wear or general loosening, then you have a problem.
the conclusion? the ATR rocks! i especially chose the steel version above the titanium model, simply because of price-point, and because it's otherwise exactly the same, only slightly 'heavier', which as previously mentioned, isn't all that heavy at all anyway.
should you get this knife? you bet, give it a shot, you'll love it if you can handle the compression-lock!
any info or remarks on my findings are very welcomed! thanks for reading this 1st impression/review of mine.
dennis "denn" braggaar
special thanks to Bill Morris for going the extra mile by acquiring this knife within little time and for the right price for me, thank you very much Bill! . also thank you Spyderco, for my new -EDC!
check out the ATR-SS, right here: http://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=118
about an hour ago i recieved my ATR-SS plain edge. am i happy with it? totally! this knife is awesome!
some observations and 1st impressions:
feel, look and weight of this knife is fantastic! like a $1000-custom almost. the knife much more bulky and wide in looks than, say, a Police. the weight is almost the same as the Police, but you won't notice that. the weight-distribution is so well done that the knife feels more like a Delica. great!
ergo's are great. "yeah...", you think, "with SS-handles?!", yes, with steel handles, doesn't matter! it holds very well in a straight saber-grip as well as in the horizontal 'slash-grip'. no doubt the layout of the handle and cobra-hood account to this mostly.
accidental lock-release is out of the question due to the layout of the top-compression lock. there's one you can trust for sure! opening the knife is easy and smooth due to the large spyderhole, cobra-hood and positive handle-purchase, perfect. the tang of the lock is initially still a little 'sticky', some wear and tear will probably solve this given enough use. it's brand-new out of the box so i wasn't expecting any better than it is now. its fine. additionally, opening the blade produces a satisfying but subtle "clack" of the compression-lock, very nice.
closing the knife one-handed with right hand takes a little practice, but i got the hang of it within 5 minutes. its not much more difficult than with a front-locker. just put your thumb on the first hole of the handle's left scale, hold your index-finger against the right side of the hole near the hood, use your middle-finger to disengage the lock and close the blade with your index-finger, simple enough really, even despite the initially snagging sticky lockup.
closing it one-handed with your LEFT hand is a totally different story though. it's doable and i''ve got my method for it sorted already, but it takes some dexterity. lefties, you've been warned......
the blade: finally a new blade-shape with a slightly stronger tip. the steel is VG-10 and i wouldn't want to have it any other way. as usual, the edge is Spyderco-perfect and Spyderco-razord sharp. it's amazing how everytime when i feel the edge of a brand-new Spyderco, it makes me feel humble about my own sharpening-skills. this knife is scary sharp! the blade-length is perfect for me, not too long, not too short. the utilitarian belly near the front end of the blade is most useful in cutting. choking up on the blade is easy because of the choil and good purchase on the blade's spine. peeling some fruit is slightly impaired in ease because of the cobra-hood, but it's not that bad.
the clip: it's short, it's strong, but it's also 'sharp'. the inner-side of the clip that touches your pants-pocket is thin sheet-metal that touches the denim straight on. this makes a for grippy clip (really strong, you won't lose this knife in a bungee-jump) but also a potential pants-eater. time will have to tell if this is the case. one con: tip-up carry only.
interesting feat: on the right side of the blade near the hole is a peculiar marking, i'm guessing this is the designer's logo. if anyone can tell me what it is, i'd like to know
is is really that good and no cons or problems at all? well, almost, yes. there's is ofcourse the compression-lock that may take some getting used to for people with less than perfect motoric skills........, but most importantly, i've noticed a slight metallic sound, kind of a rattle, near the butt of the handle. i think it's one of the steel handle-spacers. if anyone can tell me more, i'd definitely like to know about it. one other interesting/disturbing discovery is that all of the screws used on the knife are of a very strange kind. they look like a cross-breed between Allen and Torx, but they're not. they might look like Torx-Plus, but yet again, they're not. these are apparently some new sort of anti-tamper Torx-screws that i've never seen before, and sure would like to have identified. the reason why this could be a problematic issue is obvious: should your handle/pivot-screws need tightening because of wear or general loosening, then you have a problem.
the conclusion? the ATR rocks! i especially chose the steel version above the titanium model, simply because of price-point, and because it's otherwise exactly the same, only slightly 'heavier', which as previously mentioned, isn't all that heavy at all anyway.
should you get this knife? you bet, give it a shot, you'll love it if you can handle the compression-lock!
any info or remarks on my findings are very welcomed! thanks for reading this 1st impression/review of mine.
dennis "denn" braggaar
special thanks to Bill Morris for going the extra mile by acquiring this knife within little time and for the right price for me, thank you very much Bill! . also thank you Spyderco, for my new -EDC!
check out the ATR-SS, right here: http://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=118
