Brought home a CalyIII

gull wing

gull wing

Joined
May 4, 2002
Messages
2,536
I finally got one. I am sure these points have been brought up before, but:
This is the best all around user there is. What a great feel to the handle, it just fits. (G10 and steel liners on a small knife, wow) The finish on this one is the best on any Spyderco I have. The blade is centered and no movement in either direction. I see they cut down the G10 to compensate for the full liners, to make it the same thickness as the UKPK. Great! They ground the blade thin, so it should slice like the Calypso JR. The longer blade is ok, but I like the UKPK's blade shape better +-. I don't like (this is minor) the hex screw plus it sticks out too much.
Well, that's it Love the knife.
 
You won't get as many replys now because most of the Spyderco junkies have already bought their Caly IIIs in the summer and it is old hat for them. I waited like you and I have only had mine for a month or so. I am just as impressed with it as you are and I still think it is one of the best EDC knives for someone that doesn't need a knife as a weapon.

The only things I can find wrong with it are things that can't be changed without making it a different knife. I would prefer it to be a little lighter. I don't know how you would do this without changing what it made of and I don't want that to happen. I also would prefer a slightly longer blade. Even 1/2" longer would make it more useful for cutting a sandwhich in half or cutting an apple in half with one cut. This blade shape and grind really lends itself to cutting food since it will slice without much effort and will not crush the food but actually cut it.

It is not perfect but I have never seen a perfect knife. There is no such thing. A knife can never be light enough and still be strong enough. It can never be big enough or small enough to dissapear in you pocket. It can never be made with good enough material and be cheap enough.

I really feel for Sal in some ways. He trys his best and yet, he still can not please all of the people all of the time. LOL! Seriously though, I don't think there is such a thing as a perfect knife. The closest I have come is to use two knives as EDCs. One smaller like a Calypso Jr, Delica, Jess Horn or Calypso III and one larger like a C-54 Calypso, Police, Military or Manix.

What I have been carrying lately is my ZDP Jess Horn and either a G-10 flat ground PE Police (rare but too good not to use) or a Seki-Cut Bob Lum Encounter (large G-10). My new CF Military may just the place of a lot of my larger knives since it seems as strong as any of them but it is so light and flat. I really like that one.
 
kgriggs,
How true, there is no perfect knife, but it is fun looking for it.
Funny, now I seem to want smaller knives and rarely use a larger one.
However, how do you like the CF Military?
 
I would venture to say that the Caly3 will be one of the lengendary Spydies, sort of like the Lil' T.

mmmotorcycle
 
I hope that you enjoy your Caly3 as much as I do gull wing. It is a great knife. The only thing I would change is that I would have liked the blade to be S30V, but that is ok, I still like the knife a lot.

Ron

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kgriggs8 said:
You won't get as many replys now because most of the Spyderco junkies have already bought their Caly IIIs in the summer and it is old hat for them. .
Click to expand...

Congratulations on your new great knife.
I got mine in September, when they just were released. I love it, impressed with it and carry it every day. Enjoy.
good luck,
Roman
 
I got mine for New Years and have EDC it ever since. I really like the wire pocket clip but wish they would have put ZDP or S30V for the steel. No real gripes just a plain nice knife.
 
On the S30V vs VG10:
I like S30V, but I seem to gravitate to larger knives in S30V like Manix's and Military's. For smaller knives like the Caly, I like the thin blade, scary sharp edge, they provide. For this knife I like the VG10. As a matter of fact, the UKPK in S30V is ground a little thicker and does not slice quite as well as the CalyIII.
 
I have no complaints about VG-10. Some of my favorite knives are in VG-10. I do have knives in S30V but to be compleatly honest, I don't see much much difference between them. I think S30V is a little better but it is not like the big difference between 440C and VG-10. I noticed the improvment in VG-10 when all I had was 440C or ATS-34. I can't really say that S30V is all that much better than VG-10. I think if you switched the names and stamp marks on the blades, 99% of people would not know the difference. I'll bet Spyderco could stamp VG-10 as S30V and S30V as VG-10 and most people would be perfectly happy.

I am not saying that I don't like improvment or advancement, it is just that VG-10 seems to be pretty dang good for SS and it is not as expensive as S30V or ZDP-189. I also have a Jess Horn in ZDP and while it seems to be good, it is not the end all and be all of steel. It probably didn't come as sharp as it should have but I can tell it is already getting a little dull. My VG-10 Delica seems to stay sharp forever.
 
I am not complaining about the VG-10. It is great steel and takes an edge very well. I think that the S30V can hold the edge a bit better, BUT, it is also a bit harder to sharpen. I will gladly take either one:) .

Ron
 
Next knife on my list! Can you get to many? My pants are falling down. I like BG42 best.:)
 
congrats. It is one of the best knives in the market it's up against...a small EDC at the $100 below price point that has good steel and solid construction. I carry it everyday except for weekends when I switch to a custom / jeans.

mine has started to develop the tiny hint of updown bladeplay when I hold the blade and force it up/down...otherwise, it would not be noticeable at all.

edgeholding is good...although mine has lost the shaving edge at the last half inch near the tip...somehow, stroking it on the 30 deg setting on my sharpmaker can't get it to shave...I suspect the angle there may be a little more than 30 included.

great knife...I bought an extra one as a keeper.
 
Since I bought mine, it's all I've carried.

Congrats on a great knife. :thumbup:
 
It has everything I love in a knife on it...I love the blade style with that VG-10. Really shows off what the steel is capable of.
 
I've had my Caly 3 for a bit over a month now and it's become my EDC (over a Delica 4, Manix, Benchmade AFCK and some others). I was a little worried about the wire clip but it works great and gives the knife a low carry profile. It is a little heavy if you're used to carrying a Delica, but I think it's worth it.

I disagree a bit about the finish. While there aren't any blemishes at all, I feel like there are a some sharp edges where there shouldn't be. The thumbhole in particular on mine is very sharp compared to my other Spydercos. The inside edge of the liner is noticably sharper than on my Manix. I'm slowly rounding them down a little at a time with some ceramic sticks.

The blade is excellent. I've used mine pretty heavily and only touched up the edge twice. Yesterday it finally "bit" me when I got distracted while drying it off. I didn't even feel it at first but it's the deepest cut I've gotten in at least 20 years. I was amazed how deep it went on what was just a slight push cut. At least it left nice clean edges that went back together well.
 
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