Byrd Cara Cara G10

moonwilson

moonwilson

Joined
Aug 10, 2006
Messages
7,250
I ordered a Cara Cara G10 online on a lark because I wanted to see how it compared to my zillion other knives in terms of quality. It came in today and WOW, I was impressed. I can't believe I only paid $22 for this knife. It is much nicer than knives I have spent 5 times more for. It's almost as nice as a Military or Chinook2, better than any red-class Benchmade and almost as nice as a black-class. It's better than any CRKT for sure. It's almost as nice as the new $300 Cold Steels and it has a better design.

The fit and finish is almost completely perfect- there is a little tiny ding on the blade spine near the pivot pin and the G10 isn't perfectly finished (a bit asymmetrical in spots, a little bit sharp here and there) but otherwise it's perfect. The tolerances are as tight as anything else I have from Spyderco- everything is flush. The lockup is like a bank vault, with zero side play. The blade grind is perfect. Not mirror polished, it has a barely visible tooth- what you need for real cutting. It easily shaves hair from my forearm. All of the edges have been softened, the blade hole is better finished than the last 2 Spydercos I have bought. Have I mentioned that I can't believe I only paid $22 for this knife? In terms of the blade steel, I have a Pelican that I've been doing some tests with (same steel) and it has held up very well.

For bang for the buck, I have never seen anything that comes even remotely close for twice the money. Other manufacturers need to be looking out for Byrd, because they are going to crush with these knives. I am going to buy 3 or 4 more of these today to give as presents. I'm going to buy every model Byrd makes (except for the $179 lighter holder). Congrats and thanks to Spyderco for fielding such a remarkable product.

Does anyone else have any experiences with the G10 Byrds? What do you think?
 
I like my G-10 Cara Cara a lot. Like you said, unbelievable bang for the buck, great fit and finish for the price level, and very good performance.
 
I wonder why other manufacturers still make cheap-looking, Zytel knives in their "Taiwan" lines and sell them for similar amount of cash.

Imagine KA-BAR Dozier in G10 with full liners and bigger blade - this would be a great knife, not only because of the price, but even compared to any other below $100.
 
I don't think G10 is an expensive material. I believe it's made from compressed phenolic resin (a byproduct of oil refining) and fiberglass. I have a couple of cheapo "Fury" (chinese) knives I bought for around $10 for their G10 handles so I could practice sculpting and polishing G10 before I touched one of my much more expensive knives.

I imagine the intial tooling cost for a Zytel handle must be pretty high, but after that the per unit cost to manufacture would be fairly low. Whereas the initial tooling cost for G10 would be very low but there would be a lot of hand-labor involved in the final finishing of these handles, so the per unit cost would be relatively higher than Zytel. Cheap labor in China offsets this a bit. I would really like to see more knives in G10, it's a much nicer material, has a very pleasant feel to it and looks better and better with age. You can also carve, polish and personalize it pretty easily, which is kind of pointless on a Zytel knife, which always feels cheap to me.
 
moonwilson said:
I'm going to buy every model Byrd makes (except for the $179 lighter holder).
Click to expand...

That's for a pack of 12, you can get them singly at several dealers, I think it runs about $15
 
Oh. That makes sense. I was scratching my head over that one. I figured it had some sort of exotic machining or something that had the price up there. $15 makes much better sense for Byrd. So I'll get one of those too. I'm used to paying $179 without much thought for a knife, so the price didn't sound so weird. A 12 pack for $179? Not too shabby. I wonder what a 12 pack of Busse's runs for these days. And you can't stick your lighter in a Busse. (Ah, but you can't chop a Tyrannosaurus in half with a Byrd like you can with a Busse)

I wonder if there will be any fixed blade offerings if the market catches on to Byrd. I think brand mystique pushes a lot of knives, and that's the one thing Byrd lacks (though the Spyderco parentage certainly helps with that).
 
moonwilson said:
Oh. That makes sense. I was scratching my head over that one. I figured it had some sort of exotic machining or something that had the price up there. $15 makes much better sense for Byrd. So I'll get one of those too. I'm used to paying $179 without much thought for a knife, so the price didn't sound so weird. A 12 pack for $179? Not too shabby. I wonder what a 12 pack of Busse's runs for these days. And you can't stick your lighter in a Busse. (Ah, but you can't chop a Tyrannosaurus in half with a Byrd like you can with a Busse)

I wonder if there will be any fixed blade offerings if the market catches on to Byrd. I think brand mystique pushes a lot of knives, and that's the one thing Byrd lacks (though the Spyderco parentage certainly helps with that).
Click to expand...

a $179 Lighter holder better be Ti that heat anodizes itself a differet color every time you flick the lighter:p

I believe there is Byrd fixed blade in the works, but I don't remember any details of it.

12 pack of Busses? I'd need to work for the US Treasury to even see that kind of cash. I can't quite wrap my mind around that vast amount of money. :eek: ;)
 
I'm favorably impressed with the FRN Cara Cara. It's a little heavier than many FRN-handled knives, probably due to the stainless steel liners. The grip texture is excellent, and the shape is great in a standard grip--even excellent in a reverse grip, which is sort of a novelty to me. Opening is incredibly smooth. One downside, and I wonder if anyone else has had an issue with this: I'm finding that it opens very easily (like, the spring is a little weak or something)--had it come open in a pocket after a little tangle with a sunglasses case, and I'm thinking that if it loosens up any more with use, it may not be viable. Already I've reconsidered my earlier plans to position the clip for tip-up carry; this may have to remain in tip-down mode. Anyone else run into this? Fixable--or just a fact of life with this design?

Otherwise, no complaints yet. Great opening; tight lockup; very sharp out of the box.

I'm also curious about the weight of the G10 model--given that G10 tends to give you almost 150% of the weight of the FRN models, I imagine that'd be a pretty heavy knife--heavy enough to keep you and maybe others aware of its presence when you're carrying it. Comments?

Again, I'm also interested to hear what everybody thinks about the very light "detent" spring (or whatever it's called that keeps it folded when it's folded)--anyone else have any issues with this?

Thanks!
 
I haven't handled one, so I can't comment on loose blade. However, I will suggest that you tighten the pivot screw and see if it helps.

- Chris
 
Thanks! Hadn't noticed that the pivot axis had a screw head (because the side with the head is under the clip), but on closer examination, it's a screw head, indeed. Will check it out. But for that little issue, I love this knife, and am already thinking about Christmas recipients.
 
I bought the G10 Meadowlark when they first came out, and posted a review with pics at the Spyderco Factory forum. It's of typical quality I've come to expect from the byrd knives.

I haven't any problems with the knife not staying closed. It's a very positive closing. However, I don't cary mine.

The weight difference between the G10 and SS byrds is negligable(sp?), although the FRN ones are lighter.

One of these days I'm going to have to buy the FRN Cara Cara.
 
What I don't understand is the complete and utter lack of G10 Byrds on the trade forums. Looks like I won't be getting one for a while, meh.
 
Hi Vivi, probably no G10 Byrds on the trade forums becasue they asre so inexpensive (notice I didn't say "cheap"). If you ship Fed-Ex, the postage for a trade would be almost as much as the cost of a knife. You can get a G10 Byrd for a little over $20. "For less than the price of a cup of coffee a day", you'd pay off your Byrd in under a month. If you drink Starbucks, in under a week. A byrd knife costs about as much as a CD or a DVD, and cuts a lot better, too.
 
Whenever I fiind employment I plan to buy a couple of the Cara Cara's. I just wish someone would offer me one for trade so I could have one now to judge its quality, blade grind etc, but I can wait. They seem like great knives.
 
Vivi, I have a black stainless Cara Cara that I might be willing to trade. What did you have in mind for a trade?
 
Hello All

Just got my G10 Cara Cara and WOW ! ! ! It's like a budget Chinook (one of the best knives ever IMHO). While the fit and finish is not perfect, it's way more than I expected for a "cheapy" china made knife. Came razor sharp and the ergos are GREAT! This is my third Byrd (along with plenty of Spydies) and definately not the last.

Now when a buddy needs a knife, I just tell them to pick any Byrd model. It's not a cheap knife, it's a good knife with an even better price :) Cheapy no longer :D
 
And for the price, I'm not afraid of "beating" on the knife. It's almost afordable enough to be replaced when it gets dull, why sharpen it? Get a new one ;)

Need to p/u a few of these for X-mas gifts (and a spare or two for me), boy will I be popular :D

The only problem so far is local availability, needed to order one via the internet and the PE seems much more popular than the CE.
 
Yes. My friend Harry gave me one as a gift and all I could say was wow when it arrived. I must admit they are quite impressive. China made or not they do the job and have excellent fit and finish. The thing keeps an edge pretty well also.

Only complaint I have on my all stainless one is the slick handle which I fixed with some skid guard skate board tape. Otherwise its a fine carry a knife. A bit heavy but no worse so than some others in that size range.

STR
 
I bought a G10 Meadowlark as a gift for a coworker, and I'm almost upset to give it away. It really is nicer than a lot of knives I've paid more for. These things are really an unbelievable value. And not just a value, damn good by any standards.
 
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