Byrd knife ?

H

hannibal lecter spyderco

Joined
Mar 29, 2001
Messages
1,236
I'm a big fan of spyderco, I was thinking of getting their byrd knife, since its so darn cheap. The steel is suppose to be similiar to aus-8. What do you guys think about steel quality and lock my two main concerns.
 
The lock up (on the cara caras I handled) were all exceptional for a Chinese knife. No blade play, very sharp blades. Don't have one myself, but just about everyone around here will tell you that they are some of the best, most well built Chinese knives made.
 
The steel performs just as Spyderco says it does, about equivalent in edge holding to AUS8. I have a Flight and find it to be solidly built with a solid lock-up. Good bang for the buck.
 
knarfeng said:
The steel performs just as Spyderco says it does, about equivalent in edge holding to AUS8. I have a Flight and find it to be solidly built with a solid lock-up. Good bang for the buck.
Click to expand...

thats great to know, I was only worried about steel quality since I've seen more than one manufacture made claims that didn't prove to be true since chinese manufacture don't carry through what the original designers dictate. I ve read a couple of reports that the lock disengage under heavy use. I've been badly cut by a couple of folders who locks didn't hold. If the specs on the byrd knife are correct its a killer. i can't think of a high quality knife at that price point. I was at a local store and saw the byrd and cold steel voyager I was wow cold steel was pretty expensive for the material that they were using compared to byrd knife.
 
I have not used my Flight hard, but it seems solid to me.

Saw a guy on a documentary about relocating alligators in Florida. He was one of the guys who did this all the time (not part of the TV crew). He was using a fully serrated Flight to cut Duct tape that was holding the croc's mouth closed. Didn't look like he was worried about the knife failing, though I dare say he had other things on his mind at the moment.:D
 
I find the 8Cr13MoV steel used in the Byrd line holds an edge a bit better than AUS-8 with a good heat treatment, which is pretty darn good. The G-10 Flight is my favorite out of the Byrd line. It is an excellent knife for the price point.
 
I picked up a Byrd Crossbill combo blade early this year and put it through severe use at work. Heavy cutting, prying and digging in wood timbers. It held up great and lock up is like new. It has less than a millimeter of side play. It held an edge very well. I ended up reprofiling it and adding grip tape to one side to get a better grip. Set both sides(it is no longer a chisel grind) to around 12 degrees and kept on using it. Great quality for the price. It still gets used when I feel in a hawkbill mood.
 
I carry a Byrd Cara Cara G-10. Great knife. the blade staeel does hold an edge a bit longer than AUS-8. The lock hasn't (on any of my Byrds, either) failed me yet. It's quickly one of my trusted 'go to' knives for jus about everything.
 
Between the Byrds and the Tenacious I think Spyderco has really hit a home run. Spyderco's expertise in working with manufacturers really shows here as the Byrds are really not only incredible values but practical contenders for real hard use.
 
carrot said:
Between the Byrds and the Tenacious I think Spyderco has really hit a home run. Spyderco's expertise in working with manufacturers really shows here as the Byrds are really not only incredible values but practical contenders for real hard use.
Click to expand...

There a different of about 10 dollars between the two. The tenacious looks like great edc knife but i don't know if its a good defense knife as well.

I like the cara cara, whats the difference between the cara cara and the flight? flight looks more like drop point shape

Where do you guys get your folders online at good price? I don't really trust e-bay since there some of those guys sell fake knives. I tend to get my knives from a local shop, but their prices have gone up drastically.
 
I have the byrd cara cara and the lockup is superb, no blade play in any direction, my only complain is that the lockback seems a little hard to depress on mine but yet it is still very smooth.

I have found the 8cr13mov on my cara cara to out perform the AUS8 on my Boker Trance with thin edges(10-13degrees per side), and I have found the AUS8 to rust more easily than the 8cr13mov.
 
I have a Byrd Meadowlark, and I'm really happy with it overall. Build quality is on par with my Caly 3, which is incredible considering the Meadowlark cost only a 1/4 of what I paid for the Caly 3.

It's also surprisingly smooth opening, even smoother than factory since I cleaned and lubricated it.

The lock feels great, and engages fully. Someone recently posted a photo of the lock with the a handle scale and liner off, and there was little to no gap between the lock face and the notch on the blade.

Mine was much the same when I disassembled it for cleaning. Very solid, slight vertical play and very little side to side blade play.

Really, they're not just good knives for the money--they're very high quality knives for very little money.
 
I got a crossbill and i like it a lot (its my edc right now which replaced the civilian). It's sharp as hell and I dare to say perhaps sharper then my civilian out of the box. I hardly use my knifes for any real work though so idk how it holds but but the lockup is great and there is no play at all. Very worth the 20 bucks it cost me (shipping was included in the 20bucks as well which is an incredible price for this knife!).
 
I've got the Cara Cara. Rock solid. No blade play whatsoever. As "Roger999" stated, my lockback is just a bit difficult to disengage, but that's fine with me. It's not stuck, just requires a forceful thumb press. For the price I paid, I'm happy to cut everything with this knife and not feel bad about it later on. After plenty of outdoor food preparation, general outdoor use, and some cleaning I can't find any stains at all. By the way, the Cara Cara is quite big. I can't EDC it because the office staff would be shocked.
 
mike__ said:
I've got the Cara Cara. Rock solid. No blade play whatsoever. As "Roger999" stated, my lockback is just a bit difficult to disengage, but that's fine with me. It's not stuck, just requires a forceful thumb press. For the price I paid, I'm happy to cut everything with this knife and not feel bad about it later on. After plenty of outdoor food preparation, general outdoor use, and some cleaning I can't find any stains at all. By the way, the Cara Cara is quite big. I can't EDC it because the office staff would be shocked.
Click to expand...


I personally don't mind hard locks to disengage, it makes me fee a bit safer, I cannot tell you what it like to get cut by sharp knife because the lock fails. I have a nasty scar from serrated knife that the lock failed. sliced me open like hot knife through butter.
 
hannibal lecter spyderco said:
I personally don't mind hard locks to disengage, it makes me fee a bit safer, I cannot tell you what it like to get cut by sharp knife because the lock fails. I have a nasty scar from serrated knife that the lock failed. sliced me open like hot knife through butter.
Click to expand...

Yikes. It hurt me just to read your reply.

Regarding the Cara Cara, from my experience (camping-like chores), the lock is 100% solid. I found the Cara Cara for $17.50 on eBay. Everything Spyderco claims about this knife in the marketing materials is absolutely true (strange for 2008, but true). It's one of the best cheap knives available. When comparing to some of the inexpensive Bokers, Ka-Bars and so on, the Cara Cara is less expensive and oozes quality. It's too big for my EDC, but that's hardly Byrd's fault.
 
Regarding EBay. I love it.
1) Use common sense. If it's cheap that's great. If it's too cheap, be aware.
2) Look closely at the detailed reviews for the merchant. Now that merchants cannot give negative feedback to buyers, people tend to write honest feedback. Also look at the rating percent. The merchants I deal with are all above 99.7%. That says a lot. Look for negative feedback comments, these really say a lot too. A proper knife merchant shouldn't really have any negative feedback.
3) Make a small purchase at first. If you're happy you can make a larger order later.
4) Pay with PayPal. If I'm not mistaken, you get some sort of buyer protection against fraud when you pay with PayPal on Ebay.
 
When i decieded that i need to carry a Kife every day my first purchase was a Byrd Robin SS CE , I was so impressed with it that i bought all three handeld models. I then decided that i needed somthin just a little bigger and bought a G10 Crow in combo edge. I love it after just over a year of taking it to work with me every day or using it when i dont want to wreck my good Sage or Caly 3 I am ordering another Crow.

The Byrd line got me started in to the nice spydies and since i dont have a lot of money i use my Byrds for hard work and there very reliable.

I would reccomend or buy one any time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top