Caly 3.5 ZDP CF, blemishes

R

running bird

Joined
Sep 29, 2015
Messages
487
Back in December, for the holidays, my girlfriend got me a caly 3.5 in ZDP. It’s a knife I’ve wanted for a really long time and I was so excited to finally have one. I didn’t get to really use or carry it until last week because I’m away at school, and I didn’t want to bring a knife that I wouldn’t be ok with losing.

Last week when I was home and finally got a chance to carry it a bit, and I noticed some big (in my opinion) blemishes with the blade. First the notch on the lock bar (where you press in with you thumb) is very very unevenly ground, dipping off of the left quite a bit. Second the secondary grind on the blade dips into the blade considerable at the ricasso, like the new guy ground it. And third the blade grinds are uneven/warped. I don’t know if this is a warp due to the heat treatment, or if the grind was goofed up horribly. When looking at the blade down the tip, you can see an apparent “banana curve” to one side.

I don’t currently have pictures of these blemishes. I’m looking for advice on what I should do.

I wanted to love this knife and carry it and use it but I wasnt able to bring myself to because of these problems. It’s just been sitting in its box since. I’ve been thinking it over for a while but I’m not sure what I should do. I would feel even worse asking for a replacement but only getting offered a refund, because I would have to tell my girlfriend there was something wrong and she was getting a refund, on a very expensive present.

It was purchased from Blade HQ. Should I return the knife and ask for another? Or am I expecting too much?

Thanks for helping,
Kevin
 
I think if it is defective or poorly made you are entitled to a return, however I believe 3 months later is too late. I'm not sure what their policy is but if it were me I would live with it. Should be on the buyer to examine their purchase in a reasonable amount of time, if anything I would send it to Spyderco directly for warranty.
 
Thanks for the quick response.

That’s why I posted here first. I hadn’t had the chance to really look at the knife until recently, so I wasn’t sure if I would be allowed to replace it. I know these problems don’t make the knife unusable and it would be just fine to carry. I was a little thrown of when I finally got to take it out of the box.

I won’t be home for a few more weeks which makes it all even worse. I don’t have a way of getting pictures of the blade to send to the dealer or the manufacturer.
 
3 months may be too late to return to the dealer, but I'd be willing to bet if it is in fact a manufacturing problem, Spyderco would be willing to take a look at it and potentially replace/restore it.
 
Just my $0.02 here. It was a thoughtful and expensive gift and the best thing you can do is carry and use it. The blems/imperfections would make me more likely to use it instead of worrying about keeping it pristine. But, it's your decision and if it really bugs you that much, call BHQ and ask if it's too late to return/exchange. You can always call and ask Spyderco too.
 
OP don't worry about the blem marks.
The 420 cladding scratches if you even look at it funny.

Use it and enjoy.
 
You have to many issue with the knife and every time you use it it's going to bother you . So send it back or send it to Spyderco to get it fix .
 
running bird said:
I noticed some big (in my opinion) When looking at the blade down the tip, you can see an apparent “banana curve” to one side.

I don’t currently have pictures of these blemishes.
Click to expand...



Posting pics would be a big help to everyone OP.
 
I feel like I should update this post now that I’ve been back from school for a while.

After reading some of the comments you’ve all made I decided to give the blade a chance, after all it is a tool and it’s meant to be used. And it was given to me by someone very important. This blade helped remind me that nothing is really perfect and that’s not such a big deal. I guess the small blemishes were bothering me more then they should have because I was comparing the Caly to my manix m4, which came to me in 100% perfect shape not a single thing out of order.

My main problem with the Caly was that the action on it was terribly gritty and I could seen the liners/action of the knife were very dirt out of the box. So I took it apart and flushed out all the parts with some WD-40 and a can of air, then applied some nano oil. This made the knife feel 100x better, and the simple dissasembly really adds to this blade.

I also easily solved the problem of the edge being rather poor, I brought it up to 4,000 grit where I prefer knives like this and I couldn’t be happier.

I couldn’t fix the wonky primary grind of course, but it doesn’t effect how the blade performs and it doesn’t bother me anymore.

In the end I’m very happy with this Caly now. Between it and my Manix m4 nothing else gets pocket time.

Pictures of “banana curve”: https://imgur.com/a/FtrvOTh

Pictures of the new edge!!: https://imgur.com/a/nK301dh

Thank you all for helping out and giving advice,

Kevin
 
Hi Running Bird,

The notch in the lock bar is designed to be parallel with the handle when the lock is depressed. It is not off. Open the knife so the lock bar is fully depressed and you'll see what I mean.

sal
 
Nice edge on that Bird. That should be a wonderful user you can be proud of. I can't really tell by the picture but many blades that are so thin and tapered will do that slightly. It has never been a problem for me and sure doesn't keep them from being wicked slicers. Enjoy it! I would be proud to carry that one especially if it was a gift.

Joe
 
After reading I took my zdp 3.5 and mine also has the banana curve. When holding with your right hand it curves towards my left near the tip. Never noticed after a month of carry doesn't really affect anything and I haven't sharpened it yet. That's maybe the only time I may care if I can't get even secondary bevel.
 
Also because of this board I found out how to sharpen all the way to the ricasso. I did it on a brand new manix 2 that wasn't sharp enough for me just last night.
D6dQ8gI.jpg
 
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