Chaparral

M

mantzao

Joined
Jun 16, 2011
Messages
1,522
This one was my most desired folder of Spyderco's 2011 catalog and i'm not disappointed at all!
Being a small folder, the Chaparral is a modern and futuristic gentleman's pocket knife with incredible materials and fit and finish.

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Kind of like the Sage, the carbon fiber on this one is also textured adding very nice grip to it's exquisite handle.
As i said in previous posts, the Sage was too wide and chunky for my pockets. Also, when using the choil on the Sage, there was too much of the end of the handle sticking out so the handle on the Chaparral's perfect for me:)

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Extremely thin (even thinner than my delica 4!!) and lightweight, the Chaparral isn't felt when riding in the pocket. The milled out stainless steel liners also contribute to this.

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The knife comes with the famous Spyderco wire pocket clip, swapable for right and left hand position but tip up only. It rides vey low in the pocket but, as usual, i prefer to remove it:)
The knife is made in Taichung Taiwan but the fit and finish is impecable!

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Nedless to say that the full flat grind of the S30V on this 7 cm (2 ¾in) blade comes razor sharp.
The blade is more like the Caly 3 and not so much as the leaf shaped blade on the Sage. It is also the thinest i ever had on a knife being 2mm thick!

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Backlock knives are not my favourite, only because it prevents me from having fun flicking it:D, but this one is very smooth to operate single handedly.

So, after having it for 3 days i must say that i'm trully in love with this little thing and if, like they say, there's going to be a Chaparral series, with different handle materials, i may very well extend my Chaparral collection:D
Believe me when i tell you that these poor pictures don't do the knife any justice!

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Here's a nice video i found for you to see this little beauty from all angles:)

[video=youtube;Fa0x_NIJFrQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa0x_NIJFrQ[/video]


Thanks for looking:)
 
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I really like the way it looks like a Mini-Sage, but I'd rather have a Dragonfly considering the price.
 
congrats. great post, I've had mine for a month and share your sentiments exactly. I wear casual dress to the office and love that it is hardly felt when wearing Dockers, ect.

another forum member has a post about his dissatisfaction with his new Chapp as it seems to have some QC issues that should have been caught like uneven bevel and dullness ect.

I would like to see this at a little lower price, I think it would have a bigger fan base if it was easier to afford. enjoy.
 
One question: it seems from the pics that for a four-finger grip, the forefinger has to be placed under the choil and not on the handle itself. Correct?
 
Good review. The Chaparral is a great knife and one of my favorites. It's a great small EDC and when used with the choil you get a great grip. I just touched mine up using the Ultra Fine rods on my Sharpmaker and it it's back to razor sharp. I had a Sage 1 and I like the Chaparral just a bit more, it's thinner and easier to carry.
 
Thanks for all your comments folks. I can't seem able to put it down:)
Bchan77, i can have a four finger grip without using the choil but i guess it depends on the size of your hands:)
 
ol_sc said:
I really like the way it looks like a Mini-Sage, but I'd rather have a Dragonfly considering the price.
Click to expand...
Totally different knives, IMHO. Dragonfly is a good small knife, the extra 1/2" of blade makes the Chaparral an excellent mid-size one.

mantzao said:
bchan77 said:
One question: it seems from the pics that for a four-finger grip, the forefinger has to be placed under the choil and not on the handle itself. Correct?
Click to expand...
Thanks for all your comments folks. I can't seem able to put it down:)
Bchan77, i can have a four finger grip without using the choil but i guess it depends on the size of your hands:)
Click to expand...
Same here, I too can get a full 4 finger grip behind the choil.
 
ol_sc said:
I really like the way it looks like a Mini-Sage, but I'd rather have a Dragonfly considering the price.
Click to expand...

I'll add to Deacon's comment by saying that while the blade on the Dragonfly is quite capable for its size, the Chaparral is (imho) a superior slicer due to the thinner blade and added length.
 
<<< 11/12/11 update a couple posts further down. working great now! >>>

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had mine for 2 days now, great knife. love the slimness, the ergos, sharp as can be, good grind, good bevel. overall great knife. but there are 2 things keeping it from perfect for me, both having to do with the opening/closing. hopefully someone here has some helpful advice that can get it to an A+ knife? thanks in advance if you do!

1) easily the stiffest lockback i've felt on a quality knife. it hurts my thumb to use it - not in a 'i'm a huge wimp my poor thumb kind of a way' but in a 'it's not supposed to be uncomfortably stiff to push this in' kind of a way. so how do i make the lockback a gentler thing to disengage? it should be smooth and easy to operate like the one on my native, right? it's nowhere near that smooth or easy to use.

2) the blade was VERY stiff to opening at first. it's loosened up some with a couple hundred open-shut cycles. and it's smooth, but it's still not an 'easy' open. so if i take it apart and lube the the pivot, what kind of oil should i use? and do i use lok-tite on the bolts when i close it up again, or not?
again with a comparison to my native - i know you're not supposed to, but i can flick that open easily. my chaparral has to be almost 1/2 way open before i can flick it the rest of the way into place, it's that tight. again, not b/c i do it, just to give a reference on the stiffness of the blade opening. impossible to flick open if it isn't 90' open to start the wrist flick.

thanks again for any advice. just take it apart, lube up the pivot, see what that does for me?
 
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I understand the reduced thickness of the blade, and the back lock but it looks pretty darn close the the function of my CPM S30V UKPK...

I'm going to hold fire on a purchase until I can get one in my hand.

Ben
 
Hi Mantzao,

Nice review and pics, thanx much.

Hey Gentemanndvm,

That doesn't sound right. They should be easy to open and close. Something's not right. You may want to let us look at it?

sal
 
sal,
thanks for keeping tabs. i don't want to hijack this thread, so i'll keep it short.
i took it apart last night, cleaned everything up inside. i only had mineral oil around so had to use that to lube the pivot, and closed it back up. better. smoother. easier action. the biggest factor was the pivot screws' tightness. if i tighten them down to where they were, it's a tough open. if i just go snug, it's a lot smoother and easier. that also makes the backlock significantly easier to depress.
let me cycle it for a couple days like this, make sure everything stays tight and lined up and secure with snug-but-not-tight pivot screws, and i'll be good to go. if not, i'll sure send it in for a checkup. but i don't think i'll need to. it's not as easy an open as my native or dragonfly backlocks (yet), but it's a LOT closer than it used to be.
thanks again for keeping an eye on your product. i really appreciate that.
michor
 
Use some loctite on the pivot screw that way you don't have to over tighten it in fear it will come loose in use. You can tighten to where the action and lock point is desired and the loctite will hold it there.
 
gentlemen,
quick update, and edited my initial post to say look down here for the end-o-the-story.

WAY better. smooth, easy one-hand open and shut now. back-lock is easy to depress. so snug but not tight on the pivot screw(s) was the answer. no blade play at all at that level of tightness. happy boy is me.

great blade, sal. i just had a pivot screw that was too tight. PERFECT office carry for me.
 
Thanx for the update. Glad you got it sorted.

Enjoy the piece. We spent a great deal of time on this design. The 2nd piece was especially challenging on the machining angles for the Titan. We're testing the prototype of the Chaparral 2 now. Can't show pics yet, sorry. But it is in-the-works.

sal
 
Chaparral 2?
Can you be more specific about it Sal?:D
Anyway, here are a few more on this lovely thing:)

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