I recieved the passaround Chinook II over a week ago and have since sent it off to the next person, Tom Krien. I carried the knife all week long at work and used it to open alot of boxes and cut up some mud flaps and conveyor belt. It carried very well and I used it alot. Here are my likes/dislikes and other opinionated observations about this knife.
Likes:
The weight of the knife: very confidence inspiring without being too heavy. I definitely knew this was an overbuilt knife.
The slimness: Usual Spyderco here, which allowed for ease of carrying. I didn't take any measurements but it was slightly slimmer than my Microtech Amphibian.
The handle: Very comfortable and all edges were rounded. It just fit my hand no matter what grip I was using. G-10 scales gotta love those!
The clip: All position and allowed for low discreet carry. And it didn't get in my way while gripping the knife right handed, I did have the clip set for right hand tip up carry which is my favorite. It is black which is nice because it doesn't draw any undo attention.
The lock and action: It's the old reliable lock back, very strong and very little play almost unnoticable. The action very was smooth for a lock back, far better than I expected on a knife in this price range.
The blade: S30V and 5/32" thick make a very good combination. The hollow ground cut pretty well but a flat grind would be a big improvement. The tip appeared to be pretty strong as the spine is full thickness almost clear to the tip, but somehow I managed to snap the very pointiest part of the tip off, I honestly have no idea what I did to do this but I managed it somehow. All I can think of is hitting the wooden bench when I was cutting the conveyor belt. I didn't pay too much attention to the knife condition during the week as I was extremely busy at work. I contacted jhillas and Tom Krein and Tom gratiously agreed to correct the minor damage I did to the knife, Thanks Tom!
The ability to be disassembled is a great plus and somewhat of a rarity on lock back designs. This is the main reason I was interested in checking this knife out, I like to be able to tear apart my knives and clean them.
Dislikes
The hollow ground blade: The knife came to me very sharp and cut pretty well through thin stuff like cardboard, but it didn't like cutting through the thicker materials once I got to the spine. Common for hollow ground knives and easy to work around I would just prefer a full flat grind.
The thumb ramp: I found the odd raises on the thumb ramp to be very aggressive and I am sure would easily draw blood if your thumb went sideways across them. I much prefer the standard rounded off grooves or the Cobra hood. I would not want to stick my hand in my pocket if I carried this knife tip down, the side of your hand would get abraded very quickly.
The upsweep of the blade: Because the blade is so upswept I found it difficult to choke up on it for fine cutting chores, it just didn't "feel" right. Maybe I am just too used to spear and drop point blades. I am sure with practice and use this would not be a problem.
The screws: While this knife can be disassembled the screws looked very cheap with poor head stampings. The torx screws looked like they could strip quite easy. Since this was a passaround knife I did not disassemble it or have time to check bit fit into any of the screws.
Given that this knife is all but exclusively designed as a defensive style knife it does perform quite well as a utilitarian knife as well. It would have no problem skinnig animals or scraping paint making it a very sound design and a well executed knife. I can definitely see why this knife is one of Spyderco's most popular models.
I didn't check sheeples reactions on this knife but from my experience this knife might elicit on uneasy response due to the "aggressive" look it has. We knife enthusiasts wouldn't be bothered and would see it as the tool it is. Just a thought.
Likes:
The weight of the knife: very confidence inspiring without being too heavy. I definitely knew this was an overbuilt knife.
The slimness: Usual Spyderco here, which allowed for ease of carrying. I didn't take any measurements but it was slightly slimmer than my Microtech Amphibian.
The handle: Very comfortable and all edges were rounded. It just fit my hand no matter what grip I was using. G-10 scales gotta love those!
The clip: All position and allowed for low discreet carry. And it didn't get in my way while gripping the knife right handed, I did have the clip set for right hand tip up carry which is my favorite. It is black which is nice because it doesn't draw any undo attention.
The lock and action: It's the old reliable lock back, very strong and very little play almost unnoticable. The action very was smooth for a lock back, far better than I expected on a knife in this price range.
The blade: S30V and 5/32" thick make a very good combination. The hollow ground cut pretty well but a flat grind would be a big improvement. The tip appeared to be pretty strong as the spine is full thickness almost clear to the tip, but somehow I managed to snap the very pointiest part of the tip off, I honestly have no idea what I did to do this but I managed it somehow. All I can think of is hitting the wooden bench when I was cutting the conveyor belt. I didn't pay too much attention to the knife condition during the week as I was extremely busy at work. I contacted jhillas and Tom Krein and Tom gratiously agreed to correct the minor damage I did to the knife, Thanks Tom!
The ability to be disassembled is a great plus and somewhat of a rarity on lock back designs. This is the main reason I was interested in checking this knife out, I like to be able to tear apart my knives and clean them.
Dislikes
The hollow ground blade: The knife came to me very sharp and cut pretty well through thin stuff like cardboard, but it didn't like cutting through the thicker materials once I got to the spine. Common for hollow ground knives and easy to work around I would just prefer a full flat grind.
The thumb ramp: I found the odd raises on the thumb ramp to be very aggressive and I am sure would easily draw blood if your thumb went sideways across them. I much prefer the standard rounded off grooves or the Cobra hood. I would not want to stick my hand in my pocket if I carried this knife tip down, the side of your hand would get abraded very quickly.
The upsweep of the blade: Because the blade is so upswept I found it difficult to choke up on it for fine cutting chores, it just didn't "feel" right. Maybe I am just too used to spear and drop point blades. I am sure with practice and use this would not be a problem.
The screws: While this knife can be disassembled the screws looked very cheap with poor head stampings. The torx screws looked like they could strip quite easy. Since this was a passaround knife I did not disassemble it or have time to check bit fit into any of the screws.
Given that this knife is all but exclusively designed as a defensive style knife it does perform quite well as a utilitarian knife as well. It would have no problem skinnig animals or scraping paint making it a very sound design and a well executed knife. I can definitely see why this knife is one of Spyderco's most popular models.
I didn't check sheeples reactions on this knife but from my experience this knife might elicit on uneasy response due to the "aggressive" look it has. We knife enthusiasts wouldn't be bothered and would see it as the tool it is. Just a thought.