cold steel spectre?

[JeremiahWeaver09]

anyone have this knife? i want to buy one but i am not sure if i should. the black talon is about the same price, which i also want. really not sure which to choose. we never seem to hear much about the spectre though, but it looks pretty cool. anyone have any experience?

 

[STR]

I had two and gave one to my best friend who fell in love with it. I still have a new in the box one in the safe just like it. I almost bought a third on that close out deal Cold Steel is running but I elected to get the Black Rhino instead of another Spectre since I had not seen the BR yet. Besides the price was so great who could turn it down for the piddly amount they wanted?

The Spectre is a great folder but impractical. Its kind of like, what do you do with it? Its not clear what its for but it is made well and I do like the model. It did not come very sharp in either of the two I bought and I can say that even with gentle handling that blade will scratch up to beat all in no time due to the spine part of the blade being so soft due to how its made. It doesn't take much to mar the finish on one of the San Mai blades from my experience. l tell you this so that if you get one and decide upon receiving it that you don't like it pack it back up and ship it back to them without wiping the blade even with a light cloth or you may end up finding out just how easy it is to scratch one up in no time. The lock on both of my models was extremely stiff until it was used some. The one in the safe is still that way but the user I gave to Harry is a fine knife and works great now.

STR

 

[Alann45]

Have had the Spectre for a few weeks now, picked it up on the closeout.
Found it a little odd at first, but it's growing on me. Opens quickly with a one hand thumb flick. Well made, very light and an easy carry.

Have to agree with everything STR said. Haven't expericenced the scratching yet, but it hasn't really had any use. Did notice a scratch on my Talwar (also San Mai) which has been used minimally so far.
Glad to know the lock stiffness is normal. It is VERY stiff, and makes a rather annoying grating sound when you release it....hopefully this will fade with use. On the plus side, it is very positive lock.

All in all Im pleased with it...at the closeout price. I really don't think it was worth the normal sales price.

Your choice may be simplified. I notice the Talon is no longer listed on the closeout. I was tempted by it, but finally decided since I had a Spyderco Superhawk, I really didn't "need" it.
However the Talwar still is listed and I really like mine...beautiful knife, solid lockup, even some fairly decent filework.

STR How easy is it to polish the scratchs out of the San Mai? Or is it best to just not worry about it and use the darn thing?

 

[STR]

STR How easy is it to polish the scratchs out of the San Mai? Or is it best to just not worry about it and use the darn thing?

I had zero luck with mine. I had not had the first one out for five minutes when it arrived and scratched it up and don't even know how! The upper spine of that laminate is much softer than the cutting edge and this is the case in other laminated blades I've had. Some are not so bad. I've not had issues like this with the Kershaw SG2 blades for example. Due to how easy it is to ding those up any effort will be for naught because you'll scratch it again and the longer you leave it out to play with it the more it will scratch. The best finish is probably one of a bunch of uniform scratches in the way of a satin finish. I learned on that first one how to be with the second and managed to leave the second one in pretty minty condition once I got it. Wish I'd have been able to buy it for the close out price. I paid quite a bit more for mine than what they can be ordered for now. I asked about getting one from CS on the phone when I snagged that Black Rhino. They said it was 'back ordered'. I asked about that because I had never heard of back orders for a close out! Thats what it was though.

STR