- Joined
- May 27, 2012
- Messages
- 58
I got my contego a few years back and fell in love....with the blade and lock. The handle has always sucked to me. It seemed like it was created for someone with a flipper instead of a hand, like the penguin or something. I also disliked that if I tried to choke way up and rest my thumb on the spine of the knife for more leverage/control, the heavily-jimped thumb-ramp on the handle would jab into my thumb. The edges all the way around were kind've harsh and felt thicker than they needed to be. Everything is squared off, with lots of hot-spots.
In contrast, my spyderco PMII and manix are ergonomic sex. Every surface seemed to have been precisely thought out to mate perfectly with the human hand...or at least mine. I especially like how I'm able to choke up on the spydies, and how my pinky rests securely in its own home on the handle. They don't feel overly harsh, bulky, or angular. While the contego is beautiful to look at, because it looks like it would be at home on batman's utility belt, so are the spydercos...in an elegant "form follows function" kind've way.
But again, my spydercos don't have a giant cerakote'd slab of cpm-m4 @62-64hrc in a reverse-tanto...or an axis lock. I love that blade and that lock. The steel is amazing. I can see why it's popular with the bladesports crowd in how I'm constantly surprised at its edge holding ability when some pretty rough demands are placed on it. Not just a working edge either, but a hair-popping, tree-topping, paper-slices dropping, fresh from stropping kind've edge. And that edge comes right back with some steel and a little time on the strop. You're not constantly grinding at this thing with a set of stones.
So, how can I make my contego feel more like my spydercos in my hand? I grabbed some brugal, mixed up a mojito, and it was time to break out the sander, wet-dust-catching-stuff, and mask to avoid sparkle-lung from the g-10. The first area of concern was that horrible peak that always lands right on the inside of my middle finger. I dropped that down and tried to follow the general contour of my PMII. By itself, this made the knife immeasurably better.
But what about that choil area that seems to just arch forever and keep you from getting up close with your index finger? That was the next target, and I removed some material to try to steepen up the angle a little bit. I made sure no part of the blade was uncovered throughout it's movement and felt better with where it ended up. It also got rid of some of that stipling that wasn't really needed up there. I also removed the blocky feel by dehorning and shaping the inside a bit to work better with how my fingers wrapped around it. I continued the rounding over of the g10 on the inside all the way back. This both makes the knife feel slimmer overall and more comfortable to hold.
Moving on, I backed up to where my pinky rests. I ground in here a little and tried to give the handle a bit more of a hook to capture my pinky and lock it in. I again rounded over and sunk in the g10 a bit to give my pinky a home to rest in.
The back of the knife wasn't so bad. Being squared off back there felt natural and allows me to put a good amount of force down on the edge. I left that alone and moved forward to the thumb ramp. I didn't remove anything back by the stop pin, but flattened out the spurr on the top a bit, so now my thumb can just rest over it and push on the spine of the blade without that uncomfortable pressure jabbing me. When combined with the steeper choil area, I can now choke up on the knife pretty high and it feels nice and comfortable.
I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and it's now back to my primary knife...kicking the spydies out(I still usually have either the PMII or s110v manix riding backup on my other side though...I like them too much to be completely spydieless). The only thing left is to figure out if I want to just go around and reveal the liners the whole way around, or re-black the ground-down areas. I think I'm leaning towards just re-blacking them...it is batman's knife afterall...
stock handle for comparison...
In contrast, my spyderco PMII and manix are ergonomic sex. Every surface seemed to have been precisely thought out to mate perfectly with the human hand...or at least mine. I especially like how I'm able to choke up on the spydies, and how my pinky rests securely in its own home on the handle. They don't feel overly harsh, bulky, or angular. While the contego is beautiful to look at, because it looks like it would be at home on batman's utility belt, so are the spydercos...in an elegant "form follows function" kind've way.
But again, my spydercos don't have a giant cerakote'd slab of cpm-m4 @62-64hrc in a reverse-tanto...or an axis lock. I love that blade and that lock. The steel is amazing. I can see why it's popular with the bladesports crowd in how I'm constantly surprised at its edge holding ability when some pretty rough demands are placed on it. Not just a working edge either, but a hair-popping, tree-topping, paper-slices dropping, fresh from stropping kind've edge. And that edge comes right back with some steel and a little time on the strop. You're not constantly grinding at this thing with a set of stones.
So, how can I make my contego feel more like my spydercos in my hand? I grabbed some brugal, mixed up a mojito, and it was time to break out the sander, wet-dust-catching-stuff, and mask to avoid sparkle-lung from the g-10. The first area of concern was that horrible peak that always lands right on the inside of my middle finger. I dropped that down and tried to follow the general contour of my PMII. By itself, this made the knife immeasurably better.
But what about that choil area that seems to just arch forever and keep you from getting up close with your index finger? That was the next target, and I removed some material to try to steepen up the angle a little bit. I made sure no part of the blade was uncovered throughout it's movement and felt better with where it ended up. It also got rid of some of that stipling that wasn't really needed up there. I also removed the blocky feel by dehorning and shaping the inside a bit to work better with how my fingers wrapped around it. I continued the rounding over of the g10 on the inside all the way back. This both makes the knife feel slimmer overall and more comfortable to hold.
Moving on, I backed up to where my pinky rests. I ground in here a little and tried to give the handle a bit more of a hook to capture my pinky and lock it in. I again rounded over and sunk in the g10 a bit to give my pinky a home to rest in.
The back of the knife wasn't so bad. Being squared off back there felt natural and allows me to put a good amount of force down on the edge. I left that alone and moved forward to the thumb ramp. I didn't remove anything back by the stop pin, but flattened out the spurr on the top a bit, so now my thumb can just rest over it and push on the spine of the blade without that uncomfortable pressure jabbing me. When combined with the steeper choil area, I can now choke up on the knife pretty high and it feels nice and comfortable.
I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and it's now back to my primary knife...kicking the spydies out(I still usually have either the PMII or s110v manix riding backup on my other side though...I like them too much to be completely spydieless). The only thing left is to figure out if I want to just go around and reveal the liners the whole way around, or re-black the ground-down areas. I think I'm leaning towards just re-blacking them...it is batman's knife afterall...
stock handle for comparison...
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ah, i did a search again... 220 
still... bit pricey and the wife would go nuts.