Delica 4 - To Wave or not to wave

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frogger42

Joined
Sep 17, 2008
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I've decided to buy a Delica 4 for an EDC in the near future. I noticed that they have an option for a wave blade that gives you the option to open like an Emerson. I've never owned a knife with this feature and don't really know how it works. Can someone please explain how it works and if you'd recommend it?
 
I have it on the Endura. You carry the knife tip up in your pocket and just draw it letting the wave hook onto the edge of your pocket, opening the knife. There are videos on youtube of how it works. The Spyderco wave has a more prominent hook shape than the Emerson one. Some say it hooks onto your pocket even better. I can definitely recommend it. The Delica is a super fast deploying knife as it is, but with the wave it's even better.
 
For the wave to work, the knife must be carried clipped, tip up, and preferably with the spine of the blade against the seam of the pocket. To draw, you grasp the knife between thumb and forefinger and pull it from the pocket, keeping the spine in contact with the seam of the pocket. The "hook" of the wave opener catches on the lip of the pocket and the blade swings open.

IMHO, for most people, it's a bad idea. Using it causes a lot of wear and tear on your pocket. It can alarm others. It's less than 100% reliable, at least unless you practice a lot, in which case you'll wear out a lot of pockets. It restricts the manner in which you can carry the knife, and, to some extent your choice of clothing. It may be considered illegal in at least one state.

The Spyderco round hole opener, on the other hand, is probably the simplest, most effective, one hand opening device ever devised. Can't snag, can't fall off, allows the knife to be opened as fast or as slow as your environment requires.

Paul
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Thanks for the feedback so far. If this helps with your recommendations, I normally carry tip down in my back left pocket. From what I'm reading so far, it sounds like I should pass on the wave, but I'd like to hear what others have to say.
 
The Emerson wave is "neat" I've had a few knives with it, and enjoyed them for awhile. It is like a magic trick.

I don't care for it anymore, just got bored with it and prefer standard opening.
 
I had an Emerson with it and hated it. Sold it quick.
IMO I would think you would be happy if you didn't "wave".
 
The Deacon said:
For the wave to work, the knife must be carried clipped, tip up, and preferably with the spine of the blade against the seam of the pocket. To draw, you grasp the knife between thumb and forefinger and pull it from the pocket, keeping the spine in contact with the seam of the pocket. The "hook" of the wave opener catches on the lip of the pocket and the blade swings open.

IMHO, for most people, it's a bad idea. Using it causes a lot of wear and tear on your pocket. It can alarm others. It's less than 100% reliable, at least unless you practice a lot, in which case you'll wear out a lot of pockets. It restricts the manner in which you can carry the knife, and, to some extent your choice of clothing. It may be considered illegal in at least one state.

The Spyderco round hole opener, on the other hand, is probably the simplest, most effective, one hand opening device ever devised. Can't snag, can't fall off, allows the knife to be opened as fast or as slow as your environment requires.
Click to expand...

+1 :thumbup:

The only waved knife I've kept is my P'Kal. The wave on that knife is longer, works more reliably, and actually doesn't cause as much pocket wear compared to normal waves.

I had a Super CQC-7 and found that the wave literally ate my pocket alive, along with being a poor reason for keeping it tip down. I prefer nonwaved knives.
 
The wave is very functional, and depending on the reason you need the knife, could be very convenient, but if you're going with a Delica 4, I'd have to recommend the ZDP-189 version. It holds a cutting edge for an absurd amount of time compared to VG-10.
 
The Wave's primary purpose, IMHO, is found in defensive use. The P'Kal is not the only Spyderco that can be utilized for the pikal style. Virtually any waved Spydie, once the clip is changed to the weak-hand size, can be deployed in the notorious RGEI manner. Simple, devastating, and quick to learn.

If there were no bad guys in the world, there would be no need for the Wave except as a party trick. As noted previously, the round hole is more than sufficient for prosaic uses.
 
TIZWIN said:
The Wave's primary purpose, IMHO, is found in defensive use. The P'Kal is not the only Spyderco that can be utilized for the pikal style. Virtually any waved Spydie, once the clip is changed to the weak-hand size, can be deployed in the notorious RGEI manner. Simple, devastating, and quick to learn.

If there were no bad guys in the world, there would be no need for the Wave except as a party trick. As noted previously, the round hole is more than sufficient for prosaic uses.
Click to expand...

:thumbup::thumbup: My thoughts exactly
 
My experience and thoughts with the waved delica and endura are pretty much the same as others here... the main problem I had was not carrying them ALL THE TIME, but as part of the rotation. Forget you have a wave in your pocket? Not a good idea. I had several unintentional partial openings, lol. They were fun for a little while, then promptly sold 'em.
 
I personally like the wave feature, although it sometimes makes taking my knife out of my pocket when I don't want it to open a little hard. I can definitely see why people would not like it. I do find that spyderco's wave is slightly less damaging on pockets then emerson's. Also, I have found that I am able to use spyderco's wave as a bottle opener which is cool.
 
To be honest I rarely use the waved function seeing as I carry my knife in my back pocket next to my wallet with no clip....I just bought my endura waved to have a bottle opener with me at all times
 
The only knife I've ever seen, by any manufacturer, that benefited from utilizing a Emerson type opener, is the Spyderco P'Kal, which is designed and built for a specific purpose. I think the Spyder Hole is more than sufficient, and is preferable, as an opening device under any circumstances. If you want to turn your Delica or Endura with the Emerson opener around and use it with Pikal techniques, that's fine, but it makes it harder to open the knife in a civilized manner when you don't want your knife to look, or sound, like a weapon.
 
You never used a Bic lighter as a church key? Same idea. Wave is the way to go for me. I carry with a left hand clip for reverse grip edge out on a forward wave/draw.
 
I personally love the wave. Like others have said, you do have to remember it's there. The second or third day I had it, I forgot and went to pull it out of my pocket and ended up with a pretty deep cut from my middle fingernail to first knuckle (it caught on the pocket and opened partially then snapped closed). It took me about a week to get used to it, and now it's 100% effective for me--no partial openings. I'm forgetful, so if I didn't carry it often, I might worry about forgetting, though (I consider it my sdc, not edc, but I'm in a rough city often for work, so it gets lots of carry time).

That said, I got it on my endura but not my delica. I use the endura for sdc and delica for edc and don't have need for that type of speed in opening for my everyday tasks. If you wanted it for rescue, sdc, or even novelty I can see it, but for general edc it's not needed IMO.
 
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