i know i'm late getting in on this one, but i just received my titanium lum tanto last week and have been playing with it quite a bit.
first impressions: out of the box, it's one handsome looking knife. feels great in the hand, balance is nice. it's not as heavy as my chinook (the knife that started me on the spydie bandwagon!), but that was expected, due to the titanium construction. i was a little bit disappointed to see that the grind lines were a little uneven, and while the knife sliced through paper easily, push cuts caused some tearing. the knife definitely wasn't "scary sharp," but that's okay: the utility edge would probably be enough for most tasks. of course, the worst case scenario involves giving it a couple runs on the sharpmaker, but like i said, no biggy.
then i took a closer look at the liner lock and blade play. i must say here i was a little pertubed. while the blade didn't flex (like on one of my crkt's), it did have quite a bit of wiggle room up and down and left and right. i should say that i was REALLY surprised by how much bladeplay there was from side to side, much more than i expected after reading everyone's thoughts on the knife. what REALLY surprised me even more was to see small gaps between the liner and the scales as the blade was torqued with light pressure. i had never seen that in any of my knives (granted, i don't have many, so this may just be a fact of life i need to come to grips with), and did NOT expect to see it in a spyderco knife. i've also got to admit that i was surprised to see what looked like a micarta backspacer(might be using the wrong terminology here, but basically the material separating the scales that runs along the spine towards the butt of the knife handle). i expected steel or aluminum at least, if not more titanium.
with the clip in a tip up carry position, i found that drawing the knife from both left and right handed positions was quick and easy. though the end of the knife sticks out a little more than i would like, it was still plenty comfortable after a full day.
to sum up, i'm pretty happy with the knife overall. the lines are really nice, and the design is typical of spyderco: clean and straightforward. i guess maybe my expectations may have been a little high after reading all the good stuff about the knife in the forums, but to say i wasn't a little bit disappointed would be a lie.
that being said, i think my chinook is one of the sweetest folding knives i've ever had the pleasure of owning... NOW i know what everyone was talking about! talk about bomb-proof, sheesh..
cheers,
steve
first impressions: out of the box, it's one handsome looking knife. feels great in the hand, balance is nice. it's not as heavy as my chinook (the knife that started me on the spydie bandwagon!), but that was expected, due to the titanium construction. i was a little bit disappointed to see that the grind lines were a little uneven, and while the knife sliced through paper easily, push cuts caused some tearing. the knife definitely wasn't "scary sharp," but that's okay: the utility edge would probably be enough for most tasks. of course, the worst case scenario involves giving it a couple runs on the sharpmaker, but like i said, no biggy.
then i took a closer look at the liner lock and blade play. i must say here i was a little pertubed. while the blade didn't flex (like on one of my crkt's), it did have quite a bit of wiggle room up and down and left and right. i should say that i was REALLY surprised by how much bladeplay there was from side to side, much more than i expected after reading everyone's thoughts on the knife. what REALLY surprised me even more was to see small gaps between the liner and the scales as the blade was torqued with light pressure. i had never seen that in any of my knives (granted, i don't have many, so this may just be a fact of life i need to come to grips with), and did NOT expect to see it in a spyderco knife. i've also got to admit that i was surprised to see what looked like a micarta backspacer(might be using the wrong terminology here, but basically the material separating the scales that runs along the spine towards the butt of the knife handle). i expected steel or aluminum at least, if not more titanium.
with the clip in a tip up carry position, i found that drawing the knife from both left and right handed positions was quick and easy. though the end of the knife sticks out a little more than i would like, it was still plenty comfortable after a full day.
to sum up, i'm pretty happy with the knife overall. the lines are really nice, and the design is typical of spyderco: clean and straightforward. i guess maybe my expectations may have been a little high after reading all the good stuff about the knife in the forums, but to say i wasn't a little bit disappointed would be a lie.
that being said, i think my chinook is one of the sweetest folding knives i've ever had the pleasure of owning... NOW i know what everyone was talking about! talk about bomb-proof, sheesh..
cheers,
steve
