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- Apr 24, 2009
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- 798
So last night, I was debating the purchase of a Spyderco Sage 2. My concern was with the slickness of the Ti handle. Being bored, I decided to find similar metal handle knives in my collection to test, using good 'ol dawn dish soap and water. I initially wanted to grab one knife in G10 to use as a control, but ended up grabbing most of my popular EDC knives and giving them a go, just for kicks. Since these are the knives I carry most of the time, I figured it would be good to know what their capabilities are. I grabbed a good assortment of manufacturers, lock styles, and handle styles, and the results are interesting. Note: this is just in my experience, I'm not putting down any of these knives or mfgs. In all fairness, they are not knives typically used in demanding conditions. However, because I feel the definition of a survival knife is the one you have with you when trouble strikes, and because I carry these knives more than any others, I thought this was a valid test. Unfortunately, as this was a spontaneous test, I didn't grab any pics.
Kershaw Vapor:
No surprise, this stainless steel framelock was one of the most difficult to control in this test. Opening it was easy when two hands were used, damn near impossible with one. Once open, it felt relatively secure in my hands, though I wouldn't do any hard stabs into anything. The combination of thin, flat handles and steel made grip a real challenge.
Buck Vantage Avid/Select:
The Dymondwood handles on this knife were absolutely, bar-none the most difficult to handle. Attempting to use the flipper resulted in me pushing the knife right out from between my fingers, to the amusement of my wife. Once opened, the flipper made a great guard, and I wouldn't worry about my hand sliding forward onto the blade. Backward, though, is another matter. I also tested the Select model, to see if its slightly grippier zytel handle would make a difference. It did, just a little, though the flipper was still useless, and it didn't inspire confidence at all.
Kershaw Skyline:
I expected this knife to have much better grip, given the G10 handles. It didn't. The flipper is a better design, I think, and it allowed me to rotate the blade out enough to get the thumbstud going, but the G10 was about as good as the zytel in the Vantage select, that is, better than stainless steel and dymondwood, but not that great. Once opened, the choil area plus flipper/guard allow great grip security in all directions, making this a fantastic knife for slick conditions if you can use two hands to open it, or already have it open.
Spyderco Persistence:
Another G10 handle that was less than grippy. It was about the same as the skyline, but the handle shape was much easier to use when opening the knife. Once open, it was very secure, with the jimping providing plenty of bite.
Spyderco Delica 4:
Hands down, the winner of the test. The bi-directional texturing made this a very secure knife to open, close, handle, juggle, etc. Of note is that the texturing completely covers the handle, except for under the pocket clip, meaning it won't shred your pants and still provides an exceptional grip.
Benchmade Mini-Griptilian:
This knife was second only to the Delica. The slightly more rounded handle and texturing made grip very secure when holding, and relatively easy to open and close as well. The only issue is the area around the pivot where the lock releases is not checkered, which compromises grip when compared to the delica, but still allows secure manipulation.
Benchmade 940:
Here was the surprise of the test. This knife wasn't as good as the mini-grip or delica, but it didn't suck nearly as bad as the other metal-handled knife, the vapor. I think the anodizing adds a little bit of texture, but the fact that the handle is slightly rounded, but with good angles, makes it very easy to open or close. The shape also gives you a very good grip when in-hand.
Overall, I can say that handle shape seems to have much more to do with grip than handle material, unless you have heavily-textured FRN/Zytel/Valox/whatever. A folder is usually flat enough to resist twisting, and many are shaped to resist your hand from sliding up and down on the handle, but I didn't realize that few of the knives I carry are thick enough to allow easy opening and closing under slick conditions, since thick handles with angles for finger purchase make it much easier to retain your grip during the most fiddly part. I noticed that the narrowness of a knife (backstrap to liner edge) can also help, since you can hook your fingers around the edge for opening. I also expected a huge advantage going to knives with opening holes vs thumbstuds, as I think holes give you a better grip, but they seemed to be about equal.
I will say that I have heard legends of liner locks failing under slick conditions, if the tang/lock interface is lubricated, so I dumped soap in all the linerlocks to see if I could push them closed. None of them budged at all, period, under very hard hand pressure. I did notice that when flushing the soap out of the knives at the end of the test, the liner and axis lock knives were much easier to flush thoroughly than the delica's lockback, there just seemed to be more space for the water to go, to flush out the soap. Because of this, I will probably open up the delica for a clean and lube (Don't worry, I know what I'm getting myself into, I did it once before, contemplated suicide, and only managed to get it back together with a tutorial on the spyderco forum).
I know the only knives designed to pass this test were the ones that did. I'm not saying anything negative about any of the knives, as they are all meant to be light-med use EDC blades. I'm still going to carry all of these knives, because I like them, but it was interesting to learn what works and what doesn't when the dishsoap hits the fan.
Kershaw Vapor:
No surprise, this stainless steel framelock was one of the most difficult to control in this test. Opening it was easy when two hands were used, damn near impossible with one. Once open, it felt relatively secure in my hands, though I wouldn't do any hard stabs into anything. The combination of thin, flat handles and steel made grip a real challenge.
Buck Vantage Avid/Select:
The Dymondwood handles on this knife were absolutely, bar-none the most difficult to handle. Attempting to use the flipper resulted in me pushing the knife right out from between my fingers, to the amusement of my wife. Once opened, the flipper made a great guard, and I wouldn't worry about my hand sliding forward onto the blade. Backward, though, is another matter. I also tested the Select model, to see if its slightly grippier zytel handle would make a difference. It did, just a little, though the flipper was still useless, and it didn't inspire confidence at all.
Kershaw Skyline:
I expected this knife to have much better grip, given the G10 handles. It didn't. The flipper is a better design, I think, and it allowed me to rotate the blade out enough to get the thumbstud going, but the G10 was about as good as the zytel in the Vantage select, that is, better than stainless steel and dymondwood, but not that great. Once opened, the choil area plus flipper/guard allow great grip security in all directions, making this a fantastic knife for slick conditions if you can use two hands to open it, or already have it open.
Spyderco Persistence:
Another G10 handle that was less than grippy. It was about the same as the skyline, but the handle shape was much easier to use when opening the knife. Once open, it was very secure, with the jimping providing plenty of bite.
Spyderco Delica 4:
Hands down, the winner of the test. The bi-directional texturing made this a very secure knife to open, close, handle, juggle, etc. Of note is that the texturing completely covers the handle, except for under the pocket clip, meaning it won't shred your pants and still provides an exceptional grip.
Benchmade Mini-Griptilian:
This knife was second only to the Delica. The slightly more rounded handle and texturing made grip very secure when holding, and relatively easy to open and close as well. The only issue is the area around the pivot where the lock releases is not checkered, which compromises grip when compared to the delica, but still allows secure manipulation.
Benchmade 940:
Here was the surprise of the test. This knife wasn't as good as the mini-grip or delica, but it didn't suck nearly as bad as the other metal-handled knife, the vapor. I think the anodizing adds a little bit of texture, but the fact that the handle is slightly rounded, but with good angles, makes it very easy to open or close. The shape also gives you a very good grip when in-hand.
Overall, I can say that handle shape seems to have much more to do with grip than handle material, unless you have heavily-textured FRN/Zytel/Valox/whatever. A folder is usually flat enough to resist twisting, and many are shaped to resist your hand from sliding up and down on the handle, but I didn't realize that few of the knives I carry are thick enough to allow easy opening and closing under slick conditions, since thick handles with angles for finger purchase make it much easier to retain your grip during the most fiddly part. I noticed that the narrowness of a knife (backstrap to liner edge) can also help, since you can hook your fingers around the edge for opening. I also expected a huge advantage going to knives with opening holes vs thumbstuds, as I think holes give you a better grip, but they seemed to be about equal.
I will say that I have heard legends of liner locks failing under slick conditions, if the tang/lock interface is lubricated, so I dumped soap in all the linerlocks to see if I could push them closed. None of them budged at all, period, under very hard hand pressure. I did notice that when flushing the soap out of the knives at the end of the test, the liner and axis lock knives were much easier to flush thoroughly than the delica's lockback, there just seemed to be more space for the water to go, to flush out the soap. Because of this, I will probably open up the delica for a clean and lube (Don't worry, I know what I'm getting myself into, I did it once before, contemplated suicide, and only managed to get it back together with a tutorial on the spyderco forum).
I know the only knives designed to pass this test were the ones that did. I'm not saying anything negative about any of the knives, as they are all meant to be light-med use EDC blades. I'm still going to carry all of these knives, because I like them, but it was interesting to learn what works and what doesn't when the dishsoap hits the fan.