how does a new knife look?

A

Alba

Joined
Feb 18, 2005
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After posting a question on shirt pocket carry and getting some good answers, I went ahead and ordered a Calypso Jr. Gray FRN direct from Spyderco, which arrived today.

Let me start by saying I'm a novice when it comes to knives. Except in the kitchen, the only knives I've handled before are Victorinox SAK's. In fact, after I snapped open the Calypso Jr., I realized I've never handled a locking knife before in my 39 years on this planet, and so it took me a while to figure out how to close the knife again. Yes, I'm that inexperienced. So if I seem naive in the questions I'm about to ask, well, it's because I really am.

The metal of the knife doesn't look quite as I expected: there are scratches (mainly on the area stamped "Japan", but also a single scratch running diagonally from the blade edge on the same side), and also irregular pits (in the thick part next to the blade edge, and near the pivot point on the blade edge side).

I took some pictures, but can't attach them here. My SAK's didn't acquire any scratches until after I used them (and barely even then), and they never had any pits at all. Should I be worried about this? My own reasoning tells me that these are cosmetic, but could they be a sign of a deeper problem with the knife?

A second question: The blade, which by the way has beautiful ripples on its sides, almost like a fine wood grain, arrived coated in some lubricant. I'd like to remove this, because it seems to just pick up fingerprints -- is it okay just to use soap and water?
 
TBG,
He said he bought the knife directly from Spdyderco, or at least that is how I understood his post.

Using soap and water to clean a knife is fine, just make sure it is nice and dry before putting it away. I prefer a solvent when it comes to cutting through the grease somtimes found on new knives. It just makes things a bit easier, and really cuts through any gunk that might be on the blade. I would be careful with FRN though as some stronger solvents might eat away at it too.

A new knife should look, well new. Depending on the type of finish you might be able to still see grinding marks. These would all be running in the same direction, and pretty even, perpandicualr to the cutting edge. How big of a deal this is, and it really is hard to tell much of anything without any pictures, depends a lot on you. If you bought the knife to use, do some minor scratches really matter?
 
Looking at the photos he e-mailed me I would personally return it to Spyderco for a new model. Not sure what caused the pitting, It would not effect performance, however just the scratches on the blade would be enough for me to send it back. All cosmetic issues, but you paid for a new knife and thats what you should get.
 
Thanks for the responses. I see both sides. On the one hand, I should get a new knife because I paid for one, and honestly I am pretty bummed out by the scratches and pits. On the other hand, these don't seem like they'll have much effect on usage, and it would take more money to send this back to Spyderco, and then I'd have to wait even longer. Hmm. I'll sleep on this.
 
Alba, the name wouldn't happen to be derived from "Alba Tours", would it?

If so....is this Brian?
 
Alba,
You paid for a new knife, you should get a new knife. The only reason I said that it really depends is mainly because I didn't see the scratches. as I said before some knives have some grinding scratches still on them, though they aren't what you described them as being. Pitting is not a good thing, and that would worry me a bit more than the scratches. Honestly I don't really care about scratches as I use all my knives and will end up scratching them sooner or later anyway.

I will just trust TBG's judgement on this one as he has seen the pics.
 
G'day,
I'd be sending the pics to Spyderco and asking them what they are prepared to do. I'd want them to pick up the postage both ways if they agree to replace it--after all you already paid the price of a new knife and the postage to get it to you!
Greg
 
I didn't see the pics of your knife, but my Calypso jr. doesn't have any noticeable scratches or pits on the blade. Even at a close inspection, I couldn't see any flaws (and I have pretty good eyes) ;)
If the faults on your knife are that obvious, I think you should send it back. The guys there at Spyderco are very kind and will fix your problem.
 
well, until the pics haven't been posted, and since you're a novice on this, i can;t really come up with a conclusive answer. as far as what i've read so far is concerned, i'd say that some circular wear-marks near the pivot-area are relatively common, like you find on demo knives. on the other hand, since it came directly from spyderco, i'd say that this knife was picked from the conveyor belt and then they sometimes do a rockwell hardness test by spiking the blade with some machine to check the RC-hardness. it might have gotten scratched up during that process. a scratch all the way over the blade would be unacceptable for me. even though it might be only cosmetic, it's still a scratch on a new knife. usually i don't care about scratches, that is, if they are mine, not someone else's.

does the blade lock up nicely without excessive bladeplay? does the edge look ok? etc......

we need pics!
 
Bob Katilus said:
Alba, the name wouldn't happen to be derived from "Alba Tours", would it?

If so....is this Brian?
Click to expand...

Nope -- Alba is simply my last name.
 
Greg said:
G'day,
I'd be sending the pics to Spyderco and asking them what they are prepared to do. I'd want them to pick up the postage both ways if they agree to replace it--after all you already paid the price of a new knife and the postage to get it to you!
Greg
Click to expand...

Good advice -- I'll send Spyderco the pictures and see where that takes me. My very first locking blade, and I didn't think I'd need to contact the highly regarded Spyderco customer service department immediately after receiving the knife!
 
dennis75 said:
it's still a scratch on a new knife. usually i don't care about scratches, that is, if they are mine, not someone else's.

does the blade lock up nicely without excessive bladeplay? does the edge look ok? etc......

we need pics!
Click to expand...

Sorry I don't have the ability to post pictures.

After thinking about ErikD's recent posting, I'm worried about the pitting too, especially because it's near the pivot between the blade and handle.

The edge looks okay to my unpracticed eye, and I haven't done any hardcore tests, but the blade seems to lock up tight.

BTW, I'm posting all these replies right in a row because my workplace has a firewall that prevents me from accessing bladeforums during the day. But for some reason I can read the Spyderco forums at work.
 
here are Alba's pics:

img_4518.jpg


img_4524.jpg


img_4528.jpg


img_4558.jpg


i'll have to examine my own Caly, and compare...

abe
 
Send it back. The pitting is unacceptable. The scratches may be there because the knife was a demo and was opened many times. Just a thought.
 
I have never heard of this kind of thing happening, at least not to this extent.

All Spydies I have, including 2 I bought here second hand and my Dodo, which was the display model for a local shop, did not have scratches nearly close to that, and none have pitting. :confused:


Send it back, Spyderco will take care of you.
 
Looks like normal spyderco to me. The slight pits won't affect performance. The light scratches are probably from some dirt between the scales and the tang. I've seen both on new knives from spyderco. Not worth the bother to send it back unless you're a perfectionist. It is a factory knife on the low end of the spyderco line.
 
brownshoe said:
Looks like normal spyderco to me.
Click to expand...

Definitely not in my experience.

I am looking at my Spyderco gray FRN Calypso Jr which was also also purchased directly from Spyderco, and it does not have any of these pits or scratches. In fact, nothing like this was on any of my new spydies or on any of the many more I have handled in stores and at shows.

Chris
 
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