How good are Spyderco gateway knives?

D

DocT

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Mar 25, 2012
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How good are the value series knives that are made in China, like the Tenacious, Resilience, et al.? I have a Taiwan made Cat, which is a great knife. I bought a Byrd Tern and decided they misspelled the name.
I know the Tenacious and others are a bit heavy. Do they have stout liner locks or cheap flimsy pieces of steel that will bend on actual hard use like so many Chinese made knives?
What is the consensus? Any stories?
 
In my opinion, the value series is awesome! I've had a Tenacious for a while. It's a big knife for me, but I carry it here and there. The 8cr13mov is a bit soft and loses its edge somewhat quickly, but it's very easy to sharpen. It takes a keen edge, definitely. Everything is sturdy and tough about the Tenacious line of knives. They are certainly an affordable and good introduction to Spyderco, especially for those who are on a budget but want a stout knife. I have an Ambitious on order, which should arrive tomorrow. I also really like the Byrd line and own a Meadowlark2 and a Cara Cara2 (I carry this one when I walk my greyhound late at night). Both are fantastic. I don't think you can go wrong with the Spyderco value series or Byrd knives. I highly recommend them. I also recommend the Delica. [emoji4]


Alex
 
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I really enjoy the Tenacious and the Persistence that I have. The Tenacious is part of my regular carry rotation. I like the 8cr13mov blade because it is easy to put a good edge on it. The Tenacious that I have is well made, the blade is centered and it opens smoothly. The pocket clip is four way adjustment so you can carry it how you like. Overall a great knife for the money.
 
The Tenacious and Persistence are solid little knives (apart from the Resilience which is a solid BIG knife!)

The Byrd range I'm a little cooler on- My thumb doesn't appear to 'like' the birdseye hole- but build is solid.

Both ranges are heavy-for-size....which is handy if you are one of those people (ie: Me!) who forgets that they didn't clip their knife back to their pocket ;)

As noted: The Alphabet-soup steel is good enough at the price point- but when you do go to the VG10 and S30v of the next 'tier' in the Spyderco range you'll be astounded at the difference.
 
In value for money the tenacious and resilience are superb. Whilst the weight and blade steel are obviously not the same as a high end knife, the value for mint, quality and sheer enjoyment is worth it. These are knives that just always end up in your edc rotation pushing out knives of far higher prices. Smooth. Easy to sharpen. [emoji106][emoji106]


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demoncase said:
The Tenacious and Persistence are solid little knives (apart from the Resilience which is a solid BIG knife!)

The Byrd range I'm a little cooler on- My thumb doesn't appear to 'like' the birdseye hole- but build is solid.

Both ranges are heavy-for-size....which is handy if you are one of those people (ie: Me!) who forgets that they didn't clip their knife back to their pocket ;)

As noted: The Alphabet-soup steel is good enough at the price point- but when you do go to the VG10 and S30v of the next 'tier' in the Spyderco range you'll be astounded at the difference.
Click to expand...
Haha, love it!

I bought an ambitious a while back just to see what all the hype was about, and I gotta say for the price, I think that line up would be hard to beat. A buddy of mine bought a Tenacious a few months ago as well. He's not really a "Knife Guy" but he absolutely loves it!
 
Tenacious and Persistence I had were quite nice. New Byrd Raven 2 is just as nice or better and with upgraded steel.
 
Several people at work have purchased Byrd knives at my recommendation and everyone likes them. The only complaint I have with them is I have seen more than once that a screw thread on the pocket clip is stripped. None of the guys at work are able to tighten their own clip screws so they bring them to me. I know I didn't strip them so they must have came that way. By the time it is noticed the knives are usually well used so it is hard to send in for any warranty but it has happened more than once. I have never seen that with anything marked Spyderco.
 
messer454 said:
Several people at work have purchased Byrd knives at my recommendation and everyone likes them. The only complaint I have with them is I have seen more than once that a screw thread on the pocket clip is stripped. None of the guys at work are able to tighten their own clip screws so they bring them to me. I know I didn't strip them so they must have came that way. By the time it is noticed the knives are usually well used so it is hard to send in for any warranty but it has happened more than once. I have never seen that with anything marked Spyderco.
Click to expand...

Just last week I finally got around to switching the pocket clip to left hand carry on my Meadowlark2. I was using the correct torx driver and was being very careful, yet all three screws were stripped. I assumed that I had inadvertently stripped them, but I couldn't figure out how that could have possibly happened. After reading your post, it makes sense now. I think I'll leave the pocket clip on my Cara Cara2 alone. I guess that's the downside of Byrd knives. Other than this issue, they're great knives at a great price.
 
I have a ton of Spyderco knives in all sorts of steel choices. I was thinking of taking a look at the Value Line, even though I do not like Chinese (Mainland) products, as a whole. I thought it might be nice to have a dependable knife that I would not be upset about losing because of the price.
 
Byrd Cara Cara 2 pushed out many folders of higher price, "steel" and overall status from my pocket

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They just cut, slice like demons.

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Easy to sharpen by almost any mean, they're budget, they ain't cheap by any means.
I have a Resilience too, but I like my Byrd much more TBH.

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Can't go wrong with them, other than the aforementioned screws they are hard to beat for the price.

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