- Joined
- Dec 9, 2005
- Messages
- 2,402
I recently purchased a Stretch CF off of my favorite Spyderco supplier, but this one was used. I had heard all of the superlatives about this knife, and I can confirm they are true. The ergonomics are excellent, only slightly behind the Superhawk for my paws, but luckily I get to carry both in each front pocket (Hawk in the left and Stretch in the right). This knife feels like an extention of your hand, and the only reason give the Superhawk a slight edge in ergos is the grip retention is a tad better and I like the wire clip, though it is much easier to choke up on the Stretch CF to get to a choil grip for fine tip work quickly. The belly in the blade is great for slicing, and the edge is thin enough at .019" for good EDC cutting, including some heavier stuff, without sacraficing much cutting ability. The tip is nice and thin, and the FFG cuts great when going through cardboard, food, or anything else. To bond with it I rebeveled it to 7 degrees per side, and brought the finish all the way out to .3 microns to make it really shine. I will wait until I have to sharpen it to put a microbevel on it, though so far no chipping or bending of the edge has happened in fairly light duty work the past several days. It gets very sharp with no burring, and holds an edge very nicely. I just love ZDP-189 for that ability to take and hold acute edges, and take a fine polish without microchipping. The lock on this one is rock solid, and I must say this knife is going to stay in my pocket a really long time. Peel Ply CF, top notch ergos, Spyderco Back Lock, and ZDP-189 make this knife an all around winner. When the FRN versions come out people need to jump on them, as they may be the best bargains in the knife world with the low street prices they are going to have.
A few pics, though none are very good. I had a hard time capturing the gleam of the polished edge bevel and the whittled/split hair:
A little fun testing sharpness with my daughter's hair. It was actually hard to whittle hair because it was so sharp it would just sever the hair in two pieces when I went to touch the knife to the hair to whittle it (very light force). I had to barely touch the hair at just the right angle to get splits and tiny dust like curls of hair whittled off. Sorry for the terrible pic of this, as a lot of the tiny curls can't even be seen, but this one hair got it's fair share of splitting/whittling fron the Stretch right off of the .3 micron lapping film.
Mike
A few pics, though none are very good. I had a hard time capturing the gleam of the polished edge bevel and the whittled/split hair:
A little fun testing sharpness with my daughter's hair. It was actually hard to whittle hair because it was so sharp it would just sever the hair in two pieces when I went to touch the knife to the hair to whittle it (very light force). I had to barely touch the hair at just the right angle to get splits and tiny dust like curls of hair whittled off. Sorry for the terrible pic of this, as a lot of the tiny curls can't even be seen, but this one hair got it's fair share of splitting/whittling fron the Stretch right off of the .3 micron lapping film.
Mike
