- Joined
- Jul 9, 1999
- Messages
- 3,316
Last night I posted in a Spyderco Spyker thread that I was a bit leary of the Spec Bump's new lock, which I see is called the "Stud Lock". It just looks out of place and too different of a concept for me. It just looks, well, odd.
I was out at Ruff's Saddle Shop today and Frank had one in the display case. I asked to see it. After handling it and working the lock for a few minutes, with a bit of trepidation, curiousity got the better of me and I bought it.
I was unsure of the whole concept of a "Stud Lock" but it seemed fairly stout and the retaining coil spring was pretty stiff. Still, I wonder if it'll cut the mustard without cutting me.
I'm back home now and the in depth inspection and testing has begun.
The assisted opening is as nice as it is on my green Bump. I admit that I'm somewhat fascinated with the blade profile on these folders and that was one of the reasons why I bought the Spec Bump. The blade is "Kershaw sharp" which was expected.
I lightly spine whacked the lock on the edge of a pine table top. It held. I whacked a little harder, then a little harder still. Then I gritted my teeth and gave it a full throttle whack. The knife flew out of my grip and landed sideways on the carpet. The lock was still intact. Okay, that was a little scary but it was impressive because I really wasn't expecting the results I got. I grabbed the blade's spine and began twisting and torqueing as hard as I could. The lock did not flinch. I put my thumb on top of the spine, right over the Stud Lock and began pushing and twisting trying to dislodge the lock. Not happening. Trying the same tactic off center of the spine dislodges the blade rather handily however.
It's possible to accidentally unlock the blade this way, but the probability seems kind of small to me. You have to be really putting an unrealistic amount of pressure in an unlikely direction to do this. Even if you do manage to succeed in this the integral finger guard pushes into your index finger preventing the blade from closing on your fingers. It is a bit of a painful pinch however, because the guard is scalloped. Better pinched than severed. 
The good things about the "Stud Lock" are that when closing the blade, your fingers are out of the way. The lock is not located on the handle which really takes away all likelihood of accidentally closing it. It's not hard to master closing the knife and it seems to be a pretty efficient affair with just a minor hand shift involved in the closing.
The bad thing is this is not a knife your gonna want to close with both hands more than once. It really feels awkward to me and I almost cut my silly self trying it the first time. I decided that I was going to do this and a little practice had me closing it without drawing blood but it still feels kind of awkward.
The knife's G-10 handle is really nice for being just plain ol' ho-hum black G-10. The texturing is really pronounced and grippy but without being sharp as is found on the Buck Striders and the Kershaw Avalanche. Those knives were both uncomfortable to me because the texturing was so aggressive that it could rough sand wood. I needed to sand both of those knives before I could use them without feeling like I was cutting with a rose stem firmly in my grip.
The blade is ground a little thicker than I like but it cuts fairly well for the little bit I've used it so far. The blade has a black coating which I think is DLC, but, at this pint I really don't know. It didn't even get scuffed as I whacked it on the table.
No REAL cutting has been done yet so I cannot comment on the new CPM154 steel used in the blade.
edit explaination:
OOPSIE! I had to correct my opening statement to read that it was a Spyderco Spyker thread and not a Kershaw Bump thread as first indicated.
I was out at Ruff's Saddle Shop today and Frank had one in the display case. I asked to see it. After handling it and working the lock for a few minutes, with a bit of trepidation, curiousity got the better of me and I bought it.
I was unsure of the whole concept of a "Stud Lock" but it seemed fairly stout and the retaining coil spring was pretty stiff. Still, I wonder if it'll cut the mustard without cutting me.
I'm back home now and the in depth inspection and testing has begun.
The assisted opening is as nice as it is on my green Bump. I admit that I'm somewhat fascinated with the blade profile on these folders and that was one of the reasons why I bought the Spec Bump. The blade is "Kershaw sharp" which was expected.
I lightly spine whacked the lock on the edge of a pine table top. It held. I whacked a little harder, then a little harder still. Then I gritted my teeth and gave it a full throttle whack. The knife flew out of my grip and landed sideways on the carpet. The lock was still intact. Okay, that was a little scary but it was impressive because I really wasn't expecting the results I got. I grabbed the blade's spine and began twisting and torqueing as hard as I could. The lock did not flinch. I put my thumb on top of the spine, right over the Stud Lock and began pushing and twisting trying to dislodge the lock. Not happening. Trying the same tactic off center of the spine dislodges the blade rather handily however.
It's possible to accidentally unlock the blade this way, but the probability seems kind of small to me. You have to be really putting an unrealistic amount of pressure in an unlikely direction to do this. Even if you do manage to succeed in this the integral finger guard pushes into your index finger preventing the blade from closing on your fingers. It is a bit of a painful pinch however, because the guard is scalloped. Better pinched than severed. The good things about the "Stud Lock" are that when closing the blade, your fingers are out of the way. The lock is not located on the handle which really takes away all likelihood of accidentally closing it. It's not hard to master closing the knife and it seems to be a pretty efficient affair with just a minor hand shift involved in the closing.
The bad thing is this is not a knife your gonna want to close with both hands more than once. It really feels awkward to me and I almost cut my silly self trying it the first time. I decided that I was going to do this and a little practice had me closing it without drawing blood but it still feels kind of awkward.
The knife's G-10 handle is really nice for being just plain ol' ho-hum black G-10. The texturing is really pronounced and grippy but without being sharp as is found on the Buck Striders and the Kershaw Avalanche. Those knives were both uncomfortable to me because the texturing was so aggressive that it could rough sand wood. I needed to sand both of those knives before I could use them without feeling like I was cutting with a rose stem firmly in my grip.
The blade is ground a little thicker than I like but it cuts fairly well for the little bit I've used it so far. The blade has a black coating which I think is DLC, but, at this pint I really don't know. It didn't even get scuffed as I whacked it on the table.
No REAL cutting has been done yet so I cannot comment on the new CPM154 steel used in the blade.
edit explaination:
OOPSIE! I had to correct my opening statement to read that it was a Spyderco Spyker thread and not a Kershaw Bump thread as first indicated.
It's easy to use and developing muscle memory to it's use is a joy.