Today i went for my weekly trip to KTP, to see if they had any interesting used blades, as they get trade-ins and i can usually find a killer deal there (like the near-mint Chinook I i got for $35)
this week, nothing new in the used counter, so i started to look at other brands of inexpensive knives, just for fun....
CKRT M-16; couldn't get past the plasticky handle, not a fan of thumbstuds either, the flipper felt gimmicky
Ka-Bar Dozier; it fit my hand well while open, decently sharp out of box, but opening it from closed, the thumb-oval model felt like it was binding on my thumbtip, i wasn't interested in the thumbstud model
Benchmade Mini-Pika and Pika; bad ergos for the thumb-oval (too cramped when closed), and the plastic scales felt cheap, *really* cheap, heck, the Ka-Bar Dozier scales felt better, the lack of a Boyle Dent on the lockbar was also a downside
Benchmade Mini-Grip; this amazed me, the Minigrip (and larger Grip) scales actually felt cheap and plasticky to me, i'd expect a $65 retail knife to feel better in-hand, the blade *was* nice and sharp, but like the Pikas, the ergos were just wrong for my hands, the only Benchmades that felt *right* to me were the $150 models with the slippie blade in the back of the scale, but i'm not willing to spend $150 on a knife...........yet.....
so, for the sake of argument, i went over to the Spydies, and tried out a Delica 3, perfect ergos, the FRN scales didn't feel *cheap* in any way, it just felt.....right, it felt much better than the arguably "superior" Griptilians, heck, i think i even got the salesguy (a hardcore Benchmade guy) to think about getting a Spydie, i had him compare a Grip to a Delica side-by-side, and he liked the Delica better.....
i don't know how Sal and crew do it, but the more i use my Spydies, the more i find other knives just can't compare, regardless of price, i guess to an "Ergos/functionality first" kinda' guy like me, a Spydie just makes more sense, to me, the knife's physical appearance is a non-issue, i judge a knife on how it *feels* in the hand, and *works*
of course, i'm preaching to the choir here....
this week, nothing new in the used counter, so i started to look at other brands of inexpensive knives, just for fun....
CKRT M-16; couldn't get past the plasticky handle, not a fan of thumbstuds either, the flipper felt gimmicky
Ka-Bar Dozier; it fit my hand well while open, decently sharp out of box, but opening it from closed, the thumb-oval model felt like it was binding on my thumbtip, i wasn't interested in the thumbstud model
Benchmade Mini-Pika and Pika; bad ergos for the thumb-oval (too cramped when closed), and the plastic scales felt cheap, *really* cheap, heck, the Ka-Bar Dozier scales felt better, the lack of a Boyle Dent on the lockbar was also a downside
Benchmade Mini-Grip; this amazed me, the Minigrip (and larger Grip) scales actually felt cheap and plasticky to me, i'd expect a $65 retail knife to feel better in-hand, the blade *was* nice and sharp, but like the Pikas, the ergos were just wrong for my hands, the only Benchmades that felt *right* to me were the $150 models with the slippie blade in the back of the scale, but i'm not willing to spend $150 on a knife...........yet.....
so, for the sake of argument, i went over to the Spydies, and tried out a Delica 3, perfect ergos, the FRN scales didn't feel *cheap* in any way, it just felt.....right, it felt much better than the arguably "superior" Griptilians, heck, i think i even got the salesguy (a hardcore Benchmade guy) to think about getting a Spydie, i had him compare a Grip to a Delica side-by-side, and he liked the Delica better.....
i don't know how Sal and crew do it, but the more i use my Spydies, the more i find other knives just can't compare, regardless of price, i guess to an "Ergos/functionality first" kinda' guy like me, a Spydie just makes more sense, to me, the knife's physical appearance is a non-issue, i judge a knife on how it *feels* in the hand, and *works*
of course, i'm preaching to the choir here....
