Kreined Spyderco Barong! Lots of Pics!

gunmike1

gunmike1

Joined
Dec 9, 2005
Messages
2,402
When I first saw the Spyderco Barong I thought that it was a nice knife that I would never buy. I did not like the 1" of unsharpened edge and the fact that there was no thumb ramp. The handle however looked super comfortable, and a 4" blade only 3mm thick with a FFG has some slicing potential. I am not a huge fan of the liner lock, but from my Militarys I know that Spyderco does them right.

Now enter Tom Krein. I have had a lot of knives reground by him, but a couple weeks ago on Spyderco's forum he posted a pic of a Barong regrind with a much longer cutting edge, thumb ramp, and swedge grinds on the spine. He basically took care of all of the problems I had with the design and turned it into a blade that loos like the old Calypsos. The blade is canted forward in relation to the handle which helps with the cutting, and the handle is great ergo wise. Tom left enough room on the blade to still choke up and use the new, shortened choil to give you more control over the 4" blade. The knife is easy to carry, light, fast in the hand, and just a great knife with the mods Tom made to the blade. This knife will be in my pocket a long time. I have a couple pics with my Caly 3 CF for comparison purposes, and for reference I have large size hands. The fit and finish on the knife is excellent, with perfect lock up and a perfectly centered blade. I can't recommend getting a Kreined Barong enough, this knife is just a wonderful EDC that can just plain cut. I wish it was ZDP-189, but VG-10 ain't bad and the geometry on this blade just makes cutting effortless.

Mike











 
Wow, before seeing the pictures I had just thought the knife looked "ok" but after the TK treatment, the barong is looking like a handsome knife! Congrats!
 
I was lucky enough to have handled the barong on a pass around. The TK version seems to address all that I thought I would change in the design. Maybe Spyderco should take note.

Those are very nice inprovements, congratulations

Cheers, Shane
 
BOrrell said:
Held my large Voo up to picture and they are very close!
Click to expand...

I've handled the DejaVoo, and I would have to say the biggest defferences would be the handle shape/ergos and the fact the blade on the Barong is canted down in relation to the handle. Also, the Barong has more detent than the DejaVoo but is still flickable, and has a fully exposed opening hole. I handled a Voo last week, so it is still pretty vivid in my mind. The actual blade shape and size are pretty close, though Tom takes the blade really thin behind the edge.

Mike
 
Thanks for all of the compliments on the knife, but they all belong to Tom Krein. This grind is his vision of how the Barong should be, I had no input whatsoever. I just saw what he did to his own knife and asked him to make mine just like his.

Mike
 
Wow, that is HEAPS better. Dare I say, how it is supposed to be. I actually had to go back and see a stock Barong to remember what the difference was, the end results looks so good it seems that it is simply supposed to be that way. I don't like the stock Barong, but I could see myself owning the kreined one!
 
Dood, that thing is flippin' sweet. I think that Mr. Krein may have a future in this knife business. :D

That reground barong looks very much like something Bob Lum would have drawn.
 
I just got a Barong in the mail today & it kind of makes you wonder why Spyderco didn't do some of those things in the 1st place. I would've thought they'd put jimping on the spine & the longer blade edge makes sense.

I agree the changes look great & the handle's real comfortable. The other nice thing about the Barong (Kriened or not), is that is carries relatively narrow for a Spydie.

Very nice.
 
Why the hell don't they make it like that from the get-go? :confused: I think you should post that to the Spyderco subforum. :cool:
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Why the hell don't they make it like that from the get-go? :confused: I think you should post that to the Spyderco subforum. :cool:
Click to expand...

I posted it on the Spyderco factory forum, and Tom Krein has posted his previous Barong regrinds over there as well.

Mike
 
gunmike1 said:
Now enter Tom Krein. He basically took care of all of the problems I had with the design and turned it into a blade that loos like the old Calypsos.
Click to expand...

Mike,

Thanks for sharing, the comparison with the good old Calypso jr. is relevant. Tom Krein isn't only an amazing grinder, he has the eye to improve a geometry! I assume the edge has been drastically thinned as it's the case in the other Tom Krein works. Then the linerlock would be an issue for me, i wouldn't put my thumb on the way of such an edge!

Nevertheless this kreined Barong looks like a great knife with the right belly for slicing tasks.

Congrats.

dantzk.
 
That is a much improved knife. I still wish the knife was a little bigger. I think the design calls for a little more size, but this grind may make me a buyer.
 
Twindog said:
That is a much improved knife. I still wish the knife was a little bigger. I think the design calls for a little more size, but this grind may make me a buyer.
Click to expand...

Well the blade is 4", but I wouldn't have complained if it was 4 3/8" like my Police 3. The edge is drastically thinned to around .010" or a bit under. I will measure it later and report the actual edge thickness. My fattest Krein grind is .012" (Benchmade 760) and thinnest (Caly Jr ZDP) is .005", so I like them THIN.

Mike
 
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