Lum Chinese

roughedges

roughedges

Joined
Oct 3, 2004
Messages
4,553
Just picked one of these up the other day though that is not exactly what this thread is about.

First the knife. Simply put, I love it. Flawlessly made, I believe I'd need to disassemble it and use a jewler's loupe to find any f&f nits to pick. Nice shape, those organic flowing lines, even the blade coating which I normally don't care for on folding knives. It's really an elegant little knife- a slight bit too small in my hand to tell the truth, but I knew that going in.

Anyway, the purveyor I purchased it from included a Spyderco 2010 catalog in my shipment. While looking through it I came across something that truly impressed me. I had read of the whale rescue knife but, until receiving that catalog, had no idea that Spyderco donates 50 desert tan Natives per month to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, or that portions of the proceeds of the pink Natives go to the Breast Cancer Network of Strength, or that portions of Chokwe sales goes to Keep a Child Alive, or that the carbon fiber and titanium Sages benefit the Alzheimer's Association.

All my respect to the Glesser family and Spyderco for this. I'll likely never have as many as the die hard Spyder fanatics but I guarantee you that you've got one more customer for life. :thumbup:
 
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What, am I the only person on Bladeforums who didn't know that Spyderco was doing this? :D Why wasn't I informed!?! :p

Here's a piteur.

DSC00673.jpg
 
I knew about the knives going to the troops, but that was it. Love the Lum by the way, one of my favorites.
 
One day, I plan to pull the trigger on the lum! Until then, I just keep getting sidetracked on other models. BTW, it is really cool what spyderco does with their generosity!
 
Love mine too; sounds crazy but try it on food prep.

My wife's pink native was two presents in one.

As for the rest; Good people = good knives.
 
panicotr said:
Love mine too; sounds crazy but try it on food prep.

My wife's pink native was two presents in one.

As for the rest; Good people = good knives.
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Not crazy at all. I've only had it a few days and already have decided that, straight from the factory, it is one of the best slicers I own.

Also, I've been considering getting a Sage but it is now a sure thing. Same goes for the pink Native. My lady is getting one for her birthday whether she wants it or not! :D
 
I've been a Spydie nut since the 80's, and the knives are second to none. The fact that Sal and Co do so much to give back to our community at large makes them all that more valuable to me. The Glessers, that is.

The knives simply stand on their own!
 
I'm glad your Lum Chinese was so flawless. Mine was the worst fit and finish of any knife over $10 I've ever bought. I still love it though. The blade is a little thinner than the Sages and I believe wider also. That makes for a mean slicer. It's probably the sharpest knife I currently own and pretty unique also.

I'd love to see some pictures of well used Lum Chinese's.
 
Well two new Lums are due up soon that I'm on the list for if/when they show up. A CF scaled and a large version with G10 I believe.
 
hoopster said:
I'm glad your Lum Chinese was so flawless. Mine was the worst fit and finish of any knife over $10 I've ever bought. I still love it though. The blade is a little thinner than the Sages and I believe wider also. That makes for a mean slicer. It's probably the sharpest knife I currently own and pretty unique also.

I'd love to see some pictures of well used Lum Chinese's.
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I saw your post and one other that said pretty much the same thing along those lines and almost kept me from purchasing it, but I'm glad I went ahead with it anyway. For those that know me, I really don't have any problem stating an unpopular opinion but can say unequivocally that this is probably the finest finished production knife that I own. Either I got lucky or you got unlucky because I'm really very impressed with mine.

Reeek said:
Well two new Lums are due up soon that I'm on the list for if/when they show up. A CF scaled and a large version with G10 I believe.
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Man but I'm in trouble :D. I lust after every Lum design I've seen but one.
 
roughedges said:
I saw your post and one other that said pretty much the same thing along those lines and almost kept me from purchasing it, but I'm glad I went ahead with it anyway. For those that know me, I really don't have any problem stating an unpopular opinion but can say unequivocally that this is probably the finest finished production knife that I own. Either I got lucky or you got unlucky because I'm really very impressed with mine.



Man but I'm in trouble :D. I lust after every Lum design I've seen but one.
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I'm glad my opinion didn't sway you, it really is a nice knife. I do feel it's fair to warn people because I don't think I'm the only one unimpressed with some of the Lum's fit and finish but I always try to reiterate that I still like it and don't regret the purchase one bit. Now if it would have been the ZDP version I would have expected perfection.
BTW, I probably just got unlucky. I doubt to many are like mine and every other spyderco I've purchased has been flawless.
 
I too love the Lum. The ergos are just perfect for my hand. The way the handle's curve flows smoothly and continuously into the blade's curve is one of the best and most comfortable designs I've had the pleasure of owning. I also love the vg-10 and how sharp it is. And the knife is relatively light for a blade this size.

One thing I wish it had is jimping on the spine for my thumb. If it had that, it would be in my top 3 favorite knives I own.
 
I was the beneficiary of Reeeks milestone give-away of a Lum Chinese

Spyderco007.jpg


This has become my favourite Spydie and my EDC. Love this knife. CF version on the way? I will definately be picking one of those up!
 
Don't get me wrong 90% of the knives i own are made by spyderco, but the reason spyderco can afford to donate to those organizations is because they use cheap overseas labor for the most part. I guess it kind of balances it out though since they aren't made in the US at least they are donating to US foundations.
 
Foryou said:
Don't get me wrong 90% of the knives i own are made by spyderco, but the reason spyderco can afford to donate to those organizations is because they use cheap overseas labor for the most part. I guess it kind of balances it out though since they aren't made in the US at least they are donating to US foundations.
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so spyderco doesnt make anything in America eh?
http://www.spyderco.com/catalog/list.php?origin=United States
i love my American made spyderco paramilitary....


and man that CF on that new lum looks insane :eek:
 
Foryou said:
Don't get me wrong 90% of the knives i own are made by spyderco, but the reason spyderco can afford to donate to those organizations is because they use cheap overseas labor for the most part. I guess it kind of balances it out though since they aren't made in the US at least they are donating to US foundations.
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Not sure where you're getting your information from, but here are some cold, hard facts:

Pink and Tan Natives - Made in USA
Whale Rescue - Made in USA
Chockwe and Sages - Made in Taiwan. I recall Sal stating that making the knives in Taiwan doesn't really save much money over making in the US and they only outsource there because of the quality and capacity of that particular maker.

As Gundude73 pointed out, Spyderco makes tons of knives in the USA. And -might I add- lots more in Japan (not cheap labor there either). There are only a small number of knives produced elsewhere.

Sorting the Spyderco catalog by country (10 items per page):

Japan - 13 pages of product
USA - 7 pages of product
China - 5 pages of product (most are Byrd knives. If you count just their Spyderco lineup, then there's less than a page's worth)
Taiwan - 2 pages of product
Italy - 1 page of product

And the last thing that kills your argument is that Sal has said on many occasions (when people complain about price on a given model) that Spyderco has a consistent markup across all knives and that any value gained by cheaper labor, materials, etc. is passed on to us and is not excess profit. Based off that, a knife made in China nets approximately the same percentage of profit as a Golden knife, which in turn has the same profit markup as a Taiwan or Japan model.

So why does Spyderco donate to these causes? Because Sal and Co. are good people, that's why. It's refreshing to see a company caring about more than just the bottom line.

P.S. I plan on picking up one of the CF Lums. That is some of the coolest CF that I've seen so far!
 
Foryou said:
Don't get me wrong 90% of the knives i own are made by spyderco, but the reason spyderco can afford to donate to those organizations is because they use cheap overseas labor for the most part. I guess it kind of balances it out though since they aren't made in the US at least they are donating to US foundations.
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Hi Foryou,

I'm surprized to "hear" you say that. Our US factory in Golden makes many of our models. We pay them as much as we can and we provide benefits as well (med ins, etc.).

Labor in Seki, Japan is generally more than USA labor and on top of that, the Yen is stronger than the dollar. Our knives made in Italy are in the same situation as Japan, strong Euro and high labor costs.

Our Taiwan maker likewise pays his staff well and we ship him USA made steel and parts from here to make our knives. We do make a few knives in China, but in the factories we've visited, I didn't see any with "low wages". They all had cell phones.

I will excuse your ignorance this time, but now that you have been informed, I would guess that you will think more before sharing your incorrect opinions.

I reality, we do what we do because we believe that it is the right thing to do. We probably can't afford to do many of the things we do, but profit isn't everything.

Hopefully this new knowledge will improve your opinion? :)

sal
 
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