i've been playing around with a small scrap of leather left over from my strop material, doing some impromptu cut tests, and the Harpy's ability to seperate matter is, quite honestly, terrifying....
i took a small fragment of leather (1/8" thick (rough approxamation, don't have a ruler or calipers, your basic standard upholstery leather) and the Harpy, put the point of the blade on the leather and drew back....
using *only the weight of the blade, nothing more*, the Harpy cut clean through the leather, clean, razor sharp edges, no tearing, nothing, it was like the leather *wasn't even there*....
i suppose it shouldn't surprise me, last night i had the Harpy in one hand, and i absentmindedly brushed the side of my index finger against the blade, between the back of the fingernail and first knuckle, didn't feel a thing, didn't even leave a scratch, a minute or so later, that "scratch" started turning red as a few droplets of blood welled up from the cut, i still didn't feel it, only after i dabbed on some "New Skin" liquid bandage did i notice something, the sting of the antiseptic, still, the cut from the Harpy was painless.....
anyway, back to the leather test....
i decided to test my other EDC knives (some non-Spydies, as well as the three Spydies...)
Harpy; clean cut all the way through with just the weight of the knife, no pressure, no resistance, same cutting performance on the smooth side and the rough side of the leather, clean cut either way, no nap tearing
Cricket; the tip of the blade cut about 3/4 of the way through the leather (smoothside) with no pressure, light pressure cut all the way through, light resistance during the cut, the curved belly of the blade cut all the way through with no pressure or resistance though....
roughside cutting was poor, less than 1/4 of the way through, lots of nap tearing using the tip, however, the belly cut equally as well as it did on the smooth side, clean cut, no nap tearing
Native; same as the Harpy, the weight of the knife was sufficient for a clean cut, more resistance than the Harpy, slight nap tearing on a rough-side cut
Kershaw Scallion; 3/4 of the way through, no pressure on the smooth side, 1/4 of the way on the rough side, lots of nap pulling and tearing
Vic. Spartan Lite; (smooth side) small blade only cut halfway, no pressure, large blade 3/4 way through (rough side) small blade, less than 1/4", blade deflected by nap, incomplete cut, large blade the same
Wenger Esquire; (smooth side) blade cut 1/2 of the way through (rough side) less than 1/4 way, deflected by nap, incomplete cut
the clear winner here was the Harpy, it was so good it was *scary*, overall rankings would go as follows, best to worst...
1; Harpy
2; Cricket (the belly of the blade)
3; Native
4; Cricket (the tip of the blade)
5; Kershaw Scallion
6; Vic. Spartan Lite (large blade)
7; Spartan Lite (small blade)
8; Wenger Esquire
the Spydies clearly dominated the top 3....
i took a small fragment of leather (1/8" thick (rough approxamation, don't have a ruler or calipers, your basic standard upholstery leather) and the Harpy, put the point of the blade on the leather and drew back....
using *only the weight of the blade, nothing more*, the Harpy cut clean through the leather, clean, razor sharp edges, no tearing, nothing, it was like the leather *wasn't even there*....
i suppose it shouldn't surprise me, last night i had the Harpy in one hand, and i absentmindedly brushed the side of my index finger against the blade, between the back of the fingernail and first knuckle, didn't feel a thing, didn't even leave a scratch, a minute or so later, that "scratch" started turning red as a few droplets of blood welled up from the cut, i still didn't feel it, only after i dabbed on some "New Skin" liquid bandage did i notice something, the sting of the antiseptic, still, the cut from the Harpy was painless.....
anyway, back to the leather test....
i decided to test my other EDC knives (some non-Spydies, as well as the three Spydies...)
Harpy; clean cut all the way through with just the weight of the knife, no pressure, no resistance, same cutting performance on the smooth side and the rough side of the leather, clean cut either way, no nap tearing
Cricket; the tip of the blade cut about 3/4 of the way through the leather (smoothside) with no pressure, light pressure cut all the way through, light resistance during the cut, the curved belly of the blade cut all the way through with no pressure or resistance though....
roughside cutting was poor, less than 1/4 of the way through, lots of nap tearing using the tip, however, the belly cut equally as well as it did on the smooth side, clean cut, no nap tearing
Native; same as the Harpy, the weight of the knife was sufficient for a clean cut, more resistance than the Harpy, slight nap tearing on a rough-side cut
Kershaw Scallion; 3/4 of the way through, no pressure on the smooth side, 1/4 of the way on the rough side, lots of nap pulling and tearing
Vic. Spartan Lite; (smooth side) small blade only cut halfway, no pressure, large blade 3/4 way through (rough side) small blade, less than 1/4", blade deflected by nap, incomplete cut, large blade the same
Wenger Esquire; (smooth side) blade cut 1/2 of the way through (rough side) less than 1/4 way, deflected by nap, incomplete cut
the clear winner here was the Harpy, it was so good it was *scary*, overall rankings would go as follows, best to worst...
1; Harpy
2; Cricket (the belly of the blade)
3; Native
4; Cricket (the tip of the blade)
5; Kershaw Scallion
6; Vic. Spartan Lite (large blade)
7; Spartan Lite (small blade)
8; Wenger Esquire
the Spydies clearly dominated the top 3....
