My First Spyderco

WillB

WillB

Joined
Feb 3, 2007
Messages
497
A Spyderco Lum Tanto, with forest green G10 handles. I'm not sure how many A Spyderco Lum Tanto's were produced, but supposedly 600 with forest green G10 handles. Never been a big fan of Spyderco from a design POV, but when I saw this, I had to have one. Of course it was discontinued (story of my life) but I was able to track one down.

The design, ergos, modified tanto, balance, etc, is really a quality knife for the $ I felt, but cheap it's not.

My problem is always the same with such a knife: I'll stick in the safe and not use it because I don't wanna scratch it. I'm not a collector per se, but I end up collecting them, and often selling them some time later, cuz I don't have the heart to use them, defaulting to my beater folder or less $ fixed blade. What are others experienced with this knife?

While I totally get the "fine knives are meant to be used not sit in a drawer" attitude, I never seem to adopt it myself. I'm gonna try with this one! :D

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Always had a soft spot for the Lum tango, the grinds are beautiful and the feel in hand is well balanced. Could I use mine, heck yes!
 
Beautiful blade. One of my favorite Spyderco fixed blades even though I haven’t even held one, let alone owned one. Very classic Lum design. I’m sure I’m not the only one jealous of that new purchase.
 
Nice purchase!

I've got almost 80 Spydercos currently but nothing nearly as "nice" as that but, then again, I'm really not into fixed blade knives. It's a very nice knife just the same.

WillB said:
My problem is always the same with such a knife: I'll stick in the safe and not use it because I don't wanna scratch it. I'm not a collector per se, but I end up collecting them, and often selling them some time later, cuz I don't have the heart to use them, defaulting to my beater folder or less $ fixed blade.
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While it's not a popular opinion here, I share your point of view.

I purchased most of the knives that I've collected so far because I like the way they look, not to actually use them. Fact is, I don't actually need to use many, if any, of the knives in my collection to do more than cut open some letters and boxes. I'd never use any of the knives in my collection for that purpose, because there's always a cheap box cutter, utility knife or Swiss Army knife available that I can use to do the job instead

WillB said:
While I totally get the "fine knives are meant to be used not sit in a drawer" attitude, I never seem to adopt it myself. I'm gonna try with this one! :D
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It's your knife and your choice. Just hope you don't regret it when you do.
 
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I really want a sprint of this with polished black G10 and CPM154 to match my Lum Darn Dao.
 
madcap_magician said:
I really want a sprint of this with polished black G10 and CPM154 to match my Lum Darn Dao.
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Using CPM154 might bring the price down a tad perhaps? I don't know that much about VG-10, but it does not seem to show up in the various knife steel comparison articles and such I tend to read.
 
Realize the aesthetic in worn, patina'ed, scratched and beat up things and you'll be jonesing to use your stuff any chance you get! Wabi-sabi.
 
WillB said:
Using CPM154 might bring the price down a tad perhaps? I don't know that much about VG-10, but it does not seem to show up in the various knife steel comparison articles and such I tend to read.
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Probably not. VG-10 is an old standby for Spyderco and more of a budget steel. It's Japanese and a bit like Bohler N690. CPM154 is not particularly expensive, though. It's the powder metallurgy form of 154CM, which is a fairly simple stainless cutlery allow with 1.06% carbon, 14% chromium, and 4% molybdenum.
 
WillB said:
Using CPM154 might bring the price down a tad perhaps? I don't know that much about VG-10, but it does not seem to show up in the various knife steel comparison articles and such I tend to read.
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VG-10 is under-rated IMHO. It compares very favorably with Carbon V/50100 in edge holding judging from actual experience (field dressing a black bear). It is easily sharpened on diamonds, and has a 'bitey' edge somewhat similar to D2. I understand it was developed in Japan for the agricultural industry, i.e., pruning tools.
 
Alberta Ed said:
VG-10 is under-rated IMHO. It compares very favorably with Carbon V/50100 in edge holding judging from actual experience (field dressing a black bear). It is easily sharpened on diamonds, and has a 'bitey' edge somewhat similar to D2. I understand it was developed in Japan for the agricultural industry, i.e., pruning tools.
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I'm not a steel snob per se, but would hope the costs someone in line with the expected quality and performance of such a blade, but don't require latest greatest super steel to be happy either. Edge wise, it does seem very D2-ish. I like a bitey edge personally.

One list I read (1) puts it in the same category as 154CM and ATS34, but says "...slightly more chromium for enhanced corrosion resistance but also contains vanadium which makes it marginally tougher than these two"

1 = https://knifeinformer.com/discovering-the-best-knife-steel/
 
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