Navaja is out

Have a preorder at KC (placed it a couple of hours after it went up for preorder there, hopefully I won't get shafted), great news!!!
 
Update: got an email from KC, they shipped the Navaja. :)

For people that love ethnic folders (I surely do!), I suggest you also check the latest offering from Emerson Knives...the Gypsy Jack...another cool ethnic folder. Which incidentally I am waiting to receive (ETA 4.6.2011 according to UPS). It will be cool to compare the Navaja to the Gypsy Jack. :)
 
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will there be any way to remove the noisy thing ??? i really, really don't see the point of this on an already big folder... except looking stupid with a toy that makes unnecessary noise just to sound cool ...
 
pwet said:
will there be any way to remove the noisy thing ??? i really, really don't see the point of this on an already big folder... except looking stupid with a toy that makes unnecessary noise just to sound cool ...
Click to expand...

You just missed the point/history behind the entire design...:rolleyes:
 
I guess that I miss the point of the design, also. If it does not do anything other than make a clicking noise, why design it that way?

I like the knife, but I don't really like the "clicking ratchet" noise. So what, the originals had this mechanism. On those, it actually does something.
 
The carraca was part of the mystique of the navaja knives. I found it fascinating to read that its sound was some sort of warning to people that were up to no good that swift, cold, sharp retribution was just a step away...it was in original Carracas for 5 centuries and that's why it's in the modern reinterpretation by Spyderco + Ed Schempp: carraca = navaja, one without the other it's just historically wrong. It's as simple as that.
In life not always something is present because it must serve a certain purpose. Because if that was the rule, there would be no art, no beauty, just
pure pragmatism. And the world would be a gray, boring, sad place.

People that question why the Navaja made by Spyderco has the carraca, completely missed the point why there's even an ethnic line of knives. While they still are functional pieces that can be used for daily tasks, the accent is on the beauty and eccentricity of the design. Another example: why on the Chokwe there are two round holes in the
handle? Because original Chokwes have holes as those blades can be mounted on sticks (securing them thru those holes to the wood) and made into spears, if needs arise.
I don't think many people in North America or anyway in the western part of the world will suddenly go in the woods and mount their Chokwes to sticks out of necessity. But the fact that those holes are there, makes that design a little more close to its origin and I find that personally very commendable.

If you don't understand what I am talking about, then the ethnic line is NOT for you.

And one final thought: thank God there is someone like Spyderco that has the CAJONES to make stuff like the Navaja, Barong, Chokwe, Khukuri, Persian, etc. etc. Because if that wasn't the case, let me tell you, the world of knives would be a lot more BORING. Thanks Spyderco for making this stuff. I for one really do appreciate it a LOT.

My $0.02
 
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Well put, Legion. I really like the ethnic series, because they are so different. The Zulu is another "odd" one that some folks don't like.... but I really like it. So far, I have a mini-Persian, a Chokwe, Zulu, and the Navaja (on the way).
 
racer88 said:
Well put, Legion. I really like the ethnic series, because they are so different. The Zulu is another "odd" one that some folks don't like.... but I really like it. So far, I have a mini-Persian, a Chokwe, Zulu, and the Navaja (on the way).
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Thanks Racer88. :)

Yep I forgot the Zulu (which by the way is such a bargain...Jens Anso's stuff is so pricey). The knives from the ethnic serie I own are: Zulu, Persian w/red G10 scales, Barong and soon the Navaja (ETA 4/5/2011 according to UPS).

My ethnic Holy Grail is the Kris...A couple of days ago there was one on the exchange for the ultra reasonable price of $190, NIB (these days the cheapest Kris I have seen until this one was $285...), but I just couldn't justify getting it because in the past 10 days I have gone berserk buying knives (got a BM480-1 Shoki, BM943, Emerson CQC 7A BT, Emerson Gypsy Jack which is still in transit and should get here this Wednesday...and last in order of time, KC shipped the Spyderco Navaja which ought to be here Tuesday) and had to stop the "bleeding". Sometimes my passion for knives makes me feel like some sort of a junkie! :P

One day, I'll get that Kris. One day.
 
legion681 said:
The carraca was part of the mystique of the navaja knives. I found it fascinating to read that its sound was some sort of warning to people that were up to no good that swift, cold, sharp retribution was just a step away...it was in original Carracas for 5 centuries and that's why it's in the modern reinterpretation by Spyderco + Ed Schempp: carraca = navaja, one without the other it's just historically wrong. It's as simple as that.
In life not always something is present because it must serve a certain purpose. Because if that was the rule, there would be no art, no beauty, just
pure pragmatism. And the world would be a gray, boring, sad place.

People that question why the Navaja made by Spyderco has the carraca, completely missed the point why there's even an ethnic line of knives. While they still are functional pieces that can be used for daily tasks, the accent is on the beauty and eccentricity of the design. Another example: why on the Chokwe there are two round holes in the
handle? Because original Chokwes have holes as those blades can be mounted on sticks (securing them thru those holes to the wood) and made into spears, if needs arise.
I don't think many people in North America or anyway in the western part of the world will suddenly go in the woods and mount their Chokwes to sticks out of necessity. But the fact that those holes are there, makes that design a little more close to its origin and I find that personally very commendable.

If you don't understand what I am talking about, then the ethnic line is NOT for you.

And one final thought: thank God there is someone like Spyderco that has the CAJONES to make stuff like the Navaja, Barong, Chokwe, Khukuri, Persian, etc. etc. Because if that wasn't the case, let me tell you, the world of knives would be a lot more BORING. Thanks Spyderco for making this stuff. I for one really do appreciate it a LOT.

My $0.02
Click to expand...

still don't get this. i would have appreciated a carraca (in france we say "cra cra") type lock, this would have been ethnicaly justified, and this would have served a purpose. now what i see is a modern knife that looks nothing like a navaja and that needs this noisy device to get some ethnic cred.

sorry, i'm a big spyderco fanboy, love the ethnic series but not this one. you have the right to appreciate. i just don't.
 
buddy, i'm very sorry, i was born in bastia, north corsica, france. i'm really really sorry but there's no such thing as a corsican navaja. there are some different traditional patterns, none called navaja or anything that could sound close once translated. and yes my bad the blade clip is reminiscent of some spanish ones that's true.

still like the design, just don't get the point of the unnecessary sound.
 
Here's the the quote from Ed:

Ed Schempp said:
My goal in knife design is to put a very usable blade in the hands of the ELU. I chose the Corsican version as inspiration for the knife. I own a handmade Corsican Navaja made by my Corsican friend Alexander Musso. My interpretation is stylized with Spyderco and my style influences.
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