Opinions on the Spyderco South Fork?

B

Bugout Bill

Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Messages
1,508
So I have wanted to spend some coin on a high end knife (or knives) for a little while now, and I thought I had finally decided on getting a CRK. While perusing an online retailer, I stumbled upon the Spyderco South Fork. It looks awesome; right around 5 inch blade, S90V steel, and a really nice looking sheath. I do have some concerns, however. It seems like it is designed primarily for hunting or fishing, neither of which I do. I would be using the knife for essentially all legal purposes, but the primary use it would see is landscaping work. I have used a high vanadium steel (S30V) for rough outdoors use and have had no real problems as long as I was careful. Anyway, I am eager for any input. Thanks.
 
I bought mine mostly because of the S90V steel. My sense is that it was designed mostly as a fillet knife, but it is stout enough to handle most jobs. In many ways, it is basically an extra large, fixed blade Military. For a a fixed blade with a blade that long, it is light and easy to carry. I like to carry mine as a backup knife on hikes. I carry it loose (but in the sheath) in my backpocket. When I pull it out, I catch the edge of the Kydex sheath on the edge of my pocket and the knife comes out clean and fast.

It would be a poor chopper, I wouldn't want to baton with it, and I'd not want to be rough with the tip, but as a general hiking knife it's pretty good.

I'm not sure what you mean by landscaping work, but the long, thin blade is versatile -- just not all that tough. The steel is excellent and holds an edge for a long time.
 
Twindog said:
I bought mine mostly because of the S90V steel. My sense is that it was designed mostly as a fillet knife, but it is stout enough to handle most jobs. In many ways, it is basically an extra large, fixed blade Military. For a a fixed blade with a blade that long, it is light and easy to carry. I like to carry mine as a backup knife on hikes. I carry it loose (but in the sheath) in my backpocket. When I pull it out, I catch the edge of the Kydex sheath on the edge of my pocket and the knife comes out clean and fast.

It would be a poor chopper, I wouldn't want to baton with it, and I'd not want to be rough with the tip, but as a general hiking knife it's pretty good.

I'm not sure what you mean by landscaping work, but the long, thin blade is versatile -- just not all that tough. The steel is excellent and holds an edge for a long time.
Click to expand...

When I say landscaping work, I basically mean clearing light brush or weeds. My Spyderco Military has performed quite well at those tasks, but it's relative lack of chopping aggression is a bit of a detriment. I was wondering if a larger blade would help at all. I have used my Glock Feldmesser for those tasks and, although it is quite light, it still chopped better than the Millie.

Landscaping wouldn't be its only use, I would use it pretty much any task that required good cutting performance; i.e food prep, breaking down boxes, or defensive purposes (god forbid).
 
Bugout Bill said:
When I say landscaping work, I basically mean clearing light brush or weeds. My Spyderco Military has performed quite well at those tasks, but it's relative lack of chopping aggression is a bit of a detriment. I was wondering if a larger blade would help at all. I have used my Glock Feldmesser for those tasks and, although it is quite light, it still chopped better than the Millie.

Landscaping wouldn't be its only use, I would use it pretty much any task that required good cutting performance; i.e food prep, breaking down boxes, or defensive purposes (god forbid).
Click to expand...

The South Fork would work fine for your uses, it's not weak at all.
 
should be a great knife. going to have to massively disagree on the comment about it being basically a fixed blade military. completely different ergonomics and blade. the military has the tip dropped will below the axis of the handle line with that constant curve of the handle and angle of the blade, whereas the trailing point on the south fork does the complete opposite. yeah, they're both a good length, strong yet able to slice for days, but after that completely different beasts in your hand.
 
I do use mine as an extra large, fixed-blade Military, but goodeye is correct that the erogos are different. The biggest difference being, as goodeye says, the Military's handle is off axis from the blade. The South Fork handle follows the line of the blade spine. The Military also has a thumb ramp that the South Fork lacks. I do like the thumb ramp. And the Military handle has a grip catch that the smooth-handled South Fork lacks.

But the blades are similar. The Military has a straight spine. The South Fork has a trailing point, but one so mild that it is not much different from the Military. The blade profiles are otherwise similar -- long, thin, pointy with a mild belly. The large similarity in the blade geometry offsets the difference in handle erogos for my uses.

I'd stand by my opinion that the South Fork is not designed for tough duty. I'm not saying that it is weak, but S90V is optimized to hold an edge, not for toughness. And the blade profile is slender -- good for lots of uses, but not for heavy-duty use.

Compared to my Military BG42, which is not a heavy duty knife, either, the South Fork's blade is thinner at the spine: 0.1205 inches, compared to 0.1350 for the Military and 0.1545 on my Rukus EDC. The tip of the South Fork at the edge bevel is slightly thicker than the Military: 0.0360 vs. 0.0330 for the Military (both reprofiled all the way to the tip at 30 dps) and 0.0410 for the Rukus, also reprofiled to 30 dps all the way to the tip. The Rukus is my heavy-duty EDC.

I like the thin tip on the Military because it is so useful for detail work, but if the Military gets any criticism it's that the tip is too thin. The South Fork is a longer blade, capable of generating more leverage, and thinner stock blade. It's made with steel less tough than steel used in most Military models. It's also not going to chop well because the blade is so light. The balance is a good inch back on the handle. I'd be afraid to baton or pry with it.
 
Great knife. I put a short piece of inner tube on the end of the handle. It tacks the smooth G10 to your palm while still having a clean, firm grip up front. Looks a little funny but there's nothing wrong with that S90V edge. After you use it awhile, it starts looking beautiful.

Spyderco South Fork and Green Para2
JoISMvu.jpg
 
The south fork is one of my favourite mid sized production fixed blades. The blade came with a little to much thickness behind the edge for my intended uses. The blade's cutting performance is more then enough for the average person, but I really appreciate a thin edge since I don't use my mid sized fixed blades for hard use, so I thought I would re-grind this to .006 inches behind the edge. I've had no issues with the edge so far and I feel it holds an edge longer and sharpens up easier then the factory grind. I find myself breaking down boxes and kitchen duties as my primary area if uses and maybe the odd whittling and fire prep if i'm camping.



IMG_1032.jpgIMG_1033.jpgIMG_1029.jpgIMG_1028.jpg
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top