- Joined
- Mar 21, 2005
- Messages
- 3,355
Initial Impressions
The first thing I noticed about the Chinook 3 was that it was a fair bit lighter than I thought it would be. I handled one of the old Chinook 1 models a few years back and still remember what a tank it was. I wish I had the two knives side by side to see all the ways they are different from each other. The fully flat ground blade on the 3 surely makes a reduction in weight and the liners have sizable cut-outs for weight saving. Still, the 3 doesnt feel any less solid or heavy duty, just more refined and easier to handle.
The Handle
In short, I really like it. Spydercos current G10 has what I feel is just the right level of grip and texture. The bevel around the edge of the scales is nicely finished. I did not find hotspots in any grip I tried. Everything felt natural, comfortable and secure, which, with a knife of this size, is quite important. I think a big folder that feels awkward is a recipe for trouble, whether it be for yourself, the knife or maybe both. With the peaks at either end and the valley in the middle of the Chinook, my hand settled in and stayed put.
The Blade
I dont like the blade, I love it. The profile is gorgeous. Ive got something of a soft spot for upswept blades and the Chinook hit right in the middle of it. It looks elegant and graceful, but also aggressive and potent. I think the flat grind complements the blade shape nicely. It arrived reasonably sharp and a handful of passes on the fine Sharpmaker rods brought it back to arm hair shaving status. The action was very smooth and opening the blade was easy. The loud clack of the lockbar snapping into place was a nice sound. I felt like it was the knifes way of announcing it was ready to go to work.
Cutting
I sliced some paper to start things off and it gave up without any snags. Moving on to a length of paracord I made cuts on the apex of the blades curve, drawing and rocking it a bit in the same motion. Choking up on the handle a bit and moving my index finger on top of the opening hole helped in making these smaller and more controlled cuts. After the cord was made into about 20 pieces I decided to move to the kitchen for some sandwich making. First up was the bread, a nice bakery loaf that was fresh and soft. The edge was still sharp enough to bite through the thin crust without any sliding. While the thickness of the blade and edge bevel werent optimal for bread compared to a thinner kitchen knife, it was no trouble to get two smooth, even slices. Next on the cutting board was the iceburg lettuce. A quick downward chop took off an inch-wide section with no hesitation. Slicing that into smaller pieces was easy, the blade drew though nicely. After the lettuce came an onion. I cut out a quarter section and then sliced it thinly with a rocking motion. It was at this point I noticed a bit of upward play in the blade when the pressure at the start of the rocking cut was pushing the forward third of the blade against the cutting board. I stopped, moved the blade 90 degrees towards closed and looked at the end of lockbar where it contacted the tang of the blade. There was a small amount of deformation at the very end of the bar on one side of the top edge. I dont know if this would account for the blade play I felt or not. In any case, this play was quite minimal and only noticeable when I made the type of cut described above. I finish dicing the onion and made a nice chicken sandwich. After cleaning the blade I found some cardboard boxes that needed to be cut up to fit in the recycling container. The cardboard was about as thick as youd find on a shoebox, not corrugated or reinforced in any way. I used the back third of the blade closest to the pivot and the Chinook sliced through very smoothly. There were no hang-ups at all, just nice clean cuts. After I had the boxes broken down I stacked 15 or so pieces on top of each other. I held the knife in a reverse grip and stabbed down with moderate force into the stack from about a foot away. The tip easily penetrated halfway through. This was the only time I used the knife in a stabbing or thrusting motion, but I imagine it does serious damage when wielded in anger at soft targets in such a manner. At the end of the week the blade needed another touch up, and after eight swipes on the fine rods I got the blade back to where Id had it previously.
Fit & Finish
The construction on the knife was excellent, as I would expect from Spyderco. There was one place where the fit between the liners and backbar was a bit off. A small gap (shown below) existed on the side and around the area where clip was positioned. In this case it was right hand, tip up. I loosened the clip screws and the gap disappeared. I switched the clip over left hand tip up and found the same issue. I tried moving the clip to both of the tip down positions and found no problems there. I went back to tip up position, inserted the clip screws and turned them in small increments to find the depth where the gap started. When the gap first appeared the screws did not feel that well seated in the holes. Both they and the clip were still what Id call loose, easily moved around by a fingertip. Another half turn or so had the screws more secure in the holes but not at the point where there was much tension in the clip. Continuing to the point where one would consider the screws as hand-tightened created the gap as seen in the picture below. The clip was now secure and had good tension for pocket carry. My guess is that the screws are a bit too long and bottoming out on the backbar. This gap doesnt seem to affect the knife, but I wonder if having it there over the course of several years of carry and use might have long term effects. Other than that gap and the aforementioned area on the lockbar, I found no flaws in the fit and finish.
Possible Changes
There were two areas where I might make changes on the knife. The first would be to make the choil under the pivot a bit deeper and more evenly rounded out because my index finger didn't fit quite as well here as I would like. The second would be to move the holes for tip down carry further towards the end of the handle, above the pivot screw. This isnt a knife that disappears in the pocket with a low profile, and I ended up keeping the knife set for tip up carry anyway, but having a bit less of the knife exposed by moving those tip down screw holes would by my preference.
Conclusions
I was very impressed with the Chinook 3. If I happened to be in the market for another big heavy duty folder I would not hesitate a bit to purchase one. I didnt end up doing any heavy duty chores while I had the knife but I have confidence it could take pretty much anything life would throw at it. The ergonomics were very much to my liking and the blade is a thing of beauty. Spyderco has made nice very progress with the Chinook through its three versions and this latest one really reaps the benefits. All in all, I think its a great knife.
Thanks to Spyderco for making the knife available and to frank k for putting the passaround together, I really enjoyed it. A few more pictures below.
The first thing I noticed about the Chinook 3 was that it was a fair bit lighter than I thought it would be. I handled one of the old Chinook 1 models a few years back and still remember what a tank it was. I wish I had the two knives side by side to see all the ways they are different from each other. The fully flat ground blade on the 3 surely makes a reduction in weight and the liners have sizable cut-outs for weight saving. Still, the 3 doesnt feel any less solid or heavy duty, just more refined and easier to handle.
The Handle
In short, I really like it. Spydercos current G10 has what I feel is just the right level of grip and texture. The bevel around the edge of the scales is nicely finished. I did not find hotspots in any grip I tried. Everything felt natural, comfortable and secure, which, with a knife of this size, is quite important. I think a big folder that feels awkward is a recipe for trouble, whether it be for yourself, the knife or maybe both. With the peaks at either end and the valley in the middle of the Chinook, my hand settled in and stayed put.
The Blade
I dont like the blade, I love it. The profile is gorgeous. Ive got something of a soft spot for upswept blades and the Chinook hit right in the middle of it. It looks elegant and graceful, but also aggressive and potent. I think the flat grind complements the blade shape nicely. It arrived reasonably sharp and a handful of passes on the fine Sharpmaker rods brought it back to arm hair shaving status. The action was very smooth and opening the blade was easy. The loud clack of the lockbar snapping into place was a nice sound. I felt like it was the knifes way of announcing it was ready to go to work.
Cutting
I sliced some paper to start things off and it gave up without any snags. Moving on to a length of paracord I made cuts on the apex of the blades curve, drawing and rocking it a bit in the same motion. Choking up on the handle a bit and moving my index finger on top of the opening hole helped in making these smaller and more controlled cuts. After the cord was made into about 20 pieces I decided to move to the kitchen for some sandwich making. First up was the bread, a nice bakery loaf that was fresh and soft. The edge was still sharp enough to bite through the thin crust without any sliding. While the thickness of the blade and edge bevel werent optimal for bread compared to a thinner kitchen knife, it was no trouble to get two smooth, even slices. Next on the cutting board was the iceburg lettuce. A quick downward chop took off an inch-wide section with no hesitation. Slicing that into smaller pieces was easy, the blade drew though nicely. After the lettuce came an onion. I cut out a quarter section and then sliced it thinly with a rocking motion. It was at this point I noticed a bit of upward play in the blade when the pressure at the start of the rocking cut was pushing the forward third of the blade against the cutting board. I stopped, moved the blade 90 degrees towards closed and looked at the end of lockbar where it contacted the tang of the blade. There was a small amount of deformation at the very end of the bar on one side of the top edge. I dont know if this would account for the blade play I felt or not. In any case, this play was quite minimal and only noticeable when I made the type of cut described above. I finish dicing the onion and made a nice chicken sandwich. After cleaning the blade I found some cardboard boxes that needed to be cut up to fit in the recycling container. The cardboard was about as thick as youd find on a shoebox, not corrugated or reinforced in any way. I used the back third of the blade closest to the pivot and the Chinook sliced through very smoothly. There were no hang-ups at all, just nice clean cuts. After I had the boxes broken down I stacked 15 or so pieces on top of each other. I held the knife in a reverse grip and stabbed down with moderate force into the stack from about a foot away. The tip easily penetrated halfway through. This was the only time I used the knife in a stabbing or thrusting motion, but I imagine it does serious damage when wielded in anger at soft targets in such a manner. At the end of the week the blade needed another touch up, and after eight swipes on the fine rods I got the blade back to where Id had it previously.
Fit & Finish
The construction on the knife was excellent, as I would expect from Spyderco. There was one place where the fit between the liners and backbar was a bit off. A small gap (shown below) existed on the side and around the area where clip was positioned. In this case it was right hand, tip up. I loosened the clip screws and the gap disappeared. I switched the clip over left hand tip up and found the same issue. I tried moving the clip to both of the tip down positions and found no problems there. I went back to tip up position, inserted the clip screws and turned them in small increments to find the depth where the gap started. When the gap first appeared the screws did not feel that well seated in the holes. Both they and the clip were still what Id call loose, easily moved around by a fingertip. Another half turn or so had the screws more secure in the holes but not at the point where there was much tension in the clip. Continuing to the point where one would consider the screws as hand-tightened created the gap as seen in the picture below. The clip was now secure and had good tension for pocket carry. My guess is that the screws are a bit too long and bottoming out on the backbar. This gap doesnt seem to affect the knife, but I wonder if having it there over the course of several years of carry and use might have long term effects. Other than that gap and the aforementioned area on the lockbar, I found no flaws in the fit and finish.
Possible Changes
There were two areas where I might make changes on the knife. The first would be to make the choil under the pivot a bit deeper and more evenly rounded out because my index finger didn't fit quite as well here as I would like. The second would be to move the holes for tip down carry further towards the end of the handle, above the pivot screw. This isnt a knife that disappears in the pocket with a low profile, and I ended up keeping the knife set for tip up carry anyway, but having a bit less of the knife exposed by moving those tip down screw holes would by my preference.
Conclusions
I was very impressed with the Chinook 3. If I happened to be in the market for another big heavy duty folder I would not hesitate a bit to purchase one. I didnt end up doing any heavy duty chores while I had the knife but I have confidence it could take pretty much anything life would throw at it. The ergonomics were very much to my liking and the blade is a thing of beauty. Spyderco has made nice very progress with the Chinook through its three versions and this latest one really reaps the benefits. All in all, I think its a great knife.
Thanks to Spyderco for making the knife available and to frank k for putting the passaround together, I really enjoyed it. A few more pictures below.
