Question on the Kopa

[Westflorida]

I am considering purchasing the Kopa with the tiger coral. Can anyone tell me their opinion on the Kopa? Also, how well does Tiger coral hold up? Does it crack or chip easily?


Thanks, Steve

 

[The Deacon]

The Kopa is a very well made little knife and I doubt you would find a "gent's knife" its size that is any stronger. Blade is VG-10, so in use, it should hold its edge as well as any of the many other Spyderco knives offered in that steel. Far as the Tiger Coral goes, while exquisite looking, is a fossilized coral, so I would rate it somewhat more fragile than the evrina, black micarta and cocobolo versions issued earlier this year.

​

That said, I occasionally carry Kiwis with what I would consider equally fragile scales (Petoskey Stone, another fossilized coral, and Dinosaur Bone). When I do, the knife goes in my watch pocket, nothing else goes in that pocket. I use them for tasks suitable for a gentleman's pocket knife, opening mail, sharpening a pencil, peeling and slicing an apple. I am somewhat more careful with them than I might be with my jigged bone or stag scaled ones, but not obsessively so.

 

[stevekt]

Them are purty knives. I want to buy one now but I know I will sit on my fat butt for months then kick myself when they are all gone.

 

[tim8557]

Your pictures got me off my butt and I purchased the Black Micarta Kopa that I have been eyeing for months. Initially I purchased a Viele 2 with Micarta so this gives me yet another EDC.

NGK says it should be here Tuesday.

 

[The Deacon]

Them are purty knives. I want to buy one now but I know I will sit on my fat butt for months then kick myself when they are all gone.

Thanks Steve, if you think those are pretty, here's a shot of the Evrina one after Linda Karst-Stone worked her scrimshaw majic on it...

 

[Westflorida]

Deacon,

I checked out your site (Nice picture!). I am a little interested in the Evrina Kopa also, do you happen to know why the material was discontinued? I took this quote off your site.

"However Evrina ran into problems of its own, and was discontinued."

Thanks, Steve

 

[The Deacon]

Deacon,

I checked out your site (Nice picture!). I am a little interested in the Evrina Kopa also, do you happen to know why the material was discontinued? I took this quote off your site.

"However Evrina ran into problems of its own, and was discontinued."

Thanks, Steve

Well, this is the actual information Sal posted on the factory forum regarding Evrina, and points to cost as the culprit...

When ivory was banned, the Japanese culture, which depended heavily on ivory, was left in quite a lurch.

It seems that the Japanese businessmen used ivory to carve their signature stamps. The demand was high, and there was nothing in the world that behaved quite like ivory.

Evrina was invented as the ideal human-made replacement for ivory and was the only "perfect" material. Unfortunately the material cost quite a bit to make and the entire project was disbanded.

We were able to purchase the remaining Evrina for the Kopa. (should be enough for the run, or maybe a little under). Cow bone or other human-made materials just won't carve and show as well.

I'm not an economist, but can't help wonder if perhaps the disintegration of the Soviet Union, global warming, and the impact that the combination of those two events may have had on the world supply of ancient ivory, served to reduce the need for an ivory substitute in Japan.