Southard blade finish???

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May 3, 2013
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hi folks.
I’m looking for a little info on the spyderco Southard.
Any help would be appreciated.
I bought a Southard off the exchange a year or so ago. A previous Southard I owned had a more matte stone wash finish. This one had a more polished but still slightly stonewashed blade. I was concerned about it being a clone.
The member I bought from was a long time member from Colorado, who claimed he bought it in Golden @ the spyderco outlet. I believed him, and bought the knife.
Fast forward to last week. I traded this Southard to a member and he now has the same concerns I did about it being a fake.
No problem, I have no issue walking back the trade in case I’m wrong.
I’ll look through my pics to see if I can find any.
So in short, was the any changes in the southards blade finish during the model run?

Thanks in advance.

Rusty.
 
The non-DLC Southard was always stonewash. There are also threads if you search of Southard fakes vs real ones.
 
The non-DLC Southard was always stonewash.
It’s non dlc.
It’s still stone washed but it’s like the blade was polished before it was stone washed on the knife in question.
Where the other Southard I owned, and the other Southard the guy I traded with owns, is completely matte.
Does that make sense?
Lol
If this things a clone, I have some crow to eat.
I’ll say it’s the best flipping Southard I’ve ever handled tho.
 
UlVocn4.jpg
 
the bottom picture you can see that the blade is reflective and not dull. there's still some kind stone wash there though.
 
It looks weird to me too. It's no help to you but I wouldn't have been bought it (or asked to return it if the condition wasn't clearly revealed/disclosed before I bought it).

Not sure if you'd want to risk it but the only definitive judge if it is a fake or not is to send it to Spyderco for assessment. Depends if the knife is still worth anything to you if they seize rather than return it. Tough call.
 
It looks weird to me too. It's no help to you but I wouldn't have been bought it (or asked to return it if the condition wasn't clearly revealed/disclosed before I bought it).

Not sure if you'd want to risk it but the only definitive judge if it is a fake or not is to send it to Spyderco for assessment. Depends if the knife is still worth anything to you if they seize rather than return it. Tough call.
That’s the thing.
Flippers coming to Canada are a no no these days.
I’ll see what happens when I get it back.
Unless somebody posts here with some solid info, I’ll send it to spyderco.
If it’s a clone, they can trash it.
If not, I’ll have it shipped to a buddy’s place in RI.
I’ll get him to ship it to me in two different parcels.
Blade in one, the rest in another.
 
hi folks.
I’m looking for a little info on the spyderco Southard.
Any help would be appreciated.
I bought a Southard off the exchange a year or so ago. A previous Southard I owned had a more matte stone wash finish. This one had a more polished but still slightly stonewashed blade. I was concerned about it being a clone.
The member I bought from was a long time member from Colorado, who claimed he bought it in Golden @ the spyderco outlet. I believed him, and bought the knife.
Fast forward to last week. I traded this Southard to a member and he now has the same concerns I did about it being a fake.
No problem, I have no issue walking back the trade in case I’m wrong.
I’ll look through my pics to see if I can find any.
So in short, was the any changes in the southards blade finish during the model run?

Thanks in advance.

Rusty.

Every non DLC Southard I have seen has been essentially a polished stonewash. Actually it is very beautiful and imho the knife’s nicest feature.

I have never seen a matte finish Southard.
 
That’s the thing.
Flippers coming to Canada are a no no these days.
I’ll see what happens when I get it back.
Unless somebody posts here with some solid info, I’ll send it to spyderco.
If it’s a clone, they can trash it.
If not, I’ll have it shipped to a buddy’s place in RI.
I’ll get him to ship it to me in two different parcels.
Blade in one, the rest in another.

One way to tell for sure is by removing the front scale. The real Southard has two steel studs on the back of the scale which fit into two holes on the liner.

I highly doubt that the fake Southards has this feature.
 
Every non DLC Southard I have seen has been essentially a polished stonewash. Actually it is very beautiful and imho the knife’s nicest feature.

I have never seen a matte finish Southard.
Ok that’s good.
I’ve had two.
There were two different finishes.
I think both were authentic tho.
 
One way to tell for sure is by removing the front scale. The real Southard has two steel studs on the back of the scale which fit into two holes on the liner.

I highly doubt that the fake Southards has this feature.
Yes
I remember doing that on my first Southard.
That one flipped so poorly I thought it may have been a clone.
It wasn’t.
 
If I remember right, a while back someone asked about the finish on their Techno. I found the thread quick. It’s not about the blade, but the scales. It still seems to shows that Taichung stonewashes tend to change over periods, so that could help explain some of it at least.

Here’s the thread.

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/techno-finish.1547113/
Thank you.
I know ive read similar stuff, about slight changes mid run.
I just couldn’t find the source.
 
Yes
I remember doing that on my first Southard.
That one flipped so poorly I thought it may have been a clone.
It wasn’t.

Try flipping the lockbar overtravel stop over, that might fix it. Just don’t over tighten because it will be sitting on the wrong side of a sort of thin G10 lip. You can sometimes get the knife set with no bladeplay and amazing flipping action like this on the ones that have crappy action otherwise

The other thing it could be is the paper thin bearing races might be excessively cupped/dished. You might be able to push them flat somehow but the folder works 100% fine without them.

So you could also try putting it back together with no cupped bearing races.
 
Try flipping the lockbar overtravel stop over, that might fix it. Just don’t over tighten because it will be sitting on the wrong side of a sort of thin G10 lip. You can sometimes get the knife set with no bladeplay and amazing flipping action like this on the ones that have crappy action otherwise

The other thing it could be is the paper thin bearing races might be excessively cupped/dished. You might be able to push them flat somehow but the folder works 100% fine without them.

So you could also try putting it back together with no cupped bearing races.
Ya that was my old one that flipped poorly.
This current one flips like a rocket.

Thanks for the info tho.
 
I have a Southard Positron with the same blade finish. I'm not the biggest Spyderco fan, but that blade is damn beautiful.
If I'm not mistaken, it's the same finish on the Slysz Bowie?
 
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