Spiderco Tenacious

J

johned

Joined
May 25, 2010
Messages
58
Just thought I would share my impressions of my new purchase:

I don't understand why I like this knife. The blade has a really thick spine at the heal and it is machined square as can be. Two corners that run the length of the blade and they look sharp by themselves. It doesn't look finished but rather raw.

The blade is really wide as the Spidy designs all are. I have never bought one before and I have looked at many and I have friends that covet them. The things look weird and have odd names for a knife such as "Bird" or "Byrd".

To me they don't look graceful so much as they look distorted or mutated.

My Tens slabs are almost as squared as the blade spine. Not quite as there is a flat machined at a 45 degree angle but it is tiny and doesn't actually soften the edge of the handle. It first impresses as a uncomfortable grip though that changes. Almost all my first impressions of the knife have changed not just for the better but for the "MUCH" better.

There is a finger curve in the front and back of the handle and it is not a comfy fit for my hand. BUT, when I squeeze the grip my hand seems to slide into the handle and I get a rather severly tight feel and the knife feels more a part of my hand as apposed to something being grasped or held. It seems to hold me in return and its grip is equal to mine. Odd and I will have to remember that feature for future projects. I can see where that design would limit the people the knife would appeal to and I had to fumble around with it for quite a while to discover it. Like I said "it doesn't feel comfy" but what it does start to feel is "very functional".

The blade I finally noticed is very thick at the base but it grows to a paper thin thickness at the tip. Now that is elegant but only when I am looking at the blade down the spine.

That blade is rock solid with no wobble or flex at all. Terrific craftsmanship.

Now I see all the attributes but I still wonder "Why do I like this knife so much?"

At $30 on sale perhaps you might like to try one. For sure you could sell it for that and send it down the road.

John
 
You like the knife because it's one of the cuttingest cutting tools you can cut with for $30-40, and it's backed by a great warranty.

If you like the Tenacious well enough, you might want to look at upgrading to the Manix some point down the line. To me, the Manix is the premium version of the Tenacious - at least now that it's fully flat ground instead of hollow ground.
 
LOL. You've discovered the Tenacious. Good for you. But you're preaching to the choir, the Tenacious is a 'Hall of Famer' to use those words, with most knife aficionados, has been for years now. What's not to like about the knife? It cuts beyond its weight, it's high quality (certainly for its price point), it's ergonomic. It's one of those rare folders that makes you reconsider your madness in buying knives 20x the price, who really don't perform any better. ;)
 
I have been daily carrying a tenacious for a couple weeks now. Got it on amazon for $44 with one day shipping. I checked it out first at Cabelas and the thing that impressed me the most was how smooth it was in its opening! I had to do a double take. I couldn't believe it. I was able to manually open it faster than my assisted opening Kershaws! I asked the clerk about twenty times if it was assisted opening. I had to double check the box because I didn't believe him. It's a great little knife for my edc purposes. I've never had a folding knife built with so much quality for only $40.
 
I owned one and EDCed it for about a day & a half.
Bought it on vacation and hated the feel so much that I returned it for a Kershaw Injection.

To each his own I guess.
Good to hear your happy with yours though. I hope it serves you well.
 
Lefty,

The way that grip is made it would be impossible for a large handed man to use comfortably. I take a glove size LARGE but I have known many men with hands bigger than mine. If you have large hands this knife will certainly NOT WORK for you. One size does not fit all even in marital aids let alone folders. Thank you for sharing and for you good wishes. Much appreciated and the comparison will be useful to many readers.

John
 
Handle to cutting edge ratio is also outstanding. Certainly no wasted blade.
 
I love and hate my Tenacious at the same time.

I love it because the blade exemplifies utilitarianism while also being highly aesthetic to me. Great ergonomics as well as F&F for the price.

I hate it because in my experience the lock is a weak one; this doesn't matter to many on BF (especially the pocket jewelry crowd), but it matters to me. My Tenacious has been used, abused and in general just treated roughly. It's got stains, chips in the edge and lots of use. Thankfully the lock has held up when I was just normally using the knife without trying to overcome the lock.

Gave my Tenacious a good sharpening. The chips are still there, but it's got a usable edge now and the knife is ready to work again. Weak locks might bother me but it doesn't matter so much because I EDC a small fixed blade that I can defer any rough tasks to.

I probably should have treated my Tenacious a lot better than I have, considering it's a blue sprint run, but screw it, I never intended for it to sit on my shelf unused. I'm going to give it some more pocket time.
 
I made some wood scales for mine. The wood is 2-3 times as thick as the original scales. I rounded all the edges so it wasn't blocky, put in a palm swell etc. The new scales made it feel very good in hand, very different from the original. Downfall: It is much bulkier, but ergos win.

Ric
 
Comeuppance said:
You like the knife because it's one of the cuttingest cutting tools you can cut with for $30-40, and it's backed by a great warranty.

If you like the Tenacious well enough, you might want to look at upgrading to the Manix some point down the line. To me, the Manix is the premium version of the Tenacious - at least now that it's fully flat ground instead of hollow ground.
Click to expand...

Thank you for that recommendation. Considering all I read here I will definately try the MANIX
 
ozgooner said:
I have large hands (XL glove) and this knife certainly DOES WORK for me. Great EDC. :)
Click to expand...

Oz,

Just a couple things: First is that there is no accounting for taste. Second is that there is a reason we have "horse races". Third is that some people like really, really, REALLY loose fitting gloves. LOL (oops, that's three. Delete the one least funny of those.) Ahhhh! The three finger grip.

Thanks for sharing. You are not so much a contradiction but an alternate view point. Thanks for that.
 
I actually prefer the tenacious over the regular manix for edc tasks. After the teacious, I got a Manix XL. I liked that so much. I also picked up the standard manix. But it never spoke to me. Not sure why. Rarely use mine over the tenacious. Something about it keeps me coming back to it. Hard to explain really. It's not the best looking knife out there. Very utilitarian. It's not something you are going to use as a showoff piece. But it just clicks somehow. It has a bare bones liner lock. But it holds up and the action is as smooth as any knife I own. It cuts and slices well. Easy to sharpen and tough enough for most everyday tasks you will come across. And it's only ~$40.
 
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The Tenacious put me in quite a quandary when I decided to go USA made only. I decided to give it to my son who does contract apartment maintenance. It has been his go-to knife ever since.
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I've been using my Tenacious to practice my less than mediocre sharpening skills. After my father put a ton of chips in the edge, it was a challenging prospect, and the chips are still there, but I did manage to make it sharp again. Going to make it my primary EDC knife so that I can keep using it and practise my sharpening on it.
 
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