Spy. Lum Chinese Passaround - Evaluations

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Dec 2, 1999
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This thread is for posting your evaluations for th e Spyderco Lum Chinese passaround.

I sent it off yesterday to Electric Zombie. I'm going to take the liberty to start off with my own review. :p

First I must say I really like the looks of the knife, the blue looks much better in person than in the photographs. I think it must be harder to get the color right.

I knew I'd like the blade shape as I had a David Boye Prophet style lockback.

The Blade: I really like this blade shape. It slices really well and aethetically I like to see the wide swath of shiny steel. The blade is somehwat thinner than I'm accustomed to, but perfect for this type of knife. The edge bevels where pretty short but combined with the thinner stock made it really sharp. I think this may be the first time I've experienced "crispy" sharp. I couldn't push cut a sheet of paper straight on, but with the slightest of slicing motion it would almost magically part.

The Handle: I had a couple of issues with the handles. The first was design, with a smooth sweep from front to back it felt slightly less secure as if my handle would be more prone to slide forward or back. I think though that it's not worse than most other knives, it's just that after using a Temperance Jr., a Jot Khalsa, or a Salsa I think I now expect a better grip that "locks in" to the hand.

The other issue I had was that the interior edges of the knife lines felt sharp when gripping it tightly. When I looked at it it seemed all the interior edges had been smoothed so I think it was just the effect of the thinner edges of the liners as compared to the handle.

Sound: OK you may find this weird but I really like a nice lock engagement sound. Some knives click, some thunk, etc. This knife made a "ka-ting". IMO, I think the knife would be improved by bringing the pitch of the lock engagement sound down in frequency. I'm not a mechanical engineer so I won't attempt to guess the best, most cost efficient way to do this.

Overall I like the knife alot, I used it for everyday carry and it certainly does fine there,
it also looks great. The only time I wouldn't choose it is if I had alot of boxes to break down. I use something with a better handle/hand fit.

Thanks,
 
Similar to the BM942 thread, I'd suggest people on the list to subscribe this thread so that they could keep their eye on other's evaluation.
 
well i didn't get in on the passaround but i just recieved my lum i the mail so i thought i'd throw in my two cents.


first thing that came to my mind when i saw the knife was "damn this is kinda small!" once i opened the blade i was like "wow this knife is huge!" the blade is nice and big for the handle size.

the blade- the blade is very nice, looks nice and works nice, it's very sharp out of the box and the overall thin ness of the blade allows for very nice push cuts. it pierces surprisingly well too despite its wide tip

the handle- the handle fits beautifully with the lines of the blade but in a practical sense it's not too great, it has no grooves or finger guards whatsoever so i'm hesitant to do any hard stabbing with it. also it being a smooth metal handle doesn't help with grip either

looks - what can i say this knife is beautiful, fell in love with it the first time i saw it

quality - this is where i am pretty disappointed! overall the quality is good but there are some things i'm disappointed in. the almite coating is uneven it's not straight on some parts and is curvy and off "track" on the bottom of the blade, not on the highly visible part but inside the handle will it pivots there are two pits. not very noticeable but still disappointing. oen more thing that i dislike are the screws. the screws are regular phillips screws and not allen or torx screws imo this makes the knife look a little cheesy, the pivot pin is nice though. it's oversized like the BM ones and an equivalent of a T10 size rather then the regular T8 equivalent
 
Originally posted by Manji
oen more thing that i dislike are the screws. the screws are regular phillips screws and not allen or torx screws imo this makes the knife look a little cheesy, the pivot pin is nice though. it's oversized like the BM ones and an equivalent of a T10 size rather then the regular T8 equivalent
IMO not using a torx is a welcome change.
I've seen enough T6 torx that are soft enough... they just strip down easily and won't work anymore. I never have that much of a problem with small phillips.
 
DaveH - Nice review...can't wait to test it out. I'll post my review ASAP. Thanks.
 
I received the Lum this afternoon...will probably be testing it for the next two days. I will post a review afterwards.
 
Current List:

1) Electric Zombie
2) Roguesoul
3) Pahl
4) Frankie Crabs
5) Netsphinx
6) Starfish
7) Shivey
8) Jango Fett
9) BurkStar
10) Harry Calahan


One down, one more to go befor it's my turn :)

Really looking forward to getting my hands on another spyderco!
 
I sent email to EZ this past Sunday, if he replied that he sent it on Saturday. So you will probably get it in another day or so.

EZ a review would still be nice though. :(
 
Hello all,

Sorry about the delay. This has been a really crazy two weeks and I have been very busy with work...had to teach some classes without prior warning and go out of state away from email...very frustrating. Again, sorry everyone, just been very hectic on my end lately. Dave: Got your email, don't worry, it will be there soon.


As for the review:

Initial Impression: A very nice knife. Well made with a unique blade shape. The blade looks extremely wide, bigger than the handle actually. Too small.

Fit/Finish: Typical Spyderco. Very nice grind lines and secure lockup. I did the spine whack test several times and the lock held. The Lum has an eccentric pivot to adjust for wear, an excellent feature. I also felt that the inside edge of the aluminum handle was too sharp. Lockup was perfect, no play in any direction. No complaints otherwise.

Sharpness: The knife came with a nice crisp edge that would shave ok. I proceded to touch it up with the white stones, producing an extremely sharp edge that would shave easily.

Ergonomics: This is where the Lum fails...at least for me. The handle is ergonomically shaped, but is just too small for my hand. For comparison, the Lum is about the size of a Delica. If the Lum were had maybe an inch more blade and handle, it would fit my hand much better.

Handle: Another complaint is that the handle is a little smooth. I could still keep a good grip on the knife but, I would have like something a little more grippy lik G-10.

Testing: The day I received this knife, I just happened to have a bunch of boxes to cut up. I'd guess they were about 3 feet long and I made probably 40 cuts. The Lum lost it's shaving edge quickly, but continued to perform well. I never felt any major increase in resistance. Later in the day I wanted to see how good of a slasher it was. For this test I used one of those cylindrical foam pool floats covered with duct tape. This is a very good testing medium, particularly for tactical knives. (Go to walmart and look in the pool section and you'll see what I'm talking about) With very little effort, the tiny Lum was able to sever the entire piece of foam. I repeated this several times, getting the same results. Afterwards the edge felt kind of dull yet performance was still ok. The Lum was also used for basic EDC stuff; cutting rope, surgical tubing and opening stuff. I performed equally well on these mediums.

Steel: VG-10 sort of reminds me of CPM-440V. It can take a very sharp edge and hold it a long time. I did note that VG-10 was probably superior in resharening. I did notice a tiny nick near the tip of the blade after testing. I beleive this was sharpened out.

Resharpening: To resharpen the Lum, I only used the corners and flats of the white stones. I was able to achieve a very sharp edge in about 3 minutes. VG-10 is now a little higher on my steel list.

Carry: The Lum allows for tip up and tip donw carry. Sadly, lefties can't use the Lum. The knife was extremely lightweight due to the aluminum slabs, and felt like it wasn't there. Despite the small size, I was still able to draw it smoothly and reliably.

Overall Impression: Make no doubt about it, the Lum is a great knife. The lockup is rock solid, the steel is a dream, it cuts like mad and the handle is comfortable...But, if you have larger hands like I do, the Lum probably isn't for you. As I said, it is about the size of a Delica...so, if you like that size I would defiently recommend it. For women with smaller hands, the Lum would be a good non-threating utility knife. Although the Lum could be used as a last ditch tactical knife, it is really meant for utility. The flat grind combined with the thin stock make for an excellent cutter. If you are looking for a 3 inch utility folder, the Lum is an excellent choice. It is an excellent all around performer that you can rely on...not too expensive either.

Would I buy one?: Yes and No. If Spyderco were to make a large Lum I would defiently take one home. This little knife really impressed me with its cutting ability and ease of resharpening; key things for an EDC. A 4 inch Lum would in my opinion be one of the best Spydercos around. I don't know what the demand for a large Lum would be but, I'm not counting on one being made. That said, I would probably have to pick another knife.

Improvements: Other than a large model, A slightly grippier handle would be nice. AL could still be used, just add some machining. Round the inside handle corners off.

Thanks for reading, sorry about the delay....Dave, the Lum should arrive soon, I promise. I will check to make sure that it went out on time.
 
sent my "defect" lum in and got a new one. this new one is much better then the last, and is satisfactory to my standards, all in all everything i said before still holds true except for the defects
 
The Lum Chinese is a wonderful knife. I’ve always liked the looks of it, but after reading someone’s comments about it, here on the forums, I was a little put off. I think Dave may be going out of his mind, seemingly getting rid of all his Spydercos. But I do want to thank him for passing this one around first, thank you Dave! When I have the money, I will own one of these Lums.

The first thing I did after receiving the knife was to change the clip to, tip up carry. The blade is held closed very nicely. Honestly though, the most recent compression locks do do a better job of securing the blade closed. I didn’t carry the knife around but I think the blade is held closed well enough.

Using the hole to flick the blade open, works really well on this knife. Once the blade locks open, the lock is absolutely bank-vaultish.

The blade came to me, with what looked like a funny edge on it. One side appears to have been sharpened at 30 degrees and the other at 30 with a micro-beveled edge of 40 degrees. Running my fingernail along the edge I was able to feel a slight nick in the blade towards the tip. I never did sharpen the blade even though it needs it. Still, the edge performed quite nicely and is sharp.

Fit and finish on this knife is excellent depending on how you look at it. The only flaw I see, is a cosmetic one. The aluminum is coated and it appears that the coating is partially removed, by hand, around the inside edge of the scales. This provides a nice, IMO contrast between bright shiny metal and the coating, blue in this case. The flaw is that in removing the coating by hand, the contrast line is uneven. Overall the knife appears classy and, is in fact, very well constructed. With the blade closed, it lines up dead center between the scales. The embedded lock means handle is nice and slim.

I measured the thickness of the blade and compared it to a Spyderco Salsa and a Kershaw Boa. The Salsa is the thinnest at .113” followed by the Lum at .118” and the Boa at .125”. I also measured the edge thickness and in eyeballing it, the Lum and Salsa are very close to being the same, followed by the Boa. Why did I do this, well these three knives are the best cheese slicers I own. What the measurement doesn’t tell me is how these blades perform. But in general if you need a good cheese slicer any one of these three, with the slim blade stock, will do quite nicely.

I originally read a review here saying the Lum was not good at slicing cheese, which’s completely wrong. I also sliced a few oranges, now any old knife will slice an orange, but not at this level of comfort! I’m mean WOW this is an orange slicer. I think more than just oranges and cheese, this knife with the uniquely shaped handle, is a great food prep knife. Hanging on near the end of the handle puts the blade in a downward cant, keeping your wrist in a nice comfortable position. Also when you to extend an index finger out to the tip of the blade, along the spine, for fine tip control, the nice curved shape keeps the handle comfortably against the palm.

<center>Here are two photos, notice the edge of the scales are as I described.</center><center>These pictures are links towards bigger pictures.</center> <center><A HREF="http://www.merr.com/users/rogue/lum/lum1.jpg">
lum1T.jpg
</a></center><center><A HREF="http://www.merr.com/users/rogue/lum/lum2.jpg">
lum2T.jpg
</a></center>
 
I got the lum in the mail today :D :)

First thoughts,
Very well built. Nice shape. Locks open solid.
Cuts paper fine, can push cut 3/8" rope without any problem.
It is just about shaving sharp.


Thursday is my day off this week so I will give it a work out and take some photo's of it to post with my review.

It will be sharpened up and shipped out to Frankie Crabs Saturday morning.

I was just about to order the Spyderco Navigator today.
Now I will have to try out the lum first :)


Thanks again DaveH
 
Originally posted by pahl
I got the lum in the mail today :D :)

First thoughts,
Very well built. Nice shape. Locks open solid.
Cuts paper fine, can push cut 3/8" rope without any problem.
It is just about shaving sharp.


Thursday is my day off this week so I will give it a work out and take some photo's of it to post with my review.

It will be sharpened up and shipped out to Frankie Crabs Saturday morning.

Thanks again DaveH


Pahl, thanks for the heads up. I'll look for it sometime around Wed. or Thurs.

Frank
 
The Lum is once again in the mail.
Sent today, priority mail :)

I will email DaveH the confirmation number.

I did not get to use it as much as I would have like to, but I did get some photo's taken and will post a review later when I got some more time,
 
I just picked up the Lum today, Wednesday. My immediate impression is that the knife is nicely put together, opens smoothly, and locks up tightly, with the liner lock moving almost 50% across the tang. The blade sits squarely bet. the handles when closed, and is fairly sharp. It shaved arm hair pretty easily, push cut through some notebook paper very neatly, and cleanly cut open a pretzel bag (the bags tend to tear open more often then not). It also easily cut up the priority mail box that I received it in. :)

The false edge ground onto the blade top is a nice touch, and the blade is finiished in a very attractive low mirror polish. The blue anodizing is subtle, sort of a bluish-gray. Roguesoul commented about the finish removal on the inside edge of the scales being uneven, and this is very evident- not a performance defect, obviously, but perhaps not what you'd desire in a knife that generally sells for $125 or better. It's particularly noticeable towards the top rear of the handle, near the lanyrad hole. Also, about using the hole to flick open the blade- :eek:! This thing opens as fast as a Kershaw speed safe model, maybe faster, and without the additional bits to worry about breaking.

More later in the week...:D
 
Thanks FrankieCrabs, I definatly think 3 days or so is better than a week for a passaround, I like to hear what people think! :)
 
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