Spy. Lum Chinese Passaround - Evaluations

Just got the Lum and have been looking it over. There's some immediate likes and dislikes. Although brilliantly shaped, the handle is way too smooth. Almost feels like it was treated with teflon or something. The blade locks up with authority and is quick into action. Real smooth.

I'll carry it for a couple of days and see how it performs. :)
 
Hello, all. Sorry for the delay. Desperately trying to finish novel; not letting myself spend too much online time. In fact, I've been avoiding this thread, particularly--guilt plus the desire to post a review unbiased by other opinions. So here goes:

1) This is a beautiful knife. The color is lovely; businesslike but elegant. The shape is simply gorgeous. Mr. Glesser et alia: If you haven't already sent the Lum to MOMA, may I suggest you do so? This knife is art. The almite coating had worn down in several places, possibly 'cause five or six of us have been putting it through its paces. (I've grown to expect very little of anodized coatings. I wreck them.)

2) This knife did NOT pass my 'sheeple' test. The fairly knife-friendly roommate who cooperated in this entirely unscientific survey identified it as 'weapon' right off the bat. Pretty it may be, but the blade width and length take it out of 'gentleman' category, lack of tweezers etc. eliminate 'tool,' and the overall look disqualifies 'kitchen.' The fact that it is so lovely even brought up questions about field uses, though the light weight makes it an easier carry choice. The false edge, though, was the sticking point (eh), in the eyes of many, it seems to say 'stabbing.' Maybe because SAKs and kitchen blades don't have them.

3) In the hand, just fooling around with it: Nice weight. (Wish I had a Delica with aluminum scales and pretty anodizing.) During use I ran across the first serious (imho) flaw in the design: the -serrated- liner lock. The texturing, put in place to improve the grip, I'm sure, goes
uuuuuuuuuuuuu
instead of nnnnnnnnnnnnn. The little half-circles make for quite sharp peaks, and I've seen Rambo-style sawbacks which didn't rasp so harshly against the skin. One could get used to it, I suppose, but there would probably be some blister time.

4) Mechanism: Smooth opening, though the thinness of the scales made it harder to use them for the instinctive spydie index-finger brace, and the clip was so thin it bit into the fingers instead of bracing them. Closing, this was even dangerous. The thumbtip was just too close to the blade for me to feel confident with one-handed closing. Also, the closing is just about frictionless. I couldn't flick/grav the knife open, but it shut down awfully fast.

5) Cutting: My time with the Lum was mid-week, so I couldn't do as much as I'd have liked. It worked beautifully on tomatoes and other kitchen chores. The big-belly blade let me rock-chop pretty well. My hand was sort of close to the cutting board when I did that, however, because of the downward curving handle. Ordinary chopping was quite comfortable, and the whole thing felt quite strong, with no side-to-side play.

That's all I had written in my notes. Hope it's worthwhile. I'll read everyone else's review, then stick my two cents in again.

Thanks,
Kathy
 
Wow, talk about timing, I just received the Lum back about 10 minutes ago.

First some observations:

The lock seats better now then when it started off. The handle finish has held up well. The blade is still pretty sharp. Thanks everyone for taking good care of it.

Now that I have it back, I gotta wonder why I donated it because I like it, Maybe I'll have to buy it back. :rolleyes:

Anyway, as per the plan, this knife is now forsale and there will be and entry on bladeforums in a bit over on forsale. The money generated from the sale will go to buying a brand new passaround knife.

Again thanks everyone. :D :D :D :D

Edit: Just now after playing with this knife I like it even better, here's the forsale thread:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=221871
 
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