Spyderco Blade Tip Strength

A

appzen

Joined
Jul 14, 2005
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I used to have an Endura, but gave it away. Am considering buying a Delica, Salsa, or Lil Temperance with leaf blade, but am concerned about the strength of the blade tip. They look to be too thin to have real strength. I've read that Spyderco tips can bend or break if the knife is dropped. I know never to use a knife to pry, so that is not a consideration. I've looked at the Salt 1 and like the thicker tip on it, but don't know enough about H1 steel. How well does it hold an edge and how easily can it be sharpened? What do you know about blade tip reliability on the Delica or Salsa? Are there other Spydercos you think more of?
Thanks,
AppZen
 
Try the new Delica or Endura 4. Nice strong tip, but still enough point for many tasks.
 
I agree about the Endura or Delica 4! But, I would also ask you to consider the D'Allara 2; fantastic beefy knife.
 
The H1 steel is easy to touch up. It comes right back up to a nice biting edge for me with just a few strops every time. I think it is better than AUS6 and comparable to AUS8 and 440 A through C from what I've seen in the two knives I have with that steel.

Spyderco makes a good knife. I don't think their tips are any more or any less prone to snapping than any other companies' products.

I've brought blades back to a point from all types of knives over the years. It can happen to any of them. It may have more to do with the steel the blade is made out of and the hardness of it rather than the manufacturer.

STR
 
Well if you look at the Lil'T for example: Sure you have a distal taper (which, btw. is the reason why the leaf shape performs so well in many tasks), but you start of with a 4 mm blade stock. Only the last 1/4" or so drops below 1.5-2 mm (I don't have Lil'T next to me as I type. This is an approximation) and most knifes have a piece at the tip that is quite thin. I have never really considered the Spyderco tips as fragile, especially not the one on the Lil'T. If you have a distal taper like on the Caly Jr. and start with 2 mm blade stock, it gets pretty thin out there but than again, its a knife designed for different tasks.

Dropping a knife point down with a slight angle can generate substantial torques especially if the handle is heavy and many knifes would loose or damage a tip dropping it just right. On the other hand, Michael Janich punched the tip (full force to the hilt) of the Yojimbo and Ronin (and those ARE pretty fine tips) repeatedly through a pig skull without any harm to the tip. So it is really a question of what you expect your tip to do. Read a couple of Cliff's reviews (and read them carefully: Not only whether they failed but under what conditions they failed. Most knifes fail in Cliff's hands, that alone doesn't mean much. Important is how and when they failed). Sure he broke the tip of a Chinook II, but it was while he was standing on the handle while the tip of the knife was buried in a log. He showed that the Manix is more than capable of being punshed through the lid of a can to serve as emergency can opener, and quite frankly I wouldn't hesitate to push, if not punch a Delica III through a can either. For the new Delica/Endura 4 that is a ho-hum.

I guess I really depends all on what you call fragile.

As to H-1, do a search, there is quite a bit of information out there in past threads. Edgeholding is good, I don't think it is as good as the common prime steels, but it still holds an edge very well. It is definitely a "real bladesteel" as opposed to the usual ultra stainless junk-made in China POS (18/8 and the like). And it sharpens up very nicely, takes a very nice edge very easily.
 
I guess I'm just old school, but if a Spydie tip is too "weak" for you, you probably shouldn't be trusted with a sharp/pointy object in the first place.
 
People do break tips off enduras and especially delicas, I've done it myself. I wasn't doing particularly smart things with the knife at the time, but one of the things I like about the delica and endura is that I don't mind beating on it a bit. I do love how sharp and pointy the delica/endura are though.

One option to think about is the new delica 4 and endura 4. The points are slightly stronger than the predecessors. Not so rounded as the Salt, the points remain extremely sharp, but slightly reinforced. Once you go with a knife with a pointy tip like this, you'll never want to go back ... I recommend the '4 highly.

Joe
 
mnblade said:
I guess I'm just old school, but if a Spydie tip is too "weak" for you, you probably shouldn't be trusted with a sharp/pointy object in the first place.
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I used to use knives properly. Nothing but slicing motions. Spydies were my favourite. Then I discovered Strider. I use the very tip to pry metal safeties off lighters, used my SNG when fixing a car to (purposely) break a thick plastic tab off to use the parts within. I didn't even think twice about it, but afterwards thought: "Geeze, if I still EDC'ed a Para instead of a SNG I would have either not attempted the job or broken the tip off trying."

I used to try not to scratch my Spydies. Now I abuse the crap out of my Striders and find them to be much more versatile and useful tools. I've never been happier. :D
 
My favourite Spydie for EDC is the Paramilitary, it has a very nice blade shape and the point is strong enough for what you might use a knife for.

For less than half the price of the Paramilitary, the Endura 4 is an amazing knife with all the adjustments the original Endura needed (IMHO), stronger tip, liners. I think it's one of the best knives out there.

The Salt 1 has a strong tip, a bit too rounded for some tasks but enough for most. I've used it while working in relief operations of flooded areas, mainly because of its rust resistance which is awesome, the shiny yellow handles are great too. Edge holding is more or less like STR said, although I wouldn't put it up to par with AUS8 or 440C. It's easy to touch up, you don't get S30V edge holding, but that's the cost of extreme corrotion resistance.

If you pair your EDC knife with a SAK or multitool, you'll find that you won't need to put it through any unproper tasks that might damage it. You can get a used SAK in very good conditions for less than $10.
 
appzen said:
I appreciate all those who provided so much informed comment. I think I am going to go with the Salt 1 with yellow FRN handle. My EDC is a SAK and I have a bunch of different models. Also have the SAK multitool, which I really find useful. I found this evaluation of the Salt 1 at
http://www.backpackgeartest.org/reviews/Knives/Folding/Spyderco%20Salt%20I%20Yellow%20Spyderedge/Mark%20Wood/Field%20Report/
I found it useful.
AppZen
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Good choice. The tip on it is pretty strong and the H1 means it won't rust on you ever.
 
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