Spyderco Bushcraft Update

I live in Colorado, so cracks are a way of life here for a lot of natural materials - mainly wood and horn. Bone seems to hold up fairly well, as does micarta and g10, of course. I got mine today, and the wood is beautiful. It has 3 deep cracks, and I'm re-reading this entire thread before settling on a course of action. If the wood hadn't shrunk, the handles would be fantastic. They are bigger than I expected, but very comfortable.

I was disappointed with the rest of the knife though. The tip was bent, the edge wasn't very sharp, and has several chips in it. They will sharpen out, but it will take several sharpenings. The spine has a couple of large dents in it. It looks like someone really screwed around with this knife before sending it to me. All of it is repairable except the spine, and of course, being a second, there's no recourse. I was expecting all the handle issues, but it was very disappointing to see all the blade damage. This is the first time that I've been let down by Spyderco like this.

On the positive side, I love O1, and that's the primary reason I got this one. I'm going to give the scandi grind a chance, and hopefully I'll warm up to it. If not, it's off to Tom Krein and will come back full flat, should be just about perfect in that configuration.
 




Sorry, I wanted regular pics. Oh well, best I can do in a hurry. :o So far I'm happy with the results. I did think about submersing it in warmed oil but was afraid the glue wouldn't stick well to seal the cracks when finished. If it shrinks again I might try something different but for now this was quick and easy and gave me very good results. :thumbup:
 
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I got my Bushcraft and have had it sitting since the 4th. I see only one crack, but I can definitely feel the sharp edges on the tang of the blade protruding past the edges of the handles. I'm real green at all of this, so I'm still investigating what I should do. The colors of the handles are beautiful, I'm waiting to see if there's a common consensus is on treating the handles. It fits my hand like a glove, I, personally would like to preserve these handles, but if it's going to require continuing maintenance over & over, I'd rather get it done another way and get it out of the way.

Any suggestions? My climate's always changing here in Chicagoland, we can go through all four seasons in one day, lol. (I am still tempted to get another one too, I don't know if I can resist)
 
Got a pair of these in the mail today. One of them with smallish cracks on both scales down the middle and one near the lanyard tube. The other had quite large cracking and splitting both scales through the center line of the pins.

I was planning on trying a rehandle, but this handle is much more fitting than I had thought. Really perfect ergos. Superglue this morning and sandpaper later this afternoon. What a great chance to get this one for use.

Thanks to Sal and the Spyderco team. If there is a second run I will surely get another BNIB.
 
Mine came on the big brown truck the other day. I find one smallish crack in the handle, and yes, the tang is raised a tiny bit on mine as well.
Still, it is a beautiful knife, and performs well in the back yard on several chores I tested it with.
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My Spyderco bushcraft knife finally arrived and it ain't all it's been cracked up to be :D
I'm pretty happy with the purchase, It does have a small crack on each side but is actually fine to use as is.

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KuRUpTD said:
My Spyderco bushcraft knife finally arrived and it ain't all it's been cracked up to be :D
I'm pretty happy with the purchase, It does have a small crack on each side but is actually fine to use as is.

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Nice.

Hey is the sheath ambidextrous? I'm left handed.

BB
 
Mine arrived a few days ago, and is typical of what everyone else received. Some of the cracks were pretty long and wide, and the scales had shrunk a bit such that the tang was exposed a tad. But I have the day off and just infused some superglue into the cracks, and sanded/rubbed things back down. Now it's soaking in some warmed BLO. I'll probably let it soak for a week or so in the BLO, and then let it dry for a day or two. Then it'll get a few coats of wax, and hopefully have a long life thereafter!

Quick question for those who do a lot of woodwork: has anyone found whether it's better to have multiple, short sessions of BLO coating & drying, or is it better to just let it sit for long spells in the BLO, then dry once?
 
Okay, I absolutely love this knife. The handles are a work of art and fit my hand like they were made for me. Some people complained that the handles are on the big side, but I wouldn't mind if they were a little thicker, and I don't have very big mitts. I just find this handle to be so comfortable.

I reported earlier that my handles had shrunk enough that the sharp edges of the tang were actually cutting into the top layer of my skin. Here in NorCal it's been relatively humid and it seems to have shrunk the cracks (I stated before that there is one, but it's actually 2 that nearly meet) a bit and helped to swell up the handles some too, but not as much as I wanted.

I left it in the bathroom in the hopes that the steam from showers would help, but it was minimal. My washer and dryer are in a closet and I detached my dryer hose from the wall, covered the end of the hose with some old panythose to catch lint and left my knife sitting on the dryer while I washed and dried a couple of loads of laundry. As of this morning, the cracks are visible, but the one longer one can barely be felt, but the handles are nearly flush with the tang now! I'm excited! If you live in a dry area, this may work for you, too, and won't do anything to compromise the integrity of the epoxy.

I'm going to leave the handles alone for another week or 2 and then I'll glue up the cracks and maybe try soaking them in BLO and then waxing the handles. I don't enjoy the thought of having to maintain the handles, which is why I prefer sythetic handles, but for the money save and this amazing grip, it's so worth it.
 
sodak said:
I was disappointed with the rest of the knife though. The tip was bent, the edge wasn't very sharp, and has several chips in it. They will sharpen out, but it will take several sharpenings. The spine has a couple of large dents in it. It looks like someone really screwed around with this knife before sending it to me.
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Huh, sounds almost like you actually got a returned knife rather than just an unsellable new one. I've certainly never seen that sort of abuse on any new Spyderco I have ever handled. :confused:
 
I agree. I've got the tip and most of the chips sharpened out, the only thing left is the spine, which I'll just live with, it's not that bad, but I'm disappointed in that.

Other than that, I really have to echo the others' comments about the comfort of the handle. Also, the steel is fantastic, takes a great edge, and holds it well. It's very easy to sharpen. I think I'll leave this one alone, and just use as is.
 
Well,

I don't have one yet...

But, as I often am a trafficker in information, I thought I would share this gem from the Spyderco Forums, with you all who have one, and might be considering fixing yours...

http://spyderco.com/forums/showpost.php?p=561291&postcount=142

".. BSI or Bob Smith industries makes some of the best CA out there. Their CA is triple distilled..."


"After inquiring with BSI as to properly using their products to fix this knife; I received the following today:

"...The initial application of CA should be with our Insta-Cure super-thin.
This will completely penetrate into the wood. Be sure to purchase some extra-fine extender tips or some teflon tubing for applying the thin CA. Without them, it's very easy to get the CA where you don't want it. You could just keep using the thin CA to completely fill the cracks, but you would be adding a lot of time to the process. After that first application, you are not going to get much more deep penetration, so for the second application you can immediately switch to
Insta-Cure+ gap filling or Maxi-Cure extra-thick and the cracks will be
filled. For wood that already has the black lines running through it, the black IC-2000 would be perfect for the second application. Insta-Set accelerator can be sprayed on the surface about one minute after the second application and it would be ready for sanding. The CA should sit for at least an hour before you do final polishing. Contractors who do the installation of granite countertops will mix in granite dust, produced when they cut it, on top of the Insta-Cure or Insta-Cure+ that they have applied to cracks. They even use the CA for bonding the granite pieces together...."



Also, I thought I would mention, that you can get black CA, so it will match the colours in your handle, maybe even look seamless when finished...


I gathered that little factoid from the same thread...

http://spyderco.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42309

Enjoy!

Marion
 
Question: I don't know if you can tell from these two pics, but when I grip or run my fingers across the handles where they are attached to the tang, I can feel the sharp edges of the tang's steel. If I am using CA/super glue to fill the crack I have, would I use this to attempt to "even up" the edge of the wood with the steel? Or, better yet "how would I smooth out the transition between the wood handle and the steel tang"?

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Thank you for any help offered.
 
TheZenful1 said:
Or, better yet "how would I smooth out the transition between the wood handle and the steel tang"?
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The wood is shrinking, which makes the steel become 'proud' of the handles...

You could use a really super fine sharpening stone, if the knives are still available when I have the cheddar, I will probably use the white stones from my Spyderco Sharpmaker. I have smoothed steel edges this way in the past.

Really, you don't have to cut the steel down, you just have to take the hard edge off the steel, then it will 'wear' well.

Another option, would be to wait until you fill the cracks with CA, I would suggest black CA, as mentioned in my earlier post to this thread... Then, you will likely want to clean the handle up, probably with some steel wool, or a very fine sandpaper, and at that time, you can cut the bite off those steel edges...

Marion
 
Here is what I'm doing:

Step 1 - I soaked the handle in Minwax wood hardener. This should more or less stabilize the wood. I soaked it for a day and a half and let it dry for 2 days. Last night I went over the handle and blade w/ 0000 steel wool to clean it up.

The scales have swelled and the crack is virtually gone and the handles are now flush with the tang. If the scales do move in the future I don't think it will be very much.

Here is what minwax says about the wood hardener:
Minwax® High Performance Wood Hardener is made up of solvents that carry resin deep into the pores of the wood where they evaporate and leave behind hardened resin resulting in hardened wood.

Step 2 : Apply 3 coats of danish oil. The pores are still open and need to be sealed. After that the knife will be ready to go.
 
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