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Spyderco Penknife
While we have come to miscall this the "UK Penknife" on the official Spyderco fora, due to its geographically limited distribution, the knife is correctly called the Spyderco Penknife. Some might argue that it is not a "penknife," and likely they would be correct in the US. But this is a knife for Great Britain, and the divide in our common language allows it to be fittingly given this appellation for its intended home.
I will concede that I have probably gotten a little jaded about knives over the last few years, given my position as Spyderco co-moderator and my status as a collector’s club member, which sees every make and model of Spyderco pass through my hands. I can not count how many I have owned, yet this will be only my third attempt at a review of a pocket knife, following the esteemed C15 Bob T, and the superlative Shih-Lin C65 Lum Chinese.
Of course my position puts my objectivity in question, so I will limit this to a “mini-review” as far as that goes. Hopefully this thread will be amended by others, as the first run of Penknives finally reach the hands and pockets of their intended owners.
On the whole, the Penknife is an evolution of the beloved but commercially beleaguered Calypso Jr. pattern created by Sal Glesser. While I do not have one on hand to compare, I do not think that the leaf blade is identical to the Calypso. Rather it seems to be to be a half-step between the Calypso and the Para-Military. 2 15/16” of fully flat-ground S30V, it is fitted with a full-size 12mm opening Hole. The Calypso’s little swedge flourish is discarded here, but like the Para-Military a laser-engraved Spyderco bug is emblazoned on one side.
The choil is much deeper on the Penknife, given that it also serves a safety function. Personally, I feel that this also aids ergonomics. Overall the handle pattern remains true to the original Calypso pattern, which is a good thing given how naturally it fits the average hand. Here the fish scaled FRN monocoque of the Calypso is traded for two scales of 20-layer custom G10, and a stainless fore-to-aft backspacer. An ambidextrous wire clip is fitted aft. Wire clips are actually more expensive than the common stamped steel clip, and this one has received additional refinement with a low-profile shape, and in being heat-darkened to a bronze colour to further reduce visibility; discretion being the key word, even for a knife designed to be legal at all points for UK carry.
The aforementioned backspacer which adds both to the solidity of the knife and to its highly finished appearance, also serves as the slipjoint mechanism. Thiis slipjoint has been designed with a half-way stop, as a last chance safety mechanism – a feature not uncommon on traditional slipjoints intended to be real working knives.
The knife snaps shut like a lockback, and likewise resists opening like a very strong lockback. The opening smoothness that was lacking initially, came in time with adequate break-in in daily use.
In daily use, I have discovered for myself that I’ve never really needed a locking folder. All of the inquest into lock designs and lock strength and reliability has been put to rest in the no-nonsense ease of use of the Penknife’s slipjoint design. While it only removes one step from the process of using a folding knife, I was amazed at how much a difference that makes, day-in day-out, small task to small task. Like 5oz less weight in a backpack that you are going to carry for two hundred miles.
Perhaps it is an ego question at heart, admitting that I've never done anything with any so-called tactical folder that required a lock at all, much less an MBC lock rating or similar. For the light duty user - which is probably more of us than will ever be admitted publicly - this SOTA slipjoint is an optimal solution.
As far as cutting ability and ergonomics, enough has been said and re-said by the Calypso Jr. cheer squad that I don’t need to repeat it here. All of the same superlatives apply, though I feel that this evolution of the pattern takes it to quite another level.
When I first saw the Penknife concept, I like many others here is the US began to ask Spyderco for a locking version of the knife for local distribution. Having owned and used the Penknife for some weeks now, I have retracted my request, and I find the slipjoint mechanism to be an indispensable part of the knife's quietly extraordinary usefulness.
As things stand, only the standard 200 collectors club knives were retained in the US of the first production run, with the remaining 300 now shipping to the UK. Of the second run, none will be sold in the United States, or indeed in any country other than the UK.
Photo by Rickn45
While we have come to miscall this the "UK Penknife" on the official Spyderco fora, due to its geographically limited distribution, the knife is correctly called the Spyderco Penknife. Some might argue that it is not a "penknife," and likely they would be correct in the US. But this is a knife for Great Britain, and the divide in our common language allows it to be fittingly given this appellation for its intended home.
I will concede that I have probably gotten a little jaded about knives over the last few years, given my position as Spyderco co-moderator and my status as a collector’s club member, which sees every make and model of Spyderco pass through my hands. I can not count how many I have owned, yet this will be only my third attempt at a review of a pocket knife, following the esteemed C15 Bob T, and the superlative Shih-Lin C65 Lum Chinese.
Of course my position puts my objectivity in question, so I will limit this to a “mini-review” as far as that goes. Hopefully this thread will be amended by others, as the first run of Penknives finally reach the hands and pockets of their intended owners.
On the whole, the Penknife is an evolution of the beloved but commercially beleaguered Calypso Jr. pattern created by Sal Glesser. While I do not have one on hand to compare, I do not think that the leaf blade is identical to the Calypso. Rather it seems to be to be a half-step between the Calypso and the Para-Military. 2 15/16” of fully flat-ground S30V, it is fitted with a full-size 12mm opening Hole. The Calypso’s little swedge flourish is discarded here, but like the Para-Military a laser-engraved Spyderco bug is emblazoned on one side.
The choil is much deeper on the Penknife, given that it also serves a safety function. Personally, I feel that this also aids ergonomics. Overall the handle pattern remains true to the original Calypso pattern, which is a good thing given how naturally it fits the average hand. Here the fish scaled FRN monocoque of the Calypso is traded for two scales of 20-layer custom G10, and a stainless fore-to-aft backspacer. An ambidextrous wire clip is fitted aft. Wire clips are actually more expensive than the common stamped steel clip, and this one has received additional refinement with a low-profile shape, and in being heat-darkened to a bronze colour to further reduce visibility; discretion being the key word, even for a knife designed to be legal at all points for UK carry.
The aforementioned backspacer which adds both to the solidity of the knife and to its highly finished appearance, also serves as the slipjoint mechanism. Thiis slipjoint has been designed with a half-way stop, as a last chance safety mechanism – a feature not uncommon on traditional slipjoints intended to be real working knives.
The knife snaps shut like a lockback, and likewise resists opening like a very strong lockback. The opening smoothness that was lacking initially, came in time with adequate break-in in daily use.
In daily use, I have discovered for myself that I’ve never really needed a locking folder. All of the inquest into lock designs and lock strength and reliability has been put to rest in the no-nonsense ease of use of the Penknife’s slipjoint design. While it only removes one step from the process of using a folding knife, I was amazed at how much a difference that makes, day-in day-out, small task to small task. Like 5oz less weight in a backpack that you are going to carry for two hundred miles.
Perhaps it is an ego question at heart, admitting that I've never done anything with any so-called tactical folder that required a lock at all, much less an MBC lock rating or similar. For the light duty user - which is probably more of us than will ever be admitted publicly - this SOTA slipjoint is an optimal solution.
As far as cutting ability and ergonomics, enough has been said and re-said by the Calypso Jr. cheer squad that I don’t need to repeat it here. All of the same superlatives apply, though I feel that this evolution of the pattern takes it to quite another level.
When I first saw the Penknife concept, I like many others here is the US began to ask Spyderco for a locking version of the knife for local distribution. Having owned and used the Penknife for some weeks now, I have retracted my request, and I find the slipjoint mechanism to be an indispensable part of the knife's quietly extraordinary usefulness.
As things stand, only the standard 200 collectors club knives were retained in the US of the first production run, with the remaining 300 now shipping to the UK. Of the second run, none will be sold in the United States, or indeed in any country other than the UK.
Photo by Rickn45
Let's keep them all together. My statement about the name of the folder come from reading the very long thread over at British Blades, where the design and name were agreed on. However, "UK Penknife" has gotten established in the parlance at Spyderco and in the US fora, so it is probably too late to correct it now.