Spyderco Delica 4 FRN vs Caly3

[Frank_Zuccarini]

Okay, to my uneducated eye, these knives seem pretty similar. Nominally 3 inch blades, 4 inch closed length, VG-10 steel. The Caly3 has G-10 handle material, vs fibre reinforced nylon on the Delica, and the Caly3's blade is 1/32" thicker.

Can these differences alone account for the huge difference in price ($155 vs $74), or am I missing some design, construction and/or style issues.

I'm not saying that one is not worth more than the other, I'm just trying to understand.

Thanks............Frank

 

[zenheretic]

Okay, to my uneducated eye, these knives seem pretty similar. Nominally 3 inch blades, 4 inch closed length, VG-10 steel. The Caly3 has G-10 handle material, vs fibre reinforced nylon on the Delica, and the Caly3's blade is 1/32" thicker.

Can these differences alone account for the huge difference in price ($155 vs $74), or am I missing some design, construction and/or style issues.

I'm not saying that one is not worth more than the other, I'm just trying to understand.

Thanks............Frank

Frank,

Yes you are missing a few things. There are four iterations of the Caly 3. You are comparing the top of the line model Caly 3 to the Delica.

A better comparison would be the FRN Caly 3 for 66.10 to the FRN Delica for 40-50 bucks. The extra ten bucks is in the ZDP steel.

The SC113CFPE Caly 3 is carbon fiber and ZDP steel...which makes the price difference.

http://www.newgraham.com/SearchResult.aspx?KeyWords=caly 3

 

[bh49]

I'm not saying that one is not worth more than the other, I'm just trying to understand.

IIRC difference in street price between FRN Delica4 and VG10/G10 Caly3 is about $50. It was certainly worth for me because I like design of Caly3 much more than Delica. In general I prefer knives with G10, full flat grind, finger choil, low riding wire clip. For me Caly3 is perfect and I love this knife, outstanding job. I carry this knife every day since September.

 

[storyville]

Standard answer: Get both!

I have the Delica and Caly3 both in VG10 which makes them very similar. (Their edges, tip to ricasso, are more like 2 1/2" FYI.) Obviously the G10 scales figure into the cost diff. But there are three other differences that may or may not be big for you.

1) The Caly3 like its predecessors has a choil when opened that puts your index finger right up on the edge for greater control, e.g., whittling. The Delica inherently moves your finger back which can provide greater safety during rough work. You can move your finger back on the Caly but then its handle effectively becomes a little shorter.

2) The Caly3's thicker stock (by a hair) is deceptive because its full flat grind is more efficient when cutting through solid materials that pass along the whole width of the blade, e.g., cheese, apple or even heavy cardboard.

3) The Caly3 has a finer tip while the Delica, due to its sabre grind, has a stronger tip for poking and light prying.

These small touches make the Caly3 a little more versatile for me as an EDC. No knife is best for everything but both of these are way above-par in performance for most small knife-type things. Can't go wrong either way!

Glen

 

[Frank_Zuccarini]

Thanks for the additional details, guys.

Does anyone know if there is a metal liner in the handle of the Caly3, but not the Delica? How about the pivot for the blade. Does the Caly3 have a stronger/smoother pivot mechanism (bushing?) than the Delica?

Again, Thanks..................Frank

 

[yablanowitz]

The Caly 3 has full steel liners, the Delica has nested skeletonized steel liners. Once the mold cost is covered, the cost of FRN is quite a bit less than the cost of G-10 and a lot less than carbon fiber. It also appears that flat grinding costs more than saber grinding, which makes sense, since more material is being removed.

I don't know for certain, but I think the Caly3 has a slightly larger pivot pin than the Delica, but I could very well be wrong about that (I don't own a Caly3).