Spyderco edges

D

db

Joined
Oct 3, 1998
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I know the looks of a Spyderco knife are debatable, ugly or good looking. However, every Spyderco I’ve seen has had a very good looking and sharp edge on it. The grinds are very clean and even. I haven’t seen many new Spyderco knives this year and it’s been reported to me, mainly by Cliff Stamp, that Spyderco edges are no longer good looking and they are uneven. For those of you who have gotten newer Spydercos are they putting on uneven edges? Are they paying less attention to there edges? Does it appear that they don’t care how the edge looks as long as it is sharp?
 
I have not noticed any problems with any of the edges on any recent Spyderco knives that I have purchased recently.
I bought a couple of Delicas (Seki models)this month and they both were very sharp and had nice even grinds. I also picked up a mini Manix (Golden model) as a factory second and it has no problems with the grinds either.

Bruceter
 
So far this year I bought nine Spudercos and all of them were very sharp and edge looks even. How long knife will be sharp, it is really depends on what you will do with it. All my new knives have VG10 blade steel, one with Spyderedge and rest are plain.
 
I recently received a Spyderco Para Military and Ocelot in trade and must say I was blown away by the fit,finish and overall quality of the knives. The edges were perfect and even and the knives were very sharp.

I have recently been carrying more expensive folders (Sebbies ect.) and now realize I have made a big mistake by not paying any attention to these less expensive but great knives.

My past experience with the people at Spyderco has been nothing but positive, if you have a problem they will fix it!
 
I've only had one bad experience with spyderco- A Ronin that I bought was not finish ground at the tip which gave it a hook at the tip (only 1/16" or so)
A few minutes on a stone and the edge was perfectly straight.
 
db said:
... it’s been reported to me, mainly by Cliff Stamp, that Spyderco edges are no longer good looking and they are uneven.
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I don't know Cliff Stamp from Adam, but this sounds like bunk to me.
 
Regarding Cliff Stamp bad-mouthing edge-quality of Spyderco blades in general , that doesn't sound something Cliff would do.

If, however, he were to review a specific Spyderco knife-under-test that was supplied to him with a poor factory edge-grind, he most certainly would comment on it - candidly and without reservation.

I recently read his review of a Spyderco Manix, and he seemed pleased with the factory edge on that particular Manix. He made no generalization about any aspect of Spyderco whatsoever. If that specific knife had a poorly ground edge, I would expect him to have stated so.
 
Who Cliff is, what he thinks, or what he says doesn’t matter to me at all. The only reason I mentioned him was to clarify why I was asking. witch now seems to me may have been a mistake. I really don’t want this thread to be about him. So how are those Spyderco edges? Even? Wavey? Ugly? Pretty? Sharp? Crappy? Impressive? Any comments on them? Does Spyderco care how they look, or do they only care if they are sharp? Do new Spyderco knives have worse looking edges than they did in the past?
 
gud4u said:
Regarding Cliff Stamp bad-mouthing edge-quality of Spyderco blades in general , that doesn't sound something Cliff would do.
Click to expand...

In general heresay isn't reliable information, here is the thread db is refering to :

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=407692

What I said was that that while Spyderco's are highly praised for their sharpness, they do not have the crisp and even bevels that you get from jig sharpening. They show variances in bevel angle and width which are common in production knives. Note for example the different angles people get when they measure them. It isn't uncommon for the angle to vary along the blade. They also have other issues such as my recent ZDP-189 Delica has a swerve in the bevel near the choil where the sharpened edge runs into the unsharpened section of blade. This is a known problem with blades without choil notches and one of the main reasons that is brought up with why makers use them even though they cause problems in cutting. As well the tip on the Delica is wider on one side than the other and if you look at the curvature along the edge it isn't in a smooth and even arc.

If you want to see more dramatic variances look at the edge bevels on something like a Dodo or any similar blade with highly arcing bevels and try to imagine honing this yourself and maintaining a constant angle. None of this is of course a critism specific to Spyderco, all production knives which are sharpened in similar manners have the same behavior. I have handled several hundred from inexpensive to high end. Even custom knives are the same as very few custom makers use jigs and thus the edges are not at specific angles. Similar with grinding vs machining, you will see effects of the grinds not being prefectly symmetrical. Again, to clarify I am not saying this is a significant problem, in fact as noted in the thread I think it is irrelevant, and it of course is not specific to Spyderco, read the thread for details.

-Cliff
 
I bought 4 spydies this year and all are without a doubt the sharpest of all the knives I own, custom and high end knives included. My new Endura 4 has an absolute wicked edge on it.
 
I think every poster in this thread is praising Spyderco for their sharpness and some for their knives' overall looks. The actual few millimeters where the belt-ground edge shows isn't being mentioned beyond its insanely high level of sharpness.
 
My native has a slight assymetrical grind...not a problem though. Irrelevant, as Mr. Stamp said.
 
thombrogan said:
The actual few millimeters where the belt-ground edge shows isn't being mentioned beyond its insanely high level of sharpness.
Click to expand...

It tends to overshadow everything else. Most people who I show them to find the opening hole to be ugly at first but after using it for awhile, especially with gloves, it tends to impress most people with the simplicity and functionality.

The only knives that I have seen consistenly critized for their edges were Benchmade, which were in fact fine aesthetically. The cutting performance was however dramatically low as noted by Joe's post on resharpening the Axis to raise its performance.

In contrast how many threads have you seen describing reprofiling a Spyderco Calypso Jr. so it cuts well. There are some makers with extreme viewpoints such as illustrated by this :

HSSknife.jpg


who take sharpness, cutting ability and edge retention to a whole different class. You really have to use such a knife to appreciate it, the numbers won't do it justice. Knives like that will make you refine what it means for a knife to be a sharpened prybar. For those curious, they don't look like that starting out :

6375f3.jpg


has the same type of grind, but after sharpening flat to the stone you will see a similar reduction in general aesthetics :

33092.jpg


shows the start of such aggressive sharpening. Note the effect on the tip, spine and the general uneven nature of the edge width. In time you will also see a problem develop near the choil as there is no choil notch.

The japanese knives with the hollow ground back reliefs look the same as generally they are left with a fairly coarse finish for slicing work and the scratches hit outside of the relief just as they do in the above. They get very sharp though as the steel is fine graind and hard and the thin edges cut extremely well.

-Cliff
 
All not too surprising since Spyderco sharpens their knifes by hand. They say themselves that the angle is around 15 deg per side (on PE) but can vary within a couple degrees.

As to the eveness of the grind. At superficial and even pretty close inspection the grindes of all Spydercos that I have held were very even, but when you would look along the edge of the Yojimbo for example you could see that there was a slight variation in the edge of the blade (the tip just pulled ever so slightly up). On the passaround Ocelot I noticed that the grind was even but the width behind the edge increase towards the tip, which means that in order to keep the grind even, you actually have to increase the edge angle to compensate. In both cases the variation is insignificant and well within what you would expect from a hand ground blade. Under a microscope I have also seen variation along the edge on my Manix. Again, I looked at the edge to figure out why the factory grind of Spyderco performs so well. If you are looking at the edge of the knife under a microscope to see whether the grinds are even or not, you have too much time on your hands (just my $0.02 of course).

I think this is a typical misquote of one of Cliff's writeups.
 
Cliff Stamp said:
In contrast how many threads have you seen describing reprofiling a Spyderco Calypso Jr. so it cuts well.
Click to expand...

Caught you in your web of self-aggrandizing lies, Dr. Stamp!

I have drastically reprofiled a Calypso Junior to make its cutting ability acceptible as has Jeff Clark and he's done so at least twice! Now what's acceptable to Jeff or to a freak with OCD (me) may be different than what you, Alvin, or Joe T. want, but it had to be done!

So take your filth-ridden fibs, publically admit you were wrong, and disconnect yourself from the internet.

:p

I couldn't keep a straight face while typing that. :D
 
Unreal. What angle did you finish it at? I'm thinking about doing this to one of my VG 10 Caly's, but I'm almost afraid to, it's already so good!
 
I own numerous Spyderco's both "old" and "new", and I have never seen an improper egde. I go up to the factory outlet store regularly, and the sales people will personally check the edges before they give it to you to check. I have heard stories of Spyderco's w/o clean edges being sold as "seconds" but to answer the original post, spyderco's are very good quality knives, and any knife that you are not satisfied with, they will work with you. It is a very good company with very good people behind it.:)
 
sodak said:
What angle did you finish it at? I'm thinking about doing this to one of my VG 10 Caly's, but I'm almost afraid to, it's already so good!
Click to expand...

About 20 degrees finished. Guess which knife immediately got a too-steep microbevel after its edge blew out while slicing the plastic on a 20 oz. soda bottle? Stick with the 30 degree edge or only slightly thinner to keep some needed mass on that puppy.
 
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