First of all, thanks to Sal, Joyce and Dave H. for the pass around.
Heres a photo of the Jester and Ladybug (along with some other goodies) posted by Dave H -
DETAILS The Jester and the Ladybug are both small key ring sized FRN lockbacks made in Seki Japan. The pass around Jester and Ladybug are both forest green colored and come with a matching L.R.I. Photon Micro-Light II white LED lights complete with a black and white Spyderco bug logo.
Additional details from Spydercos site -
Jester:
http://www.spyderco.com/online_prod...1010&mscssid=39VKH015JTNA9MC285B5B84W03WDAWSE
Ladybug:
http://www.spyderco.com/online_prod...1010&mscssid=39VKH015JTNA9MC285B5B84W03WDAWSE
and from the L.R.I. site -
Photon II:
http://www.photonlight.com/products/photon_microlight_II.html
OUT OF THE BOX - These little things are cool! The Spydercos came sharp after shaving some hairs with the Ladybug, I managed to filet off a chunk of skin from the back of my hand with the Jester within about two seconds after freeing it from its box. Both knives opened smoothly and I could see no obvious flaws in their fit of finish, although sometimes the split rings would get in the way of opening or closing the blades (I think that a different split ring size would help cure this). Overall, I liked the Jester a bit better than the Ladybug from the start.
The Photon lights were impressively bright, noticeably brighter than the old white Photon that I carry on my key ring, no doubt due to the fresher batteries in the Spyderco Photons.
LOCKS Both Knives are lockbacks. The Jester features a shallow Boye style dent that may make it slightly more resistant to inadvertent release. I noticed a hint of vertical blade play in both knives (the Ladybug had slightly more than the Jester), but lock up was otherwise secure and solid.
BLADES The Ladybug has a blade shaped much like the larger Delica. The Jesters blade is more unusual shape (vaguely similar to Spydercos ATR) with a higher hump, more belly and less of a point. The Jesters blade has traction grooves behind the hump and out near the tip for greater control when choking up.
The pass around Ladybug has a plain edge and the Jester has a serrated SpyderEdge.
The Ladybugs blade measured 0.080 thick at the spine and 0.015 behind the bevel with an edge angle of approximately 35 degrees included (17.5 per side).
The Jesters blade thickness is 0.079 at the spine and 0.035 behind the bevel, with an edge angle of about 24.5 degrees.
STEEL Both knives use AUS-6 stainless steel. AUS-6 is a decent, non-premium grade stainless steel it dose not hold an edge as well as some of the premium steels, but it is generally more corrosion resistant and some find the softer steels easier to sharpen. The down side is that AUS-6 will need more frequent attention to maintain than the harder, more wear resistant steels.
HANDLES - Both the Jester and the Ladybug have small but comfortable unlined, textured FRN handles.
POCKET CLIPS - None provided. Each knife and Photon is equipped with a 3/8 dia. split ring linked be a third split ring to facilitate attaching to a key ring.
ONE HAND OPENING- Despite their small size, both the Jester and the Ladybug can be opened with one hand using their Spyderholes. The Jester is a good bit easier thanks to its larger hole (0.348 vs. 0.270 for the Ladybug).
CUTTING PERFORMANCE - Most of the cutting material consisted of light to medium weight cardboard boxes. Both the Jester and the Ladybug sliced though the cardboard with ease, thanks to their sharp, thin edges. The serrated Jester seemed to have a little more cutting power, and unlike some blades with larger serrations, the Jesters small serrations did not hang up on the cardboard.
PHOTON IIS - The Photon Micro-Lights are roughly bottle cap sized LED area lights powered by a pair of 3 volt CR-2016 lithium coin batteries. Photons are surprisingly bright for their size making them an excellent key chain light. Photons need not be restricted to key rings they are also great attached to zipper pulls, book bags, purses or anywhere that a bright light would be handy. The Photons LED will diminish in brightness as the batteries drain, but they will remain usably bright much longer than common incandescent lights. The battery life claimed by L.R.I. is 12-14 hours of continuous use for the white Photon II. This is good since the changing the Photon IIs batteries is something of a chore. LEDs have no filament and are nearly unbreakable; they normally never need replacing.
The Photon IIs feature a small finger nail catch for continuous light, in addition to the original momentary on button. The down side to the Photon II is that it is not at all water resistant due to the opening for the constant on catch and that there are 4 tiny screws which must be removed and replaced to change the batteries.
While Photons are available in many different colors the Spyderco Photon LEDs are white. White LEDs are the most versatile since they show all of the colors, but they do have a pale violet tinge which may seem strange, since most of us are accustomed to yellowish incandescent light. Despite the violet hue, the white LEDs are said to be closer to natural sunlight than most incandescents. Other popular LED colors include: red (not very bright but preserves night vision ability of the eye), blue or turquoise (very bright), and green (bright but causes less flare in passive night vision devices than most other colors).
CUT TO THE CHASE - I was pleased with the quality and cutting performance of both the Jester and the Ladybug - each makes very good addition to a key ring and perhaps a survival mini-kit. Although they are similar, I like the Jester much more than the Ladybug.
The Photon Micro-Lights great for key rings, and a whole lot more - I can never seem to have enough Photons around. Certainly, a Photon is makes a very useful companion to a Jester or Ladybug.
Thanks again to Sal, Joyce and Dave for the pass around.
- Frank
Links to other Spyderco pass around reviews -
A.T.R. C70
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=270638
Temperance & Impala
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=263754
Native Lightweight C41BK
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=268455
Lil Temperance C69
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=270637
Chinook II C63GPS
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=293968
Heres a photo of the Jester and Ladybug (along with some other goodies) posted by Dave H -
DETAILS The Jester and the Ladybug are both small key ring sized FRN lockbacks made in Seki Japan. The pass around Jester and Ladybug are both forest green colored and come with a matching L.R.I. Photon Micro-Light II white LED lights complete with a black and white Spyderco bug logo.
Additional details from Spydercos site -
Jester:
http://www.spyderco.com/online_prod...1010&mscssid=39VKH015JTNA9MC285B5B84W03WDAWSE
Ladybug:
http://www.spyderco.com/online_prod...1010&mscssid=39VKH015JTNA9MC285B5B84W03WDAWSE
and from the L.R.I. site -
Photon II:
http://www.photonlight.com/products/photon_microlight_II.html
OUT OF THE BOX - These little things are cool! The Spydercos came sharp after shaving some hairs with the Ladybug, I managed to filet off a chunk of skin from the back of my hand with the Jester within about two seconds after freeing it from its box. Both knives opened smoothly and I could see no obvious flaws in their fit of finish, although sometimes the split rings would get in the way of opening or closing the blades (I think that a different split ring size would help cure this). Overall, I liked the Jester a bit better than the Ladybug from the start.
The Photon lights were impressively bright, noticeably brighter than the old white Photon that I carry on my key ring, no doubt due to the fresher batteries in the Spyderco Photons.
LOCKS Both Knives are lockbacks. The Jester features a shallow Boye style dent that may make it slightly more resistant to inadvertent release. I noticed a hint of vertical blade play in both knives (the Ladybug had slightly more than the Jester), but lock up was otherwise secure and solid.
BLADES The Ladybug has a blade shaped much like the larger Delica. The Jesters blade is more unusual shape (vaguely similar to Spydercos ATR) with a higher hump, more belly and less of a point. The Jesters blade has traction grooves behind the hump and out near the tip for greater control when choking up.
The pass around Ladybug has a plain edge and the Jester has a serrated SpyderEdge.
The Ladybugs blade measured 0.080 thick at the spine and 0.015 behind the bevel with an edge angle of approximately 35 degrees included (17.5 per side).
The Jesters blade thickness is 0.079 at the spine and 0.035 behind the bevel, with an edge angle of about 24.5 degrees.
STEEL Both knives use AUS-6 stainless steel. AUS-6 is a decent, non-premium grade stainless steel it dose not hold an edge as well as some of the premium steels, but it is generally more corrosion resistant and some find the softer steels easier to sharpen. The down side is that AUS-6 will need more frequent attention to maintain than the harder, more wear resistant steels.
HANDLES - Both the Jester and the Ladybug have small but comfortable unlined, textured FRN handles.
POCKET CLIPS - None provided. Each knife and Photon is equipped with a 3/8 dia. split ring linked be a third split ring to facilitate attaching to a key ring.
ONE HAND OPENING- Despite their small size, both the Jester and the Ladybug can be opened with one hand using their Spyderholes. The Jester is a good bit easier thanks to its larger hole (0.348 vs. 0.270 for the Ladybug).
CUTTING PERFORMANCE - Most of the cutting material consisted of light to medium weight cardboard boxes. Both the Jester and the Ladybug sliced though the cardboard with ease, thanks to their sharp, thin edges. The serrated Jester seemed to have a little more cutting power, and unlike some blades with larger serrations, the Jesters small serrations did not hang up on the cardboard.
PHOTON IIS - The Photon Micro-Lights are roughly bottle cap sized LED area lights powered by a pair of 3 volt CR-2016 lithium coin batteries. Photons are surprisingly bright for their size making them an excellent key chain light. Photons need not be restricted to key rings they are also great attached to zipper pulls, book bags, purses or anywhere that a bright light would be handy. The Photons LED will diminish in brightness as the batteries drain, but they will remain usably bright much longer than common incandescent lights. The battery life claimed by L.R.I. is 12-14 hours of continuous use for the white Photon II. This is good since the changing the Photon IIs batteries is something of a chore. LEDs have no filament and are nearly unbreakable; they normally never need replacing.
The Photon IIs feature a small finger nail catch for continuous light, in addition to the original momentary on button. The down side to the Photon II is that it is not at all water resistant due to the opening for the constant on catch and that there are 4 tiny screws which must be removed and replaced to change the batteries.
While Photons are available in many different colors the Spyderco Photon LEDs are white. White LEDs are the most versatile since they show all of the colors, but they do have a pale violet tinge which may seem strange, since most of us are accustomed to yellowish incandescent light. Despite the violet hue, the white LEDs are said to be closer to natural sunlight than most incandescents. Other popular LED colors include: red (not very bright but preserves night vision ability of the eye), blue or turquoise (very bright), and green (bright but causes less flare in passive night vision devices than most other colors).
CUT TO THE CHASE - I was pleased with the quality and cutting performance of both the Jester and the Ladybug - each makes very good addition to a key ring and perhaps a survival mini-kit. Although they are similar, I like the Jester much more than the Ladybug.
The Photon Micro-Lights great for key rings, and a whole lot more - I can never seem to have enough Photons around. Certainly, a Photon is makes a very useful companion to a Jester or Ladybug.
Thanks again to Sal, Joyce and Dave for the pass around.
- Frank
Links to other Spyderco pass around reviews -
A.T.R. C70
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=270638
Temperance & Impala
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=263754
Native Lightweight C41BK
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=268455
Lil Temperance C69
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=270637
Chinook II C63GPS
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=293968
