Spyderco Lum Chinese Passaround

Joined
Oct 26, 1999
Messages
626
Well, here we go, pull up a cactus and have a read.

I received the Lum Chinese Passaround on Monday and have had just a little bit of time to play with it and wring it out. My first impression was quite good. Overall quality is much better than average; in a word, it’s smooth. Fit and finish is very nice. The corners are beveled and/or rounded and the spine of the blade is also nicely smoothed. When it’s closed, there’s nothing to cut you, just as it should be. It has a very nice rounded shape when closed. It features screw construction, so you can take it apart if you feel so inclined. The anodizing on the handle scales is of a dull light blue, very uniform and quite attractive. Now for the real breakdown.

The blade is beautiful!!!! It’s VG-10, flat ground and nice and wide. It has a continuous curve along the cutting edge and slices like very few other blades. There’s not much of a tip, but it is sufficient for most things. The hole is very well positioned for opening, which is very smooth. Lockup is firm, with no real play in any direction. The blade arrived quite sharp, but I took it upon myself to touch it up before I started. I’ve found VG-10 to be VERY easy to sharpen in the past and this knife took an excellent edge in no time. I haven’t really tested edge holding yet, but I still have about 24 hours to wring it out in that respect.

The handle is very nice overall. I liked it a lot better than I had expected. What I notice immediately was its light weight. That was also noticed by the 5 other people who have handled it, in two cases being their first comment. It’s a slim design, but actually fits well into the hand. I have rather large hands and find that some knives “get lost”. I tend to prefer larger handles as they tend to slip and move less. I was somewhat disappointed in the lack of any type of guard on this model, but here was another pleasant surprise. The curve of the handle was perfect to prevent much forward or rearward motion. It was much more secure in both forward and reverse grips than it originally appeared to me. If in doubt, handle one. You’ll see what I mean. The handle is also very thin, equal to a Salsa, but only about 2/3 of a Lil’ Temperance or Gunting. This is both good and bad in my opinion. It makes carrying a dream, but isn’t ideal for comfort when really cutting. It’s not bad, just not ideal for me. The clip is fairly straightforward, no real compliments or complaints.

Overall, it has a nearly neutral balance as it has a rather large blade for the handle. It’s balance point is about 3/8 to ½ behind the pivot. Consequently, it just sort of sits in the hand. It was unique for me, it’s the only folder I’ve held that was like this. Granted it’s no heavyweight, but it feels almost weightless in my hand. It feels much lighter to me than the Salsa, though the Lum is a tad heavier.

Now, all that being said, what is it good for? Quite a bit. As a general light use folder, it would really perform well due to it’s blade and would never really be a burden. For a blade that large, there is little in it’s weight class. I’ve carried it IWB and it hasn’t poked or been uncomfortable, even during 25 miles of bike riding. I really forgot it was there and was relieved to find it was still with me when I went to bed last night. It’s not scary looking, though it is fairly big. I could see it being a good knife for someone who has to dress up daily for their job, but didn’t want to skimp on all around utility or self defense capabilities. It looks nice and performs even better. Like I said, I haven’t had the opportunity to really use it, so much of this is theory.

Now, having praised it, here comes the real test. Am I going to buy one for myself? No. I don’t have much use for it at the current time. For daily use, I carry a Gunting and now a Lil’ Temp. Both fill my hand a bit better and the Lil’ Temp will slice just like the Lum while filling my hand a bit better. Even when I get all dressed for Sunday, the Gunting and Lil’Temp are close at hand, though an Almite Navigator clipped inside my suit jacket is generally used, especially in the presence of non-knife lovers. If I weren’t so caught up with the Navigator, the Lum would have a chance.

However, I am considering buying a Lum for my brother-in-law. He is a person who basically lives inside an office and could use a good knife. I think it would serve him well as an EDC; something capable of handling nearly all of his knife needs without being too scary to his co-workers.


Go here for some size comparison scans.


http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?selected=173208
 
I've had mine for ~2 years now. I would agree with all of the above comments, save one. I bought one and like it. It's a good overall utility knife. The handle shape is odd but suprisingly functional. It sharpens easily on the sharpmaker. The almite finish on the handle is suprisingly strong. I only have a few chips in it from dropping the knife on concrete. My only complaint is the blade width is a little too wide. The width can make slicing sticky stuff a little hard becasue it sticks to the wide blade. I have a Boye knife with a similar blade shape, but about 1/2 the width which I prefer. But this is very minor issue and only affects slicing sticky cheese.

My experience with the blade has been good but with some problems. Within 2 weeks the liner lock moved from about 1/3 into the tang to having moved virtually over to the other side (~1 mm clearance from handle slab.) It stayed there until last week, when it moved in a little to about 0.5mm of the handle slab. Luckily the knife has the adjustable eccentric pivot and I adjusted it so it now locks in the middle. This is the first time I've done it and it was suprisingly easy. Another problem, within 2 months of receipt, the small screw under the clip fell out. Spyderco sent me a replacement.
 
I have to add a bit now to my review. Early Thursday morning, I did a few cutting tests. They weren't anything special, but they were interesting. I rolled up some small newspapers that were about 16 pages all together to a diameter of about 1.5". Then I hacked/sliced at them with various knives. All the knives were very sharp, though a few weren't at their full potential.

The Lum sliced clean through every one of the 5 tries.

A Cold Steel Vaquero 5" sliced through every one of 3 tries.

Spyderco Lil' Temperance sliced through 1 time, 80% 2 times.

Spyderco Military serrated sliced 80-90% through 3 times.

Becker BK-7 sliced through 1 time, 8-90%2 times.

What does that prove? Not much, at least to me. All it does say is that the Lum has excellent slicing/slashing capabilities due to the blade, steel, grind and balance. Just a little tidbit, I thought I'd add.
 
I received the knife late yesterday 3 March. Due to an intervening business trip, I won't be able to ship it on to the next person until late Friday 7 March or early Saturday 8 March.

I'll post my review on Saturday.
 
Passaround Lum Chinese

There are no good B&M knife shops around Houston so I’ve never been able to see or handle a Spyderco Lum Chinese.

Previously, my EDC for work was a BM 940. My specs for a work EDC are: must be an all around utility (open mail, slice fruit, cut string, spread peanut butter, etc.), a back up self defense knife (reasonable length, strong lock, good grip), ambidextrous, and generally sheeple friendly which means plain edge which I prefer anyway. The 940 performed all these tasks well.

I lost the BM 940 about three weeks ago. How? Hate to admit to gross stupidity but I got a tear in the Dockers I was wearing. When I got home from work, I threw them out. Yeah, that weightless, nearly invisible to the casual user, 940, was still clipped inside the waist band. Ouch that hurt. Stupidity always hurts more than cuts. At least it hurts longer.

I started carrying my off-work EDC, a Microtech Amphibian, all the time. Great knife, but not real sheeple friendly, a bit aggressive for business casual. I held off on buying another 940 because I’ve always thought the Lum Chinese looked nice, I love VG-10, and it certainly appeared to be sheeple friendly.

The opportunity to try one out in a pass around couldn’t be ignored. I’d try it out and decide to buy it or another 940.

First impressions:

Sorry for the “forensics” but I’m an engineer, can’t help it.

I didn’t realize this was a used knife. No problem, in fact better.

When I reversed the clip for tip up carry, I found the Almite coating under the clip was worn though. Looks like the tight fit between clip and pocket/waistband is enough to wear the coating. The rest of the scales were as new. It was simple to reverse the clip. The phillips screws while not as “sexy” as Torx were a lot easier to work with.

The blade was in excellent condition, some minor fine scratches. On close examination it appears to have been re-profiled to a thinner than factory edge. No problem again, I usually do the same. It was “scary sharp”, thanks Leroys_45!

Lock up as received was tight in all directions.

Near the tip there was some roughness on the spine. I expect this came from re-profiling on a Sharpmaker requiring a slight tip spine profiling to get the tip sharp again. A couple of minutes with a fine stone made the tip spine smoother.

This “blue” Lum Chinese is more gray to me but I have a slight blue/gray color blindness. The color is pleasing, subdued, fits with most clothing colors so it’s good for office wear.

The grip while fitting my small hands well, seems slippery. There is no choil or finger grooves to keep your hand from slipping forward onto the blade.

Testing/Use

I started out with some spine whacking. Personally I don’t believe in it much. I know many do trust it when evaluating a liner lock. Several sharp whacks, rock solid.

I trimmed fat and grizzle off beef, sliced fruit and vegetables, then used the knife as a dinner knife for my meal. Worked great.

I sliced up a lot of thin hard card board. I got tired before the Lum did. Still scary sharp.

Sliced up a bunch of rolled newspaper as did leroys_45. Sliced clean through the rolls. Maintained its edge.

Cut ¼ inch pieces off a 3/8’s nylon rope about six feet long. Each came off on one pull cut, clean, no frays. Still scary sharp.

I stabbed it into a thick magazine. It went in about 65% less of the way through than my Gunting. I was extra careful on this test since I was wary of the “grippiness” of the aluminum scales.

Rolled up more newspaper. Sliced through cleanly in one motion. Still scary sharp.

The lock up is still tight, up and down and sideways.

I decided not to touch it up on my Sharpmaker since it’s still as sharp as it was when I received it. Maybe the next tester can dull it.

It’s time to box it up, send it off. I’ll miss it. But will I buy one?


Conclusions

The Spyderco Lum Chinese is a great gentleman’s EDC. Looks great. Light weight. Thin. You can’t notice it inside your waistband. The VG-10 never stained and retained it’s sharpness.

However, an EDC for me must be trustworthy as a self defense knife. Sorry, I can’t trust the slick scales and shape of them to keep my hand from sliding forward onto that scary sharp blade. It will be another 940 for me.

However, Sal Glesser, put some of those Spyderco G-10 textured scales on a Lum Chinese, or work that “3D” magic like the new Natives, and I’ll buy one in a heart beat.

Sheath

Oh yeah there was a Kydex neck sheath. High quality, good design, perfect fit. I didn’t use it since I’m not a fan of neck sheaths.
 
First I'd like to thank Dave for allowing me to finally get my hands on a Spyderco and find out what all the hoopla is about.

The Lum Chinese folder is a nice looking knife. The leaf like blade profile is appeasing to the eye and very sharp thanks to Medic1210. I did notice some very fine scratches (barely visible) running the length of the blade. I didn’t know if I would like the hole in the blade for deployment but the size was right and in no time I was flashing the blade open. I don’t think I would be satisfied with a smaller or an oval hole.

The handle is another story for me. I have large hands and it’s a tad too short and not quite as wide as I would like. Also the Almite coated aluminum handles are slippery like Teflon. I would have liked a finger guard on the bottom of the handles to protect my fingers from sliding forwards onto a razor sharp blade during a thrusting maneuver.

Overall the Spyderco C65 Bob Lum Chinese Folder is a great knife and I would recommend it to all.

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