Spyderco Navaja

[lava_lamp]

Spyderco Navaja Review

Introduction

I received a Spyderco Navaja as part of a pass around here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...d-Spyderco-Schempp-Navaja-Carbon-Fiber-C147CF Sal Glesser and the fine folks at Spyderco made the knife available and forum member J.H. organized the pass around.

According to Wikipedia:

“The Navaja is a traditional Spanish folding knife that first appeared around the 15th century. They were working/utility knives, but also gained a reputation as fighting knives. They are among one of the oldest types of folding pocket knives, and are still manufactured today in a few locations.”​

Spyderco’s iteration of the Navaja was designed by Ed Schempp, who has produced traditional ethnic inspired designs for Spyderco including the Barong, Khukuri, Kris, and Persian. Spyderco also recently produced Schempp’s quirky Balance. The MSRP on the Navaja is $249.95 and our favorite online retailers sell it for about $160. The knife is made in Taiwan.

Size & Weight

The Navaja is 8 5/8” open, 4 3/4” closed, and weighs 4.75 ounces. It is about the same size as a Spyderco Endura, but significantly heavier due to the steel bolster and skeletonized steel liners that run the length of the handle.

Blade

The Navaja blade is ground from CPM-S30V stainless steel. It is flat ground with the traditional Spyderhole for one-handed opening. The traditional Navaja-styled blade shape is unusual, to say the least. It looks like a Bowie knife married a Tanto blade and the result is intimidating-looking, very functional working blade. It came typically Spyderco sharp.

Handle

The handle on the Navaja has a pronounced front guard and rear pommel, reminiscent of of other Schempp designs like the Barong and the Khukuri. The scales are milled from twill carbon fiber.

Spyderco makes several versions of carbon fiber:

• The smooth and shiny carbon fiber on the UK Pen Knife is like that on the Native IV, Caly III or Balance. It looks great, but is too slick to provide an opitmal grip and shows scratches easily.
• The rougher carbon fiber on the Stretch II and other knives looks more like modified G10. Is provides a better grip, but is the least aesthetically attractive of the three.
• The twill carbon fiber used on the Navaja, Gayle Bradley and Sage 1 is my favorite -- it looks better than the Stretch II version and provides more grip than the Native IV version.

The bronze enameled pocket clip is reversible tip-up/tip-down and for left/right hand carry. A lanyard hole is also provided.

Ergonomics

The Navaja’s ergonomics don’t work for me. The knife is designed to wrap around your hand like the Barong, Stretch II, Superhawk or Superleaf, but I have large hands and the fit between the guard and pommel is too tight. The edges of the polished steel liners are sharp, flush with the G10, and somewhat uncomfortable. The liner lock is also flush with the G10 and is hard to get to. A access cut-out would be an improvement.

The lock meets the tang about halfway and lock-up is secure, although the liner looks awfully skinny compared to Spyderco's Gayle Bradley, for example. In fact, the Gayle Bradley gets many things right that the Navaja doesn't. With the Bradley, the liner edges are rounded, access to the liner lock is cut into the scale, and the handle design works with a variety of grips.

In Use

There isn’t much of blade detent on the Navaja. It flicks open easily using the Spyderhole. When the liner lock is released, however, it closes without any resistance and may try to bite you. It almost got me twice. I think the lack of detent may be a result of a faulty ratcheting mechanism.

Traditional Navajas make a ratcheting sound that Spyderco has re-created. The company describes it like this:

“Unique to the Navaja is the Carraca or ratcheting sound it produces when the blade opens and closes. Carraca ratcheting generates a reaction similar to the sound of chambering a round in a firearm, distinctively announcing the knife’s presence and has been attributed to deterring a criminal or criminal behavior.”​

The Carraca sound comes from a gear linked to the blade tang that come into contact with a spring. Unfortunately, the spring on the pass around knife was broken early in the rotation. It was fixed, but has broken again. As a result, the knife is silent and has little or no detent.

The fit and finish is terrific -- what I’ve come to expect from a made-in-Taiwan Spyderco.

Conclusions

The Navaja is a unique and nice-looking knife. The online photos don’t do it justice. It looks better in person. As a user, however, I would prefer something else. The blade is great. The handle not so much. It makes the Navaja one of my least favorite Spydies. I would love to see the blade in an Endura style FRN lockback, though. It would be the perfect working man’s knife. Props to Ed Schempp and Spyderco for continuing to give us creative ethic-inspired designs.

Thanks again to Spyderco and Frank K. for putting the pass-around together and for www.BladeForums.com for giving us a place to make it happen.

 

[TEFL0N_D0N_81]

A very nice blend of objective and subjective viewpoints. I actually like the handle design myself. However, I totally agree with you about the liner lock being too flush with the handle itself. Takes a good bit of digging with my thumb to close it.