Spyderco Phil Wilson Southfork impressions and review

I had a South Fork for a while. Sold it to fund another knife purchase. It's funny, I should know better by now, but it seems I need to own a knife for a while, sell it, and then see how much I miss it. I definitely miss the South Fork.
 
The more I use this knife, the more I like it. What I am starting to feel about the Southfork is that it's a jack of all trades and a master of none. Phil, if you're reading this don't be offended that I'm calling it a "master of none". It is an extremely capable knife in many areas. Let me give a few examples of what I'm talking about though.

I have been using my Southfork as a filet knife. Is it as capable as a true filet knife? No, or course not, but it does a very good job at this type of work that I wouldn't even attempt with your average 4.5" fixed blade. Is it the perfect kitchen knife? Certainly not, but it does work extremely well there. The same could be said of it as an outdoor/camp knife I reckon. It is a design that lends itself to doing many different jobs! And doing them well. As much as I love my folders, if I could only keep one of the sharp objects that I currently own it would be no contest. The southfork is the only one that comes close to being able to do everything.
 
Thanks for this. Of course I want one of these now.

Why are they so dang expensive? If a Para 2 in S110V with lots of parts (was) $150ish, or say $200 on the Exchange now, how is a fixed blade S90V more? More metal with the full tang? Smaller production qty? I'm sure there's a reason, it just doesn't jump out at me right away. Obviously, I don't know a lot about cost drivers here.

Anyway, I think I need a 5"-ish all around badboy for my next purchase, something that is good from the kitchen to the field. This seems to fit the bill. Though I did have my eye on some looker customs with beautiful wood handles. I just think I'd be afraid to scratch those, and this has "workhorse" all over it.

Thanks again for the writeup.
 
If you shop around you can find one for around $220 or less. I know because I got my second one recently. It took me a little while to "get" what's so great about it, because it's rather plain and the blade shape is bit unusual for a field type knife, but it really performs.
 
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I have loved that design from the moment I saw it. I wish they would offer it in a more economical steel like S30v or similar so maybe they could get the price down to my range. If I'm dropping that kind of coin it would be hard for me not to get a GSO 4.1 or a Southard. Thanks for the tremendous review and great pics as always.
 
I like the fact that it's a jack of all trades I have yet to grab 1 but will. Since it covers more roles means it's more useful to me which makes it worth the money to me and I don't have a spyderco fixed blade yet and the only 1s I was interested in were the day hiker and forester (both discontinued) 1 other 1 in h1 but can't remember the name? So expensive maybe but I spend alot on fixed blades (Busse and kin) so it's not bad to me and what all it can do makes the pain of spending the cash worth it!
 
Can I resurrect this thread?.... How would this work for hunting? Deer and alike? I just sold off my favorite all around hunting knife, a Bark River Northstar and looking to replace it with something with a step up in edge retention and corrosion resistance than the A2. 3v Bark River is an obvious option but this knife has been on my mind a while. Any thoughts?
 
I intended mine as a dedicated deer hunting knife, but it's so comfortable to work with and so all around useful that it has found its way into the rack with my other kitchen knives. I have used it for everything from slaughtering and butchering chickens and turkeys to general kitchen prep. It is excellent for fied dressing deer, but that upswept tip takes a bit of getting used to, so you don't poke yourself or the deer stomach, intestines, etc. I found that using it as an all around knife in my kitchen made me very comfortable with the geometry and now it's the only field knife I own. The only knife I'd consder replacing it with would be an original Phil Wilson South Fork with the partial tang he put on some of them.
 
I would put thin strips of skateboard tape or wet/dry sandpaper w/ adhesive backing around the handle in desired areas instead of grinding down the smooth sexiness for grip.


Having the tape stick off of the handle should also help knowing where the knife positioning is.
 
The 1 deer I dressed out with my SF had little to no effect on the sharpness. Slaughtering 30 chickens did dull it slightly, but it kept a decent working edge.
 
Mine arrived today hopefully pics up tonight. So far so good have questions for you all. But will address them in the pics. The edge is toothy but from what I have read is what I want on this knife. It cuts very aggressively, as said. So far only veggies but more cutting is in it's immediate future.
 
lobo9er said:
Mine arrived today hopefully pics up tonight. So far so good have questions for you all. But will address them in the pics. The edge is toothy but from what I have read is what I want on this knife. It cuts very aggressively, as said. So far only veggies but more cutting is in it's immediate future.
Click to expand...

Congrats lobo. Between the fish cleaning table and kitchen duty, the SF remains one of my most used (and loved) knives. Hope you get lots of use and enjoyment out of it.
 
Still no pics sorry.... but I touched the blade up today on my smiths diamond hone fine grit... pleasantly surprised how easy it was to clean up the factory edge maybe 30 passes aside and I was babing it to as its still new.
 
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first photo op...
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few friends...
 
The South Fork is a great knife. I don't like it for field dressing though (prefer a drop point).

But for skinning, quartering a butchering, it's downright awesome!

I can skin a bull elk, quarter it, and then butcher it - completely boned out, without resharpening it.

So far I have processed 4 bull elk with it over the past few years (not all mine though).
 
Do you have to sharpen or touch after each one? How long does your edge or working edge last? Should I have any reason to feel I need to baby the edge being s90v ground thin and hard of a steel? For some reason I do.
 
I don't baby mine at all, but I do consider it a precise cutting tool and not a chopper, wood splitter or pry tool. Field dressing and such, at least the limited amount that I do, doesn't seem have much effect on the sharpness. On the other hand, tasks that involve cutting against a hard surface, such as a plastic cutting board, do wear the edge down eventually. I've owned mine about 8 months. I've sharpened it (on Shapton stones, freehand) twice and I use it all the time. I can usually bring the edge back a couple of times by stropping, and then it needs to go back to the stones.
 
No doubt. Not about to baton it or anything removing hind quarters is what I was worrying about or separating bone on a turkey or chicken. I have no experience with s90v. Only read its less tough than s30v... for what thats worth. I actually stropped mine a bit, factory edge was pretty rough one tiny micro chip on the belly too. Was driving me nuts. Ran it on a smiths diamond hone again and stropped it a bit. Seems to me to be a lot easier to maintain than was expecting. Almost have it where I want it figure use it for a while then work on the edge again see where its at after a few weeks of kitchen duty before off to cut some fish hopefully
 
Hi Evany, thanks for the feed back on the SF in actual use. glad you are enjoying the knife.

lobo9er, I think you can do what you describe with no problem. Taking off the hind quarters and separating joints in general is as you know just a matter of common sense. Work the muscles apart, find the tendon and cut through it. This can be done with out high force prying. Same thing on chickens in the kitchen. CPM S90V is a very high alloy grade and when you add alloy and increase the hardness the trade off is the loss of some ductility. But in return you get high wear resistance and great corrosion resistance. Spyderco and the South Fork have found the right balance of edge geometry, steel grade and hardness based on my experience with this knife. As far as toughness ( ability to flex and have some plastic deformation before failure) with CPM S90V I have made a lot of very thin, flexible fillet knives at RC 60+ with this grade and only had one report of some chipping and the user admitted to abuse. Please let us know how the knife works for you. Phil
 
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