Spyderco Phoenix Review

lava_lamp

lava_lamp

Joined
Oct 5, 2006
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Spyderco Phoenix Review -- Part 1

I received a Spyderco Phoenix today through the Pass-Around forum here on BladeForums. It is a striking Howard Viele design and different than most Spyderco knives. When open it is crescent-shaped and very symmetrical -- the blade is the same length and shape as the scales. If it wasn't for the 12mm Spyderhole and ball-bearing lock, you might take it for something from Kershaw or CRKT.

The MSRP is $309.95 and our favorite online retailers sell it at $195 or so.

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When closed, it is reminiscent of the Spyderco Poliwog.

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Handle

The curved handle is titanium and held together by torx screws. The rounded scales are white Micarta. The upswept blade is VG-10. The exposed titanium of the handle seems like it might be prone to scratching -- it arrived scratched-up from a week of carry from the previous pass-around participant. The scales are bright white and look a bit like plastic. If you look closely, you can see a fine weave in the Micarta. Like the titanium handle, the Micarta scales also arrived a little scratched up.

Clip

The naked clip isn't like any other Spydie - it has a slight curve and three Howard Viele holes. It seems a little thicker than the clips on my other Spydercos and is shaped a bit different. It it flatter without the curved finger groove common to other Spydies. The clip is removable but positioned for tip-up, right-side carry only. No other holes are pre-drilled. The knife rides pretty high in the pocket. This isn't a low-rider clip.

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Blade

The wide, stout, VG-10 blade is 3" long but loses about 5/8" to a choil that integrates nicely with the handle. It is hollow ground and came to me very sharp. There is a swedge at the tip and three small holes are cut toward the top of the blade - a Howard Viele motif. The top spine of the blade is a relatively thick 1/8". For a $300 MSRP, I would have liked to see an S30V or maybe ZDP-189 blade, rather than the VG-10.

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Handling & Ergonomics

My first impression was that the Spyderco Phoenix handles more like something from Benchmade. It opens very smoothly with a flick of the thumb. The ball-bearing lock operates much like an Axis lock when closing the knife. The spring behind the ball seems thicker and produces more force than I remember from my last ball-bearing lock knife (the D'Allara). The knife snaps closed almost like a slipjoint once you get past the resistance point. The Phoenix is fun and easy to open and close one-handed. This might be the knife for all those folks who say: "I like Spyderco, but I love the Benchmade Axis lock."

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Spyderco Phoenix Review - Part 2

Size & Weight

This is a fairly beefy folder with wider and thicker handles than most Spyderco knives. It reminds me in some ways of the original Manix. When the blade is locked open there is no up or down blade play. I could get a little side-to-side wiggle holding the blade tip and applying pressure, but that might be fixed with some pivot screw adjustment.

The curved handles have built-in finger grooves and fits my large hand well. In comparison to some other Spydies, you don't get much cutting edge relative to overall length, but the upswept edge and substantial "belly" helps with that. The blade edge is 2 3/8" and the overall length is 7 1/4". The Phoenix is a touch on the heavy side, at 4.1 ounces vs 3.75 for the Paramilitary and 2.55 for the Delica FRN.

Here's a comparison shot of the Phoenix to the Paramilitary:

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Here's a comparison shot of the Phoenix to the Volpe:

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Here's a comparison shot of the Phoenix to the Delica:

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Here's a comparison shot of the Phoenix to the T-Mag:

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Here's a group shot. As you can see, the Phoenix handle has a (titanium?) backspacer that goes down about two thirds of the way. It is neither a "closed" or "open
design:

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Conclusions

After several days of use, I'll give it a :thumbup:. I've admired the Phoenix since it came out and have been tempted to buy one, but the price tag held me back. When I received it in the pass-around, I found it a little disappointing at first. It was smaller than I thought it would be and the blade was definitely shorter than I had hoped. The styling was a little too unconventional. Over a couple of days, however, it grew on me -- much like the Native that it resembles.

As I carried it, I found myself opening and closing it a good bit -- something I wouldn't normally do with a Spyderco knife. I also found that it handled the tasks that came up with ease. The only time I wished I had a longer blade was when I was grilling and had to butterfly a thick steak. The cutting performance was in line with what you would expect from a Spyderco, but nothing that would blow you away.

It tended to disappear into my pocket and carries like a small knife. (I don't use clips.) I often forgot it was there.

Maintenance might be a bit of an issue over the long run. The titanium is more scratched than when I got it. I got caught in a rainstorm during an hour-long hike and later found a rust spot on the blade (which came out easily.) I noticed today that the white Micarta had picked up something black (which again came off easily.)

In sum, it is a nice knife. It's a gentleman's folder on steroids -- handsome enough for a three-piece suit and heavy-duty enough for coveralls. I think Spyderco and other makers produce many knives that provide similar or better functionality at much lower price points. Just how much of an additional premium someone wants to pay for the relatively unusual design and materials will determine if this is the right knife for you.
 
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Nice pics! That white micarta is pretty danged classy looking. I don't particularly like the clip, though. However, the lock looks great to use, the blade looks great to use, and overall it seem slike a quite appealing knife (if not for the price tag).
 
The Phoenix is a nice looking knife, and your granite looks great too (I have the same granite). I look forward to getting this knife in the passaround.

Mike
 
gunmike1 said:
The Phoenix is a nice looking knife, and your granite looks great too (I have the same granite). I look forward to getting this knife in the passaround.

Mike
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It's very off-topic, but the granite is called Volpe Gold, which immediately made me think of the Spyderco Volpe, which of course, means "fox" in Italian.
 
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The knife has a unique look, even for Spyderco.

The handles slabs remind me of a pistol.
 
Did you have any weird lockup problems with the BB lock? In my week I noticed sometimes the BB wouldn't push forward enough, resulting in some blade play.
 
I didn't have that problem -- at least that I noticed, but I didn't cut anything that required me to push very hard. Maybe you broke it in a little before it got to me...

carrot said:
Did you have any weird lockup problems with the BB lock? In my week I noticed sometimes the BB wouldn't push forward enough, resulting in some blade play.
Click to expand...
 
I would own the Phoenix if the handle slabs came in other colors, I'm not really liking the white Micarta. I do love the sweeping lines of the blade and handle though.
 
alaskanmonte said:
I would own the Phoenix if the handle slabs came in other colors, I'm not really liking the white Micarta. I do love the sweeping lines of the blade and handle though.
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I'm not completely sure, but I think that would be a very easy (and inexpensive) fix. Take off the micarta, fashion some new ones, and replace. If it wasn't such an expensive knife, I'd probably already be messing around with one.

I'm looking forward to getting to play with this knife later in the passaround. Maybe I'll want to pick one up for myself.

Phillip
 
The Phoenix is a very nice looking knife. :thumbup:

I didn't purchase the last Veile model (the Veile2) because of the difference in handle materials; one side was G10 whereas the other featured black linen micarta and stainless steel. I wasn't a fan in that stark change of theme. There is a good possibility that this new design might find its way into my Spyderco collection.

Thanks for the review!
 
Very nice indeed. That knife IMHO would look so nice if mr. Dobson would make Desert Ironwood slaps and custom low rider clip by STR...
 
I walked into a local pawn shop to check out some blades recently. They had a good selection of crappy knives and a Spyderco Phoenix.

The guy who put the Phoenix up for pawn had fashioned a set of textured G10 handle slabs for it (fantastic job actually) and put the white linen micarta slabs in the box.

Needless to say, it is now my knife and I need to get some pictures of it on here. :thumbup:
 
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