Spyderco P'kal review yet ??

I'm a little late to the party but this model looks like a thinking man's knife for sure. There are so many features of this knife that are well thought out.

I can't imagine this selling well unfortunatly. It is a knife that few will be able to understand. I have overlooked it until now because of the weird looks. After looking closer, I notice that it is actually a pretty good EDC knife.
 
TIZWIN said:
IMHO, this knife will be the best SD folder--until the next nouvelle vague .

Assuming we can not carry a firearm, my understanding of SD knifework is thus: When we carry a blade for Self Defense, we are in essence preparing to react to ambush. This is because if we have any prior warning, we should avoid the threat. We do not presume to brandish a knife to deter an assault. We can not carry a knife in hand wherever we go.

Ideally, we would carry a short dagger on the belt, hopefully accessible with either hand. But as with firearms, this is often not possible. So we are left with a folding knife.

The P'Kal is designed to be grabbed and deployed in a style easily learned and difficult to defend against. I am personally grateful to South Narc, Trace Rinaldi, and Mr. Glesser for creating and making available this knife.
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THAT about sums it up....;)
 
kgriggs8 said:
I
I can't imagine this selling well unfortunatly. It is a knife that few will be able to understand. I have overlooked it until now because of the weird looks. After looking closer, I notice that it is actually a pretty good EDC knife.
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You might be a little disappointed -- I'm not sure the design lends itself to general-purpose EDC use. I haven't held it yet, but if the grip is suitable only for RGEI, it won't be EDC. If we're lucky, it'll be usable in forward grip when you've got it on you, but I'm not sure that that was one of the design criteria.
 
Joe Talmadge said:
You might be a little disappointed -- I'm not sure the design lends itself to general-purpose EDC use. I haven't held it yet, but if the grip is suitable only for RGEI, it won't be EDC. If we're lucky, it'll be usable in forward grip when you've got it on you, but I'm not sure that that was one of the design criteria.
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Well, it sure ought to be useable in forward grip edge up.;) I don't see why you couldn't use it F/E.D. either. I mean it's not like you can't hold a Perrin street bowie in reverse grip edge in just because it's got that divot in the grip.

Then again, even if you can't use it in that grip for some reason, I'll have a Dodo in the other pocket and between the two I think every grip is covered and every task (besides skinning a deer) is, too.:D

I just realized I can't even remember what year I changed my location in my profile.:(
 
Actually in a conventional grip this knife still works.. It isnt as comfy as some standard knives but it still works good enough to handle most EDC chores with not much fuss or muss.... AND there are the fringe benefits..;-)
 
Over on Spyderco's own forum there is a post revealing an auction for a Collector's Club numbered P'kal on ebay. Yet another thread contains Mr. Talmdge's initial review.

Seems like they are shipping. The glorious day is dawning.
 
New Graham's got my number as well. How exciting to have this knife almost in hand after so long! Mr. Glesser started talking about making a dedicated Pikal folder three years ago next month, on this forum. I've been waiting on it ever since.
 
I'm curious to hear about the tip of the blade. Is it similar to that of the Yojimbo where one might be afraid to use it hard as it might snap?
 
For its intended use, not problem with the tip at all. I did not stress test the tip, didn't make sense for this design. But, I did do a whole lot of hard pakal jabs into a very hard plastic board, and because my technique is different than SN's, the angle wasn't quite right and I feel there was a lot of stress at the tip. Between the hard target (much harder than you'd run into for combatives) and my entry angle, there was a lot of sudden impact on the tip but it came through unscathed.

Now I'm still trying to wrap my head around using this for utility use. My guess is that the tip might be sturdier than the Yojimbo's, though I don't have one here to compare directly. Doesn't feel as if it's quite as sturdy as the Endura 4's tip. You will not be tempted to pry with the tip, but I imagine it will take moderate torques in normal utility use. I don't plan to pry with this knife, but do plan to practice thrusts into at least moderately hard targets.
 
Thanks for the info Joe. Next question :) you talk about the angles of SN and FFS. Is there anywhere on-line where we can see what the difference is? I thought both styles were based on fast jabs not realizing there was an arc difference in the two.
 
Unfortunately, there's no place comparing them directly, you have to compare for yourself. The best place to see what SN does is on www.shivworks.com -- the trailer for REM II shows him in action, the link to the trailer is right on the front page. If I remember right, you'll see his tight arc and relatively squarer body mechanics and lightning fast delivery. SN's strike might be the more instinctive movement if you haven't trained before. As for Ray, here's a video on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om0U6Cr8Y18 he's the shorter guy. His style has changed significantly since then, but you can still see the straight jab (there's also arcing forehand strikes, ignore those and focus on the jab). Actually, here's a better one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV5TfZBB1Lo Ray's nontelegraphic jab is unbelieveable. He lets you put on a helmet, tells you he's going to hit you in the face, lets you put your hands up, and I still haven't seen anyone able to block it!
 
That knife is just so unbelievably ugly, it starts to get beautiful. I'll probably buy one once they get easily available.
 
WhyNot said:
At least some of NGK's CC-numbered P'kals have been shipped yesterday!
WhyNot.
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Yep :D

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