- Joined
- Apr 15, 2014
- Messages
- 483
I haven't gotten into many Spyderco knives. From what I hear, they are some of the best knives you can buy, but I just couldn't really get into the designs of any of them.
I bought the Tenacious because it is somewhat of a legendary knife. This thing targets ultra utility. The economic cost, the four-way clip, the perfectly textured G10, the intense focus on ergos, the Spydy Hole. I mean, if someone needs a knife strictly on the basis of pragmatic cutting tools, this thing will absolutely be at the top of the list. And here's the thing that makes this knife what it is: not only does it work so hard to be a cost effective cutting tool, but Spyderco does it without the thing being built like trash.
This knife is technically my bottom line. I will never go any lower than this. So I figured if the Tenacious was going to be my Bottom Line, then I'd best discover the boundaries of that Bottom Line...
So say your prayers, Greeny!
First I ruthlessly tip tested this thing. I did get a very minor chip on the tip after doing this, but I also went full Gaston444 and sharpened it to approximately 24 degress inclusive then hard-used it. I did this merely because I usually rock 10-15dps for my EDC's as they don't really see particularly hard use. I was impressed with the tip strength for sure.
I did however bend the tip when I did some prying. Here I hammered the tip into the wood and then tried to pry chips of wood up.
And this came as no surprise:
But it was easily bent back, and then I moved on to some more normal-ish stuff...
I freakin' batoned the shit out of that thing!
Got a little cross-grain action in there too!
And the lock was completely fine!
Just kidding. I completely mangled the lock. The knife was ruined after that. Don't baton with folders. Sorry Greeny...
Time to get the backup!
The edge on this thing was jacked up from when I started practicing freehand sharpening with my Shapton SG Edge Pro Stones and I kept trying different techniques, so the first thing to do was hit the stones!
Boom! King 300 to define a new bevel. I love this stone. It's hard, it's fast, and it was cheap. Got this thing for 43CAD. An incredible stone for the money!
Stone is hard enough to where the slurry for this softer steel was primarily swarf. And man did it set my bevel fast! It is hard to find a decent low grit stone and this one really competes well. However, for a full, major reprofiling, I still think coarse diamond plates are your guy.
Now with the bevel set, it's time for...
A solid middle grit stone for the price. The value of this stone is extremely high. The King 800, 1000, and 1200 are all great stones for the money, and all behave essentially the same. They are muddy and will require flattening often. The good news is that that flattening is easily accomplished, and the stones are so cheap you don't feel bad if you don't really maximize your surface use.
Then it was time for some high grit, baby!
The King 6000 kicks ass and I would definitely recommend it. The binder is insanely hard. It's a splash n go for sure. It puts up a really nice polish. Here's the one thing I really don't get about this stone though: it stinks lol. I don't like the way it smells. You can only smell it if you put your nose right up to it, but yeah, it has a weird smell. Otherwise, this stone is excellent. And I suspect it will last me, basically my life time. The thing wears crazy slow.
As you can see, literally all swarf. No mud.
And check this polish...
But it is not quite as clean a mirror as I'd like, so it's time to bust out one of my absolute favorite finishers
The Spyderco Ultra Fine! I love this stone. The fact that it produces no mud is a big deal for me. It yields a very crisp apex, and the polish is beautiful:
So! Now it's time to take this little bottlerocket out and do some work!
(and not destroy it this time...)
Feathersticking with this thing was a pleasure. The edge just glided through the wood
Then it was time to do some hardcore work and carve the handle of either a sword, or the paddle I'll use to beat children who walk on my lawn
The handle is coming along well... long ways to go though.
The rope you see was me testing the edge after I did all this carving as well as slicing the crap out of a cardboard box. At that point, the edge was virtually gone. I will say that the thing slices extremely well without being so thin it comes off as weak. I beat the crap out of that thing, but I was still able to slice through cardboard with ease, even with basically no edge left.
Overall though, we got quite a bit of work out of 'er for being, well, not awesome steel...
I dug in and twisted pretty hard with that blade and I definitely suffered some edge damage, but it was way less than I expected. At about 24 degrees inclusive most of the edge wound up looking like this:
It was dotted with microchips that were easy to get out with the 1200 stone. No need for a low grit to repair them... Granted I'd never be upset about having an excuse to use that King three hundo again.
On the whole, this is a pretty badass little blade if you just need a knife that works. Not a ton of flair, but this thing'll slice till your hearts content, and when it goes dull, she'll sharpen up no problem and you're back to beating the hell out of it!
Like you said, it's a great blade for the $$ and what you get out of it...Good review btw, enjoyed the read 