Spyderco UKPK Orange

Josh K · May 23, 2009

Recently picked up a Spyderco UKPK (United Kingdom Pen Knife) in Orange. I believe the original black has been disco'ed, so you can only get these in Orange or Foliage Green. I prefer the orange, but having one in FG would be nice when I don't want to scream "Carrying a knife."

Running off that comment, the knife carries pretty discrete in the pocket. It's clipped by a very low riding wire clip. Clip is tip up, right/left hand swappable. I do rather wish that they had installed slots for tip down carry, as it is my preferred method, but this works, and keeps the knife nestled out of the way.

The name of this knife belies it's intended use. A non locking, sub 3" knife, legal to own and carry in the UK. As a slip joint knife, it's relatively secure. The large forward choil gives your hand a very secure grip on the knife. In testing, I found that even when smacking the black on a table, or intentionally loading the tip, the finder choil prevented the blade from shutting on the fingers. Granted when loading the tip with about 210lbs it gave my finger a strong pinch, it still did not close.

The scales as mentioned are a bright orange G-10. Texture is good, and the simplistic construction keeps everything light. The handle is unlined, but there was still virtually no flex from strong hand pressure.

The spring I believe runs the entire back of the knife. I haven't taken this one apart, so I could be wrong, but it does have a solid metal spacer in the back. The spring is stiff, so you can't flick this knife open at all. No "gravity" knife here.

The blade is a full flat ground, S30V, blade. It has that characteristic leaf shaped design that gives a good amount of belly and excellent tip work.

The handle has the standard Spyderco ergos, excellent ones that is. Comfortable and grippy, the handle had no hot spots during extended cutting.

Overall I love the design. It's an excellent EDC knife that is legal just about everywhere. :thumbup:

Sal Glesser · May 23, 2009

Thanx Josh, nice review. We appreciate the time and effort.

I should explain the "tip-up / tip-down" definition as it developed. When we were first making clips for knives (we were first) we defined the clip location by the tip of the knife, rather than the tip of the clip. So our original knives were all carried with the tip of the knife down. The tip of the clip then was also tip down, but it was the tip of the knife to which we referrred. When we began making "Tip-up" knives, this meant the tip of the knife was up when carried. So the UK is considered a "tip-up" carry method. Hope that helps.

thanx,

sal

Josh K · May 23, 2009

Sal Glesser said:
Thanx Josh, nice review. We appreciate the time and effort.

I should explain the "tip-up / tip-down" definition as it developed. When we were first making clips for knives (we were first) we defined the clip location by the tip of the knife, rather than the tip of the clip. So our original knives were all carried with the tip of the knife down. The tip of the clip then was also tip down, but it was the tip of the knife to which we referrred. When we began making "Tip-up" knives, this meant the tip of the knife was up when carried. So the UK is considered a "tip-up" carry method. Hope that helps.

thanx,

sal

I seem to have swapped some words in my original post. :foot:

I meant to say I prefer tip down carry to tip up carry.

Thanks sal.

davide · May 24, 2009

Thanks for the review. How did you apply 210lbs. of pressure to the blade tip? That sounds like it'd be awfully rough on your finger in the choil.

I wonder if spyderco would ever want to make an NYCPK that has a lock but is impossible to flick open so it cannot be classified as a gravity knife.

Josh K · May 24, 2009

davide said:
Thanks for the review. How did you apply 210lbs. of pressure to the blade tip? That sounds like it'd be awfully rough on your finger in the choil.

I wonder if spyderco would ever want to make an NYCPK that has a lock but is impossible to flick open so it cannot be classified as a gravity knife.

The UKPK is pretty impossible to flick open.

I stuck the tip about 1/8" into a my deck railing and then balanced myself on it with my other hand. I'm 210, so I figured it was close enough. If I measured it it was probably closer to 190. Like I said, it pinched it pretty good, but it didn't close. If the choil area were more towards the G-10 instead of the blade it would have pinched less.

davide · May 24, 2009

Thanks for testing it, that way I can take your word for it and save my finger the trouble. I've found that if I position my finger just right under the unsharpened portion of the large blade on my Swiss Army Climber I can keep my hand safe if the knife were to close. But it's pretty precarious. Having a dedicated choil for that purpose would be nice.

David M · Jun 1, 2009

The UKPK is a very solid knife. I don't have one but handled one at the Outlet store in Golden and almost got one but picked up the D2 Para instead.

Lycosa · Jun 1, 2009

Thanks for the write up! :thumbup:

razorsdescent · Jun 1, 2009

been looking at these because im planning to back pack thru part of euope when i ets the army, i plan to carry 2 different knives but i think it would be nice if at least one of them were legal

gnius · Jun 1, 2009

davide said:
I wonder if spyderco would ever want to make an NYCPK that has a lock but is impossible to flick open so it cannot be classified as a gravity knife.

Byrd Wings Slipit.

That's what I've been carrying in NYC. Absolutely impossible to flick open, no lock, and a 2 small blades, serrated and plain. Very easy to sharpen due to the blade shape, and the G10 handle is very slim and comfortable.

On mine the action on the plain blade is actually more stiff than I'd like... but it makes the knife virtually impossible to classify as being offensive (no, this is not an invitation for any NYPD member to try...)

I like having 2 different blades, for different tasks. I wish Spyderco had a 1-blade slipjoint that's smaller than the UKPK... something with a 2-2.5" blade and a slim handle.