Spyderco understands thin knives

S

stillshot2

Joined
Jun 6, 2014
Messages
568
I mean they do make some thicker ones too like the shaman but I've been selling off a lot of knives from other makers that are just too thick. Got out my calipers and didn't realize how thin the original Pacific Salt is, even thinner than my police 4 lw. Both these knives carry so well that I think I am willing to trade off a hand filling grip just to have carrying comfort, but it's not like these 2 knives are uncomfortable at all to cut with for longer periods of time. Any of you guys realize you've been drawn to Spyderco for this reason? Also no thumb studs also make a thinner, more unobtrusive knife. I'm starting to sound like a fanboy but the more knives I try out the more I realize Spydercos are something special.
 
stillshot2 said:
the more knives I try out the more I realize Spydercos are something special.
Click to expand...
100% on everything you stated! Personally, The Spydie hole opening is so natural now, I have a hard time adjusting to other knives with flippers, Thumb studs, And disk. Even when I carry Smock, Advocate, Domino, Etc I find myself using the hole opening most of the time.
 
Are we talking thin or full flat grind? I don't have everything they make but to me once you get larger than the Delica they get thick pretty quick. Not that they don't still slice well being a crazy sharp wedge.
 
Thats true. While I love my endela, especially for it's handle size, it's blade is certainly thicker than my delica. Though thinner than a pm2.

I tell you who understands thin knives and is, IMO, putting themselves firmly in the tier of the market benchmade and spyderco take up is Kershaw. I held a Bel-air the other day and immediately sent a photo to my wife for a not subtle Christmas hint. It's blade the size of my endela(3" cutting edge) with the same thin .090 blade stock as my delica. It's going to be a wicked slicer. I believe the live wire has the same thin stock too.

I used my pm2 the other day to breakdown a bunch of boxes and while definitely better than my benchmade, I could feel the thick stock on the pm2 taking more force to slice through than my delica would have.
 
Maximumbob54 said:
Are we talking thin or full flat grind?
Click to expand...
Guess I should have specified handle width. I loved a few thicker knives I owned with a nice palm swell grip but you can sure feel them in your pocket all day whereas I literally have to check if my 3oz Pacific Salt has fallen out of my pocket because it's so thin and light. Haven't handled a Benchmade Narrows but I wonder if it borders on too thin, if there can be such a thing?

Blade wise the military series of knives is a bit less slicey than say the delica but some taller blades like the manix 2 and others have a lot of length to taper to its spine to also make for a very slicey blade in my experience.
 
Last edited:
I'll jump in here to say something I've said many times over here and on other forums. I have carried about every brand and locking system out there and ended back up at "plain ole" manual opening lockback Spydercos. The predictability of the manual opening with the thumbhole and the size and strength ratio is perfect for me in a folding knife. I don't "rotate" like I used to either, since buying a Knives Plus reground Spyderco Endura Wharncliffe as my main EDC (front pocket, clipped) and in the back pocket (everyday) is a standard Spyderco Endura Wharncliffe serrated. The KP regrind has been there for at least two years, and the standard factory Wharncliffe serrated has been there since early last spring when I reached to cut some extremely heavy duty banding on some fencing T posts and the straight edge didn't cut it-it was so tough I initially stopped to recheck that it was not METAL...it wasn't but I was frustrated (and a bit mad?) that my plain edge Endura didn't cut it with light saber quickness, so I had the SE the end of that same week. I deep pocket carry the SE in the back pocket for security as it came out a couple times clipped. I also gave the KP PE about 30 minutes on the KME and cleaned it back up. Here's pics of the resharpened PE and the new SE after it arrived:

20240609_182052.jpg
20240609_181547.jpg
 
I've been saying for years that while everyone else designs knives for warranty's Spyderco designs their knives for users.
As a knifemaker I have more spydercos than any other manufacturer. They are my benchmark for testing new steels. Their edge geometry and willingness to try new steels with high hardness and on point HT protocols make them an outlier in the industry.
To that end the Native Chief is my favorite for testing steels. Nice long blade ground very thin with a pointy tip. Perfect for pushing a steel to its limits.
 
Spyderco is my absolute favorite folder brand. I have carried them for a long time and still have a vintage Delica with the molded clip. That knife has been in all sorts of scenarios and even carried while SCUBA diving. It still locks up tight with no play.

Great designs with huge variety in shapes, sizes, steels, etc. Great customer service when I have needed screws.

I find it awesome that Sal participates on these forums.

Eagerly awaiting my PM2 MagnaCut!
 
TLR said:
I've been saying for years that while everyone else designs knives for warranty's Spyderco designs their knives for users.
As a knifemaker I have more spydercos than any other manufacturer. They are my benchmark for testing new steels. Their edge geometry and willingness to try new steels with high hardness and on point HT protocols make them an outlier in the industry.
To that end the Native Chief is my favorite for testing steels. Nice long blade ground very thin with a pointy tip. Perfect for pushing a steel to its limits.
Click to expand...
You are spot on the money. I just hope they don't go out of business for a very long time, nor change the performance centered mindset
 
I'm a hobby maker and poor collector, I agree! The only Spydie I still have is a Resilience, poor mans Millie. But it's flat ground distal taper and not too thick at the edge. I've owned and used a few Spydies and even the steep hollow grinds on some are still thinner at the edge than most Benchmades.
Civivi, is another company that "gets" edge geometry for normal knives.
 
I see that this thread is a couple months old, so...hopefully it's still considered pertinent to respond to?

The biggest reason I tend to gravitate towards Spyderco is for the very reason stated in the title. By and large, it seems like everyone wants to "dummy proof" their product. A quick perusal through periodicals, blogs, and forums seems to have much more about how tough (Insert name) knife is and much less focus on how efficiently it cuts. Though Spyderco is no slouch in toughness or durability, I love that they haven't lost their focus in the production of CUTTING TOOLS, rather than edged pry bars. The hole opening rather than a thumb stud or a disc is useful on more occasions than I would expect. It's out of the way when cutting or sharpening, goo from cleaning animals and food prep doesn't stick and catch as badly, and though I'm right handed, I do sometimes have to carry South paw due to other tools on my person, and it's nice that the hole is easily ambidextrous, and a very sure opening.

It's nice that we all have infinite knife options these days. I'm glad the folks who want somewhat sharp pry bar knives for purposes I don't relate to can easily fulfill their wants and needs, but for me...I'll stay with the keen cutting efficiency Spyderco is known for.
 
Runs With Scissors said:
It's nice that we all have infinite knife options these days. I'm glad the folks who want somewhat sharp pry bar knives for purposes I don't relate to can easily fulfill their wants and needs, but for me...I'll stay with the keen cutting efficiency Spyderco is known for.
Click to expand...
True .
But .
Personally I would like to take those infinite knife options a step or two further , beyond the infinite if you will ; I want the option to chose truly high performance blades , even on the longer knives such as the Gayle Bradley 2 , to pull a model out of the infinite strictly at random 😄

For example I bought two GB2s . One to look at and one to use . The latter I ground to 1.8 mm at the blade spine and ten thousandths behind the edge ; oddly enough this completely obliterated all the great cutting , "high performance ", hollow ground goodness I have always read about.
Huh
guess we didn't need that after all .
Being it is M4 and very nicely heat treated it will be PLENTY tough for any thing I would ever throw at it .

How do I know ? ? ? you may ask
well . . . I have taken similar length knife blades of much lesser steel and similar blade thickness and repeatedly bent the blade way over 90° to the handle until the blade snapped off .

This takes WAY more cycles than you might imagine and they were not poorly heat treated and bendy soft ; the blade came back to straight with no kink until it finally snapped off.

Since I NEVER EVER do this with one of my EDCs , or any other knife . . . I think I will chance it !
Especially with M4 .
but that's just me .
YMMV

PS :

Sal : Two blade grind choices please . I'll even pay more for the latter and sign any wavers you can truck to my door 🙂
 
I've never really done destructive testing on anything but the cheapest Mora knives, but even those are amazingly stout knives. I've honestly damaged more knives in pursuit of atom splitting sharpness than by real work or abuse-And I've done some stupid things in some stupid situations...

I'm really surprised to read about your results re-grinding the GB. I honestly can't make sense of why that would happen, though I don't doubt your experience at all. Funny how such a simple concept can become such a profound mystery....
 
Wowbagger said:
The latter I ground to 1.8 mm at the blade spine and ten thousandths behind the edge ; oddly enough this completely obliterated all the great cutting , "high performance ", hollow ground goodness I have always read about.
Huh
Click to expand...

Struggling to grasp how this would be the case. Sharp edge, thin stock, shouldn't matter what the grind is, AND THE CUTTING WAS OBLITERATED???

Struggling... :confused:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top