Temperance Passaround

As of this post on 10-1-02 at 1428 hours it has not made it to me yet. I'll post as soon as I get her! I hope I get it by 10-3-02 as On Friday I start a 36 to 48 hour shift and won't be able to put her to good use!:( Don't worry I'll do what I can I send her off to Metaxas! Should be lots of fun!:D
 
Received the knife on Mon 9/22/02 sent to SkagSig40 Co. Zip80550 Sat 9/28/02 As per USPS Track & Confirm Delivery Status


Your item was delivered at 2:07 EST pm on October 01, 2002
in WINDSOR, CO 80550.
Maybe still at the post office for wed. 10/02/02 delivery?

DAFOX
 
Now for the review.
Received the knife on Monday 9/22/02.

Blade:
Odd shape for a fixed blade knife, but it worked extremely well on all tasks.
Whittled a couple of sticks and performed very well.
Opened packaged foods, kitchen prep work handled like a good kitchen knife. It was a little "Short" as compared to a normal kitchen knife, but thats not its intent. Size was not a hinderence just used to a longer blade in the kitchen.
I liked the position of the blade with respect to the handle (No gaurd), and the serrations on the back of the blade did aide in control if desired.

Handle:
Very ergonomic, what else can I say it fit my hand well and I have small hands. There still seemed to be alot more room on the handle if you had larger hands. Good texturing, and it seems like it would not be easliy damaged.

Steel:
Came to me sharp with a few minor areas of what appeared to be some "Use areas". Still cut good when in this condtion. I gave it a few light passes on a diamond hone and the blade just took-off, zipping through every thing.

Sheath:
Great job! It held the blade very securly in any configuration. Up/down sideways etc... The Tek-loc is nice, easy on/off the belt. It also was just the right size, no extra material to jab you in the wrong spot all day long.

Closing:

Excellent job Sal & Co. you have a winner in this knife!!! Will be my next fixed blade purchase. Unless you care to "Donate" one of these my way (Hint, Hint)

I've been with Spyders since the early 80's (flat handled Police and Hunter) this is the first fixed blade I've tried and I am impressed!

Thanks again to Dave & Sal for this opportunity.

DAFOX






:D :D
 
Nice review Dafox.

I will be waiting on the porch for this one. :)

I will put this up against the camp tramp in a head to head chopping contest. j/k

This sounds like a great knife to have around the kitchen. I will be putting it to use. Mayby a nice stir fry!
 
When I got home late last night/morning it was in the mail box! I'll start off with first impressions.

When I opened the box I also thought the Spyderco box was pretty neat! The Temperance was smaller than I thought but that is a good thing as this is a great size to carry all day without problems.

The sheath is very well made one of the best I've seen and the Tek-Lok works like a charm! It was very easy to carry vertical, horizantal and easy to put on and off....very secure! The knife goes in the sheath easy and comes out very easy, a little to easy I thought! I tried to get the knife to fall out of the sheath by holding it upside down and swinging/jerking it as hard as I could but it held solid!! I don't think anyone would have concerns about the knife being koncked from the sheath.

The handle is made to be extreamly comfortable! I also have smaller hands and there is room for larger hands to be comfortable. I would like to see the 4 finger cutouts on both sides of the handle to be made a little bigger as my pinkey and ringfinger whanted to go a tad bit further down the handle but the finger "dimples" held them in place and were uncomfortable if staggered. The thumb ramp worked well and should help to keep your hand from slipping down on the blade. I personally would like the thumb ramp to be less steep and more forward as this would give the thumb a little more room to choak up on the blade. Overall the handle is great and can be held in severall grips without worrie of loosing your grip, a very comfortable/secure handle.

The blade is a nice "using" shape and came very sharp! It really dosen't even look like she has been used yet, good job touching up the edge DAFOX! I haven't got to use it yet so I will post my results as soon as I use it. I don't think it will be much of a chopper and the tip is VERY thin and could easily snap off if used hard. I would like to see it "beefed" up a bit. Thickness, 5/32 I believe is just about right but I think I would like it better in 3/16 stock. The blade is flat ground absolutely perfect and the shoulders at the base of the blade match up just about perfect as they should!! I think it will shear right through things like rope very well!

Overall this is a fine knife and a knife Spyderco should be proud of! I think it will excell as a light duty camp knife or ever a skinning knife! It would also make a superb river knife as well...just a few things I would use it for! Thank you Sal and the folks at Spyderco for giving us this opportunity and to Dave for setting this up!

I'll post some things I find as I get to use it for the 1st time! Stay tuned!:)
 
I didn't test the temperance while in my posession, but my impression of it agrees with SkagSig40, namely it's not designed as a chopper, but rather a light-medium duty camp/kitchen/hunting type knife.
 
Ok I'm all done with my review of the Temperance! I'll post as soon as I have enough time to give all the details! I'll mail it off to Metaxas in the morning! Should get to CA in a few days!:)
 
The Temperance was a great knife to use. I used it to cut 1/2 inch nylon rope about 20 cuts and it just went right through it like it wasn't even there! I also chopped half way through a 2x4 and it did ok but really didn't bite into the wood very well but then it was not ment for this purpos. The thin edge held up fine for this. I used it as a draw knife on some pine and it cut/shaved the wood great but it was a little hard to controll, if it had a recurved blade it probably would have done a little better.
The last thing I used it for was to cut through some rubberized undercoating you use on cars. I had spilled some on piece of cardboard and when this suff dries it is pretty tough. It sliced through with out much effort. I mailed a piece of it so you guys can see what this stuff looks like and how the knife cut it. After all this it still shaved! I cleaned and oiled it up and touched up the blade be for I mailed it off!

Any way it was fun and I'm glad I had the chance to be a part of it. Thanks again to Dave and Sal for setting this up! I mailed it off to Metaxas on Friday 10/4/02 so it should get to CA any day now!
 
I had a reply and it disappeared. So I will try to recreate my original post.

I just got home and it was waiting for me.:)

The knife came very sharp and I have the cut on my finger to prove it. I was wiping oil off the blade with a paper towel, felt the bite, then saw the blood. Good thing I keep lots of Band-Aids around.

The knife was in excellent condition and looked hardly used.

The secure kydex with tec lock is the first thing I noticed. It rides high and could be carried without allot of attention. It can be adjusted for many carry positions.

The blade is robust and the flat grind makes it a great slicer like I have shown on my finger. The handle is large and provides an excellent grip.

I will let you know more as I use it. If I had it over the weekend I could take it camping with me at mono lake. I will just have to look around the apartment for something to cut.

More to come.


edited for poor spelin
 
Well I got home from work and started looking around for stuff to do with the Temperance. I easily changed the sheath to horizontal carry but It feels the most comfortable in the vertical position. The thumb grove on the end of the handle makes it feel great in a reverse hold. The thumb gooves on the back of the blade are nice. Well on to the testing.

Cardboard recycling was the first chore. This thing is an incredible slicer, I am being won over by flat grinds. I know the edge will thicken up after a lot of sharpening but who cares. I imagine you can always re-bevel the edge. I have cut a lot of cardboard in my day and have never had anything cut through it like the Temperance. I made about 100 long cuts and it stayed shaving sharp.

I chopped a 2" pine board in half in about a minute the whittled it into a spear point. No challenge here.

Next I made about 100 cuts through 1/4 inch rope. Sill sharp.

Cut through a thick magazine. This sounds easy but is quite tough. I think I may have dulled the blade a little on this test.

The next test was five pieces of card board stacked. This took a lot of pushing and rocking. I was determined to see what it could go through before losing the edge. The blade can still slice through paper like nothing else I own. It is no longer scary sharp and I lost steam before the knife.

Next on the list is diner. Roasted chicken and a very large an unusual squash(blue ballet) that I picked up from work. Usually the best knife for squash is a heavy Chinese clever.

E-mail me or post if you think of something for me to try the temperance out on.

More to come.
 
Well, Diner went fine. The squash was no challenge and got me thinking about a pumpkin. It is now the season for it celebrating the harvest and all. I work in a produce warehouse and we were sending out the 150 lb'ers! If I only had more time.

About the knife. I would consider this to be the perfect utility blade. I can not imagine anything this knife would excel at except chopping. But if you need to chop carry a hatchet or perhaps two knives.

I love VG-10. This is an awesome stainless steel. It sharpens up quite easily and achieves a very sharp edge. It took more abuse from me than I could dish out. If you find the limitations of this knife you should probably be using something else.

Anyone looking for a nice fixed blade should take a look at the Temperance. It is a versatile blade with a non threatening style that can be carried in a variety of positions. Spyderco is great a coming up with new nontraditional blades and that is why this one was so much fun to play with.

Thank you to Sal, Spyderco, Dave H, and everyone that has participated in the passaround.

It has been sharpend up and is ready to go. I will be sending this off to BurkStar tomorrow before I leave for a four day camping trip.

If you have a question for me I will be back on Wednesday.

Thanks again,

Mark.

:)
 
You guys are surely welcome. I find it cool to hear about what people are doing with their knives.
:D
 
It is in the mail. Burkstar I will email you the confirmation number. Have fun with it.
 
Picked up a couple of boxes on my way into work. The first box was a Lighfoot custom that I traded for and the second was the Temperance. I really haven't had much of a chance to look at it yet but my first impression is that I just might like it a lot better than any of the Spyderco folders that I've been handling recently. Will hopefully be giving it a good work out in the next couple of days. Will post a review when I ship it.
 
Sorry for being late on this, but the AKCA show this past weekend had me pretty much tied up. Well Dave, you've done it, I now have an E-Bay bid on a Temperance. This Spyderco has done what a bunch of others haven't, it has really impressed me. They have designed a very impressive fixed blade knife. It still has the "odd" Spyderco shape, but this one is extremely functional. I have cut up a bunch of triple walled boxes, cut quite a few pieces of nylon rope at work, cut a bunch of regular boxes, stripped branches off of tree limbs and used it in the kitchen. This knife is a user just begging to be used/abused. The handle is comfortable, the thumb cutout on the blade is perfect, I love the VG-10 blade, and the flat grind makes it useful in quite a few situations. And even the sheath is adequate, for a kydex sheath.

I'll be getting it in the mail this morning. I'll e-mail the next person to let them know the delivery confirmation number.

Once again thanks Dave and Sal, y'all have got a winner with the Temperance.
 
Just received the Temperance in the mail. I've only taken a short look at it, so I'll save my impressions until I've had a chance to really go over it and use it. Back with more shortly.
 
Spyderco Temperance? I am impressed.

I first noticed how much the knife reminded me of my Calypso. Great knife that. The forward angle of the blade in relation to the handle is great. Helps give the knife some extra leverage.

I did not do a great deal of cutting, because the knife performed much like my Calypso. I like the blade shape, and the fact that it is bigger and thicker gets bonus points. I did carve 2 punkins with it, and it performed very well. I did other various utility tasks with great ease. It's well designed to cut, as should be.

The sheath for this thing is awesome! I haven't had an opportunity to own a sheath with the Tek-Lok system before, but I'm sold now. That clip rocks. And the Kydex was flawless. I like good usable sheaths.

The main thing that I dealt with was the handle. I don't like FRN. I know it's light, and tough, and has its place. Many good knives have FRN handles. I just don't care for it. Also this particular handle seemed too smooth on the outside. Even with the four finger dips and some texture I wondered if it would slip easily under any type of slippery conditions.

It didn't.

I first worked with it in water. Pushing it into some cardboard seeing if I could get it to slip. No chance.

Then some dirt. Got my hands nice and gritty and took hold. It still held on.

Then a bit of oil, just a little. I got it to slip just a tad, but not nearly enough for concern.

As I worked with it I found that in a reverse grip while pushing down the V-cutout at the butt end makes a perfect thumb groove, making the grip absolutely secure under any conditions.

Overall rating - Excellent offering by Spyderco. An all around user that really has me thinking it's time to retire the ol' Kabar and get me a new camp knife.

And after all of this I finally went out and looked at the price. You've got to be kidding. This much knife for that little cash. Sheesh, I guess I have to get one on general principle.


Thanks Mr. Glessar, and Dave for putting this all together. Thanks very much.

I touched up the blade (the thing looks amazingly good for being in so many hands already) and sent it on to MOC. Email me MOC and I'll send you the Confirmation #.

Take care.
 
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