It's all the Cricket's fault, that handy little hook at the front of the blade got me thinking about how i use knives daily, mostly to open packaging and boxes, the Cricket made short work of clamshell packaging, antistatic bags, the packing tape seal on Apple Service repair part boxes, etc....
I started thinking about getting a bigger Hawkbill, and started looking at my growing collection of knives with a hypercritical eye, the collection was growing with no clear focus or plan, if i found a knife i liked the looks of, i bought it, and i could feel myself losing control....
I didn't want to end up obsessively collecting knives i was never going to use, that was a path to madness, there'd *always* be a newer, better knife out there, the collection would never be complete, i made a concious decision to stop "collecting" and limit myself to *users* (it'd also be less financially painful, if you knowhatimean...
)
this trip to KTP was one with a purpose, i was going to take back the two knives i never really used and use the resulting store credit to get one i *would*
I was able to eliminate the Endura, it was too big for my normal everyday use (i didn't need a 4" blade),it didn't want to sharpen up properly, and since i bought it used originally, i think the previous owner must have messed up the edge profile, i've tried reprofiling on the Lansky, and the Sharpmaker, don't get me wrong, it'd get sharp, just not *scary* sharp, all my other blades got scary sharp after a trip down the Sharpmaker and some basic stropping, not the Endura, i wasn't happy with it, so i traded it back for store credit (got back what i paid for it, no loss)
the Jester i just never warmed up to, it's a nice knife, don't get me wrong, but it was just too small for me, and being my first (and last) AUS-6 knife, it got me to seriously dislike that steel, too fussy to sharpen and no edge retention ability, the Cricket and my SAK handled all the cutting chores the Jester would have performed, since i was still within the return policy window, returned that one as well...
so, there i was, standing at the knife counter, a shelf full of shiny Spyder-y (is *so* a word..... now....) goodness gleaming in the light, Delica, Pacific Salt, Police, Dragonfly, Scorpius, Milli and Para, Jester and Ladybug.....and the Harpy.....
i knew that the Harpy was listed as $109.95 and out of stock on the Spyderco website, so when i saw a SE SS Harpy sitting on the shelf for $79.95 brand new, i couldn't resist, i already knew how incredibly useful the downturned point design was from my experience with the Cricket.....
I asked to take a look at the display model, it was much heavier than i expected, it felt very solid, a pure *chunk* of stainless steel, very substansial and solid, it opened and closed so smoothly it felt like it was on ball bearings, it fit my hand perfectly, just like my other Spyders, it just felt....*right*
just like my other Spydies, there was *no* blade motion or flex once opened, it felt like it was a fixed-blade knife, the serrated hawkbill blade was scary-sharp, this was clearly a winner....
Sold!
the knife i purchased was equally well crafted, locked up as solid as a bank vault, and for some strange reason, just had the feel of an old freind, holding the Harpy, i felt like i had found a knife that was designed for me, and me alone, it was the *only* knife i've handled thus far that just said to me "Russ, this knife was built just for you", the Cricket came *close*, but the Harpy, the Harpy just *fit*
now, to reorganize my EDC's to allow the new knife....
hopefully, this will satisfy my knifelust for the forseeable future, I think i have all my *user* bases covered now....
small knife; Cricket
heavy-duty cutter; Native, Harpy
Assisted Opener; Kershaw Scallion
pocketknife; Vic. Spartan Lite, Dyad Jr
Sal, great job on the Harpy, it's a great knife
I started thinking about getting a bigger Hawkbill, and started looking at my growing collection of knives with a hypercritical eye, the collection was growing with no clear focus or plan, if i found a knife i liked the looks of, i bought it, and i could feel myself losing control....
I didn't want to end up obsessively collecting knives i was never going to use, that was a path to madness, there'd *always* be a newer, better knife out there, the collection would never be complete, i made a concious decision to stop "collecting" and limit myself to *users* (it'd also be less financially painful, if you knowhatimean...
)this trip to KTP was one with a purpose, i was going to take back the two knives i never really used and use the resulting store credit to get one i *would*
I was able to eliminate the Endura, it was too big for my normal everyday use (i didn't need a 4" blade),it didn't want to sharpen up properly, and since i bought it used originally, i think the previous owner must have messed up the edge profile, i've tried reprofiling on the Lansky, and the Sharpmaker, don't get me wrong, it'd get sharp, just not *scary* sharp, all my other blades got scary sharp after a trip down the Sharpmaker and some basic stropping, not the Endura, i wasn't happy with it, so i traded it back for store credit (got back what i paid for it, no loss)
the Jester i just never warmed up to, it's a nice knife, don't get me wrong, but it was just too small for me, and being my first (and last) AUS-6 knife, it got me to seriously dislike that steel, too fussy to sharpen and no edge retention ability, the Cricket and my SAK handled all the cutting chores the Jester would have performed, since i was still within the return policy window, returned that one as well...
so, there i was, standing at the knife counter, a shelf full of shiny Spyder-y (is *so* a word..... now....) goodness gleaming in the light, Delica, Pacific Salt, Police, Dragonfly, Scorpius, Milli and Para, Jester and Ladybug.....and the Harpy.....
i knew that the Harpy was listed as $109.95 and out of stock on the Spyderco website, so when i saw a SE SS Harpy sitting on the shelf for $79.95 brand new, i couldn't resist, i already knew how incredibly useful the downturned point design was from my experience with the Cricket.....
I asked to take a look at the display model, it was much heavier than i expected, it felt very solid, a pure *chunk* of stainless steel, very substansial and solid, it opened and closed so smoothly it felt like it was on ball bearings, it fit my hand perfectly, just like my other Spyders, it just felt....*right*
just like my other Spydies, there was *no* blade motion or flex once opened, it felt like it was a fixed-blade knife, the serrated hawkbill blade was scary-sharp, this was clearly a winner....
Sold!
the knife i purchased was equally well crafted, locked up as solid as a bank vault, and for some strange reason, just had the feel of an old freind, holding the Harpy, i felt like i had found a knife that was designed for me, and me alone, it was the *only* knife i've handled thus far that just said to me "Russ, this knife was built just for you", the Cricket came *close*, but the Harpy, the Harpy just *fit*
now, to reorganize my EDC's to allow the new knife....
hopefully, this will satisfy my knifelust for the forseeable future, I think i have all my *user* bases covered now....
small knife; Cricket
heavy-duty cutter; Native, Harpy
Assisted Opener; Kershaw Scallion
pocketknife; Vic. Spartan Lite, Dyad Jr
Sal, great job on the Harpy, it's a great knife
. Preston