The impossible has happened! I am disappointed in my first Spyderco! Chaparral Why?

Bolt said:
Well, I took it apart. Broke it down all the way. Took a scotch pad to the pivot area on both sides of blade and frame. Wiped everything down with Remoil and reassembled. Smooth as butter! Really wish I didn't have to do all of that to a brand new $100 knife. Mine must have been made on a Friday, late afternoon. Well, I am back to happy again, as I love the design of this model. Can not wait for the Titanium handles! Really wish we could get the price of these down some though. I wanted to collect the Sage series, but was late getting started, and when I heard about the Chaparral coming out and that it was smaller, I figured I would just focus all attention and funds toward it. Then my collectors heart began to skip a beat as I saw Sage=$115, Chaparral=$112. What? Then I realized that I could by a US made Manix2 for $83 and if I wanted to spend $28 more I could get a US made Military with S30V steel as well. What? Between the $80 Manbug and the Chaparral pricing, my collecting may be slowing down drastically. I realize the economy, and all of that, weakness of the US dollar, blah, blah, blah. Doesn't make it hurt any less. To finish my rant, although I love the design and will still plan on collecting the Chaparral series, I am a little disappointed in the quality of the first one, and the price point hurts for the size of knife and location of manufacture.
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You bring up some interesting points, Bolt. Just by way of a perspective, like the Caly 3, the Chaparral appears to employ a precision fit of the liners to the blade, in lieu of bushings. Most manufacturers will avoid such methodology like the plague because it requires extra care in both fit and machining. The Seki made Caly 3 also had the occasional problem with grit in the blade/liner interface, which was usually taken care of by a hot soapy bath followed by a hot rinse. I think it is a bit premature to condemn the Taiwanese manufacturer, when the Japanese manufacturer had/has the same occasional difficulty. JMO.
 
DedRok said:
I might have the perfect Chaparral. It seems to be 100% flawless...

No grit, no scraping, blade is perfectly centered, it opens and closes with a nice click, opens up like butter & has no bends...

I've never had a Taiwan made Spyderco, but it seems to be my highest quality knife I have.

The only thing I'd change is the price.
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I've found that the F&F on the Taiwan-made Spydies is generally better than the models made in Japan. YMMV, but that's been my personal experience. My Taiwan-made PPT is flawless, and so was my Sage.

However, models like the Kiwi and Native IV came with (slightly, but noticable) uneven grinds, and the Kiwi has an uneven CF scale that was filled in with epoxy. Not bashing any of these models, just saying I'm surprised to hear any complaints about the Taiwanese-made Spydies!

A.P.F. said:
You bring up some interesting points, Bolt. Just by way of a perspective, like the Caly 3, the Chaparral appears to employ a precision fit of the liners to the blade, in lieu of bushings.
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From what I've heard, the Chaparral does have washers, unlike the Caly 3. I was always surprised how smooth the Caly 3's I had opened, at the cost of getting a heck of a lot of wear lines around the pivot. ;)
 
Again we are steering away from the topic. To clarify, I have full confidence in Spyderco to monitor quality control no matter where the knife is made. I was merely sharing my experience with this new knife, and my puzzling thoughts on price point. I was in no way starting a USA vs. The world debate, nor was I starting a debate on computers here in the Spyderco forum. Geesh.
 
Bolt said:
Again we are steering away from the topic. To clarify, I have full confidence in Spyderco to monitor quality control no matter where the knife is made. I was merely sharing my experience with this new knife, and my puzzling thoughts on price point. I was in no way starting a USA vs. The world debate, nor was I starting a debate on computers here in the Spyderco forum. Geesh.
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You received a sub-par specimen of an excellent knife, which is unfortunate. The price is a function of several things. The materials are S30V steel and high quality CF, neither of which is cheap and one of which has to be shipped to Taiwan from the US. Then there's the somewhat greater than normal complexity of the design, with its hidden screws and the pin which pierces the blade and rides in slots in the liners. Finally there's the level of fit and finish which knives from that particular maker normally have and which both the Chaparrals I own exhibit. The folks making these are, IMHO, the Taiwanese equivalent of Moki and turn out knives at least as good as those coming out of Golden.
 
Deacon, thanks for your response. I did realize the complexity of the knife once I disassembled it, and I carried it all day yesterday, using it several times. It has smoothed out nicely. I do love the knife! I am still a bit puzzled by the price. I get the S30V and the carbon fiber thing, but other knives in the Spyderco line seem to be equally as complex or share similar steel and have lower price points. If the hidden screws drive up the cost, then the titanium handles should be cheaper to produce than the carbon fiber scales. I doubt that the price will reflect that. I know it sounds like I am complaining, but I do not have a lot of money to through at a knife collection, and I have been bitten by the Spyderco bug very badly. I want to build a nice collection and chose the Chaparral as that platform to collect the "series" due to it compact size, hoping that I could afford it. I don't collect William Henry for that very reason. I was a bit taken back by the price, that's all. With the cost of the Manbug, I have little hope that things will get better. I can not bring myself to collect Gerber, Buck, or CRKT. I guess I will just have to limit what I get and pass on many that I would like to have. In no way have I bashed Spyderco here. I absolutely love them.
 
Cost of everything seems to go only one direction, up, and brand new models generally don't get discounted as heavily as ones that have been around for a while so it's kind of a double whammy. Triple even, sometimes, since new models of just about anything tend to have some kinks that need to be worked out.

As for the titanium version, time will tell. I can think of three possible ways it could be built: Solid ti slabs with exposed screws, in which case they'd still have to have tracks milled for the pin and you'd have the cost a a good bit of titanium. Ti scales over ti liners with hidden screws, probably even more expensive. Ti scales over steel liners with hidden screws - cheapest, but still not sure it would cost less than the CF version.
 
I think this model would be a great candidate for the Milled TI scales. It would probably double the price, though.
 
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I would send it back. I mean, if they don't know there may be an issue they cannot address it and correct it. Some people don't care, but others expect a little more for their money. Not an unreasonable request for what that knife costs in my opinion.
 
Thank you, Esav, for clearing the air.

Bolt, I'm glad the knife improved with a little care. It's what I would have done in your shoes. Overall, I'm amazed by the products from Taichung, Taiwan. Almost every knife I got from that maker has been top notch but my very first Sage 1 and Sage 2 were sent back to the retailer and replaced for some issues as they came with deep scratches. I happen to get 2 that slipped past the QC folks but they were replaced with perfect examples.

My Chaparral is yet another perfect example so I'm pretty confident their quality control is pretty good.
 
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