Age: 30
Gender: Male
Height: 5' 7" (1.7 m)
Weight: 175 lb (79 kg)
Name: Brian Tannehill
Date: 30 Jan 06
Email: tannehillclan(at)gmail(dot)com
Location: Lompoc, California, USA

Backpacking Background:

I am fairly new to backpacking, but I have hunted/fished/camped all my life in East Texas, Colorado, and California. My young kids (4, 10, 12) limit me to weekend overnight camping trips, or day hikes Geocaching. I am also an avid mountain biker. For now I live in the Central Coast area of California (Lompoc, Santa Maria area), and am surrounded by many different areas from beaches to mountain regions ranging up to 5,000 feet (1,500 m), with the temperatures averaging about 60 F (16 C) degrees year round.

Product Information:

Manufacturer: Spyderco
Year of Manufacture: 2005
URL: http://spyderco.com/
MSRP: $74.95 USD
Weight: 2 oz (57 g)
Blade Length: 3 in (76 mm)
Overall Length: 7 in (178 mm)

From the Website:

Length Overall: 7 in (178 mm) Blade Length: 3 in (76 mm) Blade Steel: H-1

Length Closed: 4 in (102 mm) Cutting Edge: 2 11/16 in (68 mm) Weight: 2 oz (57 g)

Hole Diameter: 9/16 in (14 mm) Blade Thickness: 3/32 in (2.5 mm) Handle Material: Yellow FRN

Field Locations:

The locations of my tests will range from the Los Padres National Forest just east of here ranging up to 5000 feet (1500 m) in elevation to the locally famous Pismo Beach. Other areas I will be driving include Santa Maria, Lompoc and monthly trips down to Agoura Hills just north of Los Angeles. Basically anywhere I drive on the central coast of California. I will be carrying this knife daily as well as going to dip it in the ocean once a week or so to see how salt water affects it.

Long Term Report:

Deju Vue again. After four months of using this knife I am happy to report that it is still rust free. It has survived four months of being dipped in the Pacific Ocean, one sharpening and zero cleanings. My main reason for only sharpening it once is I wanted to see how long the edge would hold up.

This knife shows some useage but otherwise has stood up to some rough everyday use.

This pic shows some of the markings on the blade.

I have used this knife to cut boxes, paper, rope, garden hoses, wood, and everything else you can think of. It holds an edge fairly well, and I have only sharpened this knife once with a regular stone. I do not have any special sharpeners for the serrations and just used the edge of the stone. One thing I did not notice until I went to sharpen the knife is that the blade comes to a point on one side. All my other knifes come to a point on both sides. So my question was how do I sharpen it? I found information that says to sharpen it just like any other blade. I do not recall having any other knife like this so it was unusual for me. I did find that it only took a few strokes to remove the burrs from the previous foul up. Please read my field report to catch up on why the edge was burred.

When I did sharpen the flat side of the knife, I noticed the stone took off some of the finish on the flat side in places other than the edge. So now instead of the blade being polished all over I can feel some roughed up spots on the flat side. My first thought was "great now I bite off some metal after I'm through dipping it in the ocean". So I'm not sure if that portion of the knife will rust, but it is something I would like to do an ammedment on in a month or so.

Another small nuisance with this knife is the clip. I have tried and tried to take a picture of this but it has not worked so I will have to explain it. When looking at the knife from the side, the clip is about 1/8 of an inch (.32 cm) above the handle. It then dips in and makes contact with the handle and then comes back out to its original height. What I have noticed is the very end of the clip that is open is bent slightly down. At times this does not catch on to my clothes when I clip it. I think if the end is bent outward more it would "grab" a hold of clothes and pocket edges better.

I also ran a small lanyard through it (see picture above). I used 550 cord or para cord like some call it. It was a perfect fit as the cord and the hole are roughly the same size. It makes a nice little laynard.

Overall though I am happy with this knife. It has held up well under the conditions I have used it in. The coolest thing is it has not rusted. I'm afraid to dip my other knifes in the ocean.

Some of my questions and concerns:

I think I have pretty much answered these.

Will the blade rust? After four months it has not.
How well does the blade hold an edge and if needed how easily does it take an edge? It holds an edge decently and takes an edge pretty easily. I'm not a great knife sharpener but I can get an OK edge on it.
Is the handle durable? So far so good.
Is it easy to operate one handed? To open yes, to close I like to use two hands.

Thanks to BGT and Spyderco for allowing me to participate in this test.

Brian

Read more reviews of Spyderco gear
Read more gear reviews by Brian Tannehill

Long Term Report

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