Spyderco Knife Reviews

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Permalink Reply by RicK on September 26, 2011 at 23:46

AWESOME review bro on a really good piece of kit nice to know there not many of these cts xhp millies out kinda puts you off using it !!

Permalink Reply by Chris Stookey on October 8, 2011 at 20:18

 

 

Today we'll be taking a look at one of Spyderco's long-standing and very affordable folding knives, the Frank Centofante-designed Centofante 3.

 

 

Model #C66PBK3

* Blade Length: 3 1/8"
* Blade Thickness: 5/64"
* Blade Material: VG10 Steel
* Blade Hardness: 58-60 HRC
* Blade Style: Modified Drop-point, 1/2" Spyderco Thumb Hole
* Weight: 2.5 oz.
* Clip: Right-hand only, tip-up or tip-down
* Lock Mechanism: Lockback
* Overall Length: 7 9/16"
* Closed Length: 4 1/2"
* Country of Origin: Seki City, Japan

 

 

 

Blade: The Centofante 3 features a modified drop-point blade shape with a particularly interesting grind in that it is actually a combination of two different grinds; hollow and swedge. Made from Spyderco's superb VG-10 steel, the blade is remarkably thin at just 5/16". The blade is finished in a beautifully-executed satin. Indeed, this is one of the better finish jobs out there...as no vertical striations are visible. The knife's cutting edge is 3" and came hair-shaving sharp right out of the box. This is the "norm" for Seki City-produced Spyderco knives.

The blade is deployed via the over-sized 1/2" Spyder hole. This is a bit smaller than many of Spyderco's newer knives and while it works just fine, I find that the larger Spyder holes are much more comfortable for my thumb. The Centofante 3 has phosphor bronze pivot washers and opens extremely fast...particularly for a lockback knife.

The upper spine of the blade, near the handle, features a sharply-jimped thumb ramp. The jimping is perfectly done and really grabs the flesh of the thumb, providing exceptional control over the 3 1/8" blade. This ramp is unique in that it has a rather steep rise. At the peak of that rise is a point. Unfortunately, that point is quite sharp. I found that if the knife is carried in the "tip-up" position, that point tends to abrade the flesh of the hand when you reach into the pocket to secure other items. Fortunately, the Centofante 3 gives us an option to carry "tip-up". After changing my carry method, I found that sharp tip of the thumb ramp was no longer an issue. However...yeah, this is a "but"; if you locate the knife too close to the back edge of your pocket, the jimped thumb ramp will tend to tear up your pants.

The blade is very effective for slicing, piercing, slashing and detailed fine work; this is due to it's rather unusual design (thinness and hybrid grind). I've carried the knife on and off for a few years now and can tell you that while I've "never" used it for anything "heavy duty", it's slender shape makes it one of my preferred user knives. Literally, for basic cutting chores...particularly in an office setting...out on the town...in the kitchen...this knife works as well as anything I've ever carried. Though the blade stock is quite thin, the tip isn't all that thin...and maintains a surprising level of durability (all things considered).

 

 

Handle: Mr. Centofante must have been thinking "thin" when designing this knife...as it is slim and sleek in every regard. This very fact makes it somewhat unique in Spyderco's vast lineup. I talked about how thin the blade stock on the Centofante 3 is...now let's see how the handle carries the "thin" concept forward.

 At it's widest point, the FRN (fiber-reinforced nylon) handle (near the butt of the knife) is only 7/32" thick...and if we include the pocket clip, the total thickness comes to 5/8". Spyderco's Delica 4 maintains a very similar thickness (or, perhaps we should say "thinness") and both blades ride quite "flat" in the pocket. Across it's profile, the Centofante 3's hande is only 1 3/8". As a point of comparison, the Delica 4's measurement is 1 1/2". Think that 1/8" doesn't matter? Think again! My knife rides in my right-front pocket...along with my car keys. When I put my hand in my pocket to retrieve my keys...it's just a little easier with the Centofante 3 than it is with the very carryable Delica 4.

The handle's overall length measures 4 1/2". This is a little longer than many of it's contemporaries (even within the Spyderco offering). For me, the added length makes the knife much more comfortable "in hand"...and the curved back of the knife nestles easily into my palm. Of course, the little benefit provided by the length of the handle does crowd shallow pockets a bit...so you'll want to bear that in mind when reviewing your wardrobe.

The shape of the handle is quite interesting in that it broadens somewhat towards the rear of the knife. This does reduce the chance of the knife pulling through your hand on a return slicing motion. Oddly, the portion of the handle near the blade's cutting edge is surprisingly narrow and only extends about 1/8" past the blade's breadth. This means that unless your thumb is firmly planted on the blade's thumb ramp, you could slip your index finger onto the cutting edge of the knife. While I've never done this with my knife, I've come entirely too close. Overall, I consider the handle's shape to be quite comfortable...but the lack of a more pronounced front finger choil is certainly a design flaw.

As indicated earlier, the handle material is FRN. This is a very durable and extremely light-weight material. The color is simple black with the facing side displaying a golden colored Spyderco emblem. This little touch adds some class to the knife and, surprisingly, the finish on the emblem seems very durable. The surface of the handle features two swooping grooves on the face side and a completely flat surface on the pocket-clip side. This makes sliding the knife off and on the user's pocket very easy. The handle scales are pinned together; not screwed together. Even the blade's pivot is a pin...instead of a screw. So...don't plant on taking the Centofante 3 apart for maintenance; you'd have to send it back to Spyderco if you needed anything done to the knife. Candidly, I see this as a major design flaw. Fortunately for me, I've never had any trouble with this knife (it's never shown even a hint of blade play...whew!).

I've noticed a fairly common mistake that several other reviewers have made when talking about this knife's handle design; they say that the Centofante doesn't have any steel liners beneath the FRN handle scales. In fact, the knife does have one NESTED steel liner that runs the entire length of the pocket clip side handle scale. Given the knife's super light weight and the fact that the liner isn't skeletonized, it must be quite thin. The only other steel in the handle (aside from pins) is Spyderco's lockback locking mechanism. The effectiveness of this system has been thoroughly proven. The lackback sports the David Boye Dent and though I've never accidentally disengaged any lockback system, I'm perfectly fine with this unobtrusive bit of added safety (for those that don't know, the Dent reduces the chance that, when squeezing the handle, the meat of the user's palm will come up against the lockback and cause it to disengage).

Another great feature of this knife is it's pocket clip. It is perfectly-designed and runs roughly 60% the length of the handle; this keeps the knife in the user's pocket despite the lack of handle traction. While I'm bragging about the pocket clip, I should mention that it is blackened and, oddly, the finish on it seems to hold up better than that of my Delicas.

 

 

Primary Use: The Centofante 3 is, without a doubt, an EDC blade. In spite of it's overall length, it's slim design restricts application of the knife to more light-duty EDC tasks (opening mail and packages, food prep, cutting fabric or thin rope). Still, it is surprisingly strong and durable...and will cut up quite the pile of cardboard without skipping a beat. It's very subdued appearance actually gives it some flexibility when it comes to where you could carry it; the knife "fits" with a khaki's and a polo...and can make the leap to tuxedo quite easily.

As a carry blade, I really like the knife. It's super light...and you can easily forget that you have it on you! Talk about a quiet companion! It functions extremely well for basic everyday EDC. I haven't found any common task that this knife couldn't tackle with aplomb. The shape of the blade, in particular, makes this tool one super effective slicer. Try peeling an apple with one and you'll see exactly what I mean. Need to chop up some celery in the kitchen? No problem. Sausage? No problem! Do a little whittling? No problem. No, the knife won't handle construction work and only a real buffoon would try such a thing.

I've heard one reviewer indicate that they think that the Centofante 3 could "be pressed into a defensive application if needed". While I'd do just that if I had no other options...I have to admit that I'd have major inhibitions against trying any kind of stabbing maneuver; without a much more pronounced front finger choil, it'd be just too risky.

 

 

 

Second Kind of Cool: Well...the Centofante 3 is cool...albeit in a very reserved way. The build quality of the knife is quite good. It functions nicely...and feels very comfortable in the hand. The golden spyder logo on the FRN handle scale is undeniably cool and adds a nice bit of polish to a very subdued theme. All-in-all, though, this knife is one whose design is purposely understated...and it'll never scream "wow" out to anybody. Putting the knife to use provides an experience converse to it's appearance.

 

 

Overall Take: While nobody's jaw is going to drop when they see a Centofante 3, it's effectiveness as a simple EDC knife is undeniable. It's weight...compared to it's size...makes it nearly unique in the world of cutlery. Spyderco's lockback system just works...and works...and works. It's simple to use, simple to understand...and very durable. I spent quite a bit of time detailing the knife's handle because that is one of it's greatest assets...and, in one regard, a serious limitation. The relatively moderate price (roughly $55 to $65 US) of the Centofante 3 makes it a superb value.

Permalink Reply by Chris Stookey on January 2, 2012 at 16:11

Today, we'll be taking a look at Spyderco's Wilkins-designed Leaf Storm.

 

 

Model #C128GP Leaf Storm

* Blade Length: 2.438"
* Blade Thickness: .125"
* Blade Material: CPM S30V Steel
* Blade Hardness: 58-60 HRC
* Blade Style: Leaf-shaped Drop Point, 13mm Spyderco Thumb Hole
* Weight: 2.50 oz.
* Clip: Right-hand only, tip-up
* Lock Mechanism: Titanium Frame Lock
* Overall Length: 6.063"
* Closed Length: 3.625"
* Country of Origin: USA, Earth

 

 

 

Blade: The Leaf Storm sports a rather compact 2.438" long blade, made from CPM S30V steel. The drop-point blade has a hollow grind running at about the 50% mark.  The tip of the blade is super sharp and pointy; this is somewhat interesting given that the blade thickness is a sturdy 1/8" (quite beefy for such a short edge).

Though the industry has introduced a number of steel types that are...theoretically..."better" than CPM S30V, it's this user's experience that most of those steels do NOT function better in most practical applications. S30V takes a good edge and holds it well, requiring relatively maintenance in order to keep performing well on a day-to-day basis. In fact, I've had such good experience with this steel that I feel that it should be the standard by which all other steels are evaluated. Spyderco does an excellent job of heat-treating the material and I've never been disappointed in the cutting performance of their S30V.

The blade is deployed via a 13mm Spyder hole. The hole is intelligently-oriented to the handle and is completely accessible. That said, due to the relative "stubbiness" of the knife, I found the blade a little hard to open. While I could "flick" the knife open, it required that I really dig into the hole with my thumb. Some of this may be due to the blade grind intercepting the edge of the hole.

The spine of the blade does have some jimping. This consists of three rather large notches. Frankly, I don't care for the jimping design. The notches are too smooth and while the user's thumb can grab them, it can easily slip forward. Given the front shape (choil) of the handle, this is a design flaw. I'll talk about the impact of this design later in the review.

 

 

Handle:  Grab yerself  something to drink before getting settled in for this part of the review. I'm going to spend a lot of time on the handle of the Leaf Storm and will be going fairly "deep" with detail. So, kick your feet up, relax and read on. If you don't like detail, you probably shouldn't be reading this review. Go watch a video instead; you are probably one of those "me like pictures best; words give me headache" types...

The handle measures 3.625" long and is Jade colored G-10 on one side and a bead-blasted Titanium on the opposing side. The handle scales are held together via 3 torx screws. A larger pivot screw serves to connect blade and handle (again, adjustable via a torx-driver).

The G-10 is somewhat unusual in that the texturing is fairly smooth (uncommon in Spyderco knives). Though I've heard the color described as "Jade", to me it's a VERY light-colored version...if you could call it "Jade" at all. It's almost translucent and is just as blonde as it is green. Personally, I like the color and it goes well with the bead-blasted Titanium of the other handle scale.

The locking mechanism for the Leaf Storm is the Reeve Integral Lock (aka Frame Lock). This device is integrated into the Titanium scale. Though the lock is called out as an RIL, the relief scallop on the scale, thankfully, is positioned to the outside. This actually adds strength to the lock...though that really isn't necessary in such a small knife. As for how this adds strength, if you look at the knife in the "open" position and stare down at the relief scallop, you can see that having it in the "outside" location provides for thicker material to the inside. This way, pressure put on the blade makes the lock less likely to "fold" at the point of the scallop (the weakest part of the Titanium scale). On the Leaf Storm, I found the lock-up to be EXCELLENT. If anything, the Titanium was a little "sticky" when the lock met with the steel blade tang. This made the lock a little difficult to engage, though still VERY doable with one hand. Candidly, I like this very positive tactile confirmation.

There is a Jade backspacer located between the G-10 and Titanium scales. Interestingly, the front G-10 scale has a hole for a lanyard. The opposing Titanium scale does not having a matching lanyard hole. Instead, the "exit" hole for the lanyard is located in the G-10 backspacer. I don't typically use lanyards so this doesn't matter to me. On the other hand, if I did use lanyards, I wouldn't like this design.

The Leaf Storm has a stainless steel pocket clip. The shape of the clip is fairly typical of what can be found on other Spyderco knives. It works quite well, though it features a single orientation; right-hand, tip-up. That the pocket clip is positioned on the Titanium scale side make is very friendly to pants material and this is one Spyderco knife that will never chew up the fabric of your pocket. The displays a polished finish...which I see as a mistake. While a black clip wouldn't have worked with the overall knife design, there is no good reason why the clip couldn't have a bead-blasted finish similar to the Titanium scale. It's not that the finish of the clip looks bad; in fact, it looks "good" since the polish matches that of the blade. The downside to this finish is that the "gleam" draws eyes, whereas a bead-blast finish wouldn't (so much). The position of the clip leaves about 5/8" of handle material sticking out of the pocket. Not horrible...but the Leaf Storm certainly isn't a "low-rider". Last, but not least, the clip is 2 1/4" long with the inside of the clip "grabbing" about 1 1/2" of the owner's pocket. A good thing; otherwise it might be a little too easy for the knife to fall out of the pocket.

The handle shape...at least for me...is a bit "awkward". The front "choil" area is fairly broad...at 13/16" across. The rear "bump" is about the same. Given the handle's short 3 5/8" length, it's strange that so much space would be taken up between these two areas. What does this mean? Well...for me, if I locate my index finger BEHIND the front finger choil, this is really a two-finger knife for me...with a third finger "sort of" resting against the rear "bump". This just feels "weird". So...I end up putting my middle and ring finger in the scooped center area of the handle and letting my index finger "ride" the outside of the choil. This makes the knife a 3-fingered deal for me and feels fairly "decent". But...my index finger ends up being located a bit too close to the blade's rear edge. Remember how, in the Blade portion of the review, I said that I'd get back to why the jimping design is a flaw? Well, here it is. If I let my index finger ride the outside of the choil...and my thumb slips off the jimping, my hand goes forward onto the cutting edge of the blade. While my middle finger probably won't go anywhere...or those two digits behind it, my index finger is certainly "at risk".

 

 

Primary Use: The Leaf Storm is a small EDC knife. It's short blade length makes it legal in any jurisdiction that doesn't outlaw locking folding knives. The hollow-ground blade performs well as a slicer, though the 1/8" blade thickness is a little excessive in consideration of the short 2.438" length. The tip of the blade is extremely pointy...and yet not terribly thin. This makes piercing things very easy with the Leaf Storm. The knife is definitely "sturdy" and will handle tasks larger than it's diminutive size seems suited for. However, the handle shape pretty much precludes the knife from being used on anything but light-duty, mild-resistance cutting tasks. In a pinch, yes, I'd push the blade further than that...but only by suffering some tangible hand discomfort during use (due to positioning my index finger behind the choil area).

 

 

Second Kind of Cool: The design is interesting. The workmanship and quality are very good. The combination of materials are visually striking. The fit and finish of the knife are...very nice...to the point of being representative of the "best" of production knife work. The blade shape is practical and yet aesthetically interesting. On a 1-to-10 scale (with 10 being the highest possible score), I'd give this a 7.75.

 

 

Overall Take: The Leaf Storm is a very well-made small EDC blade. It's quality is excellent. Indeed, it is built well enough to eclipse the use of at least a couple of generations. It performs well for most applications (if kept to light-duty tasks). The handle design is awkward. It just is. I'm going to sound overtly critical here...but what good are the reviews if I don't call out the negatives when I see them? Kevin Wilkins, as I understand it, is an American that moved to Berlin. He was a graphic designer first and a knife designer second. It shows. Sound a little harsh? Sorry...but that's the way that I see it. The handle shape has obvious flaws...ones that should have been easily discernible to an experienced knife-user, let alone knife designer. The Leaf Storm is expensive enough that the weak jimping and handle designs are things that Spyderco never should have let out the door. That comment may make some readers angry with me. I understand that. Again, my reviews are meant to help you decide what to buy and how to spend your hard-earned money. If you bought this knife, based upon my review...and then disliked the handle shape and the weak jimping, you would figure that I'd steered your wrong. Right? Right. I love Spyderco knives (I have more of this brand than I do any other)...but a mistake is a mistake. Sorry, Spyderco. The Leaf Storm is a "miss". Want to fix it? Here's what I'd suggest:

* Change the Spine Jimping; make it with fine, grippy teeth instead of the 3 not-so-grippy notches.

* Reduce the size of the front choil area slightly and get rid of the rear "bump" in the handle. This will give the handle kind of a tapered "feeling" from the front of the handle to the rear.

Permalink Reply by Billy Oneale on January 11, 2012 at 22:16

Good review, Chris.

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