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Spyderco Navaja Carbon Fiber ~ C147CF – Spirit of Spaniards

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Nemo and his Navaja

The Navaja is a legendary folding knife. For the first time in History, a folding knife was considered as the poor man sword in a country were sword fencing was the highest art. Actually they were three schools in fencing: the French, the Italian and the Spanish school. In Spain however, everybody were encouraged to be armed with a sword at the end of the 15th century. It was the time of Isabelle de Castille (born a 22nd of april) and Ferdinand II d’Aragon who both were in charge of the greatest occidental power of that time.

navaja-fighting-knife-stylized-ornamental-elaborate-handle-design-AMH73J

Navaja
Early navajas were not much smaller than swords

La Navaja was the first Tactical Folding Knife. It was born in the 16th century in Andalusia for one main purpose—fighting. For the first time a folding knife was not made as a tool but as a weapon. James Loriega, wrote two great books about it: Sevillian Steel and the Manual of Baratero and I can only encourage you to read them !
For Randy (Ransom) Price: “These magnificent knives have an ominous appearance when open and it’s easy to understand why many people believe the early navaja was the original inspiration for the Bowie knife. No doubt a navaja unfolded before an unsuspecting victim must have had the same effect as Jim Bowie unsheathing his monster fixed blade. ”

Here come the Spyderco reboot and hommage to the mighty Navaja. The Golden princes of tactical folding knives take a bow to the queen of spanish edge.
There is a very strong “spirit” in this design: centuries in refinement which were really inspiring Ed Schemp.
The knife is gorgeous. Made in Taiwan with the highest quality material ( S30V steel blade, Carbon Fiber handle and Stainless Steel bolsters) the C147 is simply a pleasure to the eyes and to the hand.
Opening the blade and you got the “sound” of Caracas. I really like it. It’s discreet and sound like an old camera to me. It gives something dramatically “mechanical” to the opening and closing of the blade. Respecting its heritage, the edge is a little on the thick side and totally weapon oriented. This is minor and it can be improved with some elbow grease to have it turned into a better push cutter. Something I’m planning to do as S30V is a very forgiving steel to convex and to polish. Also the fact that the belly doesn’t start at the ricasso like on a Paramilitary for exemple, change the way you use the knife on hard matter but again, Ed thought about everything and It’s easy to choke up the blade with its very large choil and work with full control.
The long handle gives also the opportunity to have a much better range/reach. Again this is a reminiscence of the 17th Century Navaja made as edge weapon. The balance of the C147 is actually just in front of the index finger when holding the knife that way. The blade is fast and “alive”, easy to control and prompt for backcuts. This is really a fighting folding knife.
But when closed the Navaja keeps all its elegance as this is really a knife to admire in all circonstances.

OK, now this was not a real review as I need to test the knife in my EDC rotation. But as it’s a beauty, I wanted to share it with you.
I’ll be back on this.

Spyderco Navaja C147

The Paramillie 2 and the Navaja: two beauties ! Notice the difference in the belly.

Spyderco Navaja C147
The Navaja in the spring roses.

Spyderco Navaja C147

A fang at the ready !

Spyderco Navaja C147

Detail of the blade.

Spyderco Navaja C147
The beautiful bolster announcing the Sage 4 ?

Spyderco Navaja C147
This is the pure concept of elegance.

Spyderco Navaja C147

A grip with a long reach.

Spyderco Navaja C147
The folded beauty.

Spyderco Navaja C147
Details of the pivot.

Quoting Ed Schempp:

My goal in knife design is to put a very usable blade in the hands of the ELU. I chose the Corsican version as inspiration for the knife. I own a handmade Corsican Navaja made by my Corsican friend Alexander Musso. My interpretation is stylized with Spyderco and my style influences.

The Carraca mechanism is self destructive. The mechanism in the Spyderco Navaja is not part of the lock and on a different axis of impact from the original inspiration for this piece. This knife should bring Spyderco’s reliable high performance to this centuries old ethnic design.

I hope that you get a chance to handle and use this piece…Take care…Ed

Spyderco Navaja C147
Now I wanted to convex the edge of the Navaja to really turn the weapon into an EDC tool.

Spyderco Navaja C147
The tools of the trade are not really fancy: sandpaper, sharpmaker and white compound…

Spyderco Navaja C147
And elbow grease…
Spyderco Navaja C147
Spyderco Navaja C147
Spyderco Navaja C147
Nonw the edge is convexed. Some passes on the white ceramic of the Sharpmaker to erase the burr… and it’s a Razor !
Spyderco Navaja C147
Closed the Navaja is as big as the Paramillie 2 ! But, once open… it’s another story ! 🙂
Spyderco Navaja C147

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Spyderco Sage 3 – The Blue Brother

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The Sage II is one of the greatest Spyderco knives in my own humble opinion, so I was never really excited by another Sage…
What could have it more ? A better lock than the Reese Integral Lock ? A better Handle than the smooth rich full titanium scales ?
Enter the Sage 3 a.k.a. the C123GBL and the chance for me to change my mind. The Sage 2 and the Sage 3 are not the same animals.

Again the Taichung plant is offering a close to the perfection production knife with a rich blue handle.
You know that beautiful G10 like the one found on the Dodo or on the Manix sprint run…. It’s very sheeple friendly.
Blue is a cool color. The Navii, the Smurfs, the Cops, the Collars, the Sky, our planet… all are blue and my Blue G10 Dodo is really one of my favorite knife ever made.
So I got that feeling as I grap the beautiful handle.
The weith on that knife is not as lightweith that I thought. It’s even 1 gram heavier than the Sage 2 titanium tank ! Looking closely inside the handle they are two stainless steel nested liners ! Those are really the kind of hidden features you only find in a Spyderco Knife. There is even no mention of that in the Spyderco official communication.
So this is a very very solid handle destined to be on a heavy duty knife.
Once open there is no play in any direction. The knife feels solid like a fixed blade. The Bolt Action Lock has been patented by Blackie Collins and is operated like the Manix 2 lock with its caged Ball Bearing lock. It’s even a little easier as I’m able to disengage it using only my thumb.
So this is a very fast knife to open just by disengaging the lock and flicking the wrist and fast to close to.

The real difference with the two other Sages is that this knife doesn’t have an open handle construction. There is a blu G10e backspacer running along all of it. The result, filling the gap between the two scales, is a much more confortable handle for hard cutting. I remember a video of Bluntruth4U where he was complaining about his Sage 1 handle and he was obliged to wear gloves for hard cutting. The Sage 3 is really an improvement in ergonomy thanks to it full blue spacer. I remember how the Tim Wegner Spyderco serie was gentle on my palm. Same here with the blue Sage.

So we got a very strong knife, which feels even beefier than the Sage 2. The full flat ground S30V leave blade is equally strong and accurate in all the cuts.
With its backspacer and skeletonized nested liners, the Sage 3 will be a little harder to clean than the Sage 2 but the confort of its handle is really appreciable on hard chores. So if you use your knives very hard, the Blue Bro strong lock and confortable ergos is really something to try. Another little big knife from Spyderco and real workhorse with a royal blue robe.

Oh, something also to remember. The Sage serie is about memory. Memory and hommage to the inventors of the locking folding knives. And 5% of the sales is donated to the National Alzheimer’s Association Denver, Colorado Chapter. Another great initiative.

Spyderco Sage 3 The Blue Brother by Nemo Sandman
Spyderco Sage 3 The Blue Brother by Nemo Sandman
Spyderco Sage 3 The Blue Brother by Nemo Sandman
Spyderco Sage 3 The Blue Brother by Nemo Sandman
Spyderco Sage 3 The Blue Brother by Nemo Sandman
Spyderco Sage 3 The Blue Brother by Nemo Sandman
Spyderco Sage 3 The Blue Brother by Nemo Sandman
Spyderco Sage 3 The Blue Brother by Nemo Sandman
Spyderco Sage 3 The Blue Brother by Nemo Sandman

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Spyderco BushcraftUK G10 – The Revenge of the Bold and the Beautiful

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Santa has spoiled me and (scoop) Santa lives in Golden, Colorado.
I have been a huge fan of the Spyderco Bushcraft and really regretted to see such a great company with such great initiatives
obliged to sale that great knife as Second since the wood handles has cracked.
FYI I got some friends who had moved from San Francisco to Denver and all their furnitures had been ruined.
In beautiful Colorado, high altitude and continental weather can be destructive on wood furniture and wood handles.

BushcraftUK G10
Thea, as a Norvegian Skogkat is inspecting carefully that Scandinavian ground blade.

Anyway, Sal would never had given up such a  knife as the BushcraftUK and now he has spawned the Bushcraft with G10 handle:
the Revenge of the Bushcrafter !
G10 is a very strong material, it won’t crack. Some blades are even made with G10 as a composite layering the steel’s edge or as full G10 undetectable weapon.
G10 is epoxy mixed with fiberglass. It’s impervious to weather, choc, low tempetures, chemicals and is used in tactical knives for twenty years.

For a non conoisseur, the G10 slabs on the Bushcrafter would look almost like hard dark wood. They are absolutly gorgeous !

BushcraftUK G10
Leather stropping is Scandinavian Ground knives best friend !

The handle of that knife is a state of art in ergonomy. This a a splinter free design which turns any hard work in sheer pleasure.
The design of the Bushcrafter is really well thought, providing a extremely well balanced knife with an ultrasharp grind.
Chris Claycombe has made his homework as far as I have used my BuscraftUK Second all summer in France and Tuscany, the knife has always performed beyond my expectations.
(The thick square back of the blade is great to remove the bark of a walking stick for example)

BushcraftUK G10
Both of my Bushcrafters. Notice how the edge of the wooden one is polished by stropping.

The heat treatment, as always with Spyderco products, is simply top notch. The scandinavian ground knife stays sharps in various hard tasks and only needs some stropping to be kept razor sharp.
My first Bushcraft is almost mirror polished on its scandy edge now.

BushcraftUK G10
As confortable as it looks good.

I have noticed “Taiwan-Taichung” is now written on the blade.
Some American people were complaining about having “Taiwan” written on their blade. They got what they desserve ! 😉
I don’t understand how those people would never mind to have “Japan” stamps on their Spyderco Police for 25 years and worst
they are the ones who only swear by Maxpedition bags… all made in Taiwan !!
The Taiwanese craftmen chosen by Spyderco have proven to be some of the best knive artists and manufacturers in the world.
The G10 Bushcrafter screams pure quality, attention to detail and reliability in a compact and solid package !
And that knife is really international: designed in the UK, produced in Colorado and manufactured in Taiwan !

BushcraftUK G10
My EDC equipment: the C22 Sprint Run Michael Walker, the Casio GW2000 Gravity Defier and the G10 Bushcrafter.

The leather sheath is now black. I love that sheath which is really suiting my need toward that design.
Again a plastic foam encapsules the blade inside the leather. Under it “classic” look that ambidextrous sheath is really well thought and modern too.

All in all the G10 version was itching my wishlist since I was so in love with the previous wooden handle version.
Now this is going to be some kind of “elegant tank”, capable to withstand all hard used and batonning imaginable.
That kind of knife is really perfect from light chopping to precise whittling.
My friend Jur has added that beautiful lanyard with a micarta bead which is mandatory when chopping. (He also add some usefull red paracord for a dramatic Black & red effect.)
The knife is a very sensual too. Handling and holding it is something which is not found in many design but custom ones. (Like the Sean McWilliams Panama Fighters)
Again, attention to detail is extraordinary.
Eventually, my wooden handle version will soon be adopted by a friend of mine as it cannot desserve to be stuck as a safe queen. It needs to go out into the wild and cuts some wood for Xmas sake ! 🙂
But the G10 version is already hidden in my EDC Bag ready to carve some more turkey on the New Year Eve !
I’m impatient to go back in the woods and use this baby as hard as it desserves it. Timber !!! ;-D

Also as a writer of the “Richard Blade” adventures for Gérard de Villiers, I have equipped that MI6 Operator with a Military Ti but for his new adventures for issues #199 and #200, he has a G10 Bushcrafter as main survival tool. Lucky man.

BushcraftUK G10
The bead on the lanyard is a real genuine Fuzzyedge bead which adds a real touch of class to the whole package. Click here if you want to know more about the gorgeous creations of Fuzz’ via the USN Forums !

In concern of the design, Sal Glesser became interrested in Bushcraft at one of the three Spyderco meets he did in Sheffield, UK for his UK followers. Many of them were also interested in Bushcraft and questioned why Spyderco would not enter that specific arena ?
Sal and Jur met Chris there and he showed them his Bushcraft design, which were different from the Ray Mears (*) design, and Spyderco started talking knife with Chris. They developed the very special and ergonomic handle shape and decided to go on with all the “classic” Bushcraft features: a natural handle, scandi gring, tool steel and a leather sheath.
At that time Spyderco manufacturing was running on the top of its capacity and they could not produce the Bushcraft knife in the USA.
Japan was also (and is still) at the top of what they could handle for them. (Spyderco works with small family businesses in Japan).
Japan was also too expensive. Sal has already established contacts in Taiwan and went there with the Bushcraft project.
The quality of work they provide is, as noticed since, simply top notch.
It’s evident to state that currently, there is no other factory made Bushcraft knife on the market with an handle so specifically shaped for the hand, as the Spyderco FB26P.

(*) Another thing to remember is that Ray Mears is NOT a knife maker nor a knife designer. He is in fact a TV host and a business man who finds his customers through his televised adventures and stories. If you would like to collaborate with him to endorse any outdoor style products, you first deal with his agents and then with his marketing lady. As they have lot’s of success and they are asking high commitments, also in terms of money….

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Rockstead Higo-J part II (in the woods)

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Bringing the Rockstead Higo-J in the wood is easy. The handle is smooth enough to find another pocket than the right front denim’s and the clip keep it attached.
The straight handle permits different grips and the grooves in the duraluminium help to secure them even with wet hands.

Now the edge is narrow, thin and mirror smooth and the back of the blade confortable enough to push cut with the left hand thumb.
The result are incredibly powerful deep cuts in wood.
Compared to my ATS34 Sebenza (narrow edge and mirror polished and my faithful CPM M4 Gayle Bradley the Higo-J cuts with much more ease.
It’s amazing and it’s logical.
The edge is so narrow, almost like a scandinavian grind. So the fibers of wood are no match for this wonderful tool.

But a narrow edge also means a much fragile edge. My version is the ZDP-189 version: a very hard steel wich is not a tool steel able to withstand torsion and very hard use. The Higo-J is a lamborghini not a tractor. The handle is enough confortable for long works. It’s not a UK Bushcrafter but for an open handle it’s better than my Sebbie ergos.
After two days of various works on differents woods, food and strings: everything a knife that size is confronted when you are in the wood. (Also I have whittle a lot as the sensation of ease of cutting is really addictive… I have only noticed a tiny micro nick in the blade.

Again, you don’t want to notice any nick on a Lamborghini.
So back home, I decided to gently caress the edge with the with ceramic of my Sharpmaker and succesfully removed 60% of the nick.
Then I have been stropping the blade for two hours to remove the marks.
Now it looks like new but it has lost its factory edge.
I will need more time to gently reprofile it and strop back to mirror.
Ah, the learning curve…
If you use your knife, you will be obliged to touch up the very thin edge and to reprofile it with a tiny wider angle…

OK. So after using the Spyderco Sharpmaker at 30° to rease the nick and eventually realign the edge and fifteen more minutes of stropping
on my Snail Belt and then on my razor leather. The crispy and hair popping sharpness is back to normal. (which means outstandingly amazing!)



The road so far:
“Rockstead Higo-J part I – A Folding Masamune in Paris”
“Rockstead Higo-J ZDP-189: Fears and Cures”
“Rockstead Higo-J: Part III – Masamune in Winter”

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Nemo’s Bottle Butt Test on the Bushcrafter, the Sage II and the Gayle Bradley

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You know my “bottle butt test”: cutting though the center “south pole” of a plastic bottle where the injection of plastic has been made and where the plastic is thicker. This is not an easy test for any blades. It’s tricky.

Today, my idea was to test the incredibly sharp edge of my new BushcraftUK knife. The zero grind, the O1 steel, the ultra sharp blade and the confortable handle of that little heavy fixed blade are amazing. For strong whittling or pruning that knife is a king. It’s the sharpest Spyderco I ever own with the Moran FB01 convexed.

Unfortunatly I was not able to cut the bottle through the “south pole”. The blade was stuck at one good inch from it. Sawing did not change anything.
The blade was to thick, it was stuck in the plastic preventing the keen edge to effectively cut.

OK. It’s not the first excellent blade who cannot pass that test.
So I decided to finish that bottle with my Sage II. I have convexed the edge and that little rascal is a aggressive wonder toward wood and cardboard. I love it.

Unfortunatly, the Sage II Blade was stuck at half an inch of the South Pole. This time it was the handle which seemed not comfortable enough to transfer all the force. Despite my strenght (I’m 1m98 and 97kg BTW…) the blade was stuck and would not go further.

OK that bottle seemed really thick. It happens. ALl plastic bottle are not equal. That Cola one was harder than many others.
I decided to finish it off with the Gayle Bradley.
This time I was able to get a confortable grip and to cut perfectly through the South Pole in one attempt.
You feel the M4 edge going through the hard plastic in one push: this was purely amazing and relieving !

Why ? All three knives are razorsharp. But we got here three different geometry and three different destinations.
The Sage II is a “polyvalent EDC”. The Bushcrafter (reviewed soon) is a “versatile wood tool”. The Gayle Bradley is an “hard used folder”.
But only the Gayle Bradley gives enough leverage near the handle (the choil is incorporated in the wide blocky handle). You can apply a lot of vertical force on a very thin hollow ground blade. This is the best recipe against hard plastic.
But here we got three excellent tools designed toward high performance but only one was able to cut hard and deep in the plastic.
I told you my little Bottle Butt test was tricky.
My favorite knives for that test was Xavier Conil’s Pointu. A thin zero full flat ground folder which cut everything like butter ! I have since send it to Sal Glesser for him to test it in Golden…

Bottle Butt test on Gayle Bradley Bushcrafter and Sahe II

Later on another bottle I was able to make the Sage 2 pass through the exact center.

It was harder to go through (handle less confortable and different grind) than with the GB but it still was possible.

Sage II Through

Eventually (part 2) I was able to change my technic for cutting with the Bushcrafter.
As on a fifth attempt I was stuck again by the thickness of the blade, I have decided to push with two hands.
And this time the razor sharp edge got enough force applied to cut right through the but:

Bushcrafter cutting through the bottle

So… for the easiest cutting of the butt of a plastic bottle you’ll need a thick confortable handle and a thin ground blade.

— Update from Surnia, registered member of the SPyderco forums:
“In regards to your plastic bottle tests, plastic bottles are not actually injected from the bottom. They’re made into blanks first which are very thick walled plastic test tube shaped things with the bottle threading already present at the top.

From there, they’re passed to a molding station where the blanks are heated, inserted into the molds, then inflated with air pressure to form fit the mold. If you carefully heat a plastic bottle (cap on, and evenly warm it up slowly… vent the air every so often to continue shrinking it. The air allows it to retain the bottle shape and not shrivel up excessively in one spot) and do it evenly, it’ll eventually get close to the original blank’s shape. It won’t go back to it, but it’ll get within a certain limit…

Best example i have of the blanks are here:
http://www.countycomm.com/tubevault.htm
where they’ve used them for other purposes. “

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Spyderco C134 Gayle Bradley: the Beauty + the Beast

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The Beauty:
“The “hump” in the blade is there to house the opening hole. If Gayle submerged the hole, you couldn’t access it without a large cut-out and Gayle designed it with no cut-out.” (Sal Glesser)
Spyderco C134 Gayle Bradley
I have ordered last week to a Canadian seller on Ebay (great service from The Great Knife Shop BTW, 7 days door to door from Canada to France!) the C134 which I was inamored with since I ever saw it on the Spyderco catalog.
It was love at first sight.

Three Amigos:
AFCK M2 STARMATE GAYLE BRADLEY
Top is a BM800HS the infamous AFCK in M2. The first “tactical knife” with non stainless steel blade to caught my eye 12 years ago… It was like a space age design with grand dad blade knife !
And also my good old Starmate (#776) which has been in Hell and back and is still as solid as ever (thanks to his eccentric pivot adjustment)…

The GB is simply the smoothest out of the box. The other experience of Spydersmoothness was from my C123 Captain followed by my Paramilitary…
The fit and finish are top notch. This is a custom knife experience: elegant and hightech. Really the Taiwanese craftmen behind such a jewel are true gems and they honor Spyderco by their attention to details and their quality of production. They are jewellers !
Spyderco C134 Gayle Bradley
Sal stated that this liner lock would be as solid as a Reeve Integral Lock. (quote: “The lock is .072 thick at the interface. I would guess it’s at least as strong as any Reeve Intergral Lock (frame-lock)we’ve tested, and probably stronger. “) I believe him ! The thin blade, the gentle belly, and the deep hollow ground give a unique “pocket lightsaber” experience. You can whittle some hairs !!! And that incredible CPM M4 High Speed Steel at a RC of 65 ! This is going to be fun !!!
Gayle Bradley is to the knifemaking what Ferrari is to Formula One: performance oriented. The very nice and grippy CF handle give a real motorsport feeling. Mr Bradley is really welcom in Sal Escuderia, as we know how much Mr Glesser is in love with high performance cars ! (Eeven the “Spyder” from Spyderco comes from that love of racing and performances!)

The handle is square and heavy but I love heavy butt knives and square handles. My everlasting love for the Sharpfinger pattern always reflected that.
The balance is perfectly centered under the middle finger. The knife feel very alive and agile in the hands. It screams to be used hard !
Spyderco C134 Gayle Bradley
I also love how the choil is integrated to the handle. It’s almost invisible. The grip is really secure and I don’t have any concern about the blade to close on my finger or to have my hand slip on the edge even with wet hands.

Sukhoi27 comparaison
Mostly Spydies got a an angle at the pivot which creates an arc like in the Millie, the UKPK…or the Benchmade AFCK…
Or are more straight like the Starmate, the Police…
The heart of the Gayle Bradley (where you hold it between the thumb and the index)got a very pronounced changing of direction which breaks the general line of the knife. (The Marlin, the Harpy got that too but it’s an angle necessary to start the sickle blade shape.) The GB is the first Spyderco which got that “crank” line which can be also seen in the beautiful Sukhoi 27 profile.
This could explain the fantastic ergos of that knife.

Also as in the Starmate concept, the straight design of Gayle Bradley’s knife offers you a very confortable reverse grip or “edge up” grip. I’m also a big fan of drop point blade on a folder. This one would a great hunter knife.
Spyderco C134 Gayle Bradley
The Ti Millie may be my Spydergrail but the Gayle Bradley is my Dream EDC !
The C134 is a beast of a workhorse dress like a gentleman slipjoint. Another little big knife by Spyderco with elegance and reliability.
Oh, and I can open and close that knife with my right and my left hand with ease: there is areason why you can change the clip position after all !

cheers
Nemo

Now a quote for the designer:

First of all, thank you for your interest in my Spyderco collaboration. I thought I would address some questions I have read on the forums.

I chose a hollow grind because it gives you a thinner edge with less resistance to the material being cut.
The blade material (CPM M4) is so tough and strong it will allow for a very thin edge and still have ample strength for a rough use knife. (My competition knives have an edge thickness of about .014 before the sharpening bevel is ground.)
The blade has belly from tip to ricasso for better cutting ability in most cases.
The tip is slightly thicker for additional strength.
The handle is large enough to accomodate any hand size and most types of grips.
Some dimensions not covered in the spec sheet are: liners are .068; blade is .120; thickness is .517.
Because of the size of the knife and thickness of the liner material, I chose carbon fiber to reduce weight and add furher strength.
One last thing about CMP M4, it is not stainless, but I have found that applying silicone to the blade will prevent most corrosion and stains.

Thank you for your interest in my work-horse design and your trust in Spyderco knives.

Stay sharp,
Gayle Bradley

Here are all the information about C134 on the Spyderco catalog
Gayle designed it to be a monster cutter but it has some subtle refinement that appeals to everyone. (Joyce Laituri – Director of Marketing and Public Relations at Spyderco Inc.)
For Gayle Bradley’s Bladesports site it’s here
Quote:
Speaking of Gayle Bradley, Congratulations on his new collaboration with Spyderco. We’ve been using CPM M4 for our cutting competition knifes, and here is a chance to have a taste of that steel for everyday use. We’d like to Thank Spyderco for their generous support of our organization.

UPDATE 18 months later:
the GB is one of those knives which never left my EDC rotation.
After one year I can state that:

– this is one of the easiest knife to close and to open fast. the access to the lock has never been an issue to me and really I close it fast with confidence.

– I was not able to have rust or a real patina despite using it in the kitchen on near the see. I got some sort of grey patina but nor more no less.

-The not so pronounced choil has never been and issue and never my hand was not at least “anchored” to the handle even when wet. The hump of the spyderhole prevented any slippery.

-CPM M4 is a wonderful steel, I was even able to eliminated a nasty edge burr on a bidet !!! 🙂 (an italian bathroom is plenty of ceramic !!!!)

– My first batch GB is heavier than the new but this heft was usefull when I was probing a wall.

– I was not able to scratch anything on the handle, but the blade while cleaning it with some dry scotchbrit. No big deal.

– CPM M4 is really strobing friendly. Some compound can make magic. Mine is kept razor…

The GB goes in my pocket when I need a hardchore workhorse I can trust for any chores. The thin hollow ground blade has proven to be really usefull even for some bushcraft duty where FFG are queen.
Really this one of the fastest folder to open (spyderdrop in my case, smooth and controled) and close even with gloves. (I really still do not understand the rent and rave about the recess liner accessibility…).

Those were my two eurocents. Your mileage may vary but this is mine.

Cheers
Nemo

Pictures taken in june 2011:
Gayle Bradley, Shabaria, Le Pointu, carbon fiber
Gayle Bradley, Shabaria, Le Pointu, carbon fiber
Gayle Bradley, Shabaria, Le Pointu, carbon fiber
Gayle Bradley, Shabaria, Le Pointu, carbon fiber
Cpm M4 blade and sausage

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Knives Made In…

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All knives “made in china” are crap !

I used to be like that too. (And I still favoring “Made In Usa”, as I love american cutlery in spirit, design and quality.)
Since the day I have received a box full of Laguiole knockoff made in Pakistan. (Ten years ago, those knives manufacturers in Pakistan wanted us to test their 1 dollar knives and they have sent us a bunch in all sizes !!! 50 knives ! All smelling petrol and with very strange colours on the handles…)
But as we found out with Fred Perrin, their steel was much better than the official “440A” 100 euros french made laguiole (we kept that in silent…), their constructions was very solid and the knives were great tools (and eventually made excellent gifts!)… Since that time I don’t mind of what is written on a blade.

Also we know heat treating and geometry are perharps even more important than the steel anyway. I’ve been surprised by the quality of some 440A blades in a long and hard use cycle and been disappointed by S90V and BG42 blades which were impossible to get sharp… Gosh even som 01 and 52100 blades handmades can be a bear to get really sharp. Or is it me ?

Good craftmanship is international, also is good manufacturing.
No stamp on the blade will change anything or ever be a label of quality.

Time can change things also. Taiwan (and soon China) is the new Japan.
After WWII my grand parents would not buy anything “Made In Japan”.
Nowadays, it’s almost a quality label. (and Japan can thank a guy named Jack Welch (General Electrics C.E.O. !!! ) who has implemented “SIX SIGMA” policy (99,9% perfection goal in quality) in the 80’s for their quality control in car manufacturing…. eventually it was like shooting in his own foot… as we know Hell is paved with good intentions! )

So that 8Cr1MoV steel Byrd blades were supposed to be “440C” stamped.
But Sal Glesser wanted to check the quality and the composition of his Byrd blades, only to discover it was NOT “440C” and he could not honestly stamp it.
Quality control is everything, don’t you think ?

cheers
Nemo