Tag Archives: Seki CIty

Spyderco C22 in ZDP189 — Amazing After Six Years Hunting in Tuscany !

Six years ago, my friend Valter Nencetti took my Walker for a one year mission which turned into a six years journey. It was his favorite knife for hunting and he reported that to me in this article:  https://nemoknivesreview.com/2012/12/30/spyderco-c22-in-zdp189-italian-hunter-update-by-valter-nencetti/

This year, he has given it back to me after I had offered him my Native 5 in 110V which is IMHO an upgrade for Hare Hunting. The Backlock of a Native 5 is a perfect lock for that kind of use, but you can notice the Walker lock as not travel very far. The curved concave notch prevents it to go further.
There is absolutly no play !

For the record skinning hares is not an easy task for an edge as the hairs and the skin are ruining the sharpness very fast. There is a lot of dirt which acts as abbrasive. I have made a video and soon will put it on line.

Being used everyday, Valter eventually broke the clip which is a very fragile part of the walker compared to spoon clips used noawadays in spyderco line. You can also see it was not clean everyday and used as an EDC in the countryside of his beloved national Park in the North of Florence in Italy.

You notice the normal wear on the handle but Carbon fibers is incredibly sturdy as an slob material. It can be easily cure with some 1000 sandpaper work.

There were also no pitting on the blade or on the liner lock. ZDP189 is known for pitting strangely with its 3% of carbon and 20% of chromium. But here anyway, no issues.

I have started to clean the marks on the blade with some sandpaper.

Then I have restored the edge to razor.

No chipping.
No pitting.
No blade play.
No marks on the handle.
A broken clip.

Valter used his knife with no afterthoughts. I know it was not used on wood but mainly as a skinning tool. It has processed hares but also been used on boars and deers. Also it was used on plastic and everyday mondane tasks as Walter is breeding hunting dogs.

That’s not bad for a little gentleman knife which is a true workhorse.

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Tuscan Raider #2 – cheese and wine, boar, scorpion and Delica.

For now this post has only been edited on my smartphone. It’s more of a journal kind and some thoughts I wanted to share. It is the occasion also to share some pics of knives being used.

Once arrived in Tuscany one of the first duty of my Delica was to open a wooden crate.

Delica are thin bladed. Snapping the point is very easy.

The trick is not to apply leverage but simply to twist the blade. Even with a thin point you can apply a lot of torque. The crate was open easily.

The good thing with that knife is how well it is accepted by people and sheeples.

Tonight it has been borrowed a lot and ladies used it when a keen edge was requested.

Liver…

Boar and mash potatoes…

So far HAP40 is stainless from being used everyday as silverware. No patina has been spotted. It seems more resistant than CPM M4…

A delicacy from Naples.

Hard crust and soft inside. You need a very thin edge to cut all those blades of pasta’

The dog was playing with a scorpion. Nobody seems to care about it. But it was the chance for a bug picture…

Eventually the dog was alive despite annoying that poor scorpion for a very long time.

The scorpion escaped somewhere. Tuscany country life.

And as I’m writing now in the shade of the evening a mosquitoes has decided to taste my blood. Smallest animal are feeding in the biggest.

Sunday morning we will go hunting.

Tomorrow time to test the Euroedge.

Spyderco Persian C83BM — Ed Schempp’s Prince of Persia.

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There is one special knife which is my EDC rotation. It’s not the last steel, not the last lock but this is one of the most beautiful Spyderco ever made. I had pictured it with my Tuff
It was designed by Ed Schempp and quoting Spyderco product presentation:

“Custom knifemakers are way more than just steel junkies. Many are great artists and deep thinking intellectuals with their own specialties and talents. They continue to bring spice, variety and new ideas to the knife world. Custom maker Ed Schempp is a wheat farmer who while driving his tractor through his fields has time to think. He thinks about knives and everything surrounding them: steel, designs, heat treat, metallurgy properties, and he also thinks wheat, but only because he has to. His signature symbol, wheat sheaves are found on all his knives. He recently collaborated with Spyderco in a design called the Persian Folder — a well thought out mixture of classic Western meets the exotic East.

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The shapely Persian blade is traditionally found in fixed blade form but Ed incorporates this Eastern influence into a folding knife. Made of VG-10, the hollow-ground blade is deep-bellied, ending in an upswept tip with a curvy spot on the spine where your thumb rests. The blade’s curves flow through into the handle, which is black Micarta topped with polished steel bolsters. Not only do the curves add visual appeal, they create a finger choil and a crook in front of the index finger then end in a tail, for a myriad of grip positions. A custom designed steel pocket clip positions the knife so it carries right-handed, tip-up. Balance combined with top-notch fit and finish mark this model an Ed Schempp design and a true Spyderco.

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This knife was a gift from JD when he came to visit at the occasion of the SICAC in 2012, five years ago.  It has been sharpen and honed by him and it came really really sharp. Once thing I have noticed is how VG10 can take a very keen edge easily. This one is no exception. His deep belly and thin edge makes it a great slicer really easy to touch up on white ceramic of on leather.

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Made in Seki Japan, the Persian is pure elegance and ergonomy. It spouses my hand gently and brings the blade right where it needs to be: in the extension of my arm. Ed Schempp’s ergos are legendary.

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Shown here with one of the last Spyderco made by Schemp: the Legend of The Fall.

Cutting is easy and even on a board you got control on your pressure. There are no hot spots on that handle and the index can rest before our after the quillon on the choil. This is a bolt constructio: there no screws but on the very exotic mounted clip. Tip up carry for this relatively heavy folder as heavy as my Zero Tolerance.

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This is a true Legend of Spyderco manufacturing, bolt in design and highly praised by users and collectors. Mince is of one of the first batch and it keeps going strong.

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The action is as smooth as the all realisation.

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Spyderco C22 in ZDP189 Italian Hunter Update by Valter Nencetti

Valter Nencetti

Dear Nemo,

here is the review on the knife you have given to me to test. It has passed all the tests with flying colors during the hunting season. I thought it would chip but it has not happen. Of course I have not abuse it. I think your reprofiling of the edge is perfect. The maker (Spyderco) will be happy.

See you soon,
Valter.”

Valter Nencetti

Every year for more than two decades I have been welcomed by Walter, Francesca and all the Nencetti family in their beautiful mountains at the East of Florence in Tuscany. Walter is an avid hunter but also is a doctor in genetics working as a researcher at the University. A bear of a man, he is a true landlord knowledgeable in nature and the art of woodcraft even if he won’t use that word for something he consider as natural as breathing. He was even able to save and promote a breed of high performance hunting dogs “Segugio dell’Appennino”. (click on the name for an English article he wrote on it).
Here the link to my initial review.
Here the Michael Walker six years after.

Valter Nencetti Dogs

Those dogs are incredible: they are able to track alone in the valley as the hunter is waiting on the hill. It’s their constant barking which keep the hunter in touch with them. The way they bark gives him all the information needed as the dogs have found tracks, are now tracking and are bringing back the hare or the boar to be shot. The dogs need to be very smart to track an hare. This nocturnal big rabbit got a very special moving pattern to leave a minimum of tracks behind him. He systematically leaves dead end before to go back on his track and to go in another direction. The dogs need to be very clever to know when the heir has made a U Turn and especially to find the direction it has taken. Those dogs are high performance dogs, really.

Valter Nencetti

Valter goes hunting as soon as he got some times on his hands and he uses his hunting knives for skinning hares, deers and boars.
I have been able to offer him Spyderco knives since 2000. His favorite so far was a Paramillie of the first génération.The S30V full flat ground pointy blade has him main skinning knife.
So I have decided to gave him “Sky” my C22 in ZDP189 for good measure. (I have kept another one as a Safe’s Queen…).
As I had reviewed it before, this is the best pushcutter ever made by Spyderco with the wonderful Gayle Bradley.
So here is his review in Italian (translation are a click away with your fav translator on the Net)

Francesca e Valter in la Noce Di Francesca
(And if you want to know where Valter is living, here is also the link to his wife agriturismo:
http://www.lanocedifrancesca.com/)

Here is his review in Italian.

Spyderco C22 ZDP-189 Seki-City Japan

Agile, elegante, leggero ma al contempo robusto ed efficiente, Spyderco C22 ZDP-189 è un piccolo coltello a serramanico che riesce a sintetizzare in 54,4 g di peso un condensato di alta tecnologia a servizio della funzionalità.
Immediatamente riconoscibile l’appartenenza al marchio Spyderco, non solo per il foro nella lama ma anche per la linea inconfondibile, questo coltello si differenzia però dagli altri della serie per la maggiore leggerezza ottenuta con un’impugnatura ben bilanciata, realizzata con materiali leggeri ma di elevata resistenza e soprattutto con una lama sottile e durissima. E’ proprio quest’ultima che rappresenta una importante innovazione rispetto alle classiche, in genere adottate dalla casa costruttrice, ma anche da molte altre produttrici di coltelli. E’ noto infatti che la capacità di taglio, a parità di affilatura, è superiore nelle lame meno spesse, basta pensare al bisturi del chirurgo o anche al rasoio o lametta da barba, o anche a piccoli coltelli da cucina o per eseguire innesti in agricoltura.

Spyderco C22 si adegua perfettamente alle esigenze del cacciatore italiano che, al contrario di quello che si può immaginare, non ha bisogno di grossi e robusti coltelli per intendersi “tipo Rambo”, ma di un utensile funzionale che gli permetta anche di sbucciare una mela, oltre che spellare una lepre, un capriolo o un cinghiale. Riguardo a questi ultimi, una piccola lama affilata, come quella del coltello in questione, in mani sapienti è più che sufficiente per le normali esigenze. Occorre tener presente che il cacciatore deve muoversi rapidamente su terreni spesso impervi ed è limitato in questo dall’equipaggiamento (fucile, munizioni, scarponi e vestiario) che non può essere ulteriormente appesantito da un inutile “coltello da sopravvivenza” che comunque non risolve il problema dello spezzamento delle ossa (cinghiale, capriolo, cervo, daino) per le quali occorrono ben altri tipi di utensili.

In Italia, in genere, i grossi coltelli vengono utilizzati da cacciatori principianti, per lo più per incidere bastoni mentre sono alla posta per sparare al cinghiale; cittadini, più che campagnoli, che spesso non sanno neanche camminare nel bosco e che, il più delle volte, devono essere soccorsi, poichè si perdono nella foresta, magari nei medesimi luoghi di caccia frequentati da tempo.

Spyderco C22, durante un’intera stagione di caccia alla lepre e al capriolo, si è dimostrato un coltello particolarmente affidabile, imperdibile grazie alla sua Spyderco-clip di sicurezza, la sua lama si è mantenuta perfettamente affilata, utilizzando di tanto in tanto il cuoio per la rifinitura, non si è intaccata, nonostante la durezza dell’acciaio, forse anche per il particolare tipo di affilatura di cui era dotata e anche per la cura prestata al coltello. Un vero cacciatore, infatti non può pretendere che il suo coltello rimanga perfettamente affilato dopo un cattivo uso dello stesso e deve essere in grado di mantenerlo sempre tagliente, pronto all’uso.

Tutti i coltelli a serramanico Spyderco sono adatti alla caccia, poiché tutti sono di giuste dimensioni per il cacciatore Italiano. ZDP-189, del quale non avverti la presenza per la sua leggerezza e minimo ingombro, la mattina, quando ti metti i pantaloni per andare in ufficio al posto di quelli per la caccia, ti assicuri di riporlo gelosamente nella tasca poiché sai che ti potrà essere utile.

Valter Nencetti Carlo Boni
Carlo Boni and Valter Nencetti inspecting the knife.

SPyderco C22 Valter Nencetti

Spyderco C22 Valter Nencetti
With the Hare of the day.

Bisteca a la Fiorentina
Feeding the family with some Bisteca a la Fiorentina…

Spyderco Paramillie
Valter’s Paramillie 1 used mainly as skinning knife.

Paramillie

Paramilitary
A Paramillie 1st edition well used….

Valter Paramillie

The French version is here:
Agile, élégant, léger mais en même temps, robuste et efficace, Spyderco C22 est un petit couteau qui est capable de condenser en 54,4 g un concentré de haute technologie au service de la fonctionnalité.
Immédiatement reconnaissable de la marque Spyderco, non seulement pour le trou dans la lame, mais aussi pour la ligne unique, ce couteau se distingue des autres de la série, cependant, par plus de légèreté obtenue avec un manche bien équilibré, fabriqué avec des matériaux légers, mais d’une résistance élevée et surtout par une lame mince et très dure. C’est justemznt cette dernière qui une avancée majeure par rapport aux modèles classiques, généralement prisées par le fabricant, mais également par de nombreux autres fabricants de couteaux. Et à noter en fait que la capacité de couper, avec le même affûtage, est plus élevée avec les lames moins épaisses, Il suffit de penser au bistouri du chirurgien ou à la lame de rasoir ou la lame de barbier, ou même un petit couteau de cuisine ou pour effectuer des greffes dans l’agriculture .

Le Spyderco C22 s’adapte parfaitement aux exigences du chasseur italien qui, contrairement à ce que vous pouvez l’imaginer, n’a pas besoin de grands couteaux robustes destinés au “type Rambo», mais d’un outil fonctionnel qui lui permet également de peler une pomme, ainsi que de dépouiller un lapin, un chevreuil ou un sanglier. Sur ces derniers points, une petite lame pointue, comme celle du couteau en question, entre des mains expertes est plus que suffisant pour les besoins normaux. Veuillez noter que le chasseur doit se déplacer rapidement sur des terrains souvent inaccessibles et est donc limité en cela par l’équipement (fusil, munitions, bottes et vêtements) qui ne peuvent pas encore être appesantis par un «couteau de survie” inutile qui de toute façon ne résout pas le problème du désossement (sangliers, chevreuils, cerfs, daims) qui ont besoin de types très différents d’outils.

En Italie, en général, les grands couteaux sont utilisés par les chasseurs débutants, la plupart du temps pour couper des bâtons tandis qu’ils sont en poste pour tirer sur les sangliers; les citadins, au contraire des paysans , qui souvent ne savent même pas marcher dans les bois et, plus d’une fois, doivent être secourus, car ils sont perdus dans la forêt, peut-être dans les mêmes lieux fréquentés par temps de chasse.

Le Spyderco, au cours d’une saison entière de chasse au lièvre et au chevreuil, s’est révélé être un couteau particulièrement fiable, imanquablement grâce à son clip-Spyderco de sécurité, à sa lame qui est restée parfaitement afilée, en utilisant de temps en temps le cuir d’affutage, ne s’est pas abimée, en dépit de la dureté de l’acier, peut-être aussi grâce au type particulier de l’émouture dont il a été équipé de et également pour le soin apporté à la lame. Un vrai chasseur, en fait ne peut pas prétendre que son couteau reste parfaitement afuté, après un tel usage de maltraitance et doit être capable de le garder doit être en mesure de le garder toujours tranchant, prêt à l’emploi.

Tous les couteaux pliants de Spyderco sont adaptés pour la chasse, car ils sont tous juste là a bonne taille pour le chasseur italien. Le C22, qui ne signale pas sa présence par sa légèreté et sa petite taille, le matin, quand vous mettez votre pantalon pour aller travailler au bureau au lieu de ceux de la chasse, assurez-vous de le mettre dans votre poche jalousement parce que vous savez qu’il pourra vous être utile.