So the FRN version of the Cara Cara 2 recently coaxed me into trying out the Byrd line. I've been hankering for a larger lockback folder in FRN with a forward finger choil for a while now and with the Endura distinctly 'choil-less' and the FRN version of the Police 4 still a way off, nothing in the regular Spyderco line up really fits the bill. That and with all the recent chatter about MAP I did get curious as to what the quality difference is between the regular line and the Byrds. Up until last year I'd lived in the UK where a Cara Cara 2 FRN will cost you just over £30 (or about $40) so I hadn't given Byrd even a second look at that price, for what I immediately dismissed as a 'cheapie Spyderco'. This side of the Atlantic though, $20 seemed eminently more reasonable to take a chance on. Now I'm not going to be offering opinions here on global economics, ethics, politics or chinese production - this is just a simple look at the knife itself and what you get for your buck compared to a full line Spyderco model. Well here's what I've made of the Byrd so far...
Specs from Spyderco:
length overall - 8.563 " (217 mm)
blade length - 3.75 " (95 mm)
blade thickness - .125 " (3 mm)
cutting edge - 3.188 " (81 mm)
length closed - 4.844 " (123 mm)
blade steel - 8Cr13MoV
handle material - FRN
weight - 3.4 oz. (97 g)
So I guess I'll start with fit and finish before anything else. After reading some reviews and watching a few videos I was fairly unsure as to the quality to expect, however once the Cara Cara turned up I was thoroughly impressed. I really had not expected the Byrds to feel this nice! I thought this, even though the first example I ordered had its blade cutting right into the backspacer on the inside of the handle - it was flawed but everything else about it told me to try again. The replacement was an absolute gem!
- I had the same experience with the Meadowlark I ordered immediately after (a notch that interrupted action), and the Robin I ordered right after that (chunk missing out of the tang exposing one of the washers). I ended up with a great example of each - all the blades perfectly centered, all the lockups solid as a rock (Update: I've noticed some vertical wiggle now, pressing down hard when chopping - nothing terrible, just that familiar lock-back vertical play) and all the actions buttery smooth (although one of the Robins was a TINY bit gritty).
Sat in my hand this thing felt just like one of my beloved Spydercos. Just cycling the action open and closed I honestly couldn't have told you if I was holding a Byrd or not. This may be due to the fact this is an FRN model - I've no idea how well the G10 or stainless variants will feel in the hand 'quality' wise, but the FRN stands up very well.
Grip pattern on the Byrd FRN:
It doesn't look as refined as the Spyderco patterns but its pretty deep and angled nicely in both directions for just as secure a grip as any of the other FRN handles I own.
Any other noticeable difference with this FRN to the main Spyderco line? Well inside the handle the finish is a bit ugly, with visible sprue marks:
For twenty bucks in a working knife this doesn't bother me. The marks don't protrude or interfere with the blade or your grip at all.
Here is the backspacer. Its not the cleanest finish and doesn't sit flush with the handle scales:
As opposed to the level joins on the Native 5 (a knife more than 4 times the price):
I continued to tirelessly nitpick the Byrd. The blade though is centered flawlessly (and was on every single one of the 6 Byrds I handled, regardless of any of their other flaws):
I've had $200 Spydercos with blades less well centred than this. I'm not sure how it sits this well in the handles as the blade is ground veering slightly off to one side:
Again, I've had Spydies worse than this. Here is a Super Blue Caly 3:
The jimping is spot on, all edges nice and smooth and the comet hole (does anyone call this the Byrdie hole?) is nicely finished with no notches or sharp edges:
I've had no issues opening with the comet hole, in fact I can't feel a difference in use at all. I do prefer the look of the Spydie hole but maybe that's just years and years of attachment and familiarity? The more I carry the Cara Cara the more attractive that comet hole appears. The lockup on the Cara Cara is absolutely solid, with no play whatsoever in any direction (Update: I've noticed some vertical wiggle now, pressing down hard when chopping - nothing terrible, just that familiar lock-back vertical play). The only thing I can find is the blade doesn't exactly line up with the lock bar:
Although again this is not something uncommon in the regular Spydie line up like here on my old Calypso sprint:
If anything this has taught me I'm pretty forgiving of this kind of thing on way more expensive knives.
The lock bar with boye dent (I can take it or leave it) is cleanly finished and disengages like the Native 5 - the blade just dropping effortlessly back towards the handle with a press of the lock release:
Inside the handle you can start to see some quality differences though. This example is still pretty clean save for a few rough edges to the lock bar:
Although look how rough the inside of my Meadowlark is:
Compared to the clean lines of the Native 5 (again though, a full Spyderco more than 4 times the price):
All in all the way this is put together has left me very pleasantly surprised. The Byrd feels very much like the quality tools I associate with Spyderco. In fact I've actually had more bothersome fit and finish issues on Moki made Spydercos out of Japan (not Seki City though, they've always been top notch for me).
So one of the main features making this a 'budget' knife would presumably be the blade steel, 8Cr13MoV:
Other than the slight lean to one side the blade grind looks great and the edge was laser-beam sharp out of the box. I can't really comment on edge retention compared to my fancier steels as despite carrying the Cara Cara 2 pretty much daily for about three weeks, I just don't put my pocket folders to enough hard use to honestly have much to go on right now. I can say I've maybe noticed having to strop a bit more often than say a VG10 blade, but time will have to tell on that front. There's lots of people out there than have done 8Cr13MoV comparisons that say your edge will dull quicker than the more upmarket stuff but sharpening is easier. That and I've seen a few people mention more propensity to corrosion. I've not had any issues yet myself but I did preemptively drench the insides with Tuf-Glide and generally keep a beady eye on the blade of whatever I'm EDCing with the odd dab of mineral oil here and there.
There was a bit of an anomaly on this knife, in that the blade markings were much fainter than my other Byrd examples. Here is the Cara Cara on the left and a Meadowlark with much darker and clearer markings on the right:
Just this one had faint markings out of the six knives that I handled, but everything else about this one was spot on so I'm fine with it.
Wow that was all pretty nit-picky of me wasn't it over a $20 knife! :D Maybe so. Still, fit and finish was THE first question I had in my mind when considering the Byrd line so I thought it needed to take some prominence here - I'm just trying to cover the sort of things I'd want to know myself if I hadn't handled one before.
Ergos in the hand are pure Spyderco bliss and exactly what I was after in a larger folder! I don't have any similarly sized blades for a comparison, so here it is in-hand next to the Native 5 LW in a couple of grips (I take a 'Medium' in Mechanix gloves):
I love the option of a good forward finger choil and the Cara Cara is a delight to use. It may be a Byrd but it melts into my hand as well as any Spyderco I've ever held.
Here again next to the Native 5, blade open:
And blade closed:
Handle thickness puts it just a touch slimmer than the Native:
Now here's a question - Does lock bar length significantly affect lock strength and production costs? I don't have an Endura to compare with, but I noticed that the Cara Cara's lock bar is shorter than the Endura's. And as you can see here the Cara Cara's lock bar is actually the same length as the Native 5's despite being a much larger knife:
I'd be interested to know how much that is related to this being a 'budget' option as that detail could easily have passed me by if I hadn't spent some time looking at other peoples' comparison photos of the Cara Cara next to the Endura.
One specific feature of the Cara Cara's design I absolutely love is the depth at which the blade tip sits inside the handle. This is a pet peeve of mine that has caused me to return a few folders, as I want to get a fair bit of sharpening out of a knife before the blade tip is exposed when shut! That's a big no-no. Look how lovely and deep that tip sits:
Lovely stuff! Even better than the Native 5:
The kind of tip depth shown on this Roadie is what I'm trying to avoid:
The pocket clip seems to be pretty much the same design as the Spyderco hourglass clip, although lacking the bug logo. I imagine different materials? If so I can't tell the difference. Its strong, decent lanyard hole, stays put and has been in and out of my pocket about a thousand times with no issues so far. Give me a wire clip any day of the week though.
Does pretty much what the Spydie version does, here it is in the pocket...
Cara Cara 2:
Native 5:
For a relatively large folder the Cara Cara 2 is slender and that combined with the FRN handle makes this a great light weight carry. It doesn't feel any more intrusive than carrying the Native 5.
So there we go. I'm actually chuffed to bits with it. As I mentioned above, so much so that I immediately ordered the Meadowlark and the Robin (if anyone is interested I might stick up a little review of those two as well). I'm certainly not the first person to say they wish the Delica and Endura had choils and now I'm very interested in the FRN version of the Police 4 looming on the horizon. Until then the Cara Cara 2 is filling that niche for me extremely well. In fact you could clean up the fit and finish / QC issues, give it a steel upgrade (lengthen the lock bar?) get a bug logo and Spydie hole on the blade, Golden Colorado USA made for the bonus and I'm good to go!
As far as I know the warranty on the Byrds is only good for one year from purchase. Will quality issues present themselves with more use later down the line? I don't know. Everything feels pretty great. I hope not as for the money these are not only great replaceable beaters and glove box knives, but also a genuinely solid EDC option. The only real nuisance point for me is I wouldn't order from anywhere that I'd have to pay postage for an exchange/return, as I've already found chances are you have to be fussy and try a couple to get yourself a really decent example.
Well I think that's pretty much everything I wanted to cover. As ever I'm sure I've forgotten something but hopefully someone will find this useful.
Cheers for now!
Uke
it was completely stripped and rounded (from the factory, when I got it new in box). The other two screws in the same knife were fine :confused: