Spyderco Forums

Now that I have the three main models of Byrd with stainless steel handles, Cara Cara, Meadowlark, and Robin, I have to profess my utter love for the Byrd Stainless series.

They are ideal for IWB with no additional protrusions or textures. They are slim in pocket yet reassuringly heavy in your hands. They clean easily for camp kitchen duty with no skeletonization. They are pinned so a loose pivot in the field is impossible. They look great with pocket patina. Because the scales are solid steel, you can easily grind off any nubs or grooves you don’t like.

Finally, as compared to the Delica and Endura in stainless, they have nice choils and full flat ground blades. And yet they’re cheaper by a substantial margin!

These past few months my foray into Byrd knives has really spoiled me. These knives are just as enjoyable to use and cut better than many much more expensive knives and the only thing they ask in return is to be sharpened more frequently. That’s a trade off I’m willing to make.

I’m looking at some of Spyderco latest releases and yikes, prices are high, and yeah, I’ll probably pull the trigger, but I’ll always know for a light price I can always happily drop a Byrd in my pocket.

Hi Carrot,

Thanx for the kind comments. The models you are speaking of have been very carefully designed in Golden by Eric and me. Keep in mind that the price difference is because of the very low Yuan value. Our prices for Spyderco models is more inline with the rest of the world manufacturing knives.

sal

totally agree.
I got this stainless Cara Cara last week, it's so solid, sturdy and a good cutter I can't believe it cost me $24 :eek:



in the same mail box came the Endura 4 Emerson, more than 3 times the price, but I have carried the Byrd twice as much already! :cool:
and being black coated, no patina when carried IWB! :p

Thanks Sal :spyder:

carrot... how about the Byrd Crossbill and Flight SS to round out your collection...great values!

today in the pocket :cool:

Sal: Any chance at all there will ever be a CatByrd II?

Hi Larry,

Actually, we modified the pattern a little with minor tweaks ( no recurve, etc.) and picked up the pattern as s Spyderco design with a round hole. So, yes, the pattern will survive, but changed.

We did learn quite a bit in the process.

sal

:confused: What model would that be?

The stainless Cara Cara is one of my favorite knives to gift. It's a dramatic step up in quality compared to what most people own, and they enjoy the sturdy feel of the metal handles.

Hi Larry,

It's the "Bodacious".

Hey Vivi,

Reminds me of the early Clipits.

sal

Vivi wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 18, 2018 5:51 pm

The stainless Cara Cara is one of my favorite knives to gift. It's a dramatic step up in quality compared to what most people own, and they enjoy the sturdy feel of the metal handles.

the hand agrees :D



I had never seen the Catbyrd!! :eek:

sal wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 18, 2018 2:57 pm

Hi Larry,

Actually, we modified the pattern a little with minor tweaks ( no recurve, etc.) and picked up the pattern as s Spyderco design with a round hole. So, yes, the pattern will survive, but changed.

We did learn quite a bit in the process.

sal

sal wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 18, 2018 8:38 pm

Hi Larry,

It's the "Bodacious".

Hey Vivi,

Reminds me of the early Clipits.

sal

Sal, the Bodacious name makes it sound like it's going to be in the Tenacious, etc value line. Will the Bodacious be a RIL / Frame Lock like the original Catbyrd or will it be switch over to a liner lock like rest of the Tenacious, etc value line? Thanks for continuing to let us in on what's in the works.

We'll switch to another lock.

sal

Vivi wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 18, 2018 5:51 pm

The stainless Cara Cara is one of my favorite knives to gift. It's a dramatic step up in quality compared to what most people own, and they enjoy the sturdy feel of the metal handles.

It really feels sturdy.

Anyone noticed that the snap open and close seems to be louder and there’s vibration in the handle? It feels like a fixed blade because of that. :cool:

The build quality is excellent! No play. Edge bevel can be better but I have come to accept I need to resharpen them to make them mine. Overall in its own way elegant. Anyone feel the FRN version feels raw/unfinished, should try the stainless version.

Sal, the maker still uses that horrible white loctite on the clip screws. It won’t budge so I can’t take them out. Will try using soldering heat later. The hawkbill also same, still that whitish loctite when I finally managed to take them off.

One clip could be taken off, but the other one doesn’t. Used soldering iron (60W) for 50 seconds on the screw head, it still won’t budge, and twisted my new torx driver. Have happened with previous Cara Cara FRN too. May need to cut a slot and use slotted driver (more sturdy) to force it off.

The horrible excessive white loctite:

anagarika wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 09, 2018 10:51 pm

The horrible excessive white loctite:

yes, now I carry my FRN Cara Cara clipless,
wonder how long the SS will hold up the clip :confused:

ThePeacent wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 11, 2018 12:32 pm

anagarika wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 09, 2018 10:51 pm

The horrible excessive white loctite:

yes, now I carry my FRN Cara Cara clipless,
wonder how long the SS will hold up the clip :confused:

So far so good. Time will tell. Your black one holding up ok?
I hope the maker didn’t use excessive loctite to cover bad liner/scale threading(?).
Other than that, it’s very nice.

I can hold my Manix 2 XL and press on the spine forcefully, and I can force a small gap between the base of the spine of the blade and the backspacer it locks in place next to. It doesn't matter how much force I apply to the spine of my Cara Cara 2 stainless, it remains solid as one piece. Right out of the box, a Spyderco CBBL has (although a negligible amount) more vertical blade play than a byrd back lock.

These are indeed nice pieces. Smoothed up and still no play.