Spyderco Forums

Recently I was asked to assign values to a knife collection in an estate. When the knives finally arrived the majority were broken Old Timer knives and similar with no real value other than spare parts. There was one oddball knife in the bunch that caught my eye. This is the most abused Spyderco that I have ever found that was still functioning as a knife. Looks like a Calypso model that has been through the apocalypse. The only history that I could pick up was that the elderly gentleman that owned the knives was known to be "hard" on things. Lockup is tight with zero play in the blade. The pivot is very smooth as well. I just thought you might want to ponder what happened to this poor knife. Enjoy.

spyderwa

Rare and Unusual Spyderco Website
http://www.angelfire.com/trek/spyderwa

Yikes! I cried a little! Well..at least the knife was used as it was intended rather than it sit and "rot" in a safe. :D

Wow. It looks like it lived in a grinder.

I recall being a broke boy on a farm expected to do my chores with a knife much worse off than that. Excuses weren't offered as they made situations worse and people angry. I suppose it's one reason I'm not one to really let them look as bad now. I always keep mine sanded down of rust, oiled up and clean no matter what. Believe me, as a kid I would have loved a knife that had that much life left in it.

Heck, It's just getting started. :)

A bit of work to clean it up and it'll do fine.


Joe

The primary purpose of the Spyderhole is not one hand opening, but to gauge how much life the blade has left... Once the edge reaches the hole, its finished. :D

This one still have a few years to go! :rolleyes:

Clean it up!

Is that a forced patina?

Tod

Eeek!

I dunno how to feel about the condition of that knife.

****, if the user got good use out of it, who am I to tell them they used or sharpened it "wrong".

Cool! Those wharncliffe conversions have become very chic.

I ended up buying this from the estate so I could "retire" it. It will have a good home to rest in. In my travels in the knife world I often see knives that have shared sharpening time with Arkansas whetstones and assorted motorized grinders. The more I see the carnage, the more I appreciate the Spyderco Sharpmaker for not taking off more than is necessary and not scuffing up the blade. I think for some folk whetstone sharpening seems to have therapeutic value, (for the person, not the knife).

Brock O Lee wrote:The primary purpose of the Spyderhole is not one hand opening, but to gauge how much life the blade has left... Once the edge reaches the hole, its finished. :D

This one still have a few years to go! :rolleyes:

+1 :)

Thats just messed up that he abused such a nice knife as that!

"If his unpleasant wounding has in some way enlightened the rest of you as to the grim finish beneath the glossy veneer of working life and inspired you to change your ways, then his injuries carry with it an inherent nobility, and a supreme glory. We should all be so fortunate. You say poor Calypso Jr? I say poor us." :D

Tod and Brock O Lee...too funny...Bob Newhart would be proud of your deadpan sense of humor...thanks for making me laugh out loud!!!

Thanks for sharing these pics! Bet that little Spydie could tell some stories. Built to last! :D

This is why we don't use bench grinders to sharpen knives.

That isn't abused, it is simply used extensively and worn from sharpening. You have to remember that guy wasn't a collector, he simply used the knife and kept it sharp. It is very common here to see knives which look like that, as an example :



See the heavy recurve in the top blade and the hint in the second one. These are knives used by a family of tradespeople. They will stay in the kitchen, then go out to fillet/split/tongue fish, then go in the garden, and then in the shop for utility work. Even with this use they still usually last more than one generation.

These people don't have a pile of knives that get rotated and they don't hesitate to use knives as they buy them for that reason.

I was referencing the heavy grind marks all over the side of the blade...unless someone did a DIY regrind when the blade got thick behind the edge.

Evil D wrote:This is why we don't use bench grinders to sharpen knives.

correction...only if the bench grinder has the paper wheels, then its OK :p

paladin wrote:Tod and Brock O Lee...too funny...Bob Newhart would be proud of your deadpan sense of humor...thanks for making me laugh out loud!!!

Humor?? What is this humor of which you speak, stranger?

Tod