How my first Spyderco, a Delica 4 Green ZDP-189 went from an $83 to$3000 knife

mrphotoman · #1

I bought my first spyderco, a Spyderco Delica 4 Green ZDP-189 Folding Knife from Amazon for $83 and when it arrived I was amazed at the sharpness and how nice slim and light it was. I liked the clip a lot and tried it on my pants for a few days and it just fit me well. I was having fun cutting cardboard and doing paper cutting demos for everyone.

evidence photo

Well after 5 days of playing with it during the week I was sitting at home on a Saturday afternoon and decided to cut some velcro straps to try something out on my Drozd Blackbird but on the second cut the knife went through the velcro a little too easy and then into my forearm a little easier than that cutting down to my tendons and at the time I thought an artery. I had blood flying everywhere and ran through the house telling my gf she had to get me to the ER right now! I wrapped my arm in a dirty dish towel (a good choice) and made a make shift tourniquet and we rushed to the hospital. The doctor (who just so happened to be an old school mate) said i barely missed cutting my tendon and lucked out of surgery. She gave me 2 internal stiches and 8 external ones.

Well as a result of the incident I proceeded to order a BYRD HAWKBILL FRN and the spyderco sharpmaker.

True story.

jabba359 · #2

Ouch! Glad it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Heal up quick!

FCM415 · #3

Whoa... That's a serious one. Reminds us to respect knives and their capabilities always. Imagine if the happened when you were in the field far away from any care.

Diamondback · #4

Accidents happen...happy to hear yours was not worse. Godspeed in your complete recovery.

Gunslinger · #5

Nice flesh cutting test. :D

Cricket Bite · #6

Dare I say Hair shaving sharp :p

razorsharp · #7

Meat test to the extreme? :p

chuck_roxas45 · #8

Now we know it cuts.

Hope you heal fast.

ABX2011 · #9

Ouch! I'm guessing you'll be more careful in the future. Many here including me have made stupid mistakes and cut ourselves badly. Thanks for sharing.

#10

Hi Mrphotoman,

Welcome to our foru, Sorry for your cut. Hope you heal quickly with little discomfort.

sal

Kev83 · #11

****, ya live ya learn. Glad you're ok tho. Hope you were up to date on tetanus shot!

Jay_Ev · #12

Not gonna lie, that story & pic made me squirm and cringe a little. Here's to a speedy recovery (and maybe a cool battle scar!)

mrphotoman · #13

Yeah it is healing well, thanks everyone. It made for a scary day but now I will have a cool story and scar to show off lol. I did indeed have to get a tetanus shot

so that was icing on the cake.

Hopefully it will not happen again, I keep picturing what I did in my head and see how stupid it was. I just did not realize how sharp the knife was and how easy it went through the velcro. I normally had to pull a knife firmly to get it to even start cutting on the industrial velcro straps but the delica went through it like it was nothing and then proceeded to go through my arm equally as well lol.

Spyder-fan · #14

Ouch. Good to hear you're ok. Remember chicks dig scars.

D1omedes · #15

Why were you cutting velcro on your arm?

Glad you didn't hit an artery. Remember to think before you cut.

mrphotoman · #16

i was pulling a velcro strap taught like a piece of rope in my left hand to cut through with my right hand. the blade went through the velcro then kept going till it hit my arm.

hogger · #17

Nice stich job IMO.

Rwb1500 · #18

Happens to the best of us. I have a slightly more embarrassing Spydie slip up I'll share.

It was around Christmas a few years ago and I had just gotten a new knife in the mail. I honestly don't remember what it was (non Spydie) but it was in a blister pack. After opening the mail I felt a strong urge to use the bathroom, so that's what I did, new knife in tow. Sitting upon the throne I decided to open the blister pack, and produced a FFG Delica out of my pants. I worked the package this way and that and finally came down to the last swipe of the blade which I must have rushed because the last motion left the tip of a Delica stuck in the top of my thigh.

Now quite a few things rushed through my head at this moment, mainly "Well this is embarrassing". I instinctively pulled the knife back to reveal a nice neat little hole in my thigh. For a split second it didn't bleed and I thought, "Hey, well ok, no harm no foul." I was mistaken. The next second blood was spurting from my thigh. I grabbed the closest thing, toilet paper of course, to staunch the bleeding. This didn't work so well. After a few lumps of bloody toilet paper I switched to a small hand towel and got the bleeding to slow down. At this point my wife is curious and yelling at me from the other room, "Honey? What are you doing in there?"
"Oh nothing dear..."

Frequent cleanings, butterfly bandages, and large bandaids kept me out of the emergency room. I mean, I probably should have gone... :D

Moral of the story is? Don't try to do two things at once. Especially if you're a man.

Revival · #19

Last summer I cut my shin with a $10 knife opening a case of ammo. Went to the ER and got some nice staples placed in my shin. Lesson learned and know I am extra cautious and respect every knife. I am just glad it wasn't a spyderco.

jackknifeh · #20

Spyder-fan wrote:Ouch. Good to hear you're ok. Remember chicks dig scars.

When you show the chicks, don't forget to tell the story of how you got the wound fighting at least 4 terrorists. :)

Heal fast!