Leafstorm Lovers?

[Cheddarnut]

Got a storm on the way, they were on sale at my preferred dealer an i finally bit. I know people are mostly hot and cold (more cold then hot from the looks) but i was hoping for any positive feedback on the lil guy to assuage my brain cycling the complaints i hear about it. Has anyone ground off the bitey part of the edge near the ricasso?

[GoldenSpydie]

Love mine. It's a great little knife; just don't let your finger slip too far forward. Where did you get yours?

[gbelleh]

I like mine. It's a cool little design. But I never really connected with it ergonomically. So I can't say I use it much anymore, when there are so many others I like to carry and use more.

I do like the G-11 scales, and the nifty design of the lanyard hole. Enjoy, and let us know how you like it.

[paladin]

Love the natural G10... :)

Is than an oxymoron? :rolleyes:

[adancingmonkey]

warriors and wonders has a sale on them right now for a pretty good price especially since it is in CAD.

[SpyderNut]

I really like mine too. The overall design is a bit odd (i.e. the handle isn't exactly what you'd call comfortable), but it still holds a special place in my collection. A few have ground off the rear most part of the blade, which I believe would help decrease getting any inadvertent nicks or cuts. Let us know what you think of it when you get a chance.

[Liquid Cobra]

I thought about taking advantage of the sale, but that knife just never spoke to me.

[Cheddarnut]

Thanks for the replies guys, sounds like the mixed bag i was kind of expecting. I decided to give it a shot despite the claims of discomfort with the caveat that i find the caly series uncomfortable, which leads me to hope taste in grip is subjective.
Liquid, it has always kind of whispered to me, not so much spoken :D what the ****, i love that scale.

[adancingmonkey]

I remember seeing somewhere that to grip it most comfortably one would use a pinch like grip, as you would grip a chef knife.

[bh49]

I like the look, but sold both of mine. IMHO there plenty of the same size knives with much better ergos.

[gbelleh]

Look what made its way into my pocket today! It's been a while...

[LC Kid]

Hi Folks!


The LeafStorm is one of those unavoidable models in any decent contemporary collection. :)

It's a really good looking design and it has the Golden's F&F. Very well made, awesome materials and very light and unobtrusive on the pocket.

Ergos? Never had any problem with that. Just remember its a pinch like grip. Dont even imagine it has the grip of a Stretch.

The 'Edge near the Ricasso' thing? Give me a break will you. For those guys who don't know how to use a knife it'll certainly be a concern.

By the way, I never got the whole Choil thing. Most of the best ever knife designs don't have a Choil. I'm not a Choil guy, so I don't care if it hasn't and I actually prefer knives without choils. :cool:

My only complain about the LeafStorm is about the Clip. The Clip they used looks like it was borrowed from a totally different model, and feels absolutely out of context. Spyderco could have done way better. :rolleyes:

[gbelleh]

That point at the back of the blade is no joke. Especially if one is used to using knives with choils. When immersed in a cutting task, like cutting up a bunch of cardboard boxes, it's very easy to just slip that finger up there out of habit. I got a pretty nasty little bite from it when I first got it (after many months of using a choil, the finger just wants to go there).

[Skywarp]

I love mine too much to part with but not enough to use regularly.
I dramatically thinned out my collection last year and this is one of my final 6 spydies which rank as follows...
1) Super Blue Delica - Usual EDC
2) Urban - occasional EDC - tip gone / edge could do with reprofile - love the ergos and legality
3) Brown XHP Native - occasional EDC - still too mint
4) Leafstorm - rarely EDC
5) Brown S35V Paramilitary 2 - Shelf queen - too risky to EDC in UK
6) Dogtag - In mail from KC - will be backup EDC

[adancingmonkey]

Maybe I should snatch one from warriors and wonders. Too bad I got a parki ticket for the same amount yesterday night.

[wrdwrght]

The fact that it was disco'd suggests I'm not the only one who was not a fan. I did like the translucent G10 but didn't much like the accident waiting to happen at what ought to have been the ricasso, absent some jimping, like on the Air's liner lock.

I wonder if the Techno helped to disco the Leafstorm...

[VeloWeave]

Man I'm so bummed that they discontinued it. I had one that had a very sticky lock, and Spyderco found that it was defective, they didn't have another since it had been discontinued. I was sooooooo bummed. I chose a Caly 3 CF for replacement and ended up selling it because I liked Chaparral better and they were kind of similar. I really liked the design despite some of the legitimate complaints on it. I think someone here in this thread nailed it when they remarked that it should be a part of any good contemporary collection. The production Leaf Storm doesn't make me want to go out and buy a custom Wilkins Leaf Storm but the Spyderco version is both affordable and very well done fit and finish and design. It's one of those models you instantly recognize and do not easily forget.

[endgame]

I liked it but traded it off for one reason it had no choil.I kept cutting my index finger when using it.

[NoFair]

I like mine, but the C22 CF Michael Walker and Techno are better designs in the same size category..

[Cheddarnut]

Ok, well...
My Leafstorm arrived a couple days ago. I would have posted sooner but i couldnt stop hanmandling the storm long enough to type.













I love it.

It fits my hand very well in all grips, and the sharp bit doesnt seem to be an issue, i assume my hands are smaller than those that have had issues. Or i grip i differently.

Likes:
G10 scale was worth the price of admission
Asymmetrical ti and g10
Incredibly solid feel, tight center of gravity
The only framelock that SOUNDS awesome that ive ever heard.
It looks like a telephone squid.

Dislikes:
Finishing details- i really wish the round part of the blade around the pivot wasnt left semi raw from the laser cutting, i included a pick of my para beside it to show this was a detail. It really makes a piece of steel feel like its an accurate tool when this is addressed.
-The blade is strangely polished, with the hollow grind being well polished closest to the edge, getting progressively less polished closer to the spine. The sand blasting isnt polished out on the flats of the blade, and there is what i refer to as the "amateur round off" which is a rounded edge near the spine from sloppy polish/grinding of the blade. The superblue endura i had suffered greatly from this lack of understanding or attention paid to not falling off the edge with the grinder. The opposite can be said for my yo2, which defines what i love about a properly polish, flatly lapped blade.
-jimping is too sharp when pulling hand away from tip
-little machining bites on the spine, though i dont really mind them
-the ricasso cutout isnt on a uniform round vector, like wilkins customs, but tangent off near the edge toward the tip. I cant see why it wouldnt have been lasered out on a continuous path, unless that last little bit was intended to give a little more room for a stray finger to not get caught up on the sharp bit.
-The clip positioning is drunk. But it probably wilkins to blame, as it looks to be pretty much the same on the customs. A mm or two away from the bevel would have been nice, just ao the clip doesnt overhang the edge of the scale, signifying poor aesthetic planning.
-The lockbar and lock face of the blade are not parallel and only the tip of the lock bar engages the lockface. Lockup is early and seems solid, so i worry futuractively.

Despite what looks like a bias toward dislikes, this knife is a special treasure to me and fulfills many of the things i look for in a pocket knife. Its funny how many different preferences we have, and this is the reminder that all the reviews and threads of others subjective opinions dont define my decisions at the end of the day. I probably ahould have bought this knife when i wanted to when it first came out, but didnt because of the flack it recieved. And maybe even deserved. But i am not you, and the reverse, and thats why we have a company that feeds the baby birds as many worms as it can.