Firstly, I wasn't thrilled with the Bowie when I first saw pictures from the Amsterdam show. Looked like a nice enough knife, but it just looked a little "off." I think it was the blade...it looked too upswept for my taste, not enough like what I think a nice clip point bowie looks like. Fast forward to Piter putting pictures up of it, and my opinion was changed...DANG that thing looked nice! I couldn't wait for it to come out!
Let me explain my excitement. I've owned and carried Sebenzas since 2006...I carried one exclusively for probably 5 years. For a long time, they were, IMO, perfect. And they ARE excellent knives. I LOVE titanium framelocks because of them. However, I've always owned smalls, as they seemed to "fit" me better (not just ergos), and while its super well put together, compact for edge length, easy to tear down and clean, there's two things that have always held me back. First, the ergos. They just aren't great. They're not poor by any means, its not uncomfortable, but compared to practically every Spyderco, or Emerson's designs, they just don't compare. Some knives just seem to grip you back they melt in so nicely...that's not the Sebenza. Second, no matter how many other methods I try, nothing beats the Spyderco opening hole. It's simple, elegant, and versatile. I've studied martial arts, combatives, and self defense for 10 years, and I look at my knives as potential defensive tools. I can miss the stud on the Sebenza if I'm not paying attention, it's hard to hit being so small. Not so with the Spyderco hole...put the pad of my thumb in, push up, and the knife is open.
SO, I've wanted a Ti framelock with a opening hole for a while, as I felt it would be pretty much the perfect pocket knife. I've always been 'meh' about the Sage 2, and while the Techno is excellent, its just a little small for a primary folder for me. Enter the Slysz Bowie. I had hoped it would be under 3.5", and I wasn't disappointed. I hoped that this would be, for me, the perfect Spyderco!
Let's get on to some pictures of what I opened up last week.
When I opened the box and handled the knife, I was very impressed with what I saw. It was a little bigger than I expected, but not in a bad way. More...'beefier', like width, than actually larger.
Let's talk about the ergonomics. The knife feels good in my hand. Initially, I found my pinky a little forced or constrained by the rear of the handle. It's not that the peak doesn't give me enough room, more like I wish the slope at the rear was smaller and that there was a larger 'flatter' area before the slope began. However, after handling it for a day, that disappeared. I now find the ergos almost perfect. If I'm holding the knife in a saber grip (grip focused on thumb and forefinger), my forefinger rides in the thumbhole cutout. If I'm in a hammer or Filipino grip (grip focused on rear three fingers, like a judoka or holding a pistol), my forefinger rides in the space in front of the thumbhole cutout.
Here's some grip pictures.
Open, loose grip so you can see where my fingers fall on the handle.
Fingers curling around, this is like a saber grip. My finger slides rearward into the cutout as my grip tightens.
Filipino grip.
Hammer grip.
Edge in. This is still comfortable, though the peak at the rear of the handle does poke into my palm, it doesn't 'bite' in...it's not a sharp, uncomfortable sensation, it's just 'there.' Reverse grip edge out is just beautiful though!
Reverse grip. This works extremely well. The texturing on the backspacer helps a lot with adding grip. I didn't take a picture of reverse grip edge in (pikal), but it works. The grip is a little uncomfortable, and the angle is awkward, but if you have to hold it or use it that way, it'll work.
The forward guard has just enough curve to it that it's comfortable enough to choke up on. I wouldn't want to do tons of work like this, but it's not uncomfortable! My middle finger actually falls into the thumbhole cutout, and it's surprisingly secure like this.
And here's a spine shot of the knife in my hand. You can juuust make out the contouring.
Here's the grooved backspacer. I like it a great deal. I don't think it looks cheap in black G-10 as some have suggested. The edges are beveled, which is hard to make out in most photos, though you can see it here a little bit. This is a very nice detail which looks quite nice and adds a lot to the spacer. This is also just a nice shot of the punyo end of the knife.
Here's the pivot end. I'm curious what the pivot diameter is, as the head is quite large. Not gigantic like a Strider, but sizeable nonetheless. You can also see here the excellent stonewashed finish on the Ti. The Ti actually has texture! It's like a mild tackiness. If you've ever acid washed steel, it feels like the feel on the blade before you remove the gray finish. Just a very mild 'feel' to the metal. It feels quite nice. It's very smooth, but not slick. Almost like its had a mild bead blast at low PSI, but without that gritty feel. It's similar to the Techno's finish, but a little different, with more "tactileness" (my made-up word of the day)!
Here's the crowned spine. I absolutely could not wrap my head around this in the pictures, how it was only on part of the blade and not the rest. This is extremely nice. It's one of my favorite little things on a Sebenza, and one of my favorite mods to do on my knives...I've probably done this to a dozen of my own knives. This is very well done, and almost perfectly blended. The stonewash is also very nice. Again, a lot like the Techno, but the Slysz Bowie seems to have been taken to a higher polish before the stonewash...the blade reflects things quite well when held at an angle, clearly enough to make them out, as opposed to the blur that you get with some knife finishes. Extremely nicely done stonewash! The thumb jimping is also nicely done. It's not sharp, but there's enough to get some traction on when you bear down. More useful than the bumps on the Techno's blade. Honestly, it reminds me of the jimping on a Sebenza.
And the grind. The grind is perfect. Seriously. I still haven't mic'd it, but others are reporting that it's .020". Nice and thin, but not so thin you need to be worried about lateral stress. It is a slicer through and through, with a very even distal taper to the FFG. I have no critiques or suggestions to improve the blade. It has more belly than I would prefer, but that's just preference. The tip has a near perfect (IMO) balance of sharpness and strength. Roger mentioned this being his favorite part of the knife, and it's up there. The blade is VERY nicely ground. Really, it's that nice. This knife is a good cutter!
So, let's move on to some comparisons. I have comments for some, some are just for you to see.
Spyderco Military and Slysz Bowie.
Spyderco Endura and Slysz Bowie.
Spyderco Manix 2 Lightweight and Slysz Bowie.
This picture impresses me with how efficient the design of the Slysz Bowie is. Look at the edge length and overall length of the two knives. The Bowie has probably 1/2" more blade while being 1/2" shorter overall. It also shows the width of the Bowie...this isn't a narrow knife.
Spyderco Dragonfly 2 and Slysz Bowie.
Spyderco Techno and Slysz Bowie.
Here's the two handles facing each other so you can get an idea of available grip space.
Chris Reeve Small Sebenza Insingo and Spyderco Slysz Bowie.
There's actually a really similar amount of grip space available on the two handles. The Bowie is more ergonomic, and hand filling, but if the small Sebenza is absolutely too small for you, the Slysz Bowie may be as well.
And here's the shot that surprised me the most in all of this.
I couldn't believe how much less bigger the Slysz Bowie was than I had expected. It's wider, but it just doesn't take up that much more space. The difference was really striking to me, in person. For not much more size, I got a much more comfortable, easier to handle knife.
And here's a few with the Small Insingo, Slysz Bowie, and Techno together.
The Slysz Bowie just disappears! I can't believe how deeply it carries, it's almost as invisible as the Techno!
Here's the Slysz Bowie compared to a couple of other classic Bowie blades.
I love that Bowie blade!!!
And here's a trainer I made for my Slysz Bowie!
In conclusion, I absolutely love the Slysz Bowie. It feels great, handles great, and carries great. It's an extremely well made full Ti framelock with a FFG blade using a premium blade steel, and features contoured handles for comfort (both in hand and in pocket) and a deep carry pocket clip. This should check a lot of boxes for a lot of people. It isn't perfect, but it's very, VERY close. For me, it's pretty much the perfect pocket knife. I'm sure it will be kicked out by something at some point, but it just doesn't get much better than this. Thank you to Marcin for the design, Spyderco for the execution, and Piter for bringing this (I believe) to Sal's attention.
I'd like to finish by addressing the price. I do not want that discussion in this thread, however...if you haven't handled one, you really need to before you pass judgement on this knife. I don't really care about the MSRP, I care about what it costs me to buy. At this point in time, it's costing $300. I am COMPLETELY satisfied with paying for that. I'm not going to directly compare it to the Sebenza regarding build quality, but just like the Techno, if this was built in the States, it would cost a minimum of $100 more. This Bowie rivals everything else I've handled, from anywhere, in build quality. It has exactly the level of quality I expected. The level of quality and fit and finish isn't just impressive for a knife made overseas...this quality would be impressive coming from a factory anywhere in the world. Pictures really do not do this knife justice, though I tried to do what I could.
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