Official Sliverax Discussion Thread

[paulwa]

-The other concerns noted were retreads on the detent/flipper action and that the comp lock can pinch your finger, (not exclusive to the Sliverax and also a non-issue for me,) but I'm curious if anyone here can relate to the above because I can't see it, especially regarding the balance. I mean, if I'm holding the knife in hand and release my grip completely it tends to just sit there on my index finger. Unbalanced and blade heavy? :confused:

Howdy Nate,
I don’t tend to try and refute people’s reviews, because everyone is entitled to their opinion, and each will have had their own, personal experiences that are not my place to question...
But I’m actually very proud of how balanced the Spyderco team was able to make the production Sliverax. For me too, it perches on my index finger when finding its center of gravity, which it what I typically strive for in an EDC type, user design (and is what I thought most folks also looked for in a knife in terms of ‘balance’).
But, if you compare it to a lot of the recent modern/tactical folders on the market, with full titanium slab handles and such, those designs will be much, much more tail heavy. If that’s your preference and experience, then the Sliverax could possibly seem blade heavy. At least that’s my interpretation of it.

- Paul

[dj moonbat]

"Tends to just sit there on my index finger" is exactly the balance I'm looking for.

[Evil D]

I mean, if I'm holding the knife in hand and release my grip completely it tends to just sit there on my index finger. Unbalanced and blade heavy? :confused:

Yeah I don't get that either. This is one of the most balanced folders I've ever held. If you stick out your finger and rest the knife on the choil it balances perfectly.

[Nate]

Howdy Nate,
I don’t tend to try and refute people’s reviews, because everyone is entitled to their opinion, and each will have had their own, personal experiences that are not my place to question...
But I’m actually very proud of how balanced the Spyderco team was able to make the production Sliverax. For me too, it perches on my index finger when finding its center of gravity, which it what I typically strive for in an EDC type, user design (and is what I thought most folks also looked for in a knife in terms of ‘balance’).
But, if you compare it to a lot of the recent modern/tactical folders on the market, with full titanium slab handles and such, those designs will be much, much more tail heavy. If that’s your preference and experience, then the Sliverax could possibly seem blade heavy. At least that’s my interpretation of it.

- Paul

Thank you Paul.

I agree with your take on reviews and imagine that for a designer, criticism may generally be more useful and valuable than praise, even if it isn't always easy to hear.

Your take on the perception of balance is helpful. I tend to shy away from designs with metal scales based on my own personal preferences, but with your comments in mind I did some side-by-side comparisons against a PM2. The balance point is relatively similar on both, in-line with the lock tab/access cutout, but with the PM2 you can choke up on the separate index finger choil for a very handle heavy grip which may be advantageous in some scenarios. I guess one of the trade-offs with the Sliverax is you lose that additional grip option, but gain a significant amount of cutting edge in a handle that is actually slightly shorter.

[Nate]

Double tap.

[Guacbowl]

Hello,

I am no ninja and I have very little experience on this topic, but I'm surprised that no one has commented on how the Sliverax feels in reverse grip (excellent). It seems like it could be quite capable from the martial perspective, ala karambit.

-Guac

[farnorthdan]

Welcome to the forum Guac, nice looking collection you have there.

[vernonremington]

For whatever reason the Sliverax didn’t appeal to me when it was first released, but I finally decided to get one a few weeks ago and it hasn’t left my pocket. Perfect ergonomics and size for a “gentleman’s” EDC.

The carbon fiber is very nice and grippy and my flips reasonably well. I wasn’t expecting a ZT like flipper.

Like Paul mentioned above, I love the balance of the blade when open, just melts into my hand.

Hopefully this is a successful model and produces a few sprints runs.

Thanks to Paul for designing this and offering his insight on here.

[Drewthebrave]

I just received my Sliverax yesterday at work and could not stop fidgeting with it. Until recently, I had never spent more than around $20 for a knife, so I was skeptical about the value of a $150+ folder.

Now that I've held it in hand, I'm 100% sure that this is the perfect knife for me. Before Christmas, I decided to try out the CF Position as a gentleman's carry at $99, as I've always liked flippers. It was a great knife, and completely sold me on the idea of Spyderco flippers. The flipping action was snappy and lock was much easier to operate than critical reviews led me to believe. However, I EDC a Kershaw Leek, and the Position at 3" didn't give me much utility beyond what the Leek offered at a fraction of the cost. Since I'm getting married soon, I'm only able to justify owning a handful of knives, so having multiple blades in the same size didn't seem like an efficient use of my resources.

So, off to auction with the Positron (which now has a very happy owner in Hungary!) and I put that money towards the Sliverax. It checked of a lot of boxes I was looking for: Compression Lock, ~3.5" Blade, Quality Stainless Steel, Deep Carry Clip, Low Weight, Carbon Fiber Scales that won't tear up slacks like G10, Flipper, Usable Spydiehole. It seemed to have everything I liked about the Positron, plus a bunch of other attributes I wanted that the Positron lacked.

I liked the Positron, but I LOVE the Sliverax!

While the flipping action isn't as snappy as the Positron with its lighter blade and stronger detent, I'm blown away with the smooth action on this Sliverax. Using the flipper is as effortless and natural as I could hope for. The flipper tab extends just enough to ensure proper leverage, and once the blade is set in motion, it glides like a puck on ice until the satisfying "snap" of the compression lock engages and the blade is ready for action. Flipping with my thumb or middle finger in the Spydie hole is just as satisfying. Controlled opening with the Spydie hole is excellent as well, but when flipping and flicking is so much fun, anything less just seems pedestrian.

I had to search far and wide for any real criticism of the knife, but other than a rare pinch from the lock when flipping it with an unorthodox grip, I can't think of anything worth complaining about. The blade is as sharp as I'd expect from a brand new Spydie, and it has already sliced through some heavy cardboard at work like a lightsaber that the Leek struggled through.

Now the Leek is definitely not in the same league as the Sliverax, but since it's a pretty common knife (and is what I had on me), I figured it's worth including for comparison. While the knives have their obvious differences, they're much more similar in intuitive design than I might have guessed!

Album here: https://imgur.com/gallery/LCfZo

[paulwa]

I LOVE the Sliverax!

Howdy Drew,
Thanks for the kind words on the design, and I’ll take a comparison to Ken Onion any day...
Glad you also feel the knife lives up to the price!

- Paul

And on the chance you are interested in some maker’s mark stickers, check out this thread:
//forum.spyderco.com/viewto ... =2&t=76319

[cabfrank]

Great post and pics!

[Drewthebrave]

I LOVE the Sliverax!

Howdy Drew,
Thanks for the kind words on the design, and I’ll take a comparison to Ken Onion any day...
Glad you also feel the knife lives up to the price!

- Paul

And on the chance you are interested in some maker’s mark stickers, check out this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=76319

Thanks Paul, I might have to coat the clip!

[Strider]

I think the Sliverax looks fantastic, but I don't want to buy one now and here soon that there is another version being planned. Has there been any official discussion regarding a sliverax 2.0 or sprint run?

[Evil D]

I think the Sliverax looks fantastic, but I don't want to buy one now and here soon that there is another version being planned. Has there been any official discussion regarding a sliverax 2.0 or sprint run?

I don't expect a "2.0 version" since the new style bearings are already in this version, so aside from a sprint or exclusive it's not likely to change.

[paulwa]

I think the Sliverax looks fantastic, but I don't want to buy one now and here soon that there is another version being planned. Has there been any official discussion regarding a sliverax 2.0 or sprint run?

Howdy Strider,
I think D was spot on, it’s still pretty early in the life of the original Sliverax, and I’m guessing Spyderco is still waiting to see the long term interest in the model before making any additional investment or consuming more of their manufacturing bandwidth with this design. And I definitely am not aware of any pending sprints of the Sliverax; however, there may be minor CQI improvements they are considering, but Spyderco doesn’t really need to, nor are they obligated to include me in any of those discussions.

Sorry for not being able to supply a more definitive answer,
- Paul

[koenigsegg]

Guess it depends of it's selling. I don't really ever see Sliverax coming up for sale on the second hand market as much as say the techno. The techno they have now made a 2.0 but the first one is still selling enough they are still selling those too.

[Evil D]

Guess it depends of it's selling. I don't really ever see Sliverax coming up for sale on the second hand market as much as say the techno. The techno they have now made a 2.0 but the first one is still selling enough they are still selling those too.

That seems like it's up for interpretation to me, it could mean that they're not selling or it could mean that the people who are buying them are not selling them used.

[Strider]

Guess it depends of it's selling. I don't really ever see Sliverax coming up for sale on the second hand market as much as say the techno. The techno they have now made a 2.0 but the first one is still selling enough they are still selling those too.

That seems like it's up for interpretation to me, it could mean that they're not selling or it could mean that the people who are buying them are not selling them used.

I have noticed that, too. Hard to say exactly what it means.

Thanks for chimming in Paul! I realize it's early on in it's like cycle. I just try to avoid bloating the collection with multiples of the same knife.

[Reject]

Howdy Nate,
I don’t tend to try and refute people’s reviews, because everyone is entitled to their opinion, and each will have had their own, personal experiences that are not my place to question...
But I’m actually very proud of how balanced the Spyderco team was able to make the production Sliverax. For me too, it perches on my index finger when finding its center of gravity, which it what I typically strive for in an EDC type, user design (and is what I thought most folks also looked for in a knife in terms of ‘balance’).
But, if you compare it to a lot of the recent modern/tactical folders on the market, with full titanium slab handles and such, those designs will be much, much more tail heavy. If that’s your preference and experience, then the Sliverax could possibly seem blade heavy. At least that’s my interpretation of it.

- Paul

Thank you Paul.

I agree with your take on reviews and imagine that for a designer, criticism may generally be more useful and valuable than praise, even if it isn't always easy to hear.

Your take on the perception of balance is helpful. I tend to shy away from designs with metal scales based on my own personal preferences, but with your comments in mind I did some side-by-side comparisons against a PM2. The balance point is relatively similar on both, in-line with the lock tab/access cutout, but with the PM2 you can choke up on the separate index finger choil for a very handle heavy grip which may be advantageous in some scenarios. I guess one of the trade-offs with the Sliverax is you lose that additional grip option, but gain a significant amount of cutting edge in a handle that is actually slightly shorter.

Your comments caused me to also get out the Para and the Sliverax to compare them, so my thoughts.

Firstly; love the balance of the Sliverax. If your cutting with it for a long period of time and in those moments when actually not cutting. You can completely release your grip on the handle and allow it to just rest on the index finger and against the palm and it will sit there like it is glued. Love that. Great way to rest the hand.

As for the choking up on the knife; with cutting edge coming so far back on the blade. I think you are already choked up on the blade with just a normal grip. Just place the thumb on the top of the blade and you are there.

Now; :eek: I am not saying that the Para is unsafe to use in a choked up grip, I just think the design of the Sliverax makes it a safer knife to use in that grip. (Safety first, always.)

First point; when your mind is on the job at hand and not on the knife in hand, bad things can happen. With the Para, it wouldn’t take much for the index to make its way forward on the blade. With the Sliverax; you would have to do something every wrong for that to happen.

Second point: When in a choked up grip the Para’s blade is angled away from the cutting direction. Making the possibility of the blade slipping off what you cutting, this is something that would need to be taken into consideration.

With the design of the Sliverax, the blade shape and grip angle cause the blade angle towards the cutting direction. Less chance of the blade slipping and the blade shape offers much more usable cutting surface in that grip than the Para.

[koenigsegg]

Guess it depends of it's selling. I don't really ever see Sliverax coming up for sale on the second hand market as much as say the techno. The techno they have now made a 2.0 but the first one is still selling enough they are still selling those too.

That seems like it's up for interpretation to me, it could mean that they're not selling or it could mean that the people who are buying them are not selling them used.

I didn't mean to say people weren't buying the Sliverax I have no idea just bringing up the point that if it's selling well, then we might see both models out at the same time. But I guess if the change is more CQI we might not know. Maybe people just think they will like the techno but it's so small it's more likely to leave especially being worth so much at this time.