Chaparral Lightweight - thoughts and pics

[Nate]

Nice shot Nate!! Thanks for that!!! John

Thank you very much Nate, gives me a good idea of how it might be in-hand. I don't have a Native, but I do love my Caly 3. This knife is getting more tempting.

You're welcome guys!

I like posting pics of my still-new looking knifes on the internet. The haters can stuff it, lol.

Since you mentioned the Native, here's an older comparison pic I have:



Kicking myself for not grabbing the Maxamet Native for the earlier pic earlier though... :rolleyes:

(UKPK, Native lw, Calypso Jr, Chaparral)

[crazywednesday]

Nice shot Nate!! Thanks for that!!! John

Thank you very much Nate, gives me a good idea of how it might be in-hand. I don't have a Native, but I do love my Caly 3. This knife is getting more tempting.

You're welcome guys!

I like posting pics of my still-new looking knifes on the internet. The haters can stuff it, lol.

Since you mentioned the Native, here's an older comparison pic I have:



Kicking myself for not grabbing the Maxamet Native for the earlier pic earlier though... :rolleyes:

(UKPK, Native lw, Calypso Jr, Chaparral)

Thanks for posting that pic. It's a great comparison. It also reaffirms why I love the chaparral lw. I would have to say the Caly Jr is a close second, but the wire clip on the chaparral puts it over the top. It has everything I love about a small folding knife. Obviously that's not a LW in the pic, but I can imagine the frn in my mind.

[Molle Ninja]

Love this knife.

[Termite Toothpick]

...It remains the only Spyderco that I've ever sent back...I disassembled, and adjusted the tension by bending the spring. This helped some, but then the blade wanted to kinda, sorta flop open. No bueno...

So...after you disassembled a knife, bent the spring, found that to be the wrong thing to do; you bent it back to make it look/act like original, and then sent it back?!?!

Could you tell me where you got it from? I just want to make sure I don't order from them. I would hate to get a "new" knife that you took apart and damaged. I feel for the person that gets that one down the road!

How about some integrity!

[Forest Green]

Great review!!! love all the pics. One added view should be mentioned, as you look down the top of the closed knife you will see the blade runs very close to both ends of the handle, using all the handle's real estate, blade length to handle is exceptional. This knife feels very small in pocket, very close to Dragonfly.
This knife is very well thought out, the thin strong blade, wide tang, skeletonized stainless liners, light weight FRN handle, large blade to handle ratio, super comfy ergo, makes this a very strong slicer, for me the best EDC.

[sal]

Hi Forest Green,

Welcome to our forum and thanx for the kind comments.

sal

[Strider]

I like the looks of that new FRN pattern. I wasn't really considering this knife, but if the caly jr run doesn't work out for me, I definitely will!

[cabfrank]

I agree with all the positive comments. I've liked this one since the beginning, and like it even more now. I have wedding expenses to pay for next month, but I will surely have to get one when (if?) I get caught up financially.

[MichaelScott]

While there are some, few, criticisms of the lock bar, I find that they are overblown. It’s not a big deal. Really. Yes, it is thinner. So is the blade. I don’t find mine to be any more difficult than those on the Delica or Dragonfly. Of course I don’t open and close my Chaparral umpteen times a day either.

This is almost the perfect every day use knife. It is light, exceptionally well constructed, the ergonomics are as good as they get for a smaller, thinner knife and the thing slices like a lightsaber.

[Forest Green]

....and the lock bar is just fine.

[Daveho]

Love this knife.

Hmm dosnt Pocket well...

I’ve got one on the way

[RickC27]

As been said 50 times here...What an amazing review and great quality pics! I've been debating on a knife to get size wise that would be smaller than my Manix 2 LW and comparable to my Sage 5. I've been considering the Native 5, Delica and Chaparral. I've recently eliminated the Delica due to the fact that they just keep raising the price on it, while nothing has been improved. To me, it seems like a rip off these days. For $12-20 more you can get the Native or Chaparral. So I've been debating the 2, and still not 100% sure which route I want to take, but oh my...this review is certainly pushing me towards the Chaparral for light edc work.

[RickC27]

Shoot, I forgot to ask because I don't recall seeing it in the thread...is it easy to close this knife using just one hand? Depress the lock and let the blade drop to your finger while in the choil, then close from there? I feel like I may not like a lock back design if it can't be closed using one hand.

[Forest Green]

Not as easy other Spyderco's, but it may be something that can be learned, the blade is pretty tight, I can use one hand if I push the blade against the table on the back side.

[Sharp Guy]

Shoot, I forgot to ask because I don't recall seeing it in the thread...is it easy to close this knife using just one hand? Depress the lock and let the blade drop to your finger while in the choil, then close from there? I feel like I may not like a lock back design if it can't be closed using one hand.

The blade drops when I push the lock bar on both my Chaps and all my Natives. Even if they didn't drop you can guide the blade down using your index finger in the Spydie hole.

BTW, the Delica is an excellent value regardless of price.

[RickC27]

Shoot, I forgot to ask because I don't recall seeing it in the thread...is it easy to close this knife using just one hand? Depress the lock and let the blade drop to your finger while in the choil, then close from there? I feel like I may not like a lock back design if it can't be closed using one hand.

The blade drops when I push the lock bar on both my Chaps and all my Natives. Even if they didn't drop you can guide the blade down using your index finger in the Spydie hole.

BTW, the Delica is an excellent value regardless of price.

I was honestly leaning towards the Delica first because of all the raving reviews I've seen and read about it. Seeing reviews from just 2-3 years ago where it was priced around $55-60, which seems reasonable and I'd buy one in a heart beat. But now being priced for $74 everywhere I look, I can't justify it in my mind when you can get all these other upgrades with other models for a mere $12-20 more. Though I do feel like I would love the ergos of the Delica. I'm certainly not bashing the knife itself, I know it's been around forever for good reason and is a Spyderco staple. Just that spike in price, with no upgrades has me leaning other directions.

[cali]

I received my Chaparral FRN today :) The lockback bar has chamfered edges, so it is not unpleasant to operate it. Is it some kind of new production run?
There is also an inscription "Made in Japan" on the sticker, and I am courious why...

[ucfgrad93]

Nice shot Nate!! Thanks for that!!! John

Thank you very much Nate, gives me a good idea of how it might be in-hand. I don't have a Native, but I do love my Caly 3. This knife is getting more tempting.

You're welcome guys!

I like posting pics of my still-new looking knifes on the internet. The haters can stuff it, lol.

Since you mentioned the Native, here's an older comparison pic I have:



Kicking myself for not grabbing the Maxamet Native for the earlier pic earlier though... :rolleyes:

(UKPK, Native lw, Calypso Jr, Chaparral)

What steel is in that Native? I've never seen one with those color scales before.

[Forest Green]

I received my Chaparral FRN today :) The lockback bar has chamfered edges, so it is not unpleasant to operate it. Is it some kind of new production run?
There is also an inscription "Made in Japan" on the sticker, and I am courious why...

If it's no trouble, a couple of photos would be useful.

[cali]

If it's no trouble, a couple of photos would be useful.

Sure