Spyderco’s Polestar & Alcyone should not be in the “VALUE LINEUP”

[Surfingringo]

Been using and sharpening it for several days now and I’m really enjoying the design. Very comfortable knife in hand and in pocket. Steel performs well and sharpens up with ease. Takes a great edge both polished and coarse.

[sal]

Hey Lance, How would you like a Golden made version with good stuff at 4 times the price?

sal

[Tdog]

Lance, good to see others still using baitcasters. My old Ambassadeurs, Calcutta, and Diawa's have seen many miles. Much prefer these for jigging and casting plugs. You in the reel repair business too? Sal, surely you jest? :) :)(Big Grin)

[Surfingringo]

Hey Lance, How would you like a Golden made version with good stuff at 4 times the price?

sal

Hey Sal, I’d pass on that. I like the knife for what it is. If I were to change anything, I’d rather have one in 8cr13 for $10 cheaper. Just this guy’s 2 cents.

[Surfingringo]

Lance, good to see others still using baitcasters. My old Ambassadeurs, Calcutta, and Diawa's have seen many miles. Much prefer these for jigging and casting plugs. You in the reel repair business too? Sal, surely you jest? :) :)(Big Grin)

Hey Tdog, I’m visiting my Dad right now. Those are some of his bass fishing reels. I use baitcasters bass fishing with plastic. Out on the kayak it’s all spin gear.

[sal]

Hi Lance,

The maker has refused to work with 8Cr, so.....what we got is what we get.....till they're gone.

sal

[JaseRicco]

Hey Lance, How would you like a Golden made version with good stuff at 4 times the price?

sal

Hey Sal, I’d pass on that. I like the knife for what it is. If I were to change anything, I’d rather have one in 8cr13 for $10 cheaper. Just this guy’s 2 cents.

Completely agree.

[JaseRicco]

Impressions of the Alcyone after a week...

The not so good...

Price - I’m not going to spend too much time on this aspect of the knife as price has been much debated in this discussion. However, my opinion on this has not wavered. I still feel that $67, which is what this knife cost me after taxes, is still just too much.

Action - The action on this knife is disappointing to say the least. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that it’s not smooth, because it is, smooth enough anyway, but sooo stiff?!?! In order to make the knife “Spydie Flickable”, without having to put a whole lot of wrist behind it, I had to loosen the pivot. But loosening the pivot resulted in blade play and a knife center that’s not so center. Now the blade play is minimal, and the less than center blade is not rubbing at all, but that’s really not the point. I hate to be redundant, but after paying what I did for the knife, the action should be a lot better. Considering the very smooth action you get on the Persistence, and the butter smooth action you get on the Efficient, both of which cost $25 less, I’m really not sure where the fail on Alcyone action lies. Upon disassembly I see that it has bronze washers which is what you want to see. I have cleaned it, oiled it, and have been opening, closing and flicking this thing for almost a week now to no avail. I’m hoping that this knife does break in as I continue to use, which would allow me to tighten the pivot back up taking the blade play out and getting the blade back to center. Only time will tell...

The Good...

Blade Shape - I really like the blade shape. I love the gradual thumb ramp that leads into a nice blade drop off. I am fond of the Byrd knife designs, especially the Raven and Crow, but want to keep my collection to Spyderco’s. So the fact that the Polestar and Alcyone were specifically designed after these two knives allows me to purcahse a Crow type design without having to purcahse the actual Crow.

Scales - I absolutely love the grey color plaid type design of the G-10. Depending on the light and angle, the G-10 can look grey, blue or even jade. What else can I say, the color and pattern of the G-10 is what sold me on this knife to begin with.

Steel - I really do not have an opinion yet as far as different blade steels are concerned, but I was able to get this steel razor sharp.

LockUp - The liner lock on this knife is good. You get a real positive feedback both in feel and sound when the blade is locked in place.

Fit & Finsih - Overall the knife appears to be well made and put tougher nicely. The finish on this knife is nice. All the edges have been smoothed out as to not be too aggressive on the fingers, including the edge on the Spydie hole, which is positive upgrade from the Efficient and Persistence, which have Spydie holes that are a bit sharp and harsh on the fingers. The interior liners have been skeletonized as to save weight.

Ergonomics - As stated above, the thumb ramp shape is really nice. The jimping for the thumb feels good without being too aggressive. I like the finger guard that has been incorporated for keeping the finger from sliding up onto the blade without the use of a finger choil. The texture of the G-10 is super nice and feels great. All of these characteristics along with the shape of the handle come together to make this knife super comfortable in the hand.

Overall, out of the three Spyderco knives I own, there is just something about the Alcyone that has quickly become my favorite. It is, IMO, what I would consider to be a sexy knife...if knives can be sexy. I would like it even more at a $50 price point though, especially with the Action the way it is.

All in all, GREAT knife design Sal

UPDATE -

So it has taken roughly a week and a half of constant flicking, but the Action has finally loosened up and is silky smooth...Alcyone is now Spydie Flickable. The action is still stiffer than I’d like, and certainly not as smooth as the Efficient, but I have been able to tighten the pivot back up. Now that the pivot is tighter there is no blade play, and knife center is better, not perfect, but definately more center.

As it stands, I have come to LOVE this knife.

Great Design Sal!!

[JaseRicco]

It’s a very comfortable knife (both in hand and pocket) and though I haven’t had a chance to use it much yet it has every appearance of being quite capable.

I have two very minor gripes about mine. One, it arrived with somewhat stiff action. I loosened the pivot about 1/16 of a turn and it’s now perfectly smooth and there’s still a vault like lockup with zero side to side play.

Completely agree, among many things I love about this knife, I love how comfortable in the hand it is.

Such a shame about the action, mine came with the same problem, though I know we do have two different knives...you with the Polestar and me with the Alcyone. Unfortunately, to obtain an acceptable action on my Alcyone I had to loosen the pivot to the point of blade play and a knife center that was not so center. But, I just posted an update with a favorable outcome. So, all is well that ends well.

[knivesandbooks]

Honestly, I love the design and BD1 is great working knife steel. I was planning to pick one up soon to replace my work PM2 that is getting close to retirement (still in great shape, I've just sharpened it so much and will probably use it for yard work now).

I don't think it is overpriced. I paid more for my Chinese made Boker Slack in VG10. I've paid more for a lot of my Case Knives and for every GEC. Shoot, I recently paid more for a Hubertus locking sodbuster, which, based on materials, should cost much less. Worth isn't about the materials alone.

[RisingApe]

New member here and honestly I'm horrible at keeping up with forums so may not be very active. But I just wanted to say that after reading this thread in it's entirety, I pulled the trigger on the Alcyone as my first Spyderco knife and I love it. I was looking for a new easy use EDC knife in the $50- $60 range and was pretty much set on something different until I saw the Alcyone online and really liked the way it looked. Even after watching and reading every review and seeing the un-love for it as a value knife I just liked the look of it more than the Dragonfly and felt it was worth the extra for the unique G10 over the other value offerings. I am not in the least dissapointed.

TL;DR newbie, first Spyderco, love it, Awesome job Sal!

[zhyla]

FYI, that great big knife dork Nick Shabazz has a new review video on the Alcyone up:

https://youtu.be/YbowUNyHrYw

Seems to align pretty well with the consensus I've seen here (good knife, but a tough sell at $60).

[Pelagic]

that great big knife dork Nick Shabazz

LOL!! Gotta love his videos.

[Sumdumguy]

Hi JaseRicco,

"Overpriced" is a value judgement that generally means the the product is not worth the price being charged, in the opinion of the speaker.

Probably some history and "edge-u-cation" might help? We've been making the Tenacious for some time. We use a Chinese steel (8Cr13MoV) in the Tenacious family. For years forumites have been asking for a Tenacious type model, but with a better steel, preferably a US steel.

I designed the Polestar and the Alcyone to be affordable folders, primarily for the Scout market. The Scouts have been enjoying our affordable Chinese made knives. I spent a long time in product development of the designs with many models and prototypes before I was satisfied that the design was as good as it could be given the parameters. I personally enjoy carrying both. The Polestar is a mini Military model with all of the some features (less the finger choil, giving better edge/handle interface) and the Alcyone a smaller version of that. The Polestar also has a a shorter blade than the Military which makes it legal in many areas where the Millie is too long.

Due to the requests on steel, I decided to use a USA made steel that at least one of the makers had the equipment to properly heat treat. That steel was Carpenter's CTS-BD1, which is a refinement of Hitcahi's Gingami I. The added costs is the use of the USA made steel and the makers investment in equipment. I must admit that Eric felt the market would not appreciate the cost difference and it appears as though he was correct. Sales are slow on the 2 models and I have been studying the models to determine the next direction. I thought the gray G-10 might be a detractor, I decided that it is nice subtle color with reasonable texture that is not black.

I'm carrying a Polestar today.

Options:

1) Make the models in China with 8Cr13MoV and black G-10 Which will put it into direct competition with the Tenacious and Efficient.
2) Make the models in Taiwan with a higher grade steel and some other colored G-10. This will make it more expensive, take it out of the affordable range, but produce a **** fine design (IMO) that is highly refined at a very good quality.
3) Make the models in Golden with a special steel like CPM Cruwear and an off color G-10, knowing this would more than double the current price.
4) Try to educate the consumer as to the real value of the knife as is.

Your thoughts?

sal

Sal, thanks for commenting on this topic. I would say, go with option 2 or 3.

I like the Polestar(I would keep it in my Volvo.), but I am not really interested in chinese made products. I would LOVE a Golden made variant with s110v and swedish racing green(actually blue) g10 scales.

Having a compression lock would put me over the top, but that might be a whole redesign.

[kodai78]

I’m hoping both these knives will be available with BD1N at some point. If that doesn’t add too much to the price I would probably buy one. I like BD1 and the gray G10 a lot at the current price and might buy the Alcyone at some point. I am not really a “value” buyer though. I really prefer knives with exotic steels, or slabs, or titanium. XHP is an interesting idea to me also.

[HammerHill]

I’m hoping both these knives will be available with BD1N at some point. If that doesn’t add too much to the price I would probably buy one. I like BD1 and the gray G10 a lot at the current price and might buy the Alcyone at some point. I am not really a “value” buyer though. I really prefer knives with exotic steels, or slabs, or titanium. XHP is an interesting idea to me also.

Agreed. I suspect that the chance to pick up a 'new' steel to try would tip the scale for many knife afis, myself included.

[sal]

Hi Nick,

Thanx much for the video. I also appreciate the kind words regarding my design ability.

sal

[Bodog]

BD1N is starting to get a well deserved bump in popularity. I wonder if using that steel would help boost popularity of the knife. I also can't help but imagine working with a company like massdrop to offer package deals of something like an Apogee kitchen knife with a spyderco polestar in BD1N would help boost sales of the pocket knife without cannibalizing the spyderco kitchen line. The apogee kitchen knives seem to sell very well on massdrop and they have a good marketing writeup and strategy on BD1N along with a lot of favorable reviews on the steel. A team effort seems like it could work to popularize both companies' models.

[SG89]

I really, really like the Alcyone. When you consider the costs involved to make it, I don't think that it's overpriced as some people claim. Another complaint I hear is about the scales being ugly, I think they are actually good looking, YMMV. If you are on the fence about this knife, I say give it a try. IMO it's good looking, action is smooth, fit&finish and ergos are great, price is good, steel is good. I don't get the hate honestly.

[Sjucaveman]

The recent x steels in x models got me interested in trying more of what spyderco had to offer. So I didn't have a cts-bd1 blade so I looked at what was available. I ended up with what I believe is the best option at the ukpk drop point in cts-bd1. It's us made and still right around $50. Prior to that search I was going to get the polestar but the ukpk being us made at that price changed my mind.