Spydiechef or Advocate

[Sumdumguy]

The Advocate's action will disappoint.

I have to disagree. Very much. Yours must be a pre-CQI version.

Nope, mine is post CQI. Spyderco can't do flippers like the companies the specialize in them. My opinion on this is not a minority one either. The detent is too soft for an authoritative flip. Works fine for flicking open though.

Wow, my Advocate's detent is so strong you can barely open it without the flipper.

[SF Native]

I really like my advocate but the detent is middle of the road. It flips ok. But I can still use the hole. I prefer the hole so much that I have considered grinding off the flipper tab.
This seems to be the design intent of spyderco. Balance thumb hole and flipper detent needs. It’s hard. Sometime maybe neither is right.

[JuPaul]

Not the most amazing flip on the Advocate, but I'm still plenty happy with it. And has been said, you can still access the spydie hole. But that's actually my biggest complaint about the Advocate: the hole is partially covered, not a full cutout like on the spydiechef. This also makes disengaging the lock a little painful, actually, because all your pressure has to go down on a pretty small nub of the framelock. A full cutout wouldn't made this knife much more comfortable to unlock, imo.

[zippifish]

Depends on your needs. The Spydiechef is a great food prep knife and a bit less useful for edc. The advocate is the other way around. I would not buy a knife for the fear of missing out. Instead buy what you need or like to have.

I'm not a professional cook but I am an enthusiast and I'm here tell you I would never, ever purchase a folder for food prep or use one for that matter unless it was an emergency like I was at a cookout and there where only plastic knives. I know Chef is in the name but anyone who actually cooks and knows what they're doing isn't buying that knife for that purpose.

[Sumdumguy]

Depends on your needs. The Spydiechef is a great food prep knife and a bit less useful for edc. The advocate is the other way around. I would not buy a knife for the fear of missing out. Instead buy what you need or like to have.

I'm not a professional cook but I am an enthusiast and I'm here tell you I would never, ever purchase a folder for food prep or use one for that matter unless it was an emergency like I was at a cookout and there where only plastic knives. I know Chef is in the name but anyone who actually cooks and knows what they're doing isn't buying that knife for that purpose.

Hah, I had to take a picture. I was taking a break from the Newport Hill Climb, making a snack on my impromptu cutting board.

I had a choice to make, I hope I chose properly.

[Sharp Guy]

The Advocate's action will disappoint.

I have to disagree. Very much. Yours must be a pre-CQI version.

Nope, mine is post CQI. Spyderco can't do flippers like the companies the specialize in them. My opinion on this is not a minority one either. The detent is too soft for an authoritative flip. Works fine for flicking open though.

Wow, my Advocate's detent is so strong you can barely open it without the flipper.

The detent's fairly strong on mine too. Not ZT strong but probably the strongest of any Spydie flipper I have including one's that I've modified to improve the detent.

...and it's not that Spyderco can't do flippers well. I'm sure they could if they really wanted to. I think it was Sal that said they try to make them so they can also be opened easily with the hole. That doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to me because I have Spydies that aren't flippers that have a stronger detent and I can open those with the hole just fine. I also have Spydie flippers that don't have a usable hole that have weak detents so it all doesn't really make sense.

[The Meat man]

Not the most amazing flip on the Advocate, but I'm still plenty happy with it. And has been said, you can still access the spydie hole. But that's actually my biggest complaint about the Advocate: the hole is partially covered, not a full cutout like on the spydiechef. This also makes disengaging the lock a little painful, actually, because all your pressure has to go down on a pretty small nub of the framelock. A full cutout wouldn't made this knife much more comfortable to unlock, imo.

I had the same issue. I took out the stainless lockbar insert and sanded it down a bit. Works great now, and I find carrying it a lot more enjoyable.

[JuPaul]

Not the most amazing flip on the Advocate, but I'm still plenty happy with it. And has been said, you can still access the spydie hole. But that's actually my biggest complaint about the Advocate: the hole is partially covered, not a full cutout like on the spydiechef. This also makes disengaging the lock a little painful, actually, because all your pressure has to go down on a pretty small nub of the framelock. A full cutout wouldn't made this knife much more comfortable to unlock, imo.

I had the same issue. I took out the stainless lockbar insert and sanded it down a bit. Works great now, and I find carrying it a lot more enjoyable.

Awesome - thanks for sharing that! I'll probably pm you for more details.

[mb1]

Just say no to bearings on pocket knives.

It’s all personal preference of course. I just got a Chef a couple weeks back and it hasn’t left my pocket. Great EDC. My only real concern is the late lockup and how that will wear over time. I’ve heard reports of it going to 100%. Mine came at about 70% oob.

Until EvilD mentioned the positive blade angle (good point) I hadn’t even noticed it in a negative way. In fact, it already came in handy one day. I was cutting some straps on a cutting board, and it was sweet to able to use the whole blade to push cut vs drawing the tip/belly through the cut.

Thumbs up to the Chef! :spyder:

[murphjd25]

My improved Advocate :)

[PSquared]

Just say no to bearings on pocket knives.

+1 You beat me to it. Bearings on pocket knives are the solution for a non existent problem

[013]

My improved Advocate :)

That looks sweet! I prefer this lighter finish on the Ti over the heavy orange-peel stock finish...
You might need a new pivot screw though.

[013]

Anyone around here ever do a custom high polish finish on their Ti scales? I do like the looks of bead-blast Ti with stone-washing & eventual snail-trailing. My newly acquired Mantra II's stone-washing is so light. It looks as if after assembly, it was simply tossed into a tray of river stones 1 or 2 times. I read somebody else mention that around here too. If you look at the official product photos, that stone-washing looks actually "done". All that said, I really like this knife.