vivi wrote: ↑Tue Aug 03, 2021 10:59 pmDavid,
Are you planning to get the Swick?
It looks to have all of the pros and none of the cons comparing it to the Ark, and you'll have your wish of a longer wharnie blade.
I tried really hard to like the Ark. I wanted a good rust proof EDC fixed blade, but the Ark didn't work for me in the end.
The spydiehole ruined the ergos for me, and like you I felt the deep belly made it difficult to cut things without having them slip off the blade, so I modded mine:
This improved the ergos a ton, and made it easier to control in cuts, but it was still just too small for me to want to carry it as my only knife, and I always had retention issues with my sheath.
I think the LC200N Ark is going to be a home run. It has much better ergonomics for me, the wider blade stock gives the thumb a more comfortable spot, full four finger grip, longer blade is more versatile, and its still compact, lightweight and rust proof like the Ark.
I'm definitely watching the Swick. I've never held one so I'll have to try it out. The thumb hole on the ARK, it does have me kinda cramped when I'm behind the hole but sometimes I extend my thumb out on the other side on the back of the blade spine, and when doing cuts where I don't need the whole blade to pass through the material (like with this cardboard) this is super comfortable and adds a lot of power and control to the cut. Still I think I would be all for a similar design that somehow deletes the thumb ramp.
Overall I think neck knives are an area that Spyderco needs to explore more. This knife is already such a strong performer, but I just know there's more potential behind it (and credit to John Shirley and Sam Owens for the original design). Spyderco are the kings of "little big knives" and I think they could corner the neck knife market if they chose to.