Spyderco Forums

Hello I am going camping and was looking at reviews for best camping gear as well as safety and the Spyderco Tenacious came up.

But I'm so confused with the laws and knife size. Does that mean the tenacious is illegal? DE law from what I see say 3 inches or less. But I believe this knife is 3.39. I'm new to this and hello everyone.

https://www.akti.org/state-knife-laws/

3 inches seems to be the law, but if you are camping I see little concern over carrying a Tenacious. Just mind you business with it and odds are very small you'll have an issue. There are lots of sub 3" Spydecros that will work as well if you want to be mindful of the limit. The Persistence is the scaled down Tenacious.

You can always grind 0.40” off the tip.

Wow you guys and gals are fast. Thank you. I really like the look of it and I heard it was one of the best. But I'll check the persistent one.

The great thing about Spyderco is, they have a knife for pretty much any silly knife law your jurisdiction may be enforcing. See: Chicago, ukpk, roadie, pingo etc.

While I don’t see anything wrong with a knife for the legal purposes of hiking, backpacking and camping I’ll usually err on the safe side for where I’ll be doing these things. You never know what a law enforcement officer will do. I’ve had them look the other way when I obviously had a questionable knife for California camping. I decided not to do that again but I prefer to go light and fast these days anyway.

They tend to measure from handle to tip including the unsharpened tang. Don’t know what you intend to do with your camping knife but I’ve put my new Chaparral through some tasks that I do and it really shines. Fine Juniper wood shavings blew into flame in seconds with a fresnel lens in my backyard and it shaves salami and cheese like nobody’s business. The steel is amazing and it is very lightweight with a small footprint but full handed and fingered grip. It will come in a bit under the 3” of your state laws. It performs like a bigger knife. It is little big knife.

Hi DreamSQ,

Welcome to our forum.

Knife laws have been an issue for the past 30 years. Best to know for sure what's permitted and where.

sal

Ryder wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 25, 2021 12:48 pm

While I don’t see anything wrong with a knife for the legal purposes of hiking, backpacking and camping I’ll usually err on the safe side for where I’ll be doing these things. You never know what a law enforcement officer will do. I’ve had them look the other way when I obviously had a questionable knife for California camping. I decided not to do that again but I prefer to go light and fast these days anyway.

They tend to measure from handle to tip including the unsharpened tang. Don’t know what you intend to do with your camping knife but I’ve put my new Chaparral through some tasks that I do and it really shines. Fine Juniper wood shavings blew into flame in seconds with a fresnel lens in my backyard and it shaves salami and cheese like nobody’s business. The steel is amazing and it is very lightweight with a small footprint but full handed and fingered grip. It will come in a bit under the 3” of your state laws. It performs like a bigger knife. It is little big knife.

Well for camping def making a fire. I was watching a video of this camping place and the one guy mentions the Spyderco Tenacious was great. He was ableto start a fire with a firestarter kit and the knife. Thats what got me interested. But also for protection just in case. But cutting up food with it as well. But I'm just worried, I may return it or get a smaller inch one.

Although this isn't legal advice, I like the Knife Rights/BladeHQ "Legal Blade" app -- makes things a bit easier to understand, but always best to still read the law yourself and consult with a lawyer for clarification or review:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/knife-r ... d893577805
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... galblade20

Lots of Spyderco folders with blade lengths of 2.75”-3.00”. Here’s a list sorted with lowest priced first.

https://www.bladehq.com/cat--Spyderco-M ... rt_asc:asc

DreamSQ wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 25, 2021 5:33 pm

Ryder wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 25, 2021 12:48 pm

While I don’t see anything wrong with a knife for the legal purposes of hiking, backpacking and camping I’ll usually err on the safe side for where I’ll be doing these things. You never know what a law enforcement officer will do. I’ve had them look the other way when I obviously had a questionable knife for California camping. I decided not to do that again but I prefer to go light and fast these days anyway.

They tend to measure from handle to tip including the unsharpened tang. Don’t know what you intend to do with your camping knife but I’ve put my new Chaparral through some tasks that I do and it really shines. Fine Juniper wood shavings blew into flame in seconds with a fresnel lens in my backyard and it shaves salami and cheese like nobody’s business. The steel is amazing and it is very lightweight with a small footprint but full handed and fingered grip. It will come in a bit under the 3” of your state laws. It performs like a bigger knife. It is little big knife.

Well for camping def making a fire. I was watching a video of this camping place and the one guy mentions the Spyderco Tenacious was great. He was ableto start a fire with a firestarter kit and the knife. Thats what got me interested. But also for protection just in case. But cutting up food with it as well. But I'm just worried, I may return it or get a smaller inch one.

Yes indeed the Chaparral will put a shower of sparks off a ferro with the edge of the thumb ramp held at about a 45° angle. That was one of the first things I tried. The blade locks up like a bank vault, no play fore and aft or side to side. It might be smaller than you prefer but as it is in the legal range I thought I’d mention it.
I’m not big on a knife for protection. A blunt force object is far more effective among other choices. I just use mine for light food prep and fire if need be. But we all have our various preferences so good luck with your camping trip.

I have never, ever been in a situation where I was camping and someone inquired about the length of my knife.

As some others have noted, the Persistence is the just under 3" blade version of the Tenacious. If your budget allows it, for camping and hiking I'm a fan of Spyderco's Salt Series folders because they have basically rust proof blades and most have very brightly colored handles so they're easy to see. Both the Salt 2 (made in Japan) and Native 5 Salt (slightly bigger, USA made, blade still just under 3") are very sturdy and back locks that would fit your size criteria.

Tell us your budget and wish list of features, and we can probably recommend a Spyderco that matches it very closely, if not exactly. Spyderco makes so many folders that are all very good for different reasons, so you can be picky.

Hey, All:

The best tool I've found for knife laws is the Legal Blade Smartphone app. When it first came out, it was a paid app. It is now free, thanks to sponsorship of Blade HQ of the app, which was created by KnifeRights.org. Here's a link to more info on Knife Rights' website: https://kniferights.org/resources/legal-blade/.

In addition to being user friendly, this app also addresses state preemption and provides supplemental listings for major municipalities that are exceptions to state law. If a state has preemption, the state law takes precedence over the laws of smaller jurisdictions. If a state doesn't, smaller jurisdictions--usually municipalities--can enact their own, stricter laws. If you travel into that municipality, the rules change--dramatically.

Legal Blade also breaks everything down by knife type and concealed/open carry. It's a great resource and is kept up to date as laws change.

Stay safe,

Mike

ugaarguy wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 25, 2021 9:54 pm

As some others have noted, the Persistence is the just under 3" blade version of the Tenacious. If your budget allows it, for camping and hiking I'm a fan of Spyderco's Salt Series folders because they have basically rust proof blades and most have very brightly colored handles so they're easy to see. Both the Salt 2 (made in Japan) and Native 5 Salt (slightly bigger, USA made, blade still just under 3") are very sturdy and back locks that would fit your size criteria.

Tell us your budget and wish list of features, and we can probably recommend a Spyderco that matches it very closely, if not exactly. Spyderco makes so many folders that are all very good for different reasons, so you can be picky.

Thank you everyone for being such a great help. It's my first journey into Spyderco and now I am hooked lol. But I am looking at the Salt series and I am really liking the rust proof and looking at the Lady bug series. But I am wondering what's the difference between the smooth and ridged knife?

Do you mean serrated?

Yeah

You've opened a can of intrigue :D . In general, serrations increase the cutting edge length, because all those little scallops are longer than a straight line. The points also make contact with material first, and tend to protect the inner edges. Those two factors add up to an edge that can generally go longer between sharpenings. Serrated edges are ground only on one side, while plain edges are ground on both sides. So, serrated edges cut a bit differently. You'll also need a sharpening abrasive, like the rods in the Spyderco Sharpmaker, that's basically a rounded point triangle to get into serrations. The technique is just slightly different than sharpening a plain edge, so nothing to worry about. There are threads here on sharpening serrations that I or someone else can find if you want more info.

Now, into the rabbit hole. The H1 steel that most of the Salt knives are made from is some interesting stuff. In plain edge it holds an edge about like 8Cr13MoV, so if you've never never used a steel like VG-10 or S30V you won't notice any lack of performance. In serrated edge, Sal (the founder and owner of Spyderco) has said that H1 has the highest edge retention of any steel Spyderco has ever tested. Serrated H1 has edge retention beyond the normal increase of just having points and a longer effective edge length. There's some evidence that H1 gets work hardened when the serration are cut into it, but Spyderco's engineers still can't fully explain it. It's like there's some Japanese voodoo going on (H1 is made by a Japanese company).

LC200N (the other steel Salt knife blades are made from) has better plain edge retention than H1. Sal and several folks here say that LC200N is between VG-10 and S30V for edge retention on plain edge blades. One fairly well known YouTuber who does rope cutting tests got better performance from plain edge LC200N than he did from plain edge S30V. LC200N still shows improved edge retention in serrated blades, and displays very good toughness. Here's a link to Evil D's serrated LC200N torture test that pushed me over the edge to getting a Native 5 Salt with a serrated blade instead of a plain edge blade - viewtopic.php?f=2&t=85045. I have nicer and more expensive knives, but that serrated LC200N Native 5 Salt is the knife I carry almost every day because it performs so well.

My only hesitation with the Ladybug is that it's so tiny, and it's really a two finger knife for all but fairly small hands.

I would not recommend serrated blades for bushcrafting like the OP intends.
Just get the plain edge version of any model you desire and you will be much better off.

@DreamSQ
Have you considered a fixed blade knife for camp tasks (e.g., prepping wood for a fire, striking ferro rod, cutting line, etc.) and a folder for food prep? This seems to be a common pairing so your "food knife" doesn't get wood sap and other sticky things on it.