K390 Stretch 2: Manix 2 LW killer?

[Senfkarte]

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Has anyone noticed a bit of vertical blade play on this model? My Endura 4 ZDP-189 has some (other owners told me they do not, so just bad luck). I'd like to know if any experienced vertical blade play on the SSS2 LW.

Yes, mine has it too. It clicks under a little load, not a lot of force is required. But the movement is very, very small. You can feel it but to see it, you need to look very close and near the handle, to have a reference point. But I have to say, the first thing I have done to this knife, was to take it apart. So the fault may be on mine side and not on the side of Spyderco, although I am pretty sure I reassembled it correctly. But I have not checked for blade play, before disassembling it, so I give Spyderco the benefit of a doubt.

Mine was doing it upon receival, I made the exact same observations. However, I felt it to be really high of a vertical play. After disassembly, i found out that one of the FRN point supposed to be into the liner was squished and out of it. Managed to fix that and now I'm back to the same vertical play you described. People often say you can feel it while cutting with a lot of force, but for me it's more like any kind of cutting that isn't simple paper.

I am sure, the back spacer in mine is in correct. I have to admit, it was not easy, or I was too stupid to find the better way to do it, but it is in just fine on both sides.
The amount of force required on mine sounds pretty similar to yours.

[Ramonade]

Wanted the Endela to be my first SE but the endura4 SE is 30€ cheaper at my dealer, I'll grab one soon and compare. I do not want to create a maybe polemical thread for no reason !

[Senfkarte]

Just wanted to give a follow up on my Stretch 2.
It has basically not left my pocket alongside my UKPK salt. Somehow I ended up carrying both most of the time. The UKPK really has not left my pocket, but the Stretch 2 was close to stay, too.
So I have not cut everything only with the Stretch 2, but it got some good amount of use since I last reported here.
The vertical blade has reduced since my last post about the Stretch 2. It is not gone, but definitely is reduced. At one point it was gone, but after cleaning out the lint/fluff (don't know if these are the right words) from the lock surface, it came back. But now I really have to look for it. Prior, one could feel it while cutting. This is not longer the case. Maybe it will disappear completely in the future, or it will come back, when I start to throw harder tasks at it again, since over the last weeks the hardest use, was to cut some cardboard.

[Wartstein]

Wanted the Endela to be my first SE but the endura4 SE is 30€ cheaper at my dealer, I'll grab one soon and compare. I do not want to create a maybe polemical thread for no reason !

I'd still strongly recommend the Endela over the Endura when it comes to SE!!

The Endela has an amazing serration pattern in ffg, while the Endura SE (unless it's the wharnie or K390) comes in sabre grind with much more aggressive serrarions (and less aggressive is better for general use imho).

[on_the_edge]

Wanted the Endela to be my first SE but the endura4 SE is 30€ cheaper at my dealer, I'll grab one soon and compare. I do not want to create a maybe polemical thread for no reason !

I'd still strongly recommend the Endela over the Endura when it comes to SE!!

The Endela has an amazing serration pattern in ffg, while the Endura SE (unless it's the wharnie or K390) comes in sabre grind with much more aggressive serrarions (and less aggressive is better for general use imho).

Is your recommendation based on your first-hand experience with both Endura and Endela SEs or is it based on what other people say? Specifically which knives and variations have you used/tested and what are your observations?

[Wartstein]

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I'd still strongly recommend the Endela over the Endura when it comes to SE!!

The Endela has an amazing serration pattern in ffg, while the Endura SE (unless it's the wharnie or K390) comes in sabre grind with much more aggressive serrations (and less aggressive is better for general use imho).

Is your recommendation based on your first-hand experience with both Endura and Endela SEs or is it based on what other people say? Specifically which knives and variations have you used/tested and what are your observations?

Of course on first hand experience and not on "what other people say" - may I ask why you ask?
Actually I am one of the "other people who say" all the time that from personal experience for me shallower, less aggressive serrations in ffg work best -even better in most tasks than PE.

I think if I´d started to praise the Endela SE and explain in detail why that is in an Stretch 2 - vs - Manix 2 LW - thread for the 100th time, some people might get annoyed

You can find my findings and thoughts about SE, comparison pics and so on in a ton of posts, for example in the pinned thread "SE is more than simply teeth..." or Vivis "How to sharpen SE thread" and many more.

What SE Spydies I´ve tried so far? What comes to my mind right now:

Endura SE (sabre grind)
Endura CE (sabre grind)
Delica SE (sabre grind)
Delica CE (sabre grind)
Stretch 1 CE (ffg)
Pac Salt 1 SE (sabre hollow)
Pac Salt 2 SE (ffg)
Endela SE (ffg)
Salt 2 SE (ffg)
Para 3 LW SE (ffg)
Rock Jumper SE (this last one I could just try very briefly a single time, never actually owned one).
Perhaps I forgot one or two, don´t think so though.

[on_the_edge]

[/quote]

Of course on first hand experience and not on "what other people say" - may I ask why you ask?
Actually I am one of the "other people who say" all the time that from personal experience for me shallower, less aggressive serrations in ffg work best -even better in most tasks than PE.

[/quote]

Well, you don't really know me, but I asked bc I don't really have a ton of free time to read every post in every thread; far from it actually. I am aware that some have mentioned that less aggressive serrations work better than more aggressive serrations and IIRC, those who stated it were stating their observations based on first-hand experience, but I do not recall specifically who those folks were. Apparently you were probably one of them.

That said, as a general rule, I trust very little of what I read when it comes to opinions on the Internet, many of which are made by people with too much free time on their hands and no real world first-hand experience. There is often bias that creeps in and I don't think that should necessarily be overlooked.

I have a Caribbean SE leaf that I bought in particular bc of Evil D's observations. I know he prefers the sheepsfoot blade, but I prefer the leaf. I don't care to debate blade shape and am quite happy with my knife which I would not have but for his experiences with his knife.

So, sorry if I ruffled any feathers, either in asking the question or in not remembering the posters of the posts I do read. I can only say no offense intended and thanks for your reply.

[Wartstein]

[/quote]

Well, you don't really know me, but I asked bc I don't really have a ton of free time to read every post in every thread; far from it actually. I am aware that some have mentioned that less aggressive serrations work better than more aggressive serrations and IIRC, those who stated it were stating their observations based on first-hand experience, but I do not recall specifically who those folks were. Apparently you were probably one of them.

That said, as a general rule, I trust very little of what I read when it comes to opinions on the Internet, many of which are made by people with too much free time on their hands and no real world first-hand experience. There is often bias that creeps in and I don't think that should necessarily be overlooked.

I have a Caribbean SE leaf that I bought in particular bc of Evil D's observations. I know he prefers the sheepsfoot blade, but I prefer the leaf. I don't care to debate blade shape and am quite happy with my knife which I would not have but for his experiences with his knife.

So, sorry if I ruffled any feathers, either in asking the question or in not remembering the posters of the posts I do read. I can only say no offense intended and thanks for your reply.

I have to admit: The way you put your question (quote:"Is your recommendation based on your first-hand experience with both Endura and Endela SEs or is it based on what other people say? Specifically which knives and variations have you used/tested and what are your observations?" actually did make me suspect that you might doubt that I personally know what I am talking about.

My apologies for assuming this, when in fact you are totally right imo when it comes to "opinions on the internet" and how people share theirs without having much real life experience and you just honestly asked on what actual experiences my recommendation of shallower, non aggressive serrations is based on.

Since this thread is not about serrations I´ll keep my reply brief - which is easy, cause I share Davids / Evil D´s opinion on serrations 100%, but he knows a lot more about the matter and also has a lot more experience with it (but I do have some too, as you can see from the list (in my previous post) of the serrated Spydies I tried so far, all of which are/were users).
I was just really blown away with the performance of my SE Endela when I got it
But WHY exactly it works so amazingly and for me better than the much more aggressive serrations I tried before is something I myself learned only later from Davids serrations thread.
But I think with the Caribbean SE you have the best example for this kind of serrations anyway. Discussions and pics have convinced me, that it most likely performs even better than my Endela SE.

[Ramonade]

Now that I own both, I'll be able to make up my mind about it !

I still have to overcome the fact that this lockback is not a Chapparal or a Native 5. But the vertical blade play is WAY smaller than on my ZDP-189 Endura 4 , and that's already a good thing.

As for ergos, my hand fits the Stretch 2 a little better, maybe because I have (or used to) guitarist fingers, and not that large of a hand. Need to compare in heavy use, when holding it tight for rather long periods of time. The Manix 2 LW never hurt.

The difference in weight is pretty substantial though, not that this is a bad thing !

[Wartstein]

....
As for ergos, my hand fits the Stretch 2 a little better, maybe because I have (or used to) guitarist fingers, and not that large of a hand. Need to compare in heavy use, when holding it tight for rather long periods of time. The Manix 2 LW never hurt.
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Funny, having to hold the knives really tight when cutting extremely stubborn matetial is actually the only (VERY rare for a folder) scenario where the Manix LW is inferior to the Stretch in my use cause the Manix DOES "hurt" then but not so the Stretch.

/ Actually I have guitarist fingers too.. but even more so climber fingers, a bit of a weird combination... ;

[ladybug93]

/ Actually I have guitarist fingers too.. but even more so climber fingers, a bit of a weird combination... ;

nothing weird about that!

[Wartstein]

[quote=ladybug93 post_id=1576660 time=1638560624 user_id=33550]
[quote=Wartstein post_id=1576652 time=1638559308 user_id=34415]
/ Actually I have guitarist fingers too.. but even more so climber fingers, a bit of a weird combination... ;
[/quote]

nothing weird about that!
[/quote]


So we're in the same camp (yotu also guitar&climbing)?

[Ramonade]

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As for ergos, my hand fits the Stretch 2 a little better, maybe because I have (or used to) guitarist fingers, and not that large of a hand. [...]
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[...]

/ Actually I have guitarist fingers too.. but even more so climber fingers, a bit of a weird combination... ;

LOL, I used to climb too, but not many mountains here so it was mostly indoor or infrastructures. Did some in the Alps though. Always wanted to start again, but I've been moving every year for the last 4 years

[ladybug93]

/ Actually I have guitarist fingers too.. but even more so climber fingers, a bit of a weird combination... ;

nothing weird about that!

So we're in the same camp (yotu also guitar&climbing)?

i used to climb a little, but it was a hobby that i had to sacrifice, so i never really got into it. i do play guitar still though.

[Ramonade]

After a bit of use (not much, priority comes to my Maxamet N5 LW nowadays), I've noticed some stuff.
The handle has perfect fit and finish. Even the flat where the clip and logo sit are perfectly finished, not like my ZDP Endura that has a lot of "burred" FRN around this part.

However, like on my K390 ladybug, the blade has some spots where grind lines are not parralel and/or more pronunced. The spine also is a bit rounded on the sides and it created some "scratchy" spots. I know K390 is really hard, and I wonder if these blades would benefit from the stonewash treatment Maxamet gets before exiting Golden ?

I know these are made in Seki, and there must be a reason for the satin finish on these blades. I just had to deburr the ladybug spidey hole and I might try to clean up the spine of my Stretch 2 too.