Nilakka user feedback

[Evil D]

Well guys I'm back around to wanting this knife AGAIN, but in doing some research it seems like this knife may just not be for me. I've watched a lot of videos, and Cliff did some good work on resharpening this knife to prove it could perform better once you get past the burned factory edge. However, I keep running across videos like this that are really discouraging...

It's in Russian but the video speaks for itself. This guy is sharpening a pencil, and it is destroying the edge on this knife. I like the idea of a thin slicer type knife, but if it can't handle sharpening a pencil then it's just way too fragile for me. And again, this may just be the factory edge, but the deformation on that edge is going quite high up the blade, far past what I would expect a factory burned edge to go.

https://youtu.be/q_J4Yw4LcPQ

I know of at least one member here who whittled quite a bit of chain links out of a wooden dowel the day he bought his Nilakka, and even with the factory edge I recall him speaking very highly of the knife. I also know the more recent version are now being given a small micro bevel to combat some of this. I honestly wouldn't even mind having to cut a full on edge bevel into this knife if that's what it takes, but I also would like to explore the zero grind more if it can survive my uses. I don't plan on taking this knife out back and whittling down any bushes, but it must be able to whittle hardwood at the very least and if I have to worry about blowing out the edge on a knot then it just isn't the knife for me. I really wish this knife would be redone in a different steel, one that's better suited for this type of grind. I really feel like this knife is a diamond in the rough as far as factory performance goes, but there are far better steel choices that could show what this knife can really do.

[v8r]

I like mine, but don't carry it much due to the clip design. It grips my pockets too tightly, and it's deep carry also. A lanyard hole would do wonders for the design. Leather is about the only test medium I have tried it on, and I can say it works well for that. I could see why it might have a problem on hard wood though. Mine was one of the zero grind originals , and when I received it there were a few dings in the edge. I just sharpened the dings out which gave a slight micro bevel, and it seems to holding up so far.
On a side note be careful with this one, it cuts deep......did find that out.

[awa54]

I haven't put mine to "hard use" since the edge geometry is certainly *not* suited to cutting potentially damaging materials, however if you choose to use it for what it's suited for then you won't be disappointed by the Nilakka!

Mine is a first gen and the original owner twisted the edge up by carving hardwood, I moved the apex back by a fraction of a millimeter and re-edged it at what I would guess to be about 12 dps, with this final bevel it cuts cardboard and other soft material like a laser and shows no tendency to roll the edge, even when cutting an arc or slightly twisted. It also sharpens pencils just fine

That said, the tip is delicate and sinking the edge into wood then twisting would probably damage it, so as an all purpose EDC it has limitations.

I don't carry mine often, because it's pretty heavy and wide in the pocket, but I'm glad to have it and certainly won't be getting rid of it!

[Schilla7787]

This knife is one of the priorities on my wishlist . And all of the problems with chipping and smooth cutting edge are solved by competent sharpening. Although the graying powder steel to zero very controversial decision.

[Donut]

I think that's because in Russia they have high carbide pencils. :)

Just kidding. =\

Actually, from watching the video, I don't see damage on the edge. I see the bevel being colored dark from the pencil lead so that it doesn't reflect light. It could be incorrectly viewed as a damaged edge.

[SpyderNut]

I've never really used mine for any cutting, so my .02 will be fairly limited. However, one thing that I don't care for is the wideness of the handle when in my pocket. Don't get me wrong--it's one of my favorites, but it would be cool to see it in a thinner handle option.

[SpyderNut]

I've never really used mine for any cutting, so my .02 will be fairly limited. However, one thing that I don't care for is the wideness of the handle when in my pocket. Don't get me wrong--it's one of my favorites, but it would be cool to see it in a thinner handle option.

[yablanowitz]

You can see where the edge was already rippled before he started filming.

I was an early adopter. My first Nilakka, like the one in that video, was the original zero grind with no microbevel. Here is what it looked like after about one minute of whittling on a basswood carving block.









Here is the block I was cutting. The circled portion was done with my thumbnail.



I put on a secondary bevel and continued using it. I later started taking the main grind down by hand on diamond hones, so I know that heat and metal fatigue were not major factors. When I got the 20° secondary bevel below 0.007" thick, I started seeing damage when cutting hardwood. I eventually settled on a convex edge around 20° to 25° included. With that, I did this little project.



I also have a factory second Nilakka that has the secondary bevel they added to resolve the issues. It has suffered no visible damage even when used on my test branch - a piece of local ash with twisted, knotty grain a little harder than most white oak.

Someone else posted some side by side pictures of one of the more recent production pieces with one of the older ones, and you can see that they are now leaving the blade thicker rather than taking it down to zero grind and then removing even more steel to add the secondary bevel. Even so, the grind is still noticeably thinner than anything else Spyderco makes. It requires a bit more skill to use, since you can't be ham-fisted with it, but if you have learned that tools are not universally interchangeable, I think it is well worth having.

[Evil D]

I've never really used mine for any cutting, so my .02 will be fairly limited. However, one thing that I don't care for is the wideness of the handle when in my pocket. Don't get me wrong--it's one of my favorites, but it would be cool to see it in a thinner handle option.

Funny, the one thing you don't like is the main thing I do like...lately I've sort of gotten over the super thin fad and have found some appreciation in handles that can fill my hand up. My old Vallotton was amazing for this, and that knife weighed considerably more than a Nilakka. I do appreciate thin knives, but for some uses that thinness can result in hand fatigue.

I thought you'd chime in, this was the pic I was referring to. How hard is the wood you carved those links from? I had originally wanted one of the early production versions, but you make a good point that even the second version is still far thinner behind the edge than anything else Spyderco has made so it will still slice like a monster.

[SpyderNut]

I've never really used mine for any cutting, so my .02 will be fairly limited. However, one thing that I don't care for is the wideness of the handle when in my pocket. Don't get me wrong--it's one of my favorites, but it would be cool to see it in a thinner handle option.

Funny, the one thing you don't like is the main thing I do like...lately I've sort of gotten over the super thin fad and have found some appreciation in handles that can fill my hand up. My old Vallotton was amazing for this, and that knife weighed considerably more than a Nilakka. I do appreciate thin knives, but for some uses that thinness can result in hand fatigue.

I thought you'd chime in, this was the pic I was referring to. How hard is the wood you carved those links from? I had originally wanted one of the early production versions, but you make a good point that even the second version is still far thinner behind the edge than anything else Spyderco has made so it will still slice like a monster.

You make a good point, David, and I'd say you'd definitely LOVE the Nilakka in light of already being accustomed to the relative girth of the Vallotton. I have always really liked the finish on the G-10 handles on my Nilakka. I believe it was finished in such a way to mimic or resemble wood. It is very attractive and kind of "grippy" without being abrasive. I dunno about everyone else, but I would LOVE to see this on more upcoming models.

[Evil D]

It doesn't seem like a difficult model to make scales for, and I've seen quite a few with custom scales. If you wanted a thinner handle I don't think it would be hard to accomplish. If I do get one I'll likely seek out someone to make me some nice bamboo scales.

[farnorthdan]

I just wanted to add my +1 for the Nilakka, picked mine up about a year and a half ago and its an amazing knife, I will admit I don't really EDC mine but I do spend a lot of time flicking it :D and love the way it fills the hand. I actually have another one NIB for my youngest son who is an aspiring :spyder: collector himself and cant wait to give it to him for his birthday on the 21st of this month, he's going to be totally surprised, he's wanted one since I got mine. :)

[endgame]

Never used mine its a original run.now I might have to regrind it.when they did the heat treat they f'd it up?I am just hearing this for the first time.looks like I will be running it threw the paces in the kitchen tomorrow.give updates and pics in a day or rwo

[Evil D]

Never used mine its a original run.now I might have to regrind it.when they did the heat treat they f'd it up?I am just hearing this for the first time.looks like I will be running it threw the paces in the kitchen tomorrow.give updates and pics in a day or rwo

No, it has nothing to do with the heat treat. It's quite common for knives that are sharpened on a belt at the factory to have a burned edge. It doesn't take much heat at all to burn the very apex of an edge, creating weak metal. This can cause the edge to chip and roll and deform when used straight out of the box, which is a VERY common problem with peoples' opinion of steel types, they encounter this issue and blame the steel and never ask why it happened in the first place. When you're dealing with a zero grind with an edge as thin as this one is, the problem is amplified because the thinner the edge, the easier it is to burn. All you need to do is sharpen it a few times and you'll be good to go.

[endgame]

Ok cool I will give it a run cutting everything from plastic cardboard ,lamb ,duck, quail,and veggies see what happens.I will french the bones of some lamb also

[Evil D]

Ok cool I will give it a run cutting everything from plastic cardboard ,lamb ,duck, quail,and veggies see what happens.I will french the bones of some lamb also

Yeah, there's no sense in just grinding off steel for the same of grinding off steel. Use it, enjoy it, and if you happen to get some edge damage, just sharpen it out and keep at it.

Here are the two videos that Cliff made on this knife, pretty informative stuff.
https://youtu.be/GedwymWmPtk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://youtu.be/r_EdLXQrq2g" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[yablanowitz]

I thought you'd chime in, this was the pic I was referring to. How hard is the wood you carved those links from? I had originally wanted one of the early production versions, but you make a good point that even the second version is still far thinner behind the edge than anything else Spyderco has made so it will still slice like a monster.

It was harder than basswood and softer than ash, and would split if you looked at it too hard. I was working on it in line for the Factory Seconds sale a few years back, until my hands got cold enough to impair fine motor control and I started snapping links.

[Donut]

So, I take it you're screaming for the new D'allara.

[Cliff Stamp]

Just as a note, once an edge starts deforming, it will deform far higher than you might expect. Most people think if a knife deforms up to say 0.015" thick then you need to have the edge at > 0.015" thick to stop it deforming but this isn't the case.

The physics is fairly basic.

In short, a knife is really strong in resisting compression right against the edge, but it is very weak (in comparison) in resisting forces across the edge. This is because the deformation strength is quadratic in the dimension that you are pressing on but linear in the other dimensions. The easiest way to understand this is to take a butter knife and try to flex it through its thickness (very easy) and then through its width (impossible).

When an edge starts to turn, all of a sudden the forces that would be compressive are now lateral. When the edge is bent normal cutting forces are pressing right against the edge pushing it further and the knife is very weak (again relative) to that kind of deformation. Hence once an edge starts to fail it can fail quite dramatically because all the loads are not lateral/twisting loads.

As for the knife, look at it this way, makers like Phil Wilson and David Boye and most of the ABS guys run knives in the ~0.005'" thickness on a semi-regular basis. Can you damage those knives on harder wood? Yes. On most other cutting, it takes a lot of effort. The Nilakka is no different, just set the edge thickness as necessary for the hardest use you intent to do. I would recommend as Kyley Harris noted to remove those very coarse scratch lines that go right to the edge and expect a little damage on any knife which was power sharpened.

Its a nice knife, isn't tactical-black, people don't seem to spaz when they see it. Most ask questions, it rides deep, has easy action, cuts well and has a very slim/pointy tip.

[Brock O Lee]

I must admit, I completely lost interest in the knife when the initial pictures of rippled apexes appeared. I only recently bought one because of reports that the micro bevel fixed the durability issues, and the design is so different from everything else I have.

Here are a few pictures when mine was still new to show the width of the factory micro bevel.





Once I discovered thin edges, I realized that I quite enjoy having a variety of thicknesses at my disposal. It is one more aspect of this hobby to experiment with and enjoy. I will certainly not take my Nilakka as a primary knife on a hiking trip or on a construction site, but it is perfectly robust enough for typical cutting tasks around the house and office: food, cardboard, packages etc. I use it for the same tasks as the other thin full-height convexed folders with micros like the Caly 3 SB and Stretch SB, and I never had an issue with them either. In fact my Caly SB is thinner behind the edge than the Nilakka.

I have a few criticisms:
- the handle is thick, so it does not carry as unobtrusively as most of my other Spydercos.
- sharp edges/corners on the G10 - I sanded them down, which improved the ergos, but it is not a melt in the hand type of handle.
- the clip is tight, and presses down on a screw hole in the G10, which grabs your pocket on a draw - fixable with some sandpaper.

Still, it has a lot going for it. It is an impressive slicer in a striking design, lockup is solid and smooth, it is very flick-able, and mine had the usual flawless Taiwan fit and finish.