Fish Hunter has arrived! :)

Discuss Spyderco's products and history.
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SpyderEdgeForever
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Fish Hunter has arrived! :)

#1

Post by SpyderEdgeForever »

Thank you Sal and Spyderco and Lance for a perfect knife!
SpydercoFishHunterMe.jpg
This knife is RAZOR-SCALPEL-LANCET sharp and is perfectly seamlessly joined and bonded together.
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Surfingringo
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Re: Fish Hunter has arrived! :)

#2

Post by Surfingringo »

Congrats SEF, you hope you enjoy that one. For the record though, that design didn't have much to do with me. I threw my thoughts in on the original thread that Chad "actionyak" started over on Bladeforums but this one was all about Sal Glesser responding to our wishes as he so often does. Thank you Sal! Mine is in the mail now and can't wait to get it out on the water!
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peacefuljeffrey
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Re: Fish Hunter has arrived! :)

#3

Post by peacefuljeffrey »

I wish that more of the Salt line were offered with plain blades. There are lots of them that I like in terms of design, but they tend to come only with serrated blades, and that makes them non-starters for me.
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Surfingringo
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Re: Fish Hunter has arrived! :)

#4

Post by Surfingringo »

peacefuljeffrey wrote:I wish that more of the Salt line were offered with plain blades. There are lots of them that I like in terms of design, but they tend to come only with serrated blades, and that makes them non-starters for me.
Actually, most of the Salt knives are offered in both plain edge and serrated. There are a few exceptions like the sheepfoot rescue blades and the Jumpmaster 2 (and the new fish hunter obviously) but just about all the others can be had in plain edge. Serrated H1 salts are indeed more popular than most other serrated edge knives and probalby more so than their plain edge H1 counterparts but that's mostly because of the performance advantage of serrated H1 over plain edge.
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Fred Sanford
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Re: Fish Hunter has arrived! :)

#5

Post by Fred Sanford »

peacefuljeffrey wrote:I wish that more of the Salt line were offered with plain blades. There are lots of them that I like in terms of design, but they tend to come only with serrated blades, and that makes them non-starters for me.
Can you sharpen serrations? I ask because once I figured out how to get Spyderco serrations sharp, it's hard to not have one in your pocket. I have used SE and PE for many years and I think that they both have their place. I no longer feel that PE is better than SE though. I feel they are equal.
"I'm calling YOU ugly, I could push your face in some dough and make gorilla cookies." - Fred Sanford
palonej
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Re: Fish Hunter has arrived! :)

#6

Post by palonej »

That is one nasty looking blade!!
Congrats SEF!! Enjoy that bad boy!!
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Re: Fish Hunter has arrived! :)

#7

Post by ThePeacent »

Surfingringo wrote:
peacefuljeffrey wrote:I wish that more of the Salt line were offered with plain blades. There are lots of them that I like in terms of design, but they tend to come only with serrated blades, and that makes them non-starters for me.
Actually, most of the Salt knives are offered in both plain edge and serrated. There are a few exceptions like the sheepfoot rescue blades and the Jumpmaster 2 (and the new fish hunter obviously) but just about all the others can be had in plain edge. Serrated H1 salts are indeed more popular than most other serrated edge knives and probably more so than their plain edge H1 counterparts but that's mostly because of the performance advantage of serrated H1 over plain edge.
Congrats SEF! You make me drool with pics of what's going to be my next purchase :rolleyes:
I also like that they are offered in SE and PE both, unfortunately the ARK only came in PE at first and that's what I purchased :(

Now I believe the Jumpmaster had a Japan-exclusive run in PE and the Caspians were the weird ones with the 50/50 edge together with the rare Warrior.
I have a Rock Salt, produced in PE only as a SE in a blade of that size is quite useless and is neither a tree saw nor a "pocket chainsaw", doesn't have any real advantage or purpose. I have no doubt that more SE Salts were/are manufactured as they are quite suited for the uses they most likely see with a serrated edge (cutting rope, sea and kayak net cutting, etc.)
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SpyderEdgeForever
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Re: Fish Hunter has arrived! :)

#8

Post by SpyderEdgeForever »

Should we expect more fixed blade Salts along the lines of the Fish Hunter and Aqua Salt, as far as overall knife structure goes, made with both H1 and lc200N?
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peacefuljeffrey
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Re: Fish Hunter has arrived! :)

#9

Post by peacefuljeffrey »

David Lowry wrote:
peacefuljeffrey wrote:I wish that more of the Salt line were offered with plain blades. There are lots of them that I like in terms of design, but they tend to come only with serrated blades, and that makes them non-starters for me.
Can you sharpen serrations? I ask because once I figured out how to get Spyderco serrations sharp, it's hard to not have one in your pocket. I have used SE and PE for many years and I think that they both have their place. I no longer feel that PE is better than SE though. I feel they are equal.
No, as a matter of fact, I have never developed skill at sharpening serrations. I am competent at sharpening plain edges freehand on ceramic stones. The fact that I can't sharpen serrations worth anything is only part of why I don't like them, though. I also have a dislike for the fact that serrations, being sharped on one side only, direct a blade crooked through a cut.

I don't deny that serrated blades can do rough slashing work of tough materials better than plain edges can. But I don't tend to have a need for that. I want plain edges that are extremely easy to keep sharp.
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peacefuljeffrey
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Re: Fish Hunter has arrived! :)

#10

Post by peacefuljeffrey »

I haven't been keeping up with all the new steels in recent years, and have never been one of the guys who pays much attention to the minutiae of steel components and performance.

I found out only recently that there's this "LC200N" steel that's similar to H1. What can you tell me about it? Is it essentially the same thing, or is it an improvement? Does it make H1 in any sense obsolete? Is it just plain better, or is H1 just as good, still?
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Re: Fish Hunter has arrived! :)

#11

Post by tangent »

LC200N holds an edge significantly longer in plain edge than H1. H1 is still the king of serrated.
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Re: Fish Hunter has arrived! :)

#12

Post by BladeDiver »

Thanks Spyderco for releasing the Fish Hunter! And thanks to the users on this forum for sharing their experiences. I just received three knives. In general it looks good, although with some shortcomings in my opinion:

Last year when Sal asked at BladeForums for feedback, I gave my opinion on the design. One of my points was to make the hole on the blade a feature to release stuck spears. I was a bit disappointed when I saw that the diameter was only 6 mm and therefore too small for this purpose.

I therefore sent one knife to a knife smith to grind the hole to 8 mm, expanding towards the spine as not to risk having a fragile part between the border of the hole and the edge.

I've also ordered a plain second edge, to penetrate the fish more easily and to have a plain and symmetrical edge for making filets, finer cutting tasks and just to have an extra option. Using the PE will require holding the handle in the opposite direction, but that should be OK, but ideally, I would have preferred a symmetrical handle. As a dagger unfortunately is illegal in some markets, I understand why Spyderco had to make it with one "false edge".

Lastly, I would have hoped that Spyderco came up with an elastic strap system for sheath attachment over a wetsuit either in the arm or leg. I guess many users will need this feature, now we're left to improvising solutions (which can also be fun btw) and if you come up with a bad one, people risk problems.

I'll try to post some pics after receiving the modified knife and from experiences using it in its right element the coming weeks:)

Take care!
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sal
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Re: Fish Hunter has arrived! :)

#13

Post by sal »

Hi BladeDiver,

Welcome to our forum and thanx much for the input. I'm sure we will make some changes for the next run, assuming it's popular enough to require one.

sal
vivi
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Re: Fish Hunter has arrived! :)

#14

Post by vivi »

peacefuljeffrey wrote:
David Lowry wrote:
peacefuljeffrey wrote:I wish that more of the Salt line were offered with plain blades. There are lots of them that I like in terms of design, but they tend to come only with serrated blades, and that makes them non-starters for me.
Can you sharpen serrations? I ask because once I figured out how to get Spyderco serrations sharp, it's hard to not have one in your pocket. I have used SE and PE for many years and I think that they both have their place. I no longer feel that PE is better than SE though. I feel they are equal.
No, as a matter of fact, I have never developed skill at sharpening serrations. I am competent at sharpening plain edges freehand on ceramic stones. The fact that I can't sharpen serrations worth anything is only part of why I don't like them, though. I also have a dislike for the fact that serrations, being sharped on one side only, direct a blade crooked through a cut.

I don't deny that serrated blades can do rough slashing work of tough materials better than plain edges can. But I don't tend to have a need for that. I want plain edges that are extremely easy to keep sharp.
Jeffrey,

I used to feel the same way. I hated SE. This year I taught myself how to sharpen them, and I learned some interesting things.

1. Serrated edges are easier to sharpen than a plain edge.
2. Serrated edges show push cutting performance at least equal to plain edged knives once properly sharpened.
3.For my EDC uses, a properly sharp SE is superior to PE.
4. SE Spydercos come ground twice as thin as their PE counterparts, meaning I never have to reprofile them to get the performance I desire like I do with every PE knife I buy from Spyderco.

Since I learned how to sharpen them I went from exclusively carrying PE, to carrying both. In fact many days I only carry SE and no PE. Outside of the kitchen, where I use a 10" chef knife, I have no particular need for PE. I find, given equally sharp edges, SE if the more efficient cutter for me. It grabs the material and is pushing through it at many different angles at once, making it very aggressive during use.

If you have five minutes to spare, check out this video I made.

https://youtu.be/Ptmx1iJELhU
BladeDiver
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Re: Fish Hunter has arrived! :)

#15

Post by BladeDiver »

Hi all,

Just picked up my Fish Hunter at the knife smith's. The hole got a bit larger than I wanted, 8.5mm, but it should do the job with the spear.

With the plain edge, this knife should be handled with outmost care. The smith rounded of the point just a tiny bit, let's see how it works.

I'll initially try the knife in the elastic diving belt as shown. I'll also experiment with 3mm elastic cord and velcro bands + zip-ties for calf/arm attachment.

The smith said he struggled with the H1 steel, the more he worked on it, the harder it got. In the end, he damaged one of his milling tools. He jokingly said the steel must have som magic properties.

Thanks for the comment Sal. I think the Spyderco Fish Hunter has the potential to become the best spear fishing knife out there!

I'm looking forward to trying the knife in its right element...

Photos attached.
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File_000 (18).jpg
File_002 (9).jpg
File_001 (10).jpg
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Knife Knut
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Re: Fish Hunter has arrived! :)

#16

Post by Knife Knut »

BladeDiver wrote: Lastly, I would have hoped that Spyderco came up with an elastic strap system for sheath attachment over a wetsuit either in the arm or leg. I guess many users will need this feature, now we're left to improvising solutions (which can also be fun btw) and if you come up with a bad one, people risk problems.
To preface, I have no experience in the matter of this topic. But after looking at a GIS for dive knife straps https://www.google.com/search?q=dive+kn ... 64&bih=702 I think I have a solution. It is inspired by my solution to make the original Cold Steel Spike be able to be carried on the belt; this appears to be a similar design problem.

I ran some leather thong through some of the mounting holes, and held it in place with knots, in order to make belt loops. (The thong tail is optionally run through the hole in the pommel to make it more secure) Image Image

Looking at my Fish Hunter, I believe something similar could be done with some cord, making a pair of loops at the three grommet holes near the tip. At the throat end of the sheath, first remove the belt clip, and make more loops of cord through the grommets. Consider leaving some slack in these loops, so that the bump at the throat does not dig into you. You can now thread the straps through the loops you have created.

I do not see any way of changing the design of the sheath to put slots for straps without interfering with the sheath clip mounting holes.

I too wish it had been full double edge for maximum utility, but understand the reasons for not doing so.
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Re: Fish Hunter has arrived! :)

#17

Post by Knife Knut »

At least I think I understand the reasons. I would like to know the official policy on this sort of thing.
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sal
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Re: Fish Hunter has arrived! :)

#18

Post by sal »

Thanx for the input. Keep us posted.

sal
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SpyderEdgeForever
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Re: Fish Hunter has arrived! :)

#19

Post by SpyderEdgeForever »

Blade Diver, I really like the job the knife smith did to your Fish Hunter. My only concern with the widening of the hole would be this, though I doubt it will really make much of a difference: Since there is less steel between the outer edge of the blade and the hole, does that weaken it much or not? However, you did say this: " I therefore sent one knife to a knife smith to grind the hole to 8 mm, expanding towards the spine as not to risk having a fragile part between the border of the hole and the edge. " I also like how you had the point rounded off a bit. It makes it look slightly shorter and thicker. I am eager to see any new design-changes Sal would out on a new round of Fish Hunters or similar fixed blade versions. A folder-version would also be fascinating.
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Re: Fish Hunter has arrived! :)

#20

Post by Knife Knut »

It really bothered me to leave this issue hanging, so here is what I came up with for a way to attach straps to the scabbard using existing holes.

Here is the business side that the straps go through, and is against the appendage being attached to:
Image

And here is the side that faces out.
Image

Note that the cord stopper knot at the tip of the sheath shares a hole where the cord goes through a second time.

Nylon (paracord) would not be a good idea for this application because of it's poor abrasion resistance, which only gets worse when it is wet. Polyester would be best.

I do not yet know any divers or spearfishers that I can show this to that can tell me if this will work or not.
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