What Spyderco have you lent to a friend, who broke it through mishandling?

[RLDubbya]

I joined the "mishandling" club. I was neglectful; this was totally my fault - but now I'm a proud(?) member of the "I can't believe I lent my good Spydie to that idiot" club.

Background: I've known this guy for, oh, 15 years. He's always been neat, clean, organized, and perhaps even picky about all that - moreso than I, so I never even thought twice. He owns a record / CD store - it's fairly large, with about 200,000 pieces of vinyl in his bins. I had him in to assess my collection and buy the most valuable pieces so that my wife and I would have some cash. It's time - as I told him, with the doctors telling me that I had anywhere from a couple weeks to a couple years left before I journey across the river Styx with Charon, there are things to do that require more cash than I have (which is approximately zero).

As we were catching up with each other, I showed him the Spydie Chubby my wife got me for Xmas; since it was discod, she paid quite a bit; but man, I love that my woman bought me this knife. That love is everything to me now. I told him how important that hunk of steel and ti was; he politely commented that it was very nice. After he finished the assessment, he had set aside about 1,500 records from my collection, and made his offer. I don't negotiate in situations like this; I just looked at him, locked eyes, and asked him if it was a fair offer. He said yes, yes, more than fair, well, what if he raised the offer by $500? I knew that was his negotiating chunk, and that was all I could get from him, so I took it.

We started to pack his van, He asked me to borrow my knife, as he had to reconfigure his boxes, and needed to cut tape. Since he specifically told me the task, I passed him the Chubby without thinking twice. Things got busy loading the van; he left the knife on the breakfast bar, where he had eaten some cheese for a snack. I didn't look at the knife until the next morning.

One-third of the non-presentation side nearest the tip was covered with deep gouges. The blade might still be functional, but it has sustained heavy damage. What annoyed me is that I had told him how valuable the knife was to me, and he couldn't act like a man and show me what he had done and offer to at least pay for monetary damages. Instead, he acted as ten year old kid, and just sort of covered the knife up so I wouldn't notice while he was there.

I started to really examine the blade, using a 12x loupe. I found more damage: then it struck me. I know what he did. The other marks I found were soot - from a lighter. He had heated the blade, and inserted it in between the two back doors of his fan, and attempted to pop the latch open. Not only is his 10 year old behavior annoying, but he knew that I had my machine shop about 25 feet away from his van. A shop that had, amongst other tools, a 13 drawer tool cabinet that you can tell is well used, and even the Slingbob could correctly answer the question "Is there a screwdriver in that cabinet?"

So, anyhow, I am left trying to clean up this knife. I showed my wife, so that I could turn this into an experience we share, but that's the best I can do.

Why do people act like this?

[SG89]

so you told him it was a very expensive gift from your wife and he still treated it and you like trash? new friend time. hindsight is 20/20 but I never lend people knives I either cut what they need for them or flat out say no. sorry that happened to you.

[curlyhairedboy]

take the money, send the chubby off to get reground, take your wife out to dinner

[Evil D]

None. I don't ever lend my blade to anyone. It would have to be a surgeon needing to perform emergency surgery to save someone's life lol.

[Tdog]

I'm getting to the point that I don't lend or even let friends use my knives unless they sign a waiver of liability first. :D In the past few years I've had 3 different friends cut themselves with my knives. One of these guys managed a knife store in our local mall years ago, he knows knives. :p Most recently around Christmas a buddy picked up my K09 and ran it across his index finger....blood dripping on the counter. He said "I barely even touched myself, get me some band-aids, @%&% this thing is sharp. :o

Haven't had any Spydies broken. Don't lend my knives, chainsaw, cast nets, fishing tackle, or certain power tools unless I'm SURE the person knows how to take care of and use properly.....and they would replace or repair if broken. May sound cold but I still have old Ambassadeur's from 40 years ago that look almost new. My old Stihl cuts like a banshee and is still in very good shape for it's age. Most of my friends don't have the appreciation for quality cutting tools. They like to look and fondle but don't really know knives. If we ever get the Spydie fillet knife, I'll gladly loan it, while I'm there watching. :D

[ross8425]

I didn't know I could lend someone a knife?

[The Deacon]

Didn't really get broken,but back when I lived in NY I loaned a Native to a young fellow who was moving into my apartment building. He rested it on the stove and his wife turned on the wrong burner. The handle melted quite a bit, and the apartment stunk to high heaven, but the knife was still functional.

[JD Spydo]

My problem with people hasn't been them breaking any of my beloved Spyders :mad: No I've been victim of some really devastating theft in the past 6 years or so. The biggest one that still breaks my heart was my G-10 Harpy that grew legs :mad:

As far as loaning a Spyder to someone here at work I'm very particular. There are only two guys here that have enough brain cells that I even feel comfortable enough to let them use one at all. Also there is only one woman here that I will dare let use any of my Spyders that I trust with one . Most people now-a-days just don't have any common sense using any knife at all>> not to mention any other serious tools.

It is sad too because I'm the kind of guy that I really like being kind and helpful to people but I also worry that as brain deficient as most people about using edged tools are anymore I feel like they are probably going to hurt themselves

[RLDubbya]

so you told him it was a very expensive gift from your wife and he still treated it and you like trash? new friend time. hindsight is 20/20 but I never lend people knives I either cut what they need for them or flat out say no. sorry that happened to you.

Thanks. Yeah, lesson learned.

take the money, send the chubby off to get reground, take your wife out to dinner

I almost have it fixed; I didn't want to attempt a regrind on this particular blade, so I've been using Simichrome polish, and a polishing felt on the drill press. if you're not into knives at all, you don't even notice the damage. Now I just have to put it on the Wicked Edge, and remove some steel to make sure I'm not going to experience loss of temper from the heat.

The dinner is a good idea. I'm basically striving to transform this into a positive experience. This guy loves to eat, and we are from Cleveland, so he was talking about Michael Syman (sp?) and how he would love to do dinner there. Guess where we'll go? I know Symon is rarely in town, but I'll try to find out when he will be. Sending a little note to my friend with a picture of us standing with Syman, my wife holding the knife, and entitle it something silly like "Sharon and I share my Chubby with Symon...our 25th wedding anniversary at Lola!, scratches and all" should do the trick.
s

None. I don't ever lend my blade to anyone. It would have to be a surgeon needing to perform emergency surgery to save someone's life lol.

Heh. I wouldn't even do that, but aside from the knife factor, the reason I'm dying so soon is because of a doctor deciding that he didn't like me, and choosing to ignore my symptoms on no fewer than 15-20 visits. I'm probably just a little biased.

:D In the past few years I've had 3 different friends cut themselves with my knives. ...
Haven't had any Spydies broken. Don't lend my knives, chainsaw, cast nets, fishing tackle, or certain power tools unless I'm SURE the person knows how to take care of and use properly.....and they would replace or repair if broken. May sound cold but I still have old Ambassadeur's from 40 years ago that look almost new. My old Stihl cuts like a banshee and is still in very good shape for it's age. Most of my friends don't have the appreciation for quality cutting tools. ... (My emphasis)

40+ years ago, I had a friend in high school borrow a folder. His mom then had to drive him to the ER for 20 stitches. The sentence I bolded sums it up, I think.

I didn't know I could lend someone a knife?

We have a winner!!!!! /thread

Either that, or you are from Canada.

[ZrowsN1s]

I recommend a Dfly to one of my friends, the week after he bought it he moved to a new apartment. One of his new neighbors asked him to borrow a box cutter for a minute. My buddy hands him his Dfly... 6hours later realizes the guy never came back with his knife. Goes to ask for it back and the dude says he misplaced it somewhere in his appartment but he'll find it.... My buddy finally got it back 2 days later.

The only people I'm comfortable lending knives to never need to borrow one. Because they have their own, and take care of them.

Sorry about the Chubby! Heating it with a lighter? I'd be all sorts of PO'd.

[DutchBlades]

That sucks big time...
I tend to carry a SAK with me every day and if anyone ever asks for a blade, they get that one.
Nobody gets the Spydie, because people just don't realize how much value a knife can hold; emotional and/or financial.
Seeing how you've explained the story behind the knife, I'm astounded by the fact that he continued to (ab)use it for something it clearly wasn't built to do...

[anycal]

Most of my peeps carry their own hardware :rolleyes:

For other situations, I have couple of dedicated beaters - one in my truck, one in my backpack. If those are not an option, I roll the dice.

[BravoTango]

I keep a beater knife of another brand around to loan out, nobody touches my spyders. I won't even let friends examine them unless I am very confident of their competency. Currently that list consists of my younger Brother, and my father, that's about it. My girlfriend knows how sharp my blades are and just defers any cutting to me personally. :cool:

[Tdog]

I recommend a Dfly to one of my friends, the week after he bought it he moved to a new apartment. One of his new neighbors asked him to borrow a box cutter for a minute. My buddy hands him his Dfly... 6hours later realizes the guy never came back with his knife. Goes to ask for it back and the dude says he misplaced it somewhere in his appartment but he'll find it.... My buddy finally got it back 2 days later.
The only people I'm comfortable lending knives to never need to borrow one. Because they have their own, and take care of them.
Sorry about the Chubby! Heating it with a lighter? I'd be all sorts of PO'd.

I was going to say the same thing same goes for my tools and other misc stuff. Much of the time if someone needs to borrow something I just go and do whatever they need done. That's what friends are for.

[wrdwrght]

My knives have been given but never loaned.

[SharpieB]

Same with my guitars and other expensive stuff, I only lend out what wouldnt give me a breakdown if it gets damaged.

The only Spyderco I have lent out has been my Tenacious to a friend up north. He scratched it a bit, but my Para 3 was still safe in my pocket. No big deal.

That sucks about the Chubby though!

[attila]

I'm sorry to hear about everyone's bad experiences with non-knife/clumsy/careless people.

I haven't had any of my Spydies misused by friends, but I was severely peeved when my brother-in-law lost my sister's Delica 4 that I had gifted her. I helped her pick a new favorite knife, a Native LW in S35VN, and I made sure to stress to her the importance of not lending her knife to anyone, not even to her husband.

I've had an instance recently, though, in which I sharpened kitchen knives for my own in-laws, only to have one used to cut a pie out of a Pyrex baking dish. I cringed visibly, and at least my wife understood my discomfort at the wasted sharpening. I've since decided that I won't be sharpening knives as willingly for others anymore in addition to rarely lending my personal blades to a select few. If it's a particularly special blade (other than standard production FRN/FRCP models), I don't lend to anyone but the wife.

[PanChango]

I had a matriarch that I handed to a friend at work. He was cutting zip ties from bundled cables and not paying close enough attention. He severed a lamp power cord right with the belly of the blade. It arched, the light went out, and there was a half moon in place of two missing teeth.

He did apologize and offered to replace it. I declined as accidents happen, but he did get me a very nice bottle of whisky for my birthday that year.

[xceptnl]

So sorry to hear about your "friend" mishandling an heirloom, especially after you explained its significance. I don't lend my spydies out to anyone unless they know me.... and by that i mean they know how i treat my tools and especially knives. I carry them to use so I am usually quick to step in and offer to cut something when needed, even if a disposable razor might be the better tool, however many who know me will refuse to use my blade if I lend it to them.

This is the primary reason I carry multiple blades on my person at any given time and its also why my Leatherman multi-tool has a blade. That is the knife I lend when some random person asks to borrow a blade.

[twinboysdad]

Leave it sticking in his hand...