Spyderco and the "Sharpened Pry Bar" discussion thread.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

First off, I agree with many of you that a knife is a cutting tool first, and, the main duty of a knife is to be able to slice and cut well, and it is geometrically-factual that a thinner edge does cut better. That being said, I do believe there IS a place for the "Sharpened Prybar" which has become proverbial in the knife world.

Where does Spyderco fit in with this?

1 What Spyderco knives tend to fit into the Sharpened Pry Bar Category?

I would say some off the top of my memory are:

The old-time Spyderco Dive Probe
The Aqua Salts can be considered sharpened pry bar like, though being hollow ground, they are still tough.

What are your opinions on Spyderco making sharpened pry bar knives?

One well-tuned to knives author said an ideal sharpened pry bar has some of the following characteristics:

A straight and thick Saber or Saber Flat Ground Spear Point type blade (can be serrated or plain edge)
A steel that is able to stand up to much use and abuse without chipping easily, a carbon alloy steel or if you are concerned
about rust, a stainless steel
Full Tang handle if possible
Heavy duty sheath

I am sure there are other features that go well with this.

Here is an idea I have: What do you all say to Spyderco using the new LC200N stainless steel in an extra-thickness grade to make a new Sharpened Spyderco Pry Bar type knife? A fixed blade, ofcourse, that is nearly indestructible.

Full Tang with FRN handles, screwed in so you can loosen or tighten them if needed.
A more leather like sheath as opposed to one of the plastic sheaths.

How thick should the blade be? 4-5 millimeters or more?

[kvdo]

For a folding sharpened pry bar, there's the Shaman. Seems like it's a good base to make a fixed blade out of.

[ThePeacent]

another SEF question!
I'll add my opinion:

any fixed blade is essentially a sharpened prybar, especially those that are shorter and thicker stock (obviously). :D While the tip is a fragile part of many fixed knives, and often the first to break, if you apply torque or lever the portion near the handle it's quite an effective prying tool.

The Aqua Salt, JM2, Temperance, Sprig, Moran, Caspian, Swick and especially the Enuff would do well in that, the stubbier the better, and 3mm+ thickness is adequate. :rolleyes:
Also depends a lot on the heat treat and steel type, as we know many knives (KaBar and Ontario blades for instance) were planned to be bendable and elastic before breaking, especially at the tang. :cool:

Secure scales and good screws or other fixing methods are also important to avoid cracking and scales becoming separated. :eek: Better if it's full tang or thicker, longer steel bar, in fact models like the Caspian or Swick are essentially prybars with an edge and different shape for that purpose, not considering their performance as a knife and edge function. :p
For the prying aspect the sheath is irrelevant, really. Unless you're planning to pry with the sheath :confused:

For folders I'd say the Tuff, Shaman and Techno are useable prybars relative to their size, meaning that they are thick enough, have durable construction and handle scales or material and a big strong pivot for that.

Obviously the pivot and the tip are the common breaking points in folders and the thicker stock and edge won't compensate for a poor or weak construction. Liners (nested or full) and good quality scales (stainless steel, G10, Titanium) are added strength to an already strong pivot and screws/standoffs :o

I've seen pivots broken or flying out and screws and scales cracking, bending and separating as well as many broken tips, but fractured blades or completely bent are a rare occurrence

But again, don't pry with your blades! Unless it's a fixed knife it's easy enough to carry a SAK, multitool, keychain prybar or other implements to lever with
Some knives (Emerson, Kershaw, CRKT etc.) even have built in prybars in the butt or folding

[xceptnl]

The Tuff was the first knife that comes to mind when I think about your question SEF. It's beefier thank my Strider SnG.

[Larry_Mott]

I might be wrong, but as far as i have heard, the Tuff wasn't exactly selling like hotcakes during its 2 year life span? To me it is one of those "woke up too late" models that everybody wants after it's discontinued. I doubt it would sell much better today, once demand gets saturated.
A knife to me isn't something you could or should hammer into a tree to climb on or lift off manhole covers so i am quite happy with the current Spyderco lineup of *knives* :)

[tonijedi]

On my opinion the Aqua Salt isnt a sharpened pry bar. For a fixed blade that size only 5 or 6 mm thickness would make it a pry bar. Besides, it's not full tang.
That said, I prefer this kind of knives (lightweight and thin) over the sharpened pry bars, mostly because they still have enough durability. If properly made they stand to batoning and to be stepped on to climb on trees, just look at the 10€ Moras.

[ferider]

First off, I agree with many of you that a knife is a cutting tool first, and, the main duty of a knife is to be able to slice and cut well, and it is geometrically-factual that a thinner edge does cut better. That being said, I do believe there IS a place for the "Sharpened Prybar" which has become proverbial in the knife world.

Me too. A knife might be the only thing you have when out and about and getting stranded with an old vehicle for instance.

Forgive me for quoting myself:

...my Spyderco folders - besides the steel - get extra "toughness credit" for the following features

0 - blade length - the shorter the tougher (but less useful for me)
1 - blade thickness and width
2 - pivot diameter
3 - strong liners and handle
4 - large overlap of tang and handle/liner
5 - me being able to get my fingers closer to the edge, best around or forward of the Pivot (meaning choils are GREAT)

Probably the toughest "small" Spyderco prybars that I have are the 80mm Manix and the Flytanium handled, s35vn PM2. On the larger side, the original Manix, Chinook 1 and Ti Military are hard to beat. Obviously, all of these have choils, relatively large pivots, etc.

Roland.

[twinboysdad]

Superleaf added to the discussion.

The most ridiculous pry bar I have ever seen was the Lil Roughneck by Tops. 5mm thick on a bladelength of around 3-3.5". It cut about like it sounds it would

[Evil D]

Here ya go.

https://youtu.be/CJrGA3J0nB8

[Larry_Mott]

Here ya go.

A piece of modern art, oh yeah! A knife? Bwahahahaha, that's a good one :)

[curlyhairedboy]

Shaman seems like a good balance.

[npad69]

the kershaw barge has a built-in pry bar

[ThePeacent]

On my opinion the Aqua Salt isnt a sharpened pry bar. For a fixed blade that size only 5 or 6 mm thickness would make it a pry bar. Besides, it's not full tang.
That said, I prefer this kind of knives (lightweight and thin) over the sharpened pry bars, mostly because they still have enough durability. If properly made they stand to batoning and to be stepped on to climb on trees, just look at the 10€ Moras.

I also wouldn't call the Aqua a sharpened prybar. It's slender and long for it's length, and not that thick and not even full tang (something that is arguably a requisite to be a sharpened prybar) :o



On that size range of Spyderco FIxed blades, the Jumpmaster is much more fitting into that category due to its sheepsfoot/wharncliffe blade (much more apt for prying and a much stronger tip) and its full tang as well as riveted scales



and even that one cuts like the dickens and feels thin and lightweight

[wrdwrght]

While we're at it, can we get Spyderco to add an espresso maker and a trash compactor to the envisioned "sharpened pry bar"? That'd be so cool.

Or, maybe we should just grab an intended pry bar, grind an edge on it, and never need to worry about pivot failure again.

That way, Spyderco will not lose its four-decades' focus on offering what has brought us to this forum.

[bearfacedkiller]

My Lionspy is a sharpened prybar. The blade is very robust. I wonder how it would compare to the Tuff?

[xceptnl]

I don't really consider them a "sharpened prybar" unless they don't slice well. Thus I think the Superleaf, Manix, Chinook are all beefy, but not impractical as a slicing knife.

[Tims]

Emphasis on cutting performance is one the main reasons I buy Spyderco. I'm sure I'm not alone.

Name another brand who focuses so heavily on cutting performance when designing their knives.

'Pry bars' don't really fit into the companies philosophy of design. Producing general purpose pry bars would almost be an insult to the brands history.

“You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time”.”

[blendergasket]

I'm about to head to the beach to camp for a few days and plan on doing lots of wood prep. I, for one, would love it if Spyderco had some sort of at least semi-stainless "sharpened pry bar" type knife I could bring with me that functioned well enough at everything from food prep to batoning.

[Tims]

Something from the Salt line + pry tool in your pocket/ on your keyring?

I can see the attraction of having a do it all solution but some areas of use really do lend themselves to specialisation. Pry tools, screw drivers etc.

But thats just me. I understand everyone is different and people want different things from their knives. Personally, I would prefer to have the best knife for cutting and the best tool for prying rather than compromise on both by having them in one tool. Similarly, I would prefer to carry a smaller knife and an axe when in the bush rather than a large chopper.

[Evil D]

I'd like to see Spyderco make a tall leaf shaped blade (taller than most) with a very high hollow grind, high enough that it's almost a full hollow but on a tall enough blade that it can be thin enough to slice well without being a door stop. Then they could make the blade 5mm thick and beefy enough to beat to death.