Updated shaman sprint steel poll

[Enactive]

I broke down and got an S30v Shaman. It is sooo nice! I was originally gonna wait for the Crucarta sprint, but I wanted a stainless G10 model too. Not much into carbon fiber scales.

One observation and some questions and a request--

The 'stonewashed' or media tumbled finish is gorgeous!

Could a Cruwear sprint or exclusive use this finish? IIRC, the Cruwear blades I've seen have the coarse grind line finish. The tumbled finish should theoretically help with stain resistance of Cruwear, no? I think that would look fantastic with OD green (or brown) micarta or even G10.

I recall Darby saying he'd had S30 rust before Cruwear, so maybe don't need to sweat that too much. I guess maybe eventually I'll find out. I, too, would like to enter the Cruwear nation with a Shaman.

I would have a really hard time passing on an LC or Salt Shaman.

[Wartstein]

I broke down and got an S30v Shaman. It is sooo nice! I was originally gonna wait for the Crucarta sprint, but I wanted a stainless G10 model too. Not much into carbon fiber scales.

One observation and some questions and a request--

The 'stonewashed' or media tumbled finish is gorgeous!

Could a Cruwear sprint or exclusive use this finish? IIRC, the Cruwear blades I've seen have the coarse grind line finish. The tumbled finish should theoretically help with stain resistance of Cruwear, no? I think that would look fantastic with OD green (or brown) micarta or even G10.

I recall Darby saying he'd had S30 rust before Cruwear, so maybe don't need to sweat that too much. I guess maybe eventually I'll find out. I, too, would like to enter the Cruwear nation with a Shaman.

I would have a really hard time passing on an LC or Salt Shaman.

Shaman: The knife I actually shouldn't like (heavy, thick stock, comp. lock, huge choil sacrifying a lot of edge...) but just DO very, very much. Feels absolutely perfect in my hand.

And like you, I think the stone washed finish looks amazing! Even if I could get the M4 or S90V versions for the same price as the basic S30V model, I'd honestly still prefer the latter, partly (not only)cause of the blade finish.

But I'm afraid, as far as I know, tumbled finish makes a blade rather MORE prone to rusting, not less... could be wrong though.

[Enactive]

I broke down and got an S30v Shaman. It is sooo nice! I was originally gonna wait for the Crucarta sprint, but I wanted a stainless G10 model too. Not much into carbon fiber scales.

One observation and some questions and a request--

The 'stonewashed' or media tumbled finish is gorgeous!

Could a Cruwear sprint or exclusive use this finish? IIRC, the Cruwear blades I've seen have the coarse grind line finish. The tumbled finish should theoretically help with stain resistance of Cruwear, no? I think that would look fantastic with OD green (or brown) micarta or even G10.

I recall Darby saying he'd had S30 rust before Cruwear, so maybe don't need to sweat that too much. I guess maybe eventually I'll find out. I, too, would like to enter the Cruwear nation with a Shaman.

I would have a really hard time passing on an LC or Salt Shaman.

Shaman: The knife I actually shouldn't like (heavy, thick stock, comp. lock, huge choil sacrifying a lot of edge...) but just DO very, very much. Feels absolutely perfect in my hand.

And like you, I think the stone washed finish looks amazing! Even if I could get the M4 or S90V versions for the same price as the basic S30V model, I'd honestly still prefer the latter, partly (not only)cause of the blade finish.

But I'm afraid, as far as I know, tumbled finish makes a blade rather MORE prone to rusting, not less... could be wrong though.

Wartstein, I 'shouldn't' like the Shaman either, but after handling one in February I knew I'd end up with one. The spine is thicker than any other knife in my house, it is as heavy as my cheap beater work knives. But oh how it looks and feels and cuts!

I have barely used it yet, so will have more of a reaction later. Initial impressions-- it took some oiling and adjusting the pivot to get solid lockup and good action. I usually try to let knives break in the way they arrive, but this had a little vertical and horizontal play initially. The action is breaking in handsomely. The comp lock is growing on me, but I very much doubt it will ever feel as good and intuitive as the backpack for me (especially the Stretch, Native and really excited for the Chief!) It's a glorious piece. I suggest you own one someday, but think of it as an indulgence and not a practicality. Otherwise you might just buy another Stretch and Chap for the same $ if strictly practical.

As for the surface finish and resistance, I understood the tumbled to be better than coarse grind for resistance. Maybe an expert can help us?

Although, I think the difference is rather minor.

[Wartstein]

...
But I'm afraid, as far as I know, tumbled finish makes a blade rather MORE prone to rusting, not less... could be wrong though.

Wartstein, I 'shouldn't' like the Shaman either, but after handling one in February I knew I'd end up with one. The spine is thicker than any other knife in my house, it is as heavy as my cheap beater work knives. But oh how it looks and feels and cuts!

I have barely used it yet, so will have more of a reaction later. Initial impressions-- it took some oiling and adjusting the pivot to get solid lockup and good action. I usually try to let knives break in the way they arrive, but this had a little vertical and horizontal play initially. The action is breaking in handsomely. The comp lock is growing on me, but I very much doubt it will ever feel as good and intuitive as the backpack for me (especially the Stretch, Native and really excited for the Chief!) It's a glorious piece. I suggest you own one someday, but think of it as an indulgence and not a practicality. Otherwise you might just buy another Stretch and Chap for the same $ if strictly practical.

As for the surface finish and resistance, I understood the tumbled to be better than coarse grind for resistance. Maybe an expert can help us?

I could handle and try a Shaman twice, on those two there was absolutely no bladeplay.

What I really liked is how well that thing still slices, despite the thick blade stock. The tall blade makes for a good slicing geometry I guess, even with thicker stock. But imagine what it could do with a 3mm stock.. :rolleyes:

/ Maybe I don´t fully get what you mean concerning finish and rust. What I believe to have read (but again, not sure) is, that a stonewashed blade is a bit more prone to rust than a satin or mirror/shiny blade. Experts chiming in would be great, indeed! :)

/ Howsoever, congrats to your Shaman!! I´ll let you when I get MINE, the day will come eventually, that´s for sure...

[Mattysc42]

I could handle and try a Shaman twice, on those two there was absolutely no bladeplay.

What I really liked is how well that thing still slices, despite the thick blade stock. The tall blade makes for a good slicing geometry I guess, even with thicker stock. But imagine what it could do with a 3mm stock.. :rolleyes:

/ Maybe I don´t fully get what you mean concerning finish and rust. What I believe to have read (but again, not sure) is, that a stonewashed blade is a bit more prone to rust than a satin or mirror/shiny blade. Experts chiming in would be great, indeed! :)

/ Howsoever, congrats to your Shaman!! I´ll let you when I get MINE, the day will come eventually, that´s for sure...

If the Shaman had 3mm stock and ffg, it’d cut like a Manix XL. Both are nearly identical in blade width.

[Wartstein]

If the Shaman had 3mm stock and ffg, it’d cut like a Manix XL. Both are nearly identical in blade width.

You are right! Another reason making me want a Manix XL, a knife I overlooked for some reason till quite recently
(though if you want to be totally exact it has 3.2 mm bladestock. Still much thinner than the Shaman!)

[Wartstein]

Basically, in comparison to most other spyderco's, the model begs to be used a bit harder. It has the ergonomics and construction for rougher tasks and looks like it would survive more mistakes than your average spyderco. By choosing a high alloy, high wear resistance (and relatively low toughness) steel and giving it a regrind, you'd effectively be taking these advantages away. It would be more like an average spyderco. I almost look at it as putting a twin turbo setup and stall converter on a truck when you could just buy a corvette. The truck is made for work from the factory.

If every single spyderco was a dedicated slicer, I probably wouldn't be here. I'd own 2-3 spyderco's max and would find myself using other brands more often. I really like that spyderco has some diversity in its line-up. I know I'm in the vast minority here but I want Sal to know that there is a "hard use" audience here. I love my slicers just as much as the next guy, but I also like the idea of using a high quality knife (like spyderco) for any and all tasks I come across at work. Cruwear, among a few other steels, is a superior choice for this. I carry s110v at work daily but end up using 8cr13mov more often. To me it doesn't make sense to get a Shaman you have to be cautious with.

Since I can vaguely remember, that you truly have to use your knives hard in your job (right?), may I ask:

While it´s clear to me, that very hard, but NOT tough steels are not well suited for hard use tasks (where you could hit a lot of metal for example) due to chipping- (and maybe in extrem cases also breaking-?) problems, I´d appreciate to get your opinion concerning blade stock:

Do you really think (or know for sure from personal experience) that there are knife tasks that make the thick stock of for example the Shaman necessary? Imho 3mm or 3.2 mm should be enough for any task I personally ever came across, given the steel itself is the proper choice for the task.

But then, hard use in "my knife world" is mostly in hard wood, so I´d appreciate your thoughts, since I can remember that "your hard use" is a bit different..

[Evil D]

Do you really think (or know for sure from personal experience) that there are knife tasks that make the thick stock of for example the Shaman necessary? Imho 3mm or 3.2 mm should be enough for any task I personally ever came across, given the steel itself is the proper choice for the task.

There are other advantages of thick blade stock beyond just being thick for the sake of being stronger. You also get a thicker pivot, which reduces blade play, you also get a wider lock face which will either make a lock stronger and/or extend the wear surface and life of the lock. I also feel that thicker blades are more comfortable on my thumb when pressing down on the spine or thumb ramp. A lot of "thick blade performance issues" can be remedied by thinner blade grinds, at least up until the thickness of the spine creates a wedging effect in stiff material. It seems like most of the factory grinds that Spyderco do will perform better in 3mm than 4mm but they don't HAVE to. I'd bet my reground Military (4mm) will out slice a Manix 2 XL (3mm or 3.2mm) every time, and you won't see any loss in performance until you're cutting something very rigid.

[Wartstein]

Do you really think (or know for sure from personal experience) that there are knife tasks that make the thick stock of for example the Shaman necessary? Imho 3mm or 3.2 mm should be enough for any task I personally ever came across, given the steel itself is the proper choice for the task.

There are other advantages of thick blade stock beyond just being thick for the sake of being stronger. You also get a thicker pivot, which reduces blade play, you also get a wider lock face which will either make a lock stronger and/or extend the wear surface and life of the lock. I also feel that thicker blades are more comfortable on my thumb when pressing down on the spine or thumb ramp. A lot of "thick blade performance issues" can be remedied by thinner blade grinds, at least up until the thickness of the spine creates a wedging effect in stiff material. It seems like most of the factory grinds that Spyderco do will perform better in 3mm than 4mm but they don't HAVE to. I'd bet my reground Military (4mm) will out slice a Manix 2 XL (3mm or 3.2mm) every time, and you won't see any loss in performance until you're cutting something very rigid.

Thanks, interesting and very valid points!

I am also aware of, that of course the way the spine tapers towards the tip plays a role here: If a 4mm stock spine starts to taper (get thinner) right from the start, on the part where you mostly actually do your cutting it could be already as thin as a 3mm stock spine with less taper.

And, as mentioned, height/ tallness of the blade. The taller, the more acute the primary grind is getting of course and can compensate a thicker spine when it comes to "sliciness"

(I know you know these things better than I do, just wanted to add tge points for the sake of completeness)

[attila]

I'm pushing for a slot for a sprint, brown canvas Micarta and CPM Cruwear.

sal

Hi Sal,

We have been wondering when the micarta & CPM Cruwear Shaman sprint is going to arrive. I even asked the SFO about it a few times, but they had never heard of it. If you would be so kind, some hope for one in the near future would be nice.

Thank you!

Bump to keep hope alive!!!

[curlyhairedboy]

Hoping to have the CF sprint in hand tomorrow!

[steelcity16]

Almost 100 votes for CRUWEAR, and yet no CRUWEAR models to be seen. :confused:

[curlyhairedboy]

Almost 100 votes for CRUWEAR, and yet no CRUWEAR models to be seen. :confused:

Well, we did end up getting a s90v sprint with CF - maybe next is the micarta/CPM cruwear version. If it's in the next reveal that would be amazing!

[bearfacedkiller]

I just saw a pic of a micarta/Cruwear Shaman on Instagram. I guess there was a proto at Blade Show!

Looks like this is probably gonna happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[A.S.O.K.A]

I just saw a pic of a micarta/Cruwear Shaman on Instagram. I guess there was a proto at Blade Show!

Looks like this is probably gonna happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awesome. Had a feeling I saw it and commented on the pic. Very excited for this to happen :D

[attila]

I just saw a pic of a micarta/Cruwear Shaman on Instagram. I guess there was a proto at Blade Show!

Looks like this is probably gonna happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the heads-up. That pic has me drooling.

Which instagrammer's page was it on?!

[wrdwrght]

I just saw a pic of a micarta/Cruwear Shaman on Instagram. I guess there was a proto at Blade Show!

Looks like this is probably gonna happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the heads-up. That pic has me drooling.

[DukeNiemand]

I just saw a pic of a micarta/Cruwear Shaman on Instagram. I guess there was a proto at Blade Show!

Looks like this is probably gonna happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Which instagrammer's page was it on?!

Not sure if allowed to post the pic here, but it comes right up if you search for #spydercoshaman

[Woodpuppy]

oh yeah... that’s the stuff!

[attila]

I just saw a pic of a micarta/Cruwear Shaman on Instagram. I guess there was a proto at Blade Show!

Looks like this is probably gonna happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Which instagrammer's page was it on?!

Not sure if allowed to post the pic here, but it comes right up if you search for #spydercoshaman

Thanks! That does look really good!