Cru Wear Centofante III !

[miohin]

That really is a beautiful looking knife. It seems like it matches the price, at least.

[Kleon]

Great job on finding the clip Abbazaba!

[Flash]

I think the knife would be a better price match if it had a hollow grind and the blade didn’t hit the lock bar.

At the moment it appears to me to be little more than an expensive customer-funded prototype awaiting CQI, yet missing the best feature of the old model. An easy swerve for me.

[abbazaba]

Loving it so far. The smoothness of Seki g10/cf/pakkawood backlocks impresses me every time. This model in CF feels so much more appropriate than the FRN IMO. Mine unfortunately does have the lockbar flat spot in the edge, which takes a pretty hefty press to create contact. I agree that it must have been an assembly process and won't be an issue after a touch up.

[abbazaba]

[riclaw]

Are the scales textured carbon fiber or smooth like the Caly 3.5? Don't see this info anywhere

[abbazaba]

Smooth, more matte than the HAP40 Delica exclusive next to it. Virtually identical to my Caly 3.5 sample

[riclaw]

Thanks, Abba!

[abbazaba]

Probably should've included the Caly3.5 in the lineup, it makes for an interesting comparison of choil vs no choil design... Nearly identical in overall length and cutting edge. As much as I like the Caly3.5, I never find myself carrying it. The handle on the C3 is much roomier for my XL hands, and the overall thinness of the knife and blade just feels right for the package. The 3.5 is a little beefy in comparison, especially with that bulbous pivot bolt.

[TkoK83Spy]

Sheeesh, I never realized how far that pivot screw sticks out on those Caly's.

[abbazaba]

HA, I just edited my post with a comment about that before I saw your reply.

[notaninsect]

I have both… the new one is not hollow ground but saber ground. I asked Spyderco to correct their incorrect specs last week, which they did. I bought mine from my favorite store, as they also advertised as hollow ground using Spyderco’s incorrect specs. They offered to take it back for a refund given the incorrect advertisements. I decided to keep it because it is quite nice if overpriced. The Seki build on mine is very high quality, and while the hollow ground can split atoms, this saber ground on thin stock is very slicey too.

[JSumm]

Thanks abba! I love the Caly 3.5. That comparison picture really piqued my interest.

[Mrj]

Wrong thread

[aicolainen]

That's a great comparison, Abba.
In my head I had surely pictured the Caly 3.5 to be the larger knife. No less interested in the Centofante after seeing this, but my interest in the Caly 3.5 increased quite a bit as I've always thought of it as being too big.

[Evil D]

That's a great comparison, Abba.
In my head I had surely pictured the Caly 3.5 to be the larger knife. No less interested in the Centofante after seeing this, but my interest in the Caly 3.5 increased quite a bit as I've always thought of it as being too big.

My only issue with those knives (3 and 3.5) is that it doesn't take a lot of sharpening to reach a point where the blade tip becomes exposed out of the handle when closed. The butt of the handle needs to be just slightly thicker to hide the blade more. You can grind down the kick a little and the blade will close into the handle more but then eventually the edge will hit the back spacer too. My ZDP Caly 3 bit my finger pretty good when I discovered this.

[p_atrick]

My only issue with those knives (3 and 3.5) is that it doesn't take a lot of sharpening to reach a point where the blade tip becomes exposed out of the handle when closed…

How does the Centofante compare in this regard?

[TkoK83Spy]

My only issue with those knives (3 and 3.5) is that it doesn't take a lot of sharpening to reach a point where the blade tip becomes exposed out of the handle when closed…

How does the Centofante compare in this regard?

I'm willing to bet this won't be an issue, because MOST people that buy this knife won't use it extensively enough, sharpen it enough, for that to become a problem. Someone that really uses and sharpens their knives a lot, probably have other options for that kind of stuff. Just my thought of course!

[JSumm]

Looks like the tip sticking out will not be an issue with the Centofante. Appears to go into the handle and is protected by the backspacer.


If it ever becomes an issue on any model, you can also grind down the tip of the spine a bit and lower the tip into the handle.

[aicolainen]

That's a great comparison, Abba.
In my head I had surely pictured the Caly 3.5 to be the larger knife. No less interested in the Centofante after seeing this, but my interest in the Caly 3.5 increased quite a bit as I've always thought of it as being too big.

My only issue with those knives (3 and 3.5) is that it doesn't take a lot of sharpening to reach a point where the blade tip becomes exposed out of the handle when closed. The butt of the handle needs to be just slightly thicker to hide the blade more. You can grind down the kick a little and the blade will close into the handle more but then eventually the edge will hit the back spacer too. My ZDP Caly 3 bit my finger pretty good when I discovered this.

Mmm.. that's nice to know.
There should be a LW Caly in the works, lets hope this is addressed in the process and the new version gets some CQI.

In my opinion the Endela also suffers badly from this issue, but I rarely here this being mentioned. And it could easily have been solved/improved by addressing another (IMO) shortcoming of the endela, which is the short blade relative to the handle space. If the blade was made just a bit longer and they did nothing else the tip would be (better) covered by the slight curve at the butt.


I have pretty much stopped carrying my Endela TRL after I got the Endura TRL. A more well rounded design in my opinion.