Para 3 LW 15V - 3 disappointments, or unrealistic expectations?

[salimoneus]

FYI "sprint runs" are just as immune to minor inconsistencies as any other production knife that comes out of a Spyderco factory. There's nothing inherently higher quality about them other than having different handle/blade materials, which it could even be argued if those things equate to higher quality. Probably just more scarce and desirable.

If those relatively minor thing bother you, I'd just exchange it or return it and buy a new one and call it a day, hopefully the second will be more to your liking.

These aren't custom knives where people should be expecting perfection.

[salimoneus]

FYI "sprint runs" are just as immune to minor inconsistencies as any other production knife that comes out of a Spyderco factory. There's nothing inherently higher quality about them other than having different handle/blade materials, which it could even be argued if those things equate to higher quality. Probably just more scarce and desirable.

If those relatively minor thing bother you, I'd just exchange it or return it and buy a new one and call it a day, hopefully the second will be more to your liking.

These aren't custom knives where people should be expecting perfection.

[cabfrank]

Collectors keeping a knife pristine and users beating a knife daily pay the bills for Spyderco equally. One side may get more street cred, but both side's opinions should matter.
I'm in the middle, a light user.

Agreed 100%.

This is probably one of the most reasonable and sane statements I've seen so far regarding this issue here.

Thanks! I rarely get referred to as sane in real life.

[nerdlock]

Collectors keeping a knife pristine and users beating a knife daily pay the bills for Spyderco equally. One side may get more street cred, but both side's opinions should matter.
I'm in the middle, a light user.

Agreed 100%.

This is probably one of the most reasonable and sane statements I've seen so far regarding this issue here.

Thanks! I rarely get referred to as sane in real life.

I guess that makes two of us!

[twinboysdad]

I may be in the minority, but if it were me I’d exchange it for a different one. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with you wanting an example that doesn’t have overt QC flaws.

Agree, that’s not a 9/10 example. I think QC let it slide because of the steel

[twinboysdad]

...people expecting pocket jewelry.
...people then complain about flaws that have nothing to do with safety and performance.
..." I hate it, it has a spot!"

-I don’t hate it, I literally said in my OP that I am keeping the knife and do not want a refund

-I literally asked the people on this forum to tell me and inform me if this is normal. That means I have not made up my mind or arrived at a conclusion of what is acceptable or not (otherwise, I wouldn't be asking). How are you misconstruing that as a complaint? How could I have more clearly expressed that I am not set on imposing my standards on any company, person, or knife, and am, in fact, asking to be told what the standard is?

-I’m not expecting pocket jewelry from an FRN knife from the most affordable way I can possibly get exceptionally well treated exotic steel. I use my Sebenza; I don’t even treat that like safe queen piece of jewelry. There are knives that I would feel bad about scratching up, but that threshold is somewhere along the lines of Benchmade gold class, and not an FRN Spyderco or even Sebenza.


-This point is not directed at The Mastiff, but broadly to a number of replies in this thread:
Yes, I am going to use this knife, like I use my Demko and Chris Reeve knives. Yes, it will get sharpened. No, I am not comparing the finishing standard of an FRN Spyderco compared to Demko or Chris Reeve knives. I am, in fact, comparing the finishing standard of this Spyderco knife to my other Spyderco knives, and have noticed the grind/finish falls short of my other Spyderco knives. I wanted to know if I had simply gotten lucky with my other 3 Spyderco knives with perfect-to-me grinds, and it would seem the answer is yes, I did get lucky with my other ones, and this one still falls within acceptable tolerances/standards for a Spyderco knife at this price point. And that is okay with me. I just wanted to know.

It wouldn’t have taken a little longer for the person who crafted the blade to clean it up a little bit. Those flaws would bug me a bit too.

[Scandi Grind]

-I don’t hate it, I literally said in my OP that I am keeping the knife and do not want a refund

-I literally asked the people on this forum to tell me and inform me if this is normal. That means I have not made up my mind or arrived at a conclusion of what is acceptable or not (otherwise, I wouldn't be asking). How are you misconstruing that as a complaint? How could I have more clearly expressed that I am not set on imposing my standards on any company, person, or knife, and am, in fact, asking to be told what the standard is?

-I’m not expecting pocket jewelry from an FRN knife from the most affordable way I can possibly get exceptionally well treated exotic steel. I use my Sebenza; I don’t even treat that like safe queen piece of jewelry. There are knives that I would feel bad about scratching up, but that threshold is somewhere along the lines of Benchmade gold class, and not an FRN Spyderco or even Sebenza.


-This point is not directed at The Mastiff, but broadly to a number of replies in this thread:
Yes, I am going to use this knife, like I use my Demko and Chris Reeve knives. Yes, it will get sharpened. No, I am not comparing the finishing standard of an FRN Spyderco compared to Demko or Chris Reeve knives. I am, in fact, comparing the finishing standard of this Spyderco knife to my other Spyderco knives, and have noticed the grind/finish falls short of my other Spyderco knives. I wanted to know if I had simply gotten lucky with my other 3 Spyderco knives with perfect-to-me grinds, and it would seem the answer is yes, I did get lucky with my other ones, and this one still falls within acceptable tolerances/standards for a Spyderco knife at this price point. And that is okay with me. I just wanted to know.

Don't worry, it is not what you posted that is a problem. This sort of topic for whatever reason always baits the less courteous responses. I'm not sure why exactly, but I have just accepted it as matter of course at this point that any topic that brings up a flaw in a knife will result in some unproductive conversation.

It's nice to see so many giving OP reasonable, kind responses, even if they themselves would happily keep this sample. That said, some posts seem dismissive and others are borderline disrespectful, which is really too bad.

I don't think there's anything wrong with being disappointed with receiving this sample. If anything, it's a sign of respect to Spyderco, the Golden factory, and (with all due respect to our non-American friends!) American manufacturing capabilities to expect better.

^ +1

Part of the point of my earlier post too wasn't to disregard the problem, but rather to point out that each person has their own reason for buying a knife, and I don't think we should say that anyone's reason is worse than ours. I don't worry that much about finish, but I can see why somebody else would. I don't expect perfect knives at this price point, but some others seem to. I may not agree but I'm fine with that. Let's just keep it cordial.

[tzirconia]

Hi @pkennethv,
My 15V Para3 LW looks just like the picture posted by @WilliamMunny in post 14 of this thread. To my eye it looks very similar to yours but without the visible grind lines near the top of the blade. Hope this helps!

[Fastidiotus]

To my eye the edge looks like a perfectly normal Spyderco edge. The tip looks fine to me and the way the edge terminates at the ricasso is typical of Spyderco due to the lack of a sharpening choil.

The deep grind lines mixed with the stonewash finish are not typical of Spyderco quality. Personally that knife making it into the wild and not having a factory seconds notch is cool in an error coin kind of way. If you don't want that though it's not a weird or unreasonable expectation that the stonewash finish would be consistent across the entire blade

[Vamais]

That may be a faster/cheaper way to get new steels to the end user.

It's called the Mule Team program.

And I think that there should be a Mule Team program for folders. The Para 3 or Native 5 may be good platforms.

[Vamais]

No offense to anyone, but I personally think that this forum is at its best/most useful when performance is tested, reported on, and discussed. I think that quality control questions should be directed to Spyderco's warranty department, who can actually do something about problems. Perhaps everyone would benefit if there was a dedicated subforum for quality complaints. Those who want to discuss such things can do so there, without irking those who do not want to see such complaints in General Discussion.

Also, I personally like that Spyderco chooses not to ship knives with sharpening choils. Anyone who wants one can grind one in to the depth desired. And those who dislike them (such as myself) don't have to have them.

[weeping minora]

That may be a faster/cheaper way to get new steels to the end user.

It's called the Mule Team program.

And I think that there should be a Mule Team program for folders. The Para 3 or Native 5 may be good platforms.

I recall this being a topic of discussion years ago, with the UKPK being an alternative in keeping the costs down. I think it would still be a nice platform to get to EDC new Mule approved steels. Perhaps each manufacturer gets a specific ~3" model from their line-up to run this program (i.e. Sage in Taiwan, Delica in Seki, Native/Para 3/UKPK in Golden, etc.). Not a feasible likelihood, but with enough swaying, Spyderco may one day consider it.

[Jimandchris2]

Never saw that.

[weeping minora]

Never saw that.

viewtopic.php?t=83771&hilit=Folding+Mule+Team

[sv4]

To my eye the edge looks like a perfectly normal Spyderco edge. The tip looks fine to me and the way the edge terminates at the ricasso is typical of Spyderco due to the lack of a sharpening choil.

The deep grind lines mixed with the stonewash finish are not typical of Spyderco quality. Personally that knife making it into the wild and not having a factory seconds notch is cool in an error coin kind of way. If you don't want that though it's not a weird or unreasonable expectation that the stonewash finish would be consistent across the entire blade

I agree with this. The grind at the tip looks similar to other Para 3s & PM2s that I have. The “recurve” at the ricasso is also typical. But the blade’s surface finish being “half finished” like that is atypical. Hope this helps.

[pkennethv]

Well, I'm sorry to hear about the disappointments.

I'm happy to hear that the action and tightness is satisfactory.

I would be excited to hear about your experiences with the 15V if you decide to use and keep it.

Thanks for sharing with us.

No doubt I’m keeping (and using) it! I had zero intention of returning the knife because wanting to experience your treatment of 15V is the only reason why I bought it (which doesn’t mean I’m not surprised when it arrives looking very different to my other Para 3 and wanted to know if it’s normal or not).

I am, in fact, so interested in trying out your treatment of the steel, I broke my self-imposed rule of not buying any more triangle/leaf shaped blades! I would buy them because I’m excited to try different steels offered by Spyderco, but truth be told, when I’m actually using my knives, I’ve found myself, more often than not, preferring narrower shaped blades (the shape of the Bugout’s and Sebenza’s blade). It took a whole lot of dicipline for me not get the Rex121 Sage, but you have broken me!

[vivi]

Also, I personally like that Spyderco chooses not to ship knives with sharpening choils. Anyone who wants one can grind one in to the depth desired. And those who dislike them (such as myself) don't have to have them.

It's not an either or situation.

This Buck retails for $20-30 and comes with the full edge sharpened:



Meanwhile $200+ Military 2's don't:



Not sure why this is, but it is typical of Spyderco.

I wish they'd sharpen the full edge instead of requiring users to fix it themselves.

But, I'll take their current method of sharpening over companies that add those dumb notches 100/100 times.

[Red Leader]

For instance, I own a factory second Sage in Rex121 with a perfectly ground and finished blade, free of any apparent flaws. This factory second surpasses the OP’s factory first in terms of quality by a pretty large margin.

Yep, my Rex-121 2nd is awesome, I can't find any particular reason for it to have been returned as well, other than a slightly stout detent, which I like.

FWIW, going to the Seconds Sale afforded the opportunity to look, hold, feel, (slightly) use knives that had been returned and qualified as 'seconds'. I saw some extreme examples, with some ultra sticky pivots, lock stick, etc., but some extremely minor examples, such as a tiny dot on the blade, and plenty where I couldn't find anything wrong at all.

I'll agree w/ the other member here that said that the blade edge looks typical, and the grind lines look atypical. That being said, it is a cosmetic issue, and if the OP is okay keeping it, I imagine it will be a sweet user. The partial grind lines give it some character, sort of like a finger print. Hope you enjoy it!

[Wartstein]

Collectors keeping a knife pristine and users beating a knife daily pay the bills for Spyderco equally. One side may get more street cred, but both side's opinions should matter.
I'm in the middle, a light user.

Very well put.

As I always say: I personally consider myself to be a "true user" in the context of this forum:
My enjoyment of Spydercos happens to come solely through really using and comparing all of them in every folder task that might occur (if I don´t feel like using one, I´d immediately sell it).
Actually the rarer they are, they more I want to try and use them. I also much prefer the looks of a used, scratched up, unique, distinctive, even not perfect from the factory knife (as long as it is no functional issue) over a "boring" new and shiny "perfect" one.
So for me ops Para 3 would be perfectly ok.

BUT, that said:
How would for example a no nonsense craftsman who among his other tools also owns one or two knives, purely cause he needs those for his work ... perceive me and my knife use?:
Probably as an a bit weird guy and collector who is not even in a line of work that requires knife use but still spends way to much money for way to many knives ("tools") with way to "overblown" steels than he even remotely would need...

What I am trying to say is: In a way this is a matter of perspective, and who am I to judge what is the right way to enjoy Spydies ?

That does not mean though that sometimes out of true interest and with all due respect I do ask and want to comprehend people who are concerned with things I personally don´t "feel" (perfect centering being the main one here). But that does not mean my individual approach would be any better or worse than anybody elses is.

[gimibala]

When I purchase a knife, whether it’s in the $10-$300 range, I expect it to be perfect straight from the factory. Quality is incredibly important to me, regardless of whether the knife is going to be used heavily or kept in a collection. I’ve noticed in other threads and YouTube videos that there have been some recurring issues with this batch of Para 3 15V.

I ordered one, and it arrived with noticeable lockstick, so I returned it right away. It’s important to note that members of this forum aren’t here just to praise the brand, but also to share concerns when a product falls short of expectations. By listening to the feedback from this community, Spyderco has the opportunity to improve the quality of their craftsmanship.