My New Big Byrd

[Actinolite]

I have a few smaller Byrds, but I’ve only had one Big Byrd before this, a Raven 2. Now I have a second Big Byrd, the Gooney SE. In my opinion, both knives are a little big for me to EDC carry, especially in a nanny state, but your mileage may vary.

As with other Byrds, the Gooney is generally well made, with very good fit and finish. However, this sample has a finish flaw that is ugly, though fortunately, not casually visible. With the blade open, on the underside of the backspacer, there is a bad flaw that was partially smoothed during build. This isn’t pocket jewelry, it has no effect on function, so I don’t really care.

As the handle appears to be the same handle used on the Byrd Harrier model, its comfort in use is already well established. The Gooney has narrow, embedded liners (minimalist, according to Spyderco) that tie the knife pivot to the lockbar pivot and the backspacer. I like backlocks for their sturdy reliability and in-pocket safety. But sometimes new ones can be like this Gooney: very stiff. It can be fully opened by thumb with minor difficulty, but Spydie flick? Not a chance. As a utility knife, all I care about is that it open and close with one hand. My Gooney sample currently cannot be closed one-handed. It’ll improve with use.

The Gooney blade is thin enough (0.11”), when combined with the Spyderedge should make the Gooney a superior cutter (the Raven 2 blade is listed at 0.15”).

The reverse-S shape of the edge lends itself to cutting cardboard, rope, hose, and other every day items. In my only cutting so far (cardboard and one rubber hose), the hooked bill and reverse-S shape of the Gooney edge effortlessly hangs in and keeps cutting, while blades with bellies need extra care in use as they tend to slide or roll out of the cut. I’m looking forward to putting this beast through its paces. As far as the steel goes, I thought 8Cr worked well enough, but it tended to rust more easily than it should have (I have to make certain my Hawkbill is clean AND dry before putting it away after gardening). With 18% chromium content, 9Cr18MoV should be very rust resistant.

The Gooney is different, but as usual with Sal Glesser designs, the style has function. I also really like it. The Gooney blade clearly is well suited for utility purposes and for EDC where carrying a knife of this size is allowed. This one will live in my shop. Some months from now, I’ll post a followup of how useful (or not) it truly is.

[Manixguy@1994]

I have a few smaller Byrds, but I’ve only had one Big Byrd before this, a Raven 2. Now I have a second Big Byrd, the Gooney SE. In my opinion, both knives are a little big for me to EDC carry, especially in a nanny state, but your mileage may vary.

04-both.jpg

As with other Byrds, the Gooney is generally well made, with very good fit and finish. However, this sample has a finish flaw that is ugly, though fortunately, not casually visible. With the blade open, on the underside of the backspacer, there is a bad flaw that was partially smoothed during build. This isn’t pocket jewelry, it has no effect on function, so I don’t really care.

05-gooneyflaw.jpg

As the handle appears to be the same handle used on the Byrd Harrier model, its comfort in use is already well established. The Gooney has narrow, embedded liners (minimalist, according to Spyderco) that tie the knife pivot to the lockbar pivot and the backspacer. I like backlocks for their sturdy reliability and in-pocket safety. But sometimes new ones can be like this Gooney: very stiff. It can be fully opened by thumb with minor difficulty, but Spydie flick? Not a chance. As a utility knife, all I care about is that it open and close with one hand. My Gooney sample currently cannot be closed one-handed. It’ll improve with use.

The Gooney blade is thin enough (0.11”), when combined with the Spyderedge should make the Gooney a superior cutter (the Raven 2 blade is listed at 0.15”).

06-bladestock.jpg

The reverse-S shape of the edge lends itself to cutting cardboard, rope, hose, and other every day items. In my only cutting so far (cardboard and one rubber hose), the hooked bill and reverse-S shape of the Gooney edge effortlessly hangs in and keeps cutting, while blades with bellies need extra care in use as they tend to slide or roll out of the cut. I’m looking forward to putting this beast through its paces. As far as the steel goes, I thought 8Cr worked well enough, but it tended to rust more easily than it should have (I have to make certain my Hawkbill is clean AND dry before putting it away after gardening). With 18% chromium content, 9Cr18MoV should be very rust resistant.

The Gooney is different, but as usual with Sal Glesser designs, the style has function. I also really like it. The Gooney blade clearly is well suited for utility purposes and for EDC where carrying a knife of this size is allowed. This one will live in my shop. Some months from now, I’ll post a followup of how useful (or not) it truly is.

Thanks for mini review , exactly what I was hoping to see . Gooney SE will definitely be added to yard work knives . Size is my sweet spot and no worries in my state . It will probably spend a lot of time stored and ready in my SxS . MG2

[Actinolite]

After shredding some heavy and dirty cardboard boxes, the edge still seemed reasonably sharp, but I was curious how easily it could be touched up on a Sharpmaker. Turns out, because of the size and shape of the serrations, using the Sharpmaker is smooth and easy, almost as easy as sharpening a Chaparral SE. Keeping the Gooney sharp will be no problem with this tool.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Since the design is based on the albatross beak, would the Gooney make a good fishing and fish processing knife?

[Actinolite]

I've come up with an interesting quality control issue with my copy of the Gooney.

Byrd pocket clip screw patterns are pretty standard Spyderco patterns. I often replace Spyderco/Byrd clips that don't work for me with Lynch NW clips.

When I replaced the clip on the Gooney, I found that one original pocket clip screw was covered with a clear-to-slightly white adhesive. When I got the screw out, it turned out the bottom threads on the screw were stripped and likely cross-threaded. Someone "fixed" the stripped screw by glueing it in place.

A close examination revealed that particular screw hole had poor alignment between the screw hole in the G-10 and threaded screw hole in the liner. I'm guessing if more people remove their Gooney pocket clips some will find similar issues. This misalignment is visible in other pocket clip screw holes as well.

Sal, a first suggestion for CQI -- have the Chinese manufacturer revise their setup to insure proper alignment between G-10 and liner pocket clip screw holes.

[Actinolite]

Since the design is based on the albatross beak, would the Gooney make a good fishing and fish processing knife?

My guess is that it would work well for fishing, unless you plan to fillet your catch. The Gooney is a terrible shape for a fillet knife.

[Actinolite]

Here are two pics illustrating the alignment issue and one of the fixes applied by the factory.

First shows the Lil Native (Golden, CO) pocket clip holes. They are barely larger than the threaded inserts into the inside of the G-10. Of course, alignment is near perfect with this type of setup.

Next is a Byrd Crow 2 (China). The pocket clip holes are only slightly larger than the threaded liner holes, they line up well, and I had no problem changing pocket clips.

Last is the new Gooney SE (China). There is significant misalignment between the G-10 holes and the threaded liner holes. The factory dealt with this by drilling the G-10 holes much larger. Unfortunately, in this case, the larger G-10 hole was insufficient to prevent cross-threading by the factory.

Pocket clip hole misalignment has been noted by others, but I paid no attention until I tried to replace the pocket clip. Clearly, if someone was perfectly happy with the factory pocket clip, or they removed it completely, this would not be an issue.

This is truly a very useful knife that feels great in hand and does an excellent job. I look forward to the Gooney that CQI will create.

[Actinolite]

I've spent a month with the Gooney, and I continue to find it works exceptionally well as a shop and garden knife. It's comfortable in hand, the serrations cut very well, especially cardboard, fibrous items like rope and small branches as well as rubber hose. Additionally, it sharpens easily on a Sharp Maker.

I don't worry about the pocket clip, but one issue remains: the blade is still very stiff to close and stiffer to open. Next week I'm going to take it apart and see if I can find out why it's so stiff and, hopefully, correct it.

[Actinolite]

After two months of use, the action of my Gooney did not break in further. It was still rough, stiff, and required two hands to close. Pressing the lock bar released the blade, but it would not move out of the lock position without using either my other hand or pushing the spine of the blade against something.

I finally took the time to disassemble it and find out why. The primary cause was the blade pivot, which was too tight. It was held in place with blue thread locker, so loosening the T8 pivot wasn't a problem. Once loosened enough that the blade moved more freely but did not introduce significant blade play, it was better but it was still rough and too stiff. Pressing the lockbar required a firm shake to move the blade away from the locked position.

After disassembling, I found the pivot area to be dirty with very fine, black material that could have been metal powder. I cleaned both liners, the blade, and the phosphor bronze washers. I also found the friction area of lock bar (which locks into the blade) to be uneven, rough, and only touching the blade along one thin area along one side. I could not do a complete fix, as I didn't want remove significant metal from this area. But I smoothed it with a stone. I then reassembled the Gooney with light lubrication on the blade where the lockbar rides and on both pivots. After reassembly, the action is smoother and slightly easier to open. When pressing the lockbar, the blade releases and drops away from the locked position sufficiently to close it one-handed. The action is not as smooth and clean as on my Golden or Seki City backlocks, but it is quite acceptable.

This is one of my favorite knives to use because of its excellent design. At some point, I found myself wishing it could be made in Golden to match the quality of other knives made there. Then again, doubling the price would not improve its usefulness.