Scorpius : my impressions

[AllenETreat]

This design didn't seem too well received if

the printout the lovely Joyce Laituri sent me

from Bladeforums.com with the sales literature. Moving Target took shot at Jazzman with the remark "SS is more for a gentleman's knife and not for EDC" ( or along those lines ) I disagree. I spoke with

a cop in Hollywood, FLA before I left about his trusty SS Police SE. It had seen duty during hurricane Andrew in water and that slimy Florida mud that comes when that poor excuse for sand gets wet. It cut duct tape,

police cordon lines, seatbelts, and just about anything else WITHOUT slipping. I believe that average human grip is 30-50lbs

or more, so unless ya ain't got muscle, that

baby's not going nowhere <img src="wink.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle border=0> Then, look at the

Scorpius' ergonomic handle and that protrusion for MBC or breaking windows if

trying to escape from a vehicle ( or a downed

F-15 fighter jet for that matter ). My one problem with SS is the tendency to scratch and mar the surface, but that DOESN'T effect

Spyderco performance.



What say the augurers?



AET <img src="wink.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle border=0>

[swede]

Allen,

Great to see you back!! We've all missed and I hope you're feeling better now.

I like the Scorpius. Feels great, and I think the steel would not slip as easily in this grippy pattern. That said, for wet. sweaty palms, nothing beats G10 IMHO. It just always feels warm and grabby.

Stay well,

Dave

[Jeweler]

I heard that they are going to change the lanyard hole placment on the scorpius because where it is know makes the back end of the knife look like a Dolphin. This bothers Eric who designed the knife, I think it looks cool the way it is.

[The Cool]

Hey welcome back <img src="smile.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle border=0>

[travis quaas]

jeweler,
it still steams Eric to this day. But, I agree, I think it looks great just the way it is. I have to tell you though, Eric is a great sport about it.

Allen,
Thanks for the cool review. Nice ergos and it gives you that weight-y feel to it. I like it.

TQ

[The Deacon]

My personal opinion, admittedly based to some degree on things other than knives, is that surface texture and, to a lesser extent, shape, are far more important determinants of whether something feels slippery or not than is material. As an example, I love jigged bone and stag as handle materials, but if you took a piece of either, made it smooth as a babies bottom, and flat as a pancake, you would lose not only the look, but the tractive quality of the material as well. These materials work as well as they do not because of what they are, but because they are normally finished to take advantage of their natural roughness, in the case of stag, or accentuate it, in the case of jigged bone.

Another observation, if all FRN handles had a glossy finish like the ones on the Vesuvius, I doubt the material would be as popular as it is. It works well because Spyderco, and others, normally mold it in such a way as to make it non-slip.

Almite is another good case in point. When finished like it is on the Herbst, it gives a reasonably tractive surface, but when finished like it is on the Navigator, I find it much more slippery than SS. Same holds to some extent for micarta, I find the Shabaria is much "grippier" in the hand than say the JD Smith (ignore handle shape for a moment, just grasp the sides either handle between your thumb and forefinger tug on the knife with your other hand).

I like the look of SS handles but they could definitely be designed to be less slippery. The problem is, that unlike FRN which can be molded to any design, it most likely would be prohibitively expensive to design one with palm swells, finger grooves, and a surface that gave traction without wearing out your pockets. On the other hand, a slightly "toothy" sand blasted finish would probably be an reasonable cost improvement.

[dialex]

The Scorpius is cute. I'd like to se it in G-10 though...

<a href="http://users.pcnet.ro/dialex"><font color=blue>(my page)</font></a>

[dynaryder]

My main gripe w/SS has always been the weight. My early,linerless G-10 Police is so much easier to carry than the current SS.

As for grip,they could always knurl the surface of the SS. Could prolly do it yourself w/a Dremel.