Anybody else afraid of hard use?

Discuss Spyderco's products and history.
bmwfish
Member
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Feb 05, 2014 3:08 pm

Anybody else afraid of hard use?

#1

Post by bmwfish »

Hello,

I'm fish (bmwfish here) and I'm addicted to knives. I'm fairly agnostic about my addiction. I own Spyderco, Benchmade, Kershaw, KA-BAR, Becker, CRKT, Buck, SOG and others. I'm hard on most of my knives. Probably too hard, but I do use them for what they were designed for and in some cases, what they weren't designed for. My bad. :D In addition to knives, I also own, enjoy, and abuse firearms, motorcycles, and 4WD trucks. So that's my intro. Now to the meat of my post.

I love my Spydercos and own about a dozen, including Para2, Sage 1-4, Delica, Endura, Native, Dragonfly, and Manix2. But I have grown afraid to use them because of Spyderco's policy of not replacing blades. If I break the tip off, they won't sell me a replacement blade, even if I send it to them for repair. They will just regrind it...maybe. That said, I have not yet broken a tip and I don't want to, but knowing that the knife will never be the same has caused me second thought about carrying them. If I drop my Sage 4 and bust the tip off, I'm screwed. And out a lot of money. I hate that. :(

I didn't really think about this too much until I sent in three damaged knives to Benchmade. They pretty much rebuilt them with new pins, screws, and springs. They also installed a brand spanking new S30V blade on my Osborne 943 because I wanted a plain edge instead of combo. That new blade cost me $25. It is this type of service that helps me feel confident about my BMs and I'm not afraid to use them hard, as I know if I ever screw one up, I can get it fixed no questions asked. That is NOT the case with Spyderco and some of these knives cost a LOT of money.

So my question to the forum: are any of you afraid to use your knives in fear of breaking it and not being able to get it repaired? And by repaired, I don't mean regrinding and making the blade shorter. I bought a 3" blade. I don't want to have to live with a 2.75" regrind. I want a new blade and I don't mind paying for one.

It makes me want to stop spending my hard-earned dollars on Spyderco knives.

Am I being petty? Am I worrying for no good reason? I welcome your feedback.
TomAiello
Member
Posts: 6655
Joined: Tue Jun 11, 2013 10:34 pm
Location: Twin Falls, ID

#2

Post by TomAiello »

I have a reground PM2. It's just 1/8" shorter, but honestly I don't notice the difference in use at all.

To answer your question: No. Once I've decided I'm using a knife, it gets used and/or abused as hard as any other. Honestly, if I snap the blade on my Manix 2, I'll just buy another one. It may be expensive, but it's cheaper than buying a bunch of knives you don't use, and if you've got a dozen Spydies already you can afford to buy more as replacements.
User avatar
Officer Gigglez
Member
Posts: 801
Joined: Wed Nov 13, 2013 5:22 pm
Location: Originally out of Arizona, currently live in Missouri.

#3

Post by Officer Gigglez »

Only for the more expensive and/or rare ones. I have some custom traditional Kbits straight out of West Java in Indonesia that I keep in a display case that I would not allow to be used to hard use. I also don't put any of my EDC defensive blades through hard use, as they are for that purpose only. As such, I also carry a utility knife specifically for hard use. Which has been a Tenacious for a long time. I don't worry too much about it for several reasons. One is that it was relatively cheap and destroying would be of little to no concern too me. And two, it is good supply in just about anywhere that sells knives, so replacing it is essentially just a matter of having the money.
In short, don't put extreme hard use on your more prized blades, and have some specifically for being abused.
Spyderco Knives (in order of obtainment):
-Tenacious, Combo edge
-Tasman Salt, PE
-Persistence Blue, PE
-Pacific Salt, Black, PE
-Delica 4, Emerson Grey
-DiAlex Junior
-Byrd SS Crossbill, PE
-Endura 4 Emerson Grey
-Byrd Meadowlark 2 FRN, PE
-Resilience
User avatar
hunterseeker5
Member
Posts: 530
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2010 4:23 pm
Location: Usually somewhere on the east coast

#4

Post by hunterseeker5 »

Not terribly afraid of it, just know what the knife is used for.

Here is the thing. If you have a fat knife, and are using it to pry, when it fails it'll be sudden and with little warning most likely. With a nice thin knife though, it'll be able to take less force yes, but it'll flex as a warning before it yields and eventually snaps. Our knives aren't nearly as brittle and fragile as you might have thought. Using "hard use" knives from lesser manufacturers which have improper heat treats or other damage has lead many people to mistakenly expect imminent failure from their knives at all times. Spyderco's pretty consistent quality is part of why their grinds are leaner than many other companies, but you rarely see pictures of a broken spyderco plastered all over the internet. Likewise you rarely hear spyderco AFIs telling you that cutting a ziptie is "abusive," and that they carry a special utility knife just to do that. ROFLMAO. :P

Welcome to the club. Buy, use, enjoy. If you really do use your knives, not just decorate yourself with them, I suspect you'll find yourself with an ever increasing percentage of spyders.
Bill1170
Member
Posts: 2770
Joined: Tue Oct 20, 2009 7:34 pm
Location: San Diego North County

#5

Post by Bill1170 »

I don't fear breaking my Spyderco folders, no. I use mine in construction work, haven't broken a tip yet. If you regularly break off parts of blades, I can see how you might want to buy a brand that offers replacement blades.
User avatar
hunterseeker5
Member
Posts: 530
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2010 4:23 pm
Location: Usually somewhere on the east coast

#6

Post by hunterseeker5 »

Bill1170 wrote:I don't fear breaking my Spyderco folders, no. I use mine in construction work, haven't broken a tip yet. If you regularly break off parts of blades, I can see how you might want to buy a brand that offers replacement blades.
As an addendum, if you regularly break blades, I'd recommend buying from a brand that specifically designs their knives to resist this and warranties as such. Busse comes to mind.
User avatar
Fred Sanford
Member
Posts: 5734
Joined: Fri Jun 02, 2006 12:41 pm
Location: Ohio, USA

#7

Post by Fred Sanford »

Nope.
"I'm calling YOU ugly, I could push your face in some dough and make gorilla cookies." - Fred Sanford
User avatar
this_is_nascar
Member
Posts: 777
Joined: Wed Aug 28, 2013 6:37 am
Location: Gloucester City, NJ

#8

Post by this_is_nascar »

bmwfish wrote:Hello,

I'm fish (bmwfish here) and I'm addicted to knives. I'm fairly agnostic about my addiction. I own Spyderco, Benchmade, Kershaw, KA-BAR, Becker, CRKT, Buck, SOG and others. I'm hard on most of my knives. Probably too hard, but I do use them for what they were designed for and in some cases, what they weren't designed for. My bad. :D In addition to knives, I also own, enjoy, and abuse firearms, motorcycles, and 4WD trucks. So that's my intro. Now to the meat of my post.

I love my Spydercos and own about a dozen, including Para2, Sage 1-4, Delica, Endura, Native, Dragonfly, and Manix2. But I have grown afraid to use them because of Spyderco's policy of not replacing blades. If I break the tip off, they won't sell me a replacement blade, even if I send it to them for repair. They will just regrind it...maybe. That said, I have not yet broken a tip and I don't want to, but knowing that the knife will never be the same has caused me second thought about carrying them. If I drop my Sage 4 and bust the tip off, I'm screwed. And out a lot of money. I hate that. :(

I didn't really think about this too much until I sent in three damaged knives to Benchmade. They pretty much rebuilt them with new pins, screws, and springs. They also installed a brand spanking new S30V blade on my Osborne 943 because I wanted a plain edge instead of combo. That new blade cost me $25. It is this type of service that helps me feel confident about my BMs and I'm not afraid to use them hard, as I know if I ever screw one up, I can get it fixed no questions asked. That is NOT the case with Spyderco and some of these knives cost a LOT of money.

So my question to the forum: are any of you afraid to use your knives in fear of breaking it and not being able to get it repaired? And by repaired, I don't mean regrinding and making the blade shorter. I bought a 3" blade. I don't want to have to live with a 2.75" regrind. I want a new blade and I don't mind paying for one.

It makes me want to stop spending my hard-earned dollars on Spyderco knives.

Am I being petty? Am I worrying for no good reason? I welcome your feedback.

I hadn't realized that Spyderco had this policy concerning the blades. That really sucks. That being said, for what BM charges nowadays for their knives, they should be giving you that replacement blade at little to no cost.
"The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun". --- Wayne LaPierre 12/21/2012
User avatar
The Deacon
Member
Posts: 25717
Joined: Fri Sep 24, 2004 10:33 am
Location: Upstate SC, USA
Contact:

#9

Post by The Deacon »

Nope, no fear of breakage whatsoever. Been carrying a pocket knife for 60 years. Can't recall ever dropping one while it was open and the only knives I've ever broken the tips of accidentally were X-Actos. If I were to screw up, drop one of my Spydercos, and break the tip of the blade off, I would not rail against the manufacturer, I'd blame myself and move on. As for "hard use", if I want to pry, I use a prybar, if I need to loosen a screw, I use a screwdriver, if I want to camp out, I carry a robust fixed blade for the heavy work, and if I need to de-limb a tree in my yard, I grab a saw, axe, or machete.
Paul
My Personal Website ---- Beginners Guide to Spyderco Collecting ---- Spydiewiki
Deplorable :p
WTC # 1458 - 1504 - 1508 - Never Forget, Never Forgive!
MadMaximus
Member
Posts: 143
Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2014 2:57 pm

#10

Post by MadMaximus »

this_is_nascar wrote:I hadn't realized that Spyderco had this policy concerning the blades. That really sucks. That being said, for what BM charges nowadays for their knives, they should be giving you that replacement blade at little to no cost.
I'm in the Navy and I use mostly benchmades because of their warranty. I've broken the blades on 2 grips and an auto Stryker on the boat. The blades were replaced 100% free (without asking a question) and my shipping was even reimbursed. BM has the best warranty out there: free blades, hardware, sharpenings (if you can't do it), and clips. Can't beat that, but my awesome experience might just be a military hook-up.
User avatar
Strong-Dog
Member
Posts: 703
Joined: Sat Dec 14, 2013 7:49 pm
Contact:

#11

Post by Strong-Dog »

If its use is so hard I think it might break it, I use a fixed blade or another tool. My Spyderco's are normally just edc knives, and I have never encountered an edc task that would break my spyderco. I did however take my endura to a landscaping job I was doing once, and abused the crap out of it, and it held up beautifully. I normally wouldn't have, but I needed the performance of a spyderco
"For a second, I thought I was dead, but when I heard all the noise I knew they were cops. Only cops talk that way. If they had been wiseguys, I wouldn't have heard a thing. I would've been dead."

-Henry Hill
User avatar
Leon
Member
Posts: 105
Joined: Mon Nov 18, 2013 5:47 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

#12

Post by Leon »

I'm personally to scared to hard or even semi-hard use my Spydies..I'm especially paranoid about messing up the blade centering :(
User avatar
dbcad
Member
Posts: 3111
Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2010 3:59 pm
Location: ga, usa

#13

Post by dbcad »

Welcome, good forum..............What are you doing to your knives fish :eek: :eek:?????
Charlie

" Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler."

[CENTER]"Integrity is being good even if no one is watching"[/CENTER]
User avatar
78lilred
Member
Posts: 335
Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2011 11:04 am
Location: Lincoln, Nebraska

#14

Post by 78lilred »

I beat the **** out of my Tuff, the rest of my knives I'll think twice or take a better approach.
M390 Para2, CTS-XHP Para2, CTS-204P Para2, Gayle Bradley, Techno, Bob T Slipit, M390 Mule, Southard, Southfork, Air, Tuff, ZDP Caly 3.5.
User avatar
this_is_nascar
Member
Posts: 777
Joined: Wed Aug 28, 2013 6:37 am
Location: Gloucester City, NJ

#15

Post by this_is_nascar »

MadMaximus wrote:I'm in the Navy and I use mostly benchmades because of their warranty. I've broken the blades on 2 grips and an auto Stryker on the boat. The blades were replaced 100% free (without asking a question) and my shipping was even reimbursed. BM has the best warranty out there: free blades, hardware, sharpenings (if you can't do it), and clips. Can't beat that, but my awesome experience might just be a military hook-up.

... and again, they may explain the up-front cost of purchase. Don't get me wrong, I think the policy is great. I like know that if I snap the blade on my 940, I can have it replaced for $25+/- and shipping. That being said, buying a new 940 cost you a boatload of coin in my opinion. You charge high (in my opinion) up-front, to pay for the folks asking for free clips because they don't like the clip that came with the knife, etc. Thank you for your service to our country Sir.
"The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun". --- Wayne LaPierre 12/21/2012
User avatar
chuck_roxas45
Member
Posts: 8776
Joined: Wed Mar 03, 2010 5:43 pm
Location: Small City, Philippines

#16

Post by chuck_roxas45 »

Bill1170 wrote:I don't fear breaking my Spyderco folders, no. I use mine in construction work, haven't broken a tip yet. If you regularly break off parts of blades, I can see how you might want to buy a brand that offers replacement blades.
This.
hunterseeker5 wrote:As an addendum, if you regularly break blades, I'd recommend buying from a brand that specifically designs their knives to resist this and warranties as such. Busse comes to mind.
And this.
User avatar
Blerv
Member
Posts: 11833
Joined: Mon May 04, 2009 11:24 am

#17

Post by Blerv »

All knives are designed for a fair amount of "hard work". An abused knife is one where you break off the tip or it snaps at mid-spine.

There are a few makers out there who have "no questions asked" warranties for abused products. Typically they are priced far higher than another product of similar quality and materials (1075 carbon fixed blades for $90, etc). Essentially they have built in replacement insurance to the cost that everyone pays for, abusive or not.

Until you snap a tip or break a blade in half the benefit of such a warranty or a 6 ounce obtusely ground knife is simply a perceived need. Once it becomes a reality then a smart shopper will either match the product to the person/job or buy one with a good warranty and kick caution to the wind.
User avatar
chuck_roxas45
Member
Posts: 8776
Joined: Wed Mar 03, 2010 5:43 pm
Location: Small City, Philippines

#18

Post by chuck_roxas45 »

Here you go...

[video=youtube;vppcTypI6vY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vppcTypI6vY[/video]
User avatar
Holland
Member
Posts: 7567
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2012 10:37 pm
Location: Alberta

#19

Post by Holland »

Nope, you'll never bring out the best in your knife if you don't give it a workout :D

Welcome to the forums!
-Spencer

Rotation:
Gayle Bradley 2 | Mantra 1 | Watu | Chaparral 1 | Dragonfly 2 Salt SE
MadMaximus
Member
Posts: 143
Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2014 2:57 pm

#20

Post by MadMaximus »

this_is_nascar wrote:... and again, they may explain the up-front cost of purchase. Don't get me wrong, I think the policy is great. I like know that if I snap the blade on my 940, I can have it replaced for $25+/- and shipping. That being said, buying a new 940 cost you a boatload of coin in my opinion. You charge high (in my opinion) up-front, to pay for the folks asking for free clips because they don't like the clip that came with the knife, etc. Thank you for your service to our country Sir.
Couldn't agree more, and thanks!
Post Reply