Anybody else afraid of hard use?
Anybody else afraid of hard use?
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'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 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.
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.
- Officer Gigglez
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- Location: Originally out of Arizona, currently live in Missouri.
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.
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
-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
- hunterseeker5
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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.
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.
- hunterseeker5
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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.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.
- Fred Sanford
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- this_is_nascar
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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
- The Deacon
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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!
My Personal Website ---- Beginners Guide to Spyderco Collecting ---- Spydiewiki
Deplorable :p
WTC # 1458 - 1504 - 1508 - Never Forget, Never Forgive!
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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.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.
- Strong-Dog
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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
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- this_is_nascar
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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
- chuck_roxas45
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This.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.
And 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.
http://uproxx.files.wordpress.com/2014/ ... ot-gif.gif" target="_blank
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.
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.
- chuck_roxas45
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Couldn't agree more, and thanks!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.