Spyderco/Farid K2

[Laethageal]

This knife really draws attention to it. Chum just made it's first post because of it after being a member of the forum for 2 years :P

[san-mai-usa]

To me, this knife has what I want, the reliably and quality of Spyderco, the "metal head" loving side of me in the blade steel, and a great design by Farid. What's not to like?

And this is a perfectly valid answer to the question! There's no shame in not absolutely functionally optimizing every design. Sal's anecdote on how this knife came to be sheds some light on the design as well. And some of us STILL thought the knife was too beefy!

A lot of Farid's designs and "style" fall into a very specific taste nich.
We over in the UK call it "marmite". You either like it or hate it, and sometimes the Farid look isn't for everyone.
The collaboration with Sal has blended this into an excellent knife that suits a more general public, yet still retaining the Farid touch and look.

[sal]

Assuming we all agree that there is no best best steel for blades (though we still look for one), it becomes what will be the best steel for my most important application, then my second most important application, etc.

If we only used scientific method to design, then all designs for a particular application would all look the same. So much for variety and diversification.

Then we add "looks", "feel", "spirit", personal preferences, ect. "I like it" is a perfectly good answer. "I like it because" is better even if there is disagreement, but not necessary. Disagreement is often how we learn. In the end, we can always agree to disagree.

In a family, there is always at least one family member that has habits other may not like. "The success of any relationship is totally dependent on the bad habits one is willing to tolerate!" "she's always late", I can live with. "He beats me" is less tolerable.

Cliff, Farid, Jim, Phil, Ed, even sal all have their way or style. Enjoy the good.

sal

[Laethageal]

I was looking for some info on the size/dimension of the knife and found this article if anyone else was wondering:

The approximate specifications of the K2 prototype are:
Overall Length: 25,5 cm / 10.03 inches
Edge Length: 11,5 cm / 4.52 inches
Blade Length: 11,5 cm / 4.52 inches
Blade Thickness: 0,35 cm / 0.14 inches

http://spydercollector.wordpress.com/20 ... d-mehr-k2/" target="_blank

As for thickness behing the edge, we're gonna have to wait for either Sal or Farid to tell us.

[Chum]

This knife really draws attention to it. Chum just made it's first post because of it after being a member of the forum for 2 years :P

Was it my first? I have been lurking here for so long I didn't realize :)

[Cliff Stamp]

Cleaning FRN is a pain will all the groves in the pattern.

You don't need to checker FRN, people just do it because it is so easy to do. I have never had to resort to anything more than just running water to clean mine however I don't exactly try to make them spotless. What exactly are you getting in there, something like dried plaster dust?

Titanium handle with RIL once again is a breeze to clean up ...

Yeah, a lot of people design flow through construction for this, I have a bunch of them. I prefer the security/reliability of the compression lock however which is why I carry a Paramilitary vs a Military even though in all other respects I would prefer the Military. My brother however is the exact opposite and won't carry a compression lock because he finds the opening completely nonsensical to the point it is just awkward.

[HarleyXJGuy]

This knife really draws attention to it. Chum just made it's first post because of it after being a member of the forum for 2 years :P

Was it my first? I have been lurking here for so long I didn't realize :)

Something about this strikes me as funny.

Welcome to the forum??

[sal]

Hi Chum,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

[Wanimator]

Haha, I wish I could've joined here sooner... And gotten Spydercos sooner.

[Laethageal]

When I use my knife, I take care not to damage the edge if possible. If I'm stuck in a weird situation that need a cut to be made that I know it could result in the edge chipping/deforming/other without having other easy means to get the work done, I do it. When my working gloves are dirty I'll only remove them some of the times depending of various reason like easy of cutting, will I risk to nick myself while making this particular cut, will I need to put my hands on particulary dirty items. If I'm gonna put some penetrox (a compound grease for electrical connection between high-voltage aluminium connectors) on my hand I'll keep my gloves on and get my knife dirty instead. The thing is, that product is recognized to cause cancer (in particular into the genital zone), which my knife can't get while I can. That nasty grease has the habit of being particulary sticky to FRN, and attrack dust and sand and other thing like a magnet. Being dark grey, it also get deep into the FRN and is almost as hard to clean then permanent marker. Well not nearly has much, but **** what a boring job.

Some other thing that is really sticky to the FRN texturing is expending foam used to fill some electrical pipes to prevent the cable from moving, much like what's used in house buidling. Someone asked me to cut some that expended out of a pipe after his x-acto broke trying to. The thing is, the middle wasn't dry yet and got on the texturing. Took me nearly a full hour that night to clean the mess. Would have taken me 1 or 2 minutes on a knife like the K2.

[Wanimator]

Finally somebody that gets a design like this!

[Cliff Stamp]

Some other thing that is really sticky to the FRN texturing is expending foam used to fill some electrical pipes to prevent the cable from moving, much like what's used in house buidling. Someone asked me to cut some that expended out of a pipe after his x-acto broke trying to. The thing is, the middle wasn't dry yet and got on the texturing. Took me nearly a full hour that night to clean the mess.

Ha, I would not clean that out of FRN grooves, it would just be left in there to wear out. You just have to leave it cure fully and then it will come off fairly easily unless you want to make it spotless. The biggest issue would be getting it in the lock face. Cans of that stuff are used as practical jokes all the time in construction. Just take a can, put it in someones pouch and crack off the head - congratulations, you just made a friend for life. It backfires as often as it works as the guy trying to be funny gets more of it on them. One of the worst cases I saw was someone set one off by accident in the back seat of his truck.

[san-mai-usa]

Some other thing that is really sticky to the FRN texturing is expending foam used to fill some electrical pipes to prevent the cable from moving, much like what's used in house buidling. Someone asked me to cut some that expended out of a pipe after his x-acto broke trying to. The thing is, the middle wasn't dry yet and got on the texturing. Took me nearly a full hour that night to clean the mess.

Ha, I would not clean that out of FRN grooves, it would just be left in there to wear out. You just have to leave it cure fully and then it will come off fairly easily unless you want to make it spotless. The biggest issue would be getting it in the lock face. Cans of that stuff are used as practical jokes all the time in construction. Just take a can, put it in someones pouch and crack off the head - congratulations, you just made a friend for life. It backfires as often as it works as the guy trying to be funny gets more of it on them. One of the worst cases I saw was someone set one off by accident in the back seat of his truck.

Which may be very funny at the time, but actually has nothing to do with this long awaited, very desirable Spyderco/Farid collaboration.
I look forward to the testing that Farid intends to do very shortly.

[Laethageal]

Absolutly. I was simply explaining to Cliff why I like the K2 design in term of ease to clean up in case of different mess versus FRN handle.

On another subjet, I just realized how BIG this knife is. At 4.52" edge length that would be the biggest folder I ever owned if I get to be lucky enough to pick one of the sprint pieces. I wonder how comfortable it would fit in my hand. I have slightly larger than average hand, but not what would be considered as big hand. San-Mai, do you own some Spyderco so you could do comparison picture of the size?

[tvenuto]

I do believe this is a production collaboration, so you're in luck.

[san-mai-usa]

Absolutly. I was simply explaining to Cliff why I like the K2 design in term of ease to clean up in case of different mess versus FRN handle.

On another subjet, I just realized how BIG this knife is. At 4.52" edge length that would be the biggest folder I ever owned if I get to be lucky enough to pick one of the sprint pieces. I wonder how comfortable it would fit in my hand. I have slightly larger than average hand, but not what would be considered as big hand. San-Mai, do you own some Spyderco so you could do comparison picture of the size?

My Spyderco/Farid has obviously not yet arrived, but I have three of Farid's K2's that I can post a picture of next to a couple of Spyderco folders that I have to hand.
The dimensions on the press release appear to be the same as close as, to my hand mades, so it will be a big muther.
Blade 4.5", overall, a tad over 10". I can't find my damascus version (I often mislay knives, a down side to having too many) but here are the S-90 and the CPM-121 next to the Spyderco Civilian, which is also not a small knife. Oh and my Horn C29.
The last pic is of the damascus lightning carbon fibre, at least that's what it looked like when I last saw it….. :confused:

[WireEdge Roger]

Man that's a big knife. I hope the handle isn't too wide top to bottom to afford a comfy grip. I'm excited to get one, though.

[Laethageal]

Wow that thing is a tank lol!

Thanks for the pictures

[san-mai-usa]

Man that's a big knife. I hope the handle isn't too wide top to bottom to afford a comfy grip. I'm excited to get one, though.

And you should be.
This is not a knife that Sal and Farid are putting out there because they need to.
The K2 has been around from Farid for a long time in a variety of versions. It is iconic and whenever Farid does a run of them, they are sold before he begin production.
Now you have a collaboration with one of the finest knife making companies in the world, who's standard and customer service is second to none.
I believe that this will fly out of the dealerships to people who want it as a user or a collection piece alike, and it will more than adequately fit both scenarios.
Personally, I will be getting one as a user, and one as a collection piece.
I actually have an even beefier folder of Farid's in amongst the 40 odd knives of his that I have, which I actually call the "Tank". :)

[Brock O Lee]

Found this pic on Bladeforums, posted by Gooeytek, in a thread called "Your-Biggest-Folder". If the production K2 is the same size as this one, its slightly longer than the Military.