Byrd Meadowlark SS CE, a rather impressive economy knife

[MacTech]

I own two Byrd Meadowlarks, a black PE that's my "beater" knife, i use it for stuff i wouldn't subject my Spydies to, as well as a loaner (with the caveat that the borrower needs to be careful, as it's razor sharp, arguably the sharpest knife they've used.....), and a noncoated SS CE model

the SS CE is currently in my fog chamber undergoing a corrosion test, I've always wondered what the corrosion resistance of the "cheap" 8Etc.. steel would be....

It's actually rather impressive, we're just shy of a full 24 hour test in warm fog (temps in the high 80's, low 90's) and the only victim has been the pocket clip, rusting on the sides and bottom of the clip, what looked like "rust" on the scales was just runoff from the clip, the "rust" wiped right off with my finger

there's no corrosion on the blade, or the scales, in fact the fog bath has *improved* the knife somewhat, as it had a slightly gummy opening and closing action, now it's nice and smooth, the fog probably flushed out contaminants from around the pivot (heh, it's "steam cleaned")

Here's a QuickTime vid of the knife in the fog chamber

[Zerileous]

I have been throuroughly impressed with the byrd lines aswell. I just gave my meadowlark to my roomate after letting him carry it for a while. Careful examination shows the minor defeciencies in fit and finish, but the quality seems to be up to the level of spyderco where it counts. By far the best deal in the industry as far as I am concerned, especially with the options in handle materials.

[ghostrider]

I too have noticed the corrosion resistance of the "8etc..."

I carry my Crossbill CE every day and it has never shown any signs of pitting even though I sweat a lot, and my sweat tends to eat AUS-8 and VG- within a week. I've had the Crossbill for over a year and I don't even have to treat the blade.

[cobrajoe]

I'm a huge fan of the byrds too. I haven't handled a meadolark, but I'm sure it will compare with the crow, raven, and robin that I have used. The only thing I could complain about is that they can be slightly stiff, and that's not much of a complaint.

I was also noticing some similarities between the byrd steel and what I hear about H-1. The first few times I cut stuff with the crow, the blade edge actually curled, but after a few sharpenings and stropings, it seems to keep on getting harder.

[yablanowitz]

Am I the only one with a Byrd Flight? I never see anyone else mention it. It's a great knife, factory edge held up longer than most of my Spydies, zero rust, fit and finish equal to my Police, and those trapezoid holes make a perfect wire stripper guide :D . And it's even legal to carry here (which the Police isn't, but that's a different can of worms). It's the best $20 new knife I ever bought.

[ghostrider]

I'm a huge fan of the byrds too. I haven't handled a meadolark, but I'm sure it will compare with the crow, raven, and robin that I have used. The only thing I could complain about is that they can be slightly stiff, and that's not much of a complaint.

I was also noticing some similarities between the byrd steel and what I hear about H-1. The first few times I cut stuff with the crow, the blade edge actually curled, but after a few sharpenings and stropings, it seems to keep on getting harder.

cobrajoe,
They get smoother. One of the first things I usually have to do is clean out the pivot and "break it in". This is withe the SS models. Once they are broken in they become smooth as glass.

My Raven came smooth out of the box with no stiffness whatsoever. The same was true with my G10 Meadowlark. I figured the Raven was because it is a liner lock, and the G10 Meadowlark because it has an adjustable pivot.

Am I the only one with a Byrd Flight? I never see anyone else mention it. It's a great knife, factory edge held up longer than most of my Spydies, zero rust, fit and finish equal to my Police, and those trapezoid holes make a perfect wire stripper guide :D . And it's even legal to carry here (which the Police isn't, but that's a different can of worms). It's the best $20 new knife I ever bought.

I doubt it. There's a guy roaming around here with quite a few byrds. Probably close to 30 by now if not over. I'm sure he has a Flight. I don't own one myself.

[jaislandboy]

Gentlemen: prepare to be more impressed with the FRN Meadowlark and FRN CaraCara.......definitely on par with their G10 counterparts in terms of excellent fit/finish and all 4 knives emerged from their boxes with the "usual" Spyderco sharpness! Truth is I even prefer the FRN's over the G10's because they are so much lighter and the textured FRN handles ROCK with incredible traction (comparable to holding a Delica4/Endura4) and the steel liners provide ample strength.......these are definitely my favorite Byrds to date... :D

[JaM]

My Raven so far is quite good.I usually have it on me when I go fishing, if I am bored I whittle a bit with it.
Cant wait to pick up a SS-bird after the vacation, or go with a FRN or G10 one... They look very nice.

[MacTech]

I have my first official rust patch on the knife, after 36 hours of exposure to fog....

a small patch on the lockbar spring inside the scales, blade still unaffected....

now comes a dillema....

this rust patch is in a risky area, the lockbar spring is a critical component in the knife's safety mechanism, if i keep the knife in the tank until the blade shows signs of rust, the lockbar spring integrity will be compromised, rendering the knife unsafe, as the spring will have an increased chance of failure, if i pull the knife out now and consider it failed due to spring corrosion, i'll never know the rust-resistance of the 8Etc... steel

ahh what the heck, it's only a $20 knife, i'll test it to destruction, i'll be like a Cliff Stamp that tries to *rust* knives instead of just breaking the locks....

[224477]

cobrajoe,
They get smoother. One of the first things I usually have to do is clean out the pivot and "break it in". This is withe the SS models. Once they are broken in they become smooth as glass.

I have to second that :cool:

[Irish Lager]

I have to second that :cool:

My PE Pelican is still one of the best buys i have ever made. It served me well as a work knife and out performed anything in our store short of the :spyder: 's. Not a bad catch for $13.
J

[cobrajoe]

MacT, I think you've inspired me. I always thought that the black coating on the blade of my crow and raven was for rust prevention. Now I'm thinking otherwise.

Now what I'm wondering is what would my crow look like in gleaming steel and polished aluminum?

On a side note, would scratches in the blade make rusting any easier? I was wondering if it came from the factory with some type of coating.

[MacTech]

8:00 PM 8/11/06....

we have the first official rust spot on the knife blade itself!

it's on the vertical side of the lockbar well, directly behind the CometHole, i'll leave the knife in the chamber until 9:30 to get a full 48 hour test complete...

officially, with the first rust spot i can consider the knife *failed* and retire it from the test, but the fact of the matter is, there's no rust on the working portion of the blade yet, so it may have to do some more time in the chamber....

still, admirable performance for an affordable knife, it outlasted the Victorinoxes, and the other victims in my first corrosion test

8Etc... steel gets a decent grade from me

[gordonk]

I have an SS Meadowlark (actually, my wife has it now :) ) and the Crow. That coating on the blade of the Crow was much tougher than I expected. I beat up the Crow when I was doing revenue property reno work and it's scuffed, but it hasn't scratched. Where I was expecting the blade to scratch a bit was when I had to trim a bit of drywall, but it didn't blink. My Endura 3 (VG-10) did get some very minute scratches. All 3 were used quite hard in everything from scraping paint, cutting and digging around drywwall, stripping wire, opening packages, digging out paint from plugged screw holes, digging out wall anchors, etc (the typical reno project work). I knew the E3 would not even blink at this kind of stuff, but the Bryds sure surprised me. I couldn't dig out all the paint in the feathering in the Crow, but it definitely has character :D At the end of the reno (this was a couple/three hours per day during the week after work and every day on the weekend for a month), the liner lock has just barely worn, and I had to re-Loctite the pivot to get it back to where it was where I put it when I got it. It was slightly looser than when I tensioned it after I bought it. Pretty impressive for an inexpensive blade :D

- gord