Spyderco Forums

I can't believe the guy actually do this...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wfiTsJVYBK4&feature=related

Simon

I watched that video about a month ago. I cringed then, and I cringed once again when I watched it this time.

I suppose what an individual wants to do with his own $300 knife is his own business, but still! :eek:

This video is just way too reminiscent of those videos that Cold Steel puts out to "prove" that their knives are so awesome. :rolleyes:

I suppose, in a way, this video is a comfort to those who are afraid of buying a $300 Spyderco knife for the purpose of bushcraft; worried that it might not hold up to the abuse. Well, this video proves that it'll hold up to the abuse. But everything in me still just wants to track that guy down and scream "Noooo!!" :D

:spyder: $300 knife and the guy can't afford pants? :confused: :spyder:

Amazing, $300 knife does that job almost as well as a $5 prybar.

Yes - a proper prybar is far better suited for that kind of work, but why not use a sturdy knife?

If anything this shows me that my woodlander is tough enough to take a stupid kind of beating and still work the way it was intended. Ever use a butter knife to tighten a slotted screw? YES you have, don't lie! Tell me you have never gone in the woods with a knife and used it in ways that it was not meant to be used, c'mon go ahead, think about it - yea that is what I thought. I do it too, I go to clear out some shooting lanes for my tree stand and there is a large limb that I have to pry away for some reason or another, **** yes I use the knife I brought, I am not trekking back to my house just to get a pry bar. Nail on the ladder of the stand is popping out, no hammer or stone handy? yes I'll use the spine of my knife (if its thick enough). Need to split a piece of wood, no axe? yes I will wedge my knife in there and pound it with a log or limb or rock. Skinning & cleaning knife too dull to clean another animal? Yes I will use my woodlander to clean & skin it (and that was a **** of a trick let me tell you)

No that is not me in the video, if I know I am going to tear down a house then I bring a prybar, but if I am going to maintain some shooting lanes and I happen to find a different problem on the way, if my knife will do the job then I will use it to get the job done. I am not about to carry every possible tool I _may_ need just because there is a probability that I may need it, 50 pounds of tools in the woods will really make a crappy day out of what would otherwise be an enjoyable day.

After it is all said and done knives are tools and are meant to be used, yes the job is done better by a tool that was designed for that job but sometimes you have to improvise, adapt and overcome and that means using your $300 woodlander as a prybar from time to time. Just as long as you don't use mine.

WW

WinstonWolf wrote:Yes - a proper prybar is far better suited for that kind of work, but why not use a sturdy knife?

:spyder: Why not? Because when the schmuck bends the knife he'll flood the internet with reports of spydercos being unsuitable as "hard use knives" same kinda doofus who spine whacks knives to failure then posts about the lock design being flawed. :mad: :spyder:

I think it more depends on the knife and what it was designed for.

Jerry Hossom is an excellent designer and an experienced knife maker. The knife was designed to "take it" in the outdoors. The design was built to his exacting specifications. N690Co is an excellent stainless steel for "toughness".

I think the worst of the damage could be to the edge and "edges are to be always sharpened".

as a comparison, the Temperance was designed for penetration and slicing. Few knives will do that along side of it, but I don't think I would pry with it like I could/would with the Hossom design.

sal

Well said Sal. I bet many a life has been saved in an emergencey by prying, digging, or hitting a knife with baton or even a rock. Its a little hard to watch, but thats a great knife.

The Deacon wrote:Amazing, $300 knife does that job almost as well as a $5 prybar.

Rich people have their own habits.

What's wrong with this? It is his knife, and if he likes to pry with it, why not?
This knife is designed as an outdoor tool, and sometimes you have to pry (when you baton wood and need to split it). It's a tool that was designed with this kind of use/abuse in mind.
I have a Chris Reeve Shadow 4, and use it for whatever I need it for. Digging in the ground, opening metal cans, stabbing through whatever possible. I know it's an expensive knife, but I want to know what it is capable of.

I guess it dosen't bother me as much now as it did the first time I saw it. After all, it is a thick fixed blade with a full tang. I would probably do the same with something like a kabar.

The only reason I think it's the wrong tool for the job is that the person with the knife doesn't do any cutting. Personally I'd rather have a pry bar than a knife for this job only because I'd rather not have a long sharp edge swinging around when I'm only wearing shorts :eek:

Yes, it's a good knife.

I would like to thank Sal, Kristi, Eric, and the rest of the Spyderco crew for NOT putting out videos like this to ''prove'' anything to us customers. No, I'm not ragging on the guy in the video or on Cold Steel. They can most certainly do what they want. I simply appreciate how Spyderco is operated.

Candidly, that didn't appear too stressful. Had he needed BOTH hands on the handle to pry those boards off the studs I might have worried a little bit. I don't recommend trying it, but it really does take some serious force to break a knife that way. The steel is 0.200" thick, and it remains above 0.170" at the spine to within 1.5 inches from the point.

That said, I'm also glad Sal & Co don't make these kinds of videos. They really don't tell you much, and I certainly didn't design the knife to be used as a prybar.

I am still laughing at the shorts and sandals. I am sure the knife is more than capable for that kind of job, but the guy is just asking to get hurt :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

-Jeffrey

Michael Cook wrote: :spyder: $300 knife and the guy can't afford pants? :confused: :spyder:

Dude is that unusual? I don't have pants either. I put all my money into knives.

In fact today I'm wearing a whole bunch of old boxer shorts that I cut up with a Spyderco and then I sewed them together with the thin strands of rope inside paracord.

These pant things straight rock.

Were those sandals Birkenstocks or Workenstocks?

I watched that and could just imagine that Spydie slipping from his fingers and right into the little piggie that went to market.

The commented video is one of three films made as a supplementary material for a test of the knife by ”knives.pl Testers' Fund”. You'll find it at:
http://www.knives.pl/www/artykuly/testy ... terow.html
(click the thumbs to see full size photos)
Test was prepared by Wojtas13, moderator of Spyderco Board on knives.pl forum.

The knife was tested in field conditions, we tested also its cutting abilities (cutting pet bottles as well as the kitchen jobs). In our opinion it's a really good outdoor knife, especially useful in hard work, as the project, the weight of the knife and its balance were providing superb comfort.

However, we consider this regrettable, that we are forced to pay $300 for the knife, that has some obviously seen flaws in finishing (e.g. uneven bevels). You can see them in details here:
http://www.knives.pl/forum/spyderco/spy ... der.0.html

The only reason for the price in our opinion is the name of the designer (with all respect Mr. Hossom, you are The Legend for us), because the materials used are quite cheap - please mind, that N690 is produced in Europe, and we have direct access to it in Poland from Bohler plant.

Greetings from Poland
Michal 'pecado' Łukaszewski
administrator of knives.pl

There is nothing abusive about using a knife of that thickness for that kind of work. You could do far more than that with a similar knife (blade thickness/shape) that you would buy at a flea market for $10 or a simple $5 1/8" machete.

You can easily calculate the breaking point of steels and with blades that short and thick they can easily support more than the weight of an average man. Fallkniven has broken their blades and reported the exact breaking points, even their tiny blades like the F1 are far stronger than what is being demonstrated in the above.

Michal, if it sells then it is hard to argue the price was set incorrectly. You can debate cost/performance but that is almost never the only deciding factor. It is hard to beat some $1 pens for quality writing but it isn't like that is all people buy.

Did you use the knife in field conditions on used material and resharpen it significantly? How do you feel in general about that length of blade for that type of work?

-Cliff

ridiculous!