Spyderco Forums

[ATTACH]11378[/ATTACH]I've been carrying my Caly3 for a month now and have been impressed so far. As I wrote in another recent post- It is truly an amazing knife. Well, today my Caly finally had some serious use.

My girlfriend and I were traveling for a short day trip to visit relatives. Without going into too many none knife related details we were in a small car accident. Basically we t-boned another car in a parking lot. It was a busy lot and we didn't see them and they didn't see us. No one was hurt- except for the cars.

I was quite surprised at the amount of damage considering how light the impact was. The whole front bumper and assorted pieces of the car had come off. The bumper was hanging from one side, with its guts all over the road- Styrofoam and plastics and reflector lights.

After all the accident nonsense was taken care we began a checkup to insure we could still drive. Lights and everything worked fine. No damage to the radiator or engine. Only the bumper needed to be removed. It was attached by some kind of thick black plastic. I figured whats done is done so I took out my Caly and started cutting away at it. To my surprise the blade went through the material like butter. I expected to have to saw at it a bit at least! Within seconds the bumper was removed and riding neatly in the back seat as we drove along the highway.

After driving for a while we kept hearing strange rattling and grinding sounds. We pulled over and I examined the front end again. Without the bumper the inside of the wheel wells were being pushed back against the tires. My girlfriend asked me if I could remove it. Of course it was all bolted and screwed in place. I replied that I could try and cut it off. She didn't really seem to care what I did considering the already considerable damage. She was simply worried about safety as it was rubbing against the tires as we drove. So out came the Caly again. It easily cut through the wheel well material. In fact so easily, I was worried it would slip and slice the tire open. I chopped both front ends of the wheel well off and we continued on out trip.

Once at our relatives we looked into fixing the car better for the drive home. I further trimmed the wheel wells using the Caly. Then cut some red tape up to help better support a few cables that were exposed. Then the knife was used on some foam tubing to line the front of the hood and muffle some more rattling noises. My tinkering was successful and we made it home safely with very little noise.

Overall I would say my Caly3 had a pretty decent workout today. I wouldn't consider it extreme, but not exactly light duty either. When I finally got home though, curiosity took the best of me. Now here is where I was truly impressed and reminded why Spyderco is the only pocket knife I will carry. The Caly3 was still shaving sharp! Popped hair off my shin as if it was fresh off a white triangle stone.

So Mr. Glesser- Thanks for a great knife.

ZDP or VG-10? And has it been sharpened before?

:D Forgive me for leaving out the important details :D

VG10.
And it has been sharpened. I keep all my knives tip top. Going on a trip and all, I touched it up on the white stones the evening before.

Hi Tea,

Thanx for sharing. Glad no one was hurt. Modern vehicles are certainly better at savings lives. the outer "shell" crumbles absorbing shock.

I watched a Formula One car hit a wall at 120 MPH and the driver got out and walked away. (I'm an F1 junky)

sal

Thanks for sharing the adventure story, tea. Glad you all are all right. VG10 and Caly 3 - what more could you ask for? :)

- best wishes, Jazz.

Thanks everyone. Off to the mechanic tomorrow!

:spyder: :spyder: :cool: :spyder: :spyder:Hey all :) Hi Tea; I'm John....I havn't been here in a while, so Welcome to Spyderforums :) I love my Caly3 as well: It never lets me down! Allthough, I've never butchered a car before with it :D Seriously though....We're all glad no one was hurt!

I love these threads... the Caly 3 is my 2nd fav Spyderco and I have one for work and one for b/u "just in case".

Funny how I once thought of the Caly 3 as a "light duty" gent's knife.

I also thought that caly 3 were gents knifes because some of the threads say there not that stong or good for heavey use. But i use mine for everything without hesitation and its more than strong enough. Did anyone see the video on u tube were the guy hammers the UKPK down threw the wood and then pounds on it with a stick and still cut paper WOW. If the UKPK can do that than these knives are more than strong enough for the every day joe.

And who would do that to a knife?

Sixheads

I believe the Caly 3 got the 'gents-knife' reputation based on its reputed lesser lock strength compared to Delica and others. I, and probably most others who are using knives safely, don't 'use' the lock strength of my knives. If you use proper cutting technique, lock reliability is a lot more important than the pure strength of the lock.

Caly 3 looks like a very versatile working EDC to me, not a gents knife!

I just went camping for four days and used my VG-10 Caly for most cutting chores, in fact so did my buddy that brought his six-inch Buck FB :cool:

I totally agree with you Tea, the Caly3 is an awesome user, not just a gents light use folder. The same goes for the ZDP version, and you have to sharpen it even less often. :D

mrappraisit wrote:I totally agree with you Tea, the Caly3 is an awesome user, not just a gents light use folder. The same goes for the ZDP version, and you have to sharpen it even less often. :D

Why would it be better than the Delica, for example, that has the same steel and similar design?

lol you cut a honda (accord?) to peices with a spyderco :)

That front bumper support doesn't look bent at all. Seems like merely cosmetic damage.The hood is buckled, can't tell if the fenders are damaged. Must have been a light impact.

I work on cars for a living. My favorite use for spyderco's so far working with cars is cutting the thick plastic, like you just did and cutting coolant hoses.

A lot of times you get part like a water pump or a thermostat and the hoses will come with it. After 50k miles any rubber coolant hose is generally glued to whatever it is attached to. Even after you remove the clamp it is still secured. Generally you have to break the seal to remove the hose. I'll cut the whole part out, attack the leftovers from both sides with a pick, and put the new part in. Generally this is all in a very tight area. Mechanics get paid by the job, so just cutting the old part out and putting a new one in saves a lot of time and increases my productivity. A serrated spyderco can cut parts out really fast :)

THG wrote:Why would it be better than the Delica, for example, that has the same steel and similar design?

The Caly3 (at least my ZDP Caly3) has a very thin blade grind. It is an incredibly efficient cutter. Definitely a better cutter than my Delica4, when sharpened at the same edge angle.

I think it's very easy to look at the Caly3 as a gents knife. The smooth flowing lines and good fit are very much like a gents knife. The design also feels more compact than something like a Delica, due to the Caly3's choil. Even though the cutting edges are similar in length, as are the sizes when closed, the Delica design makes it feel like a larger knife.

What people don't notice is that the Caly3 packs a thicker blade at the spine, as well as a wider back spring. The Caly3 is far stronger than it needs to be, in order to support its style of blade.

Buzzbait wrote:The Caly3 (at least my ZDP Caly3) has a very thin blade grind. It is an incredibly efficient cutter. Definitely a better cutter than my Delica4, when sharpened at the same edge angle.

Do you think a Delica/Endura would be able to match it if it were flat-ground as well?

THG wrote:Do you think a Delica/Endura would be able to match it if it were flat-ground as well?

I don't see why not. If the Delica were reground to a full flat grind, you could choose the thickness of the blade at the edge. If it's thin enough, its performance should be able to match the Caly3.

Left Hand Path wrote:I believe the Caly 3 got the 'gents-knife' reputation based on its reputed lesser lock strength compared to Delica and others. <snip>

Caly 3 looks like a very versatile working EDC to me, not a gents knife!

I thought the Caly3 had greater lock strength than the delica.

To the OP: PE or SE?

philthygeezer wrote:I thought the Caly3 had greater lock strength than the delica.

No scientific evidence here, but I would think they're about the same. They're both backlocks and both have liners. I doubt either of them should tear through the liners and then the FRN/G10 before something else breaks, so I'm guessing that the part that's going to make a difference is the "hook" of the lock and the tang design that it hooks into. I haven't seen the inside of the Caly, so I couldn't know for sure.

THG wrote:No scientific evidence here, but I would think they're about the same. They're both backlocks and both have liners. I doubt either of them should tear through the liners and then the FRN/G10 before something else breaks, so I'm guessing that the part that's going to make a difference is the "hook" of the lock and the tang design that it hooks into. I haven't seen the inside of the Caly, so I couldn't know for sure.

The Caly3 has a 3mm blade and the Delica is 2.5mm. The Caly3 appears to have a larger pivot pin. Ii makes me think the Caly3 is a tad more rugged. :confused:

philthygeezer wrote:The Caly3 has a 3mm blade and the Delica is 2.5mm. The Caly3 appears to have a larger pivot pin. Ii makes me think the Caly3 is a tad more rugged. :confused:

Oh. Well don't listen to me then :o