Spyderco Forums

Hello everyone, I was curious if any of you that own both of these knives could make a comparison for strictly edc purposes. Cutting, ergonomics, carry, ect. Thanks in advance guys.

Hah! I just bought both of these knives TODAY on my trip to knifeworks! They are both excellent and I would be hard pressed to choose a favorite. The caly is a bit larger and slightly thicker blade stock so it might be just a bit more robust, but man, that chaparral is just an awesome little knife! Good luck choosing. You can't go wrong. Or I could give you the standard answer on here... :D

I agree, they're very similar in size and capability. The Chaparral carries just a bit smaller, but probably not enough to notice. Just pick which one you want first, and get the other later. You can't go wrong.

I'd have to go with the Caly but the Chap is a bit better at slicing but not so much as to say the Caly is a poor slicer by any means. Before the Chap came along with it's 2mm blade stock the Caly was about the best slicer in the lineup.

How good are you at sharpening? If you use both of these a lot, the Chaparral is going to seem a lot easier to sharpen. ZDP can be a little tricky sometimes.

Evil D wrote:I'd have to go with the Caly but the Chap is a bit better at slicing but not so much as to say the Caly is a poor slicer by any means. Before the Chap came along with it's 2mm blade stock the Caly was about the best slicer in the lineup.

Very well said, David.

I agree 100%.

I would say the Chaparral. I like the Caly, but my Chaparral gets more pocket time. The blade shape makes it an awesome slicer and the CTS-XHP holds a mean edge.

Here's a good comparison video including the Sage 1

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ceGE0xwo3Ro

IMHO, they are both well made knives and excellent slicers but, for me at least, there are a few minor nit-picks that favor the Chaparral. One being that the 420J2 outer layers of the laminated ZDP-819 blade do scratch easily. The Chaparral's twill CF does offer more traction than the matte CF on the Caly 3 and, while both have such excellent ergos that traction is not much of an issue, the Chaparral's CF also looks nicer, at least to me. Beyond that, I can only say that I can't recall having carried a Caly 3 even once since I got my first CF Chaparral.

I have both and I found the Chaparral to be a great office knife, good for slicing apples for a snack and opening mail and packages. The darker clip helps it to not stand out. The twill CF gives it a bit of traction and looks classy. The Caly is more of a perfect gentleman's knife, not too small, not too big, great materials and the exotic ZDP and grind lines make for a great conversation piece while being totally practical. Hard to pick one over the other but I go with the Chaparral when the cutting tasks will be light and I don't want to attract attention (ie. office, funeral, wedding, etc). Ergonomics wise they are slightly different but the Caly's larger handle and raised spydie-hole and more aggressive jimping give it a better grip for larger tasks. I prefer slightly larger knives for EDC (Domino or PM2) but if I only had the Chaparral and Caly, the Caly would be my EDC more often by a nose. One note that I do find the smooth CF doesn't have as good of traction in my pocket and sometimes I unclip the Caly and drop it in my pocket to avoid getting it snagged on a winter coat. The twill CF of the Chaparral does make it a little easier to get a grip on it to pull it out (sits slightly higher in pocket too).

I would go Caly 3. The handle is just a bit longer, and that made a big difference to me.

The Deacon wrote:IMHO, they are both well made knives and excellent slicers but, for me at least, there are a few minor nit-picks that favor the Chaparral. One being that the 420J2 outer layers of the laminated ZDP-819 blade do scratch easily. The Chaparral's twill CF does offer more traction than the matte CF on the Caly 3 and, while both have such excellent ergos that traction is not much of an issue, the Chaparral's CF also looks nicer, at least to me. Beyond that, I can only say that I can't recall having carried a Caly 3 even once since I got my first CF Chaparral.

^^^This. And the fact that the Chap carries very well clip less. The Caly is a bit too big for that IMO.

Chap wins for me.

I have both and would say the Chaparral-CF, hands down. It's built better than the Caly, based on my experiences and feels better in my hand. It's smaller and shorter, so that may way into your decision.