So I have to credit my Brother-In-Law (BIL from here on) with getting me back into knives. I was always a knife fan but other hobbies kept me busy. One day in a gun-shop I picked up Smith & Wesson folder and I carried it for years, even after I broke the tip at some forgotten point in time.
Anyway my BIL was always a big fan of Cold Steel knives, so we used to talk blades fairly often and for Christmas maybe 7 or 8 years ago he got me a plain-edged Smith & Wesson to replace the one I had with a broken tip. Shortly thereafter I added a Spyderco, then a Benchmade, and have moved in/out of an assortment of blades of the years.
Anyway, I was showing my new Benchmade 520 Presidio to him on Thanksgiving and he mentioned that he hasn't carried a knife in a while. I didn't ask why, but I know he's been short on funds (was out of work for a while and then lost a good chunk of change as a partner in a restaurant) so I figure he lost his EDC and hasn't had any extraneous cash burning a hole in his pocket to replace it. So I went home and ordered him a Spyderco Tenacious for Christmas. It just got to my office an hour ago ..... here's what I think of it.
Summary: This is one hell of a knife for $27.
I won't go over the specs because if you're reading this, then you can read this http://spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=294 . This knife is a great EDC size. This is obviously one of Spyderco's China-made products when you look at the price, so I was expecting a relatively sloppy fit, off-center blade, uneven grind, tool marks, handles that don't line up perfectly with the liners ... things like that.
What I got, or what my BIL is about to get, is a first-rate quality knife. There is no play between the blade and body at all. The brass washers between the blade and liners are on the tiny side but make for a smooth deployment nonetheless. The blade is perfectly centered between the handles. The texture on the G10 handles is much too passive for my tastes, but on the plus side it won't rip up your pockets. There is a very nice bevel to the edge of the handles as well - surprising in the knife of this price. The handles are drilled so you can mount the stout belt-clip tip-up or tip-down, lefty or righty. There's also a lanyard hole near the bottom of the knife.
The jimping on the back of the blade is the best I've ever handled - they really got the angle of the blade here and the aggressiveness of the serrations correct. This knife begs to be used in a saber grip because of that jimping. The knife is also comfortable in a traditional hammer and reverse blade-out grips. It's a little uncomfortable reversed blade-in, but quite secure.
The full v-grind on this blade is done very well - very even on both sides. The finish is neither a full polish nor is it satin .. it's somewhere in between, more to the polished side if you ask me. The blade is not typical Spyderco sharp in my experience, but I wouldn't dare call this thing dull either.
I have but three nitpicks with this knife:
1) The blade is sharpened on both both sides, quite even and centered for 90% of the length of the blade, but up near the tip you can tell whoever sharpened it went off on his angles a bit and went heavy on one side - a bit of unevenness.
2) There is some sort of boo boo made near the base of the blade, on the bottom, where the sharpened edge meets the ungrinded part of the steel. A rounded edge on one side, a small machining mark ... but your ADHD-riddled brain has to really be anal to find this stuff.
3) One G10 handle is slightly larger than the other - well, I guess it's possible that one liner is slighter larger than the other making the handles look like they're different sizes, but I digress. Again - ANAL. I didn't notice this the first two times I went over the knife, I only figured it out when I ran a fingernail over the edges the third time around.
To put this in perspective however, I should mention that I can't put a deck of cards back into their case without first suiting them up in order and if the backs of the cards are directional - I line those up as well. I also arrange tator-tots on a tray so they are completely lined up in rows and columns.
So again - amazing knife for the money. I just dropped a bit of cash on Christmas, but once the Holiday's are over I'm thinking about picking one or two of these up for myself. $27 from Amazon with free shipping is simply a no-brainer.
Anyway my BIL was always a big fan of Cold Steel knives, so we used to talk blades fairly often and for Christmas maybe 7 or 8 years ago he got me a plain-edged Smith & Wesson to replace the one I had with a broken tip. Shortly thereafter I added a Spyderco, then a Benchmade, and have moved in/out of an assortment of blades of the years.
Anyway, I was showing my new Benchmade 520 Presidio to him on Thanksgiving and he mentioned that he hasn't carried a knife in a while. I didn't ask why, but I know he's been short on funds (was out of work for a while and then lost a good chunk of change as a partner in a restaurant) so I figure he lost his EDC and hasn't had any extraneous cash burning a hole in his pocket to replace it. So I went home and ordered him a Spyderco Tenacious for Christmas. It just got to my office an hour ago ..... here's what I think of it.
Summary: This is one hell of a knife for $27.
I won't go over the specs because if you're reading this, then you can read this http://spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=294 . This knife is a great EDC size. This is obviously one of Spyderco's China-made products when you look at the price, so I was expecting a relatively sloppy fit, off-center blade, uneven grind, tool marks, handles that don't line up perfectly with the liners ... things like that.
What I got, or what my BIL is about to get, is a first-rate quality knife. There is no play between the blade and body at all. The brass washers between the blade and liners are on the tiny side but make for a smooth deployment nonetheless. The blade is perfectly centered between the handles. The texture on the G10 handles is much too passive for my tastes, but on the plus side it won't rip up your pockets. There is a very nice bevel to the edge of the handles as well - surprising in the knife of this price. The handles are drilled so you can mount the stout belt-clip tip-up or tip-down, lefty or righty. There's also a lanyard hole near the bottom of the knife.
The jimping on the back of the blade is the best I've ever handled - they really got the angle of the blade here and the aggressiveness of the serrations correct. This knife begs to be used in a saber grip because of that jimping. The knife is also comfortable in a traditional hammer and reverse blade-out grips. It's a little uncomfortable reversed blade-in, but quite secure.
The full v-grind on this blade is done very well - very even on both sides. The finish is neither a full polish nor is it satin .. it's somewhere in between, more to the polished side if you ask me. The blade is not typical Spyderco sharp in my experience, but I wouldn't dare call this thing dull either.
I have but three nitpicks with this knife:
1) The blade is sharpened on both both sides, quite even and centered for 90% of the length of the blade, but up near the tip you can tell whoever sharpened it went off on his angles a bit and went heavy on one side - a bit of unevenness.
2) There is some sort of boo boo made near the base of the blade, on the bottom, where the sharpened edge meets the ungrinded part of the steel. A rounded edge on one side, a small machining mark ... but your ADHD-riddled brain has to really be anal to find this stuff.
3) One G10 handle is slightly larger than the other - well, I guess it's possible that one liner is slighter larger than the other making the handles look like they're different sizes, but I digress. Again - ANAL. I didn't notice this the first two times I went over the knife, I only figured it out when I ran a fingernail over the edges the third time around.
To put this in perspective however, I should mention that I can't put a deck of cards back into their case without first suiting them up in order and if the backs of the cards are directional - I line those up as well. I also arrange tator-tots on a tray so they are completely lined up in rows and columns.
So again - amazing knife for the money. I just dropped a bit of cash on Christmas, but once the Holiday's are over I'm thinking about picking one or two of these up for myself. $27 from Amazon with free shipping is simply a no-brainer.
