Rare gem
The Spyderco Chaparral sun/moon design i purchased from National Knives (i see they've raised their price) is the second of these i've purchased. The first was as a thank you gift for the founder of a little local chess club, as close to a 'chess' themed knife as i could find with the black/white scales. Might also appeal to someone interested in oriental philosophy, something of a yin/yang theme. So impressed with the one i'd gotten to give away, i had to get one of these for myself. -Esthetics: 6 stars on a 5 point scale. Absolutely gorgeous little bit of eye candy. The pics just don't do it justice. Linen micarta might have been slightly better looking but the G10 will remain looking new longer. It's what tipped me on this one; the design sensibilities are a breath of fresh air in a world of 'tactical' and 'hard use' knives. -Ergonomics: 4.5 stars. Comfortable in my hand (i wear a medium sized glove), very slim and light, easy to carry. Would have appreciated an ever so slightly thicker handle with a little bit of contouring. The design of most Spyderco knives makes the height closed a little more than i'd like but in my opinion acceptable in this model. Reviews talking about it being difficult both to open these knives and to work the back lock had me concerned but that apparently got fixed. Doesn't fly open like a flipper on ball bearings but opens and closes easy enough and can be done one-handed with a little manual dexterity. Build quality: 4.5 stars. Fit and finish is really good, feels 'high end'. They could have mirror polished the blade but left the grind marks. Saving time and cost in a commercial production... The laser engraving is delicate and crisp, pretty nice. Passed my minimum sharpness test (will it slice a roll of paper towels?) which surprisingly few factory edges will do. The thin blade makes it a really good slicer. The spine is sharp edged, not chamfered, which i actually appreciate, have used sharp-edged knife spines for scraping. 6 stars on a 5 star scale for the steel. The XHP is seldom seen (supply issues i've heard) but is supposedly a step up both from the more commonly seen S30V in edge retention and a step up from S35VN in toughness. That's pretty impressive. A stainless steel but may suffer a little in corrosion resistance, maybe not the best choice for really humid or salt water environments. No rating on value; that's a highly subjective topic. But it is a really classy/dressy and well made knife. At home in a board room, a conversation piece at the country club or maybe you just like knife art, something different and well done, a 'gentleman's pocket knife' or 'lady's knife' for that matter (the wife of the person i gifted one of these to is a retired attorney and author, heard back that she really likes it). For collectors, they've been recently discontinued as i write (01 24) and they're likely to go up in price. If it's of interest to you, snag a new one now while still available. Overall, 5+ stars, exceptional in my experience.
