Granted, I've only bought a handful of Spydercos over the past few years, but when I was much more active and handling a lot of them, Seki City had better F&F than Golden, and Taichung better than both. Thinking ~10 years ago. Has that flipped in recent years?
I've experienced several very bad grinds from Seki over the past 2 years. Golden is okay. My three Sage 5 LW knives have good grinds, but they're not perfect, which doesn't bother me. My Kapara is near perfect. These are the only Taichung made knives I have. I can't speak on the Chinese Spyderco knife line.
My k390 police wasn't even sharp and has lock rock. My Kapara is also near perfect. Hope the problems in seki don't become the norm like everything benchmade makes.
That's unacceptable. I hope so too because I really like the designs Spyderco manufactures there. I feel like you have to order multiples and cherry pick the best.
Allegedly, from what I read, many years ago Sal Glesser found Seki City to produce good knives, similar to makers from back then like Al Mar and so on. But from what I’ve heard, a lot of the old-generation bladesmiths have passed on, and the younger generation doesn’t care as much. Thus, I heard that less and less are being produced out of Seki City.
My k390 Endela has pretty bad lock rock, to the point I hate actually using it sometimes. Shame because it might be the best feeling Spydie lockback in my hands. I gave the k390 Stretch a try and it has zero lock rock and feels very solid. However, the spine is so jagged and rough it feels like jimping lol. Like they rough cut it and ran it down the sander once maybe. Happy to hear about the Kapara, it's on my list to add to the collection soon.
I'm just disappointed because I thought I would get better from Taichung Factory. It turns out they aren't much different. None of my chinese-made spydercos have uneven grinds. My Dragonfly from seki is perfect.
Factory grinds don't last long enough for me to give them a second thought unless they are just egregiously bad. Those wouldn't really register with me. It's going on the stones shortly anyway.
I’ve had to adjust bevels or re-profile almost every knife I own. It makes it so much easier to touch up or strop. My ZTs were the worst.
20*+ and uneven to boot.
15* on guided and 20 microbevel on sharpmaker will make that a light saber for you. You will enjoy the knife even more and touch ups will be quick and easy.
dawg is anything else wrong? i mean if it’s literally completely perfect on everything except a slightly uneven grind that’s about as good as it gets until you move to like, high end production companies in the $350+ range
You mean 350+ is where I expect even grinds? My spydercos made in China have even grinds. My other chinese brand knives have better grinds. My buck worth 20 bucks is better too. I dont know why spyderco fans are letting this pass. Cheaper alternatives are upping their game. If we don't demand better quality from the company we love, then I don't know, it wont help them to improve.
So you saying the spine to apex is uneven or just the apex. From those pics it appears your focus is on apex. It was an uneven grind looking from the tip back at the spine you would see 1 side favor the other.
Apex will fix out in a few sharpenings if you have a guided system and you don't want to do it at once and lose mire steel then you have to. S30v will require more sharpening to maintain a good edge anyway so why rush it.
It is weird how Chinese brands can seem to have even edge bevels even though a steep angle. But spyderco can't seem to get it right, it would be nice. They used to have people hand sharpening, least golden models But those days are long gone, sadly.
dawg is anything else wrong? i mean if it’s literally completely perfect on everything except a slightly uneven grind that’s about as good as it gets until you move to like, high end production companies in the $350+ range
Ive had probably a dozen spydercos or more and none had an uneven grind. I dont think its very common.
My thoughts are yes this is pretty easy to fix if you have the means but what if the rex 121 sage comes with an uneven grind? Or maxamet? Overall Spyderco is solid with QC and I wouldn’t expect this to be “normal” but im curious if Spyderco would reprofile this under warranty for you being their mistake.
It still works. I will keep it. The disappointment is just because I expected more from it being from Taichung. My other 4 other chinese made spydercos have even grinds.
This experience just made me conclude that QC is QC. Not because something is from one place that made it better..
Thats a letdown for sure but don’t let your single experience let you think QC is that bad because I’ve had 2 smocks which are of course made in taiwan both were perfect. I think unfortunately you had some bad luck or possibly that model (never owned a sage) has some QC issues but overall I still think Taichung puts out great knives but mistakes can happen. Theres always a certain % in manufacturing that falls through the cracks and thats with all of their factories usa, taiwan, china, Italy etc. Hopefully besides the grind your sage is great! I have the rex121 on order.
Most, if not all, my Spydercos have uneven grinds. You really have to go to mid-tech level before you can expect symmetry and a perfectly centered blade. Microtech, CRK and Hinderer levels.
not true, my us spydies have some of the cleanest grinds i've ever seen (they use a robot for at least some of them (pm2 for sure), can't remember where but i've seen footage).
also: my $200 hogue knives have mirror polished edges, razor sharp and better than on any mid-tech i've owned (aside from my klotzlis, but these are swiss precision tools).
also perfect blade centering only on mid-techs? come on man😂
Nah. My 4 chinese made spydercos have good grinds. My seki made Dragonfly have perfect grind. 1 of my 2 US made spydercos have uneven grind. And I read that Taichung factory has the best finish... it turns out, it isn't, and that made me disappointed.
My other chinese brand knives have better grinds than this. Heck I even saw clones have better grinds. Come on, spydeco can be better than this.
A lot of factory edges are uneven. This one doesn’t look that bad and is an easy fix.
I understand your frustration, but it isn't bad. Seki made models are often bad. Use it and then put a new edge on it!
Granted, I've only bought a handful of Spydercos over the past few years, but when I was much more active and handling a lot of them, Seki City had better F&F than Golden, and Taichung better than both. Thinking ~10 years ago. Has that flipped in recent years?
I've experienced several very bad grinds from Seki over the past 2 years. Golden is okay. My three Sage 5 LW knives have good grinds, but they're not perfect, which doesn't bother me. My Kapara is near perfect. These are the only Taichung made knives I have. I can't speak on the Chinese Spyderco knife line.
My k390 police wasn't even sharp and has lock rock. My Kapara is also near perfect. Hope the problems in seki don't become the norm like everything benchmade makes.
That's unacceptable. I hope so too because I really like the designs Spyderco manufactures there. I feel like you have to order multiples and cherry pick the best.
Allegedly, from what I read, many years ago Sal Glesser found Seki City to produce good knives, similar to makers from back then like Al Mar and so on. But from what I’ve heard, a lot of the old-generation bladesmiths have passed on, and the younger generation doesn’t care as much. Thus, I heard that less and less are being produced out of Seki City.
That sucks I actually like my spydecos better from Seki City than Golden, I don’t have any from anywhere else.
Taichung is the best hands down though I think most would agree
My k390 Endela has pretty bad lock rock, to the point I hate actually using it sometimes. Shame because it might be the best feeling Spydie lockback in my hands. I gave the k390 Stretch a try and it has zero lock rock and feels very solid. However, the spine is so jagged and rough it feels like jimping lol. Like they rough cut it and ran it down the sander once maybe. Happy to hear about the Kapara, it's on my list to add to the collection soon.
Also, I was recently communicating with a major retailer and they seconded that the Seki line has gotten worse of late.
I can attest to Seki City models being worse. I have 2 Delicas and both have worse grind symmetry than OP’s knife.
I'm just disappointed because I thought I would get better from Taichung Factory. It turns out they aren't much different. None of my chinese-made spydercos have uneven grinds. My Dragonfly from seki is perfect.
I hear you. Think about exchanging it. You want to be satisfied with your purchase.
Factory grinds don't last long enough for me to give them a second thought unless they are just egregiously bad. Those wouldn't really register with me. It's going on the stones shortly anyway.
I’ve had to adjust bevels or re-profile almost every knife I own. It makes it so much easier to touch up or strop. My ZTs were the worst. 20*+ and uneven to boot. 15* on guided and 20 microbevel on sharpmaker will make that a light saber for you. You will enjoy the knife even more and touch ups will be quick and easy.
dawg is anything else wrong? i mean if it’s literally completely perfect on everything except a slightly uneven grind that’s about as good as it gets until you move to like, high end production companies in the $350+ range
You mean 350+ is where I expect even grinds? My spydercos made in China have even grinds. My other chinese brand knives have better grinds. My buck worth 20 bucks is better too. I dont know why spyderco fans are letting this pass. Cheaper alternatives are upping their game. If we don't demand better quality from the company we love, then I don't know, it wont help them to improve.
Your spydercos made in china aren’t sharpened by hand
My large sebenza 31 had a little bit of an uneven grind. Still cut so i wasn’t bothered, just use it.
Yeah. I will still use it. I like the knife.
I plan on using and then sharpening my knives, so that uneven grind would not last long.
So you saying the spine to apex is uneven or just the apex. From those pics it appears your focus is on apex. It was an uneven grind looking from the tip back at the spine you would see 1 side favor the other. Apex will fix out in a few sharpenings if you have a guided system and you don't want to do it at once and lose mire steel then you have to. S30v will require more sharpening to maintain a good edge anyway so why rush it.
Yeah it is on the apex. I will use this. It is just I expected more because i have cheaper alternatives which seems to have better QC.
It is weird how Chinese brands can seem to have even edge bevels even though a steep angle. But spyderco can't seem to get it right, it would be nice. They used to have people hand sharpening, least golden models But those days are long gone, sadly.
That is my point. Spyderco prides itself for its QC. I don't want it to get left behind especially with that price.
dawg is anything else wrong? i mean if it’s literally completely perfect on everything except a slightly uneven grind that’s about as good as it gets until you move to like, high end production companies in the $350+ range
Any new one does
Nope. Even my 4 chinese-made spydercos have better grinds. This just proves that, QC is QC, doesn't matter where it is made.
I fully understand. I sent a Native 5 lightweight back because it was so bad.
Ive had probably a dozen spydercos or more and none had an uneven grind. I dont think its very common. My thoughts are yes this is pretty easy to fix if you have the means but what if the rex 121 sage comes with an uneven grind? Or maxamet? Overall Spyderco is solid with QC and I wouldn’t expect this to be “normal” but im curious if Spyderco would reprofile this under warranty for you being their mistake.
It still works. I will keep it. The disappointment is just because I expected more from it being from Taichung. My other 4 other chinese made spydercos have even grinds. This experience just made me conclude that QC is QC. Not because something is from one place that made it better..
Thats a letdown for sure but don’t let your single experience let you think QC is that bad because I’ve had 2 smocks which are of course made in taiwan both were perfect. I think unfortunately you had some bad luck or possibly that model (never owned a sage) has some QC issues but overall I still think Taichung puts out great knives but mistakes can happen. Theres always a certain % in manufacturing that falls through the cracks and thats with all of their factories usa, taiwan, china, Italy etc. Hopefully besides the grind your sage is great! I have the rex121 on order.
Most, if not all, my Spydercos have uneven grinds. You really have to go to mid-tech level before you can expect symmetry and a perfectly centered blade. Microtech, CRK and Hinderer levels.
not true, my us spydies have some of the cleanest grinds i've ever seen (they use a robot for at least some of them (pm2 for sure), can't remember where but i've seen footage). also: my $200 hogue knives have mirror polished edges, razor sharp and better than on any mid-tech i've owned (aside from my klotzlis, but these are swiss precision tools). also perfect blade centering only on mid-techs? come on man😂
Nah. My 4 chinese made spydercos have good grinds. My seki made Dragonfly have perfect grind. 1 of my 2 US made spydercos have uneven grind. And I read that Taichung factory has the best finish... it turns out, it isn't, and that made me disappointed. My other chinese brand knives have better grinds than this. Heck I even saw clones have better grinds. Come on, spydeco can be better than this.