Chokwe - a spider from Africa
Click on the thumbnails for big pictures. And remember, I'm not native English speaker
Sal, you're truthly a Man Of Innovation! Sal Glesser, owner of Spyderco, brings features and designs never seen in "modern sporting cutlery" before (like hole-opener or pocket clip). However, some of these designs at first seem to be "less than conservative"... but in the end they work great and are recognized as some of the best cutting tools. Can you imagine world of modern folders without such classics as Endura? Or Worker? Or Delica? And these were not "the prettiest" knives when they were introduced. But they all worked GREAT. Chokwe is no different.
(picture found on web)
What is Chokwe? Or rather who is Chokwe? Chokwe people live in the middle of Africa, where tool like knife or bow means survival. What is Chokwe knife? It is a TOOL, which let them exist. Every day. It is used for ANYTHING and EVERYTHING there as I understand - from food preparation, to battlefield use. It's used for hunting, for local medical treatment (woops!), for gathering plants, for carving. It was a chef's blade, carpenter's blade and spey blade. Quite some uses, right? And the simple shape is still the same as centuries ago, straight lines, easy to sharpen, maintain, or rebuild if broken / lost. So for me the real question is not "Why Sal introduced this knife in modern form?" but rather "Why no one did that before?". Anyway, thanks Sal again for great work and bringing Chokwe in the modern folding form! Salut!
Now let's see what Spyderco Chokwe is all about. Blade! It's all about blade IMO. It's the same thin, long, pointy and flat ground blade as in the original African knife. It cuts like a dream! It slices through meat, vegetables or fish with ease (and that is understatement!). It goes through rope, fabric, clothing, leather as hot (red hot!) knife through butter. It's a straight razor with point and titanium lock. This knife is beyond sharpness, sorry Millitary, you're not "the king of sharpness" anymore! But on the other hand it's also quite fragile, especially at the tip area. It looks really brittle, even a moderate thrust into wooden cutting board could possibly damage the *very* fine tip. So be careful when using this knife. I'd also avoid any chopping with it, it's not designed for that! For me it's a perfect food preparation knife, or "camp kitchen" knife. It's also great knife for any work that require sharp cuts, precision, blade control. It could be a great "all-round city knife", but for outdoor use I'd couple it with a 5-6" fixed blade to create my "dream team" (any of Jerry Hossom big fixedblade designs would be great companion here). So? DO I like the blade? HELL YES!!! What's not to like? It cuts like a dream, it's sharpest factory blade I've ever seen, it has a right size for kitchen work (for a folder I mean) and it is S30V! Yeah, my favorite steel for factory knives. It's a knife for experienced user, one who does understand limits of this blade design. Most Chokwe people (who work with knives every single day of their life) do. And I do as well.
Handle... simply my favorite handle configuration - titanium framelock, called Reeve Integral Lock by Spyderco. BTW, I really like that Sal credits Chris for the integral lock, that is very "Sal way". Anyway, the titanium framelock works great and it's the only imaginable (for me) lock on such a knife - as simple & strong as possible. Handle is quite thin, straight, and fits surprisingly well in hand! Two holes in the handle are great support for fingers. Thanks to G10 texture the handle is not slippery, and the overall design is more secure than it looks. It's very Chokwe-correct shape, which is good as it accepts many grips and gives positive control over the RAZOR blade. Clip is for tip up/down carry. I prefer tip-down in this case.
Now a bit about the manufacturing quality. Chokwe is very well made, especially for the price. OK, for Taiwan-made knife is not cheap at all (SRP: $219.95) but when you consider materials & quality... well, the price is at least right. There are no visible mistakes in the manufacturing, and materials are premium as well (S30V, titanium, G10). Would I change anything? Well... yes, I would. I'd use titanium liner under G10 instead of steel, or I'd simply used thicker G10 without any liner. I'd use titanium stand-off's instead of stainless steel. Finally I'd beadblast the clip, liner and screws. That would make it probably even more expensive... but also sooo much cooler! I'd also prefer such a "niche" premium knife to be made in Golden CA, USA. Would I pay more for all that? Golden-made all G10&Ti handle version? YES! But of course that's just me. BTW, can you smell some future pimp-job in the air?
To sum up I must say I'm really VERY impressed with this knife. Let's admit it, Sal went against the grain with Chokwe! But also he did great job (as usual) and gave us comfortable and precise multitask cutting tool with some serious heritage. Of course I need some time to evaluate all utilitarian aspects of my Spyderco Chokwe, but first contact is VERY positive! I encourage any of you to try Chokwe - you might be very surprised how user friendly design it is...
BTW, as far as I know Spyderco will donate approximately 5% of sales of the Chokwe to the Keep a Child Alive Organization (providing life-saving anti-retroviral treatment, care and support services to children in Africa). Classy act.
Some Spyderco Chokwe facts:
- blade measures 3.75" and is made of 0.118" S30V
- lock is titanium R.I.L.
- G10 slab with no-slip texture
- overall length: 8.50"
- weight 3.70 oz.
And couple of days later... did what I said:
- blasted the liner under G10
- blasted all screws / stand-off's / stop-pin
- blasted G10 for non-glossy look
- slightly blasted the clip to keep the spyder logo
Now it is WORKING KNIFE
Click on the thumbnails for big pictures. And remember, I'm not native English speaker
Sal, you're truthly a Man Of Innovation! Sal Glesser, owner of Spyderco, brings features and designs never seen in "modern sporting cutlery" before (like hole-opener or pocket clip). However, some of these designs at first seem to be "less than conservative"... but in the end they work great and are recognized as some of the best cutting tools. Can you imagine world of modern folders without such classics as Endura? Or Worker? Or Delica? And these were not "the prettiest" knives when they were introduced. But they all worked GREAT. Chokwe is no different.
(picture found on web)
What is Chokwe? Or rather who is Chokwe? Chokwe people live in the middle of Africa, where tool like knife or bow means survival. What is Chokwe knife? It is a TOOL, which let them exist. Every day. It is used for ANYTHING and EVERYTHING there as I understand - from food preparation, to battlefield use. It's used for hunting, for local medical treatment (woops!), for gathering plants, for carving. It was a chef's blade, carpenter's blade and spey blade. Quite some uses, right? And the simple shape is still the same as centuries ago, straight lines, easy to sharpen, maintain, or rebuild if broken / lost. So for me the real question is not "Why Sal introduced this knife in modern form?" but rather "Why no one did that before?". Anyway, thanks Sal again for great work and bringing Chokwe in the modern folding form! Salut!
Now let's see what Spyderco Chokwe is all about. Blade! It's all about blade IMO. It's the same thin, long, pointy and flat ground blade as in the original African knife. It cuts like a dream! It slices through meat, vegetables or fish with ease (and that is understatement!). It goes through rope, fabric, clothing, leather as hot (red hot!) knife through butter. It's a straight razor with point and titanium lock. This knife is beyond sharpness, sorry Millitary, you're not "the king of sharpness" anymore! But on the other hand it's also quite fragile, especially at the tip area. It looks really brittle, even a moderate thrust into wooden cutting board could possibly damage the *very* fine tip. So be careful when using this knife. I'd also avoid any chopping with it, it's not designed for that! For me it's a perfect food preparation knife, or "camp kitchen" knife. It's also great knife for any work that require sharp cuts, precision, blade control. It could be a great "all-round city knife", but for outdoor use I'd couple it with a 5-6" fixed blade to create my "dream team" (any of Jerry Hossom big fixedblade designs would be great companion here). So? DO I like the blade? HELL YES!!! What's not to like? It cuts like a dream, it's sharpest factory blade I've ever seen, it has a right size for kitchen work (for a folder I mean) and it is S30V! Yeah, my favorite steel for factory knives. It's a knife for experienced user, one who does understand limits of this blade design. Most Chokwe people (who work with knives every single day of their life) do. And I do as well.
Handle... simply my favorite handle configuration - titanium framelock, called Reeve Integral Lock by Spyderco. BTW, I really like that Sal credits Chris for the integral lock, that is very "Sal way". Anyway, the titanium framelock works great and it's the only imaginable (for me) lock on such a knife - as simple & strong as possible. Handle is quite thin, straight, and fits surprisingly well in hand! Two holes in the handle are great support for fingers. Thanks to G10 texture the handle is not slippery, and the overall design is more secure than it looks. It's very Chokwe-correct shape, which is good as it accepts many grips and gives positive control over the RAZOR blade. Clip is for tip up/down carry. I prefer tip-down in this case.
Now a bit about the manufacturing quality. Chokwe is very well made, especially for the price. OK, for Taiwan-made knife is not cheap at all (SRP: $219.95) but when you consider materials & quality... well, the price is at least right. There are no visible mistakes in the manufacturing, and materials are premium as well (S30V, titanium, G10). Would I change anything? Well... yes, I would. I'd use titanium liner under G10 instead of steel, or I'd simply used thicker G10 without any liner. I'd use titanium stand-off's instead of stainless steel. Finally I'd beadblast the clip, liner and screws. That would make it probably even more expensive... but also sooo much cooler! I'd also prefer such a "niche" premium knife to be made in Golden CA, USA. Would I pay more for all that? Golden-made all G10&Ti handle version? YES! But of course that's just me. BTW, can you smell some future pimp-job in the air?
To sum up I must say I'm really VERY impressed with this knife. Let's admit it, Sal went against the grain with Chokwe! But also he did great job (as usual) and gave us comfortable and precise multitask cutting tool with some serious heritage. Of course I need some time to evaluate all utilitarian aspects of my Spyderco Chokwe, but first contact is VERY positive! I encourage any of you to try Chokwe - you might be very surprised how user friendly design it is...
BTW, as far as I know Spyderco will donate approximately 5% of sales of the Chokwe to the Keep a Child Alive Organization (providing life-saving anti-retroviral treatment, care and support services to children in Africa). Classy act.
Some Spyderco Chokwe facts:
- blade measures 3.75" and is made of 0.118" S30V
- lock is titanium R.I.L.
- G10 slab with no-slip texture
- overall length: 8.50"
- weight 3.70 oz.
And couple of days later... did what I said:
- blasted the liner under G10
- blasted all screws / stand-off's / stop-pin
- blasted G10 for non-glossy look
- slightly blasted the clip to keep the spyder logo
Now it is WORKING KNIFE
