My Spyderco - Part 2

 

Spyderco  Part 2

C179 - Spy-DK

Many European countries and American cities prohibit knives that lock open.  As irrational as it is, the view claims a non-locking knife is less dangerous than a locking knife.  I don’t know.  It is hard to believe a stabbing or slashing wound is less serious if it is from a non-locking or slip joint. 

Spyderco  Spy-DK

The Spy-DK is based on the UK Penknife, with its blade length reduced to comply with Danish law.  The 68 mm flat grind blade is made from Böhler-Uddeholm’s premium N690Co stainless steel.  N690Co is similar to 440C but with increased levels of molybdenum and cobalt.  It has excellent resistance to corrosion, even in acid media, and high impact strength.  The downside seems to be a slightly reduced edge retention.

The Spy-DK has Spyderco's trademark round hole, but the hole is purposely small to prevent one-handed opening methods.  Following that theme, a powerful spring holds the blade firmly closed and precludes a one-handed opening.  Closing this knife is an adventure in injury as it requires significant force to close it.  This difficulty in closing may be why the knife was only manufactured from May 2014 to Nov 2016.

The Spy-DK’s handle is injection-molded fiberglass-reinforced-nylon (FRN) scales with fine square checkering.  Interestingly, the bottom of the blade’s choil is jimped to provide a friction surface to keep your index finger from sliding onto the sharp blade.  The form of the handle almost forces you to use that grip.  I don't like it; it makes me feel like I will slice my finger open.

The front of the tang is stamped Spyderco, N690CO, and the reverse is marked Maniago, Italy.  The back of the blade is marked with Sal Glesser’s trademark, a stylized SAL.

The question in my mind is, is the knife a winner?  As an American living in a relatively knife-restriction-free community, I would say no.  Still, that is not really a question for a collector.  Our question to you is, "Do you have one? 

C65BLP - Blue Lum

My first Spyderco Lum Chinese folder was green-handled, and I liked it so much I stopped carrying it and made it a safe queen. 

What’s a Lum Chinese folder? 

You really need to get out more.

Spyderco Lum Chinese Folder  You can see Bob's name and chop next to the thumb hole

Bob Lum was 3rd generation Chinese born in Astoria, Oregon, USA, in 1943.  As a keen fisherman and hunter, he honed ideas about knife design.  In 1976, Bob began making knives and took the world by store.  He worked with Spyderco, Benchmade, and Seki-Cut, as well as in the custom field.  He is credited with introducing the Tanto-style blade to America.  Bob passed in 2007.  His Spyderco Chinese folder is perhaps the loveliest knife I own.

The C65 Bob Lum Chinese folder’s blade is tapered like a broad, flat leaf made of VG-10 sporting Bob Lum’s Chop and last name.  VG-10 is a Japanese super-steel developed for the horticulture industry by Takefu.  It is a favorite of Japanese chefs. 

The leaf shape pays homage to Bob’s cultural background.  It has been around in China for centuries.  It’s a definite winner for general utility and hunting.  The lack of a guard limits its tactical value.

While I have a green one, I was fortunate to get a C65BLP.  That’s a blue Almite coated Chinese folder made in the early months of 2002.  It is reported that only 800 to 1000 were made.  Spyderco has a buyer’s club.  It’s limited to 999 members.  Here’s the inside: You must buy every new knife they produce that year, with no exceptions.  The blade comes stamped with your three-digit number.  What you do with your knife is your business.

My Lum came stamped with 071V.  The V signifies variation.  Several variations have been reported, and perhaps the rarest is a cranberry Almite prototype.  Does it actually exist?  I don’t know. 

SC01PS - SpyderCard

Perhaps the most intriguing Spyderco is the SC01, the SpyderCard.  Eduard Bradichansky designed only two knives for Spyderco.  One is part of their ethnic series, and the other is the SpyderCard.  You can read more about the Spydercard and Bradichansky at https://knifesearch.blogspot.com/2016/04/spyderco-spydercard.html.

SpyderCard -  Don't leave home without it

The Spydercard first came to my attention at the 2000 Shot Show.  The knife is a full-sized folding knife with similar dimensions to a credit card.  It is about the thickness of three credit cards, but does fit in your wallet.  I’ve always believed it was an attempt to hide a cutting tool in the wallet of potential hostages.  Considering Bradichansky death in a terrorist attack on the West Bank, Israel, it is not surprising his design tended in that direction.  I also think if he had not been killed, he would have refined and matured his design.

The SpyderCard came with a plane or a partial serration.  The blade is crafted from AUS-6.  I prefer the cutting power of serrations on a small blade like this.

AUS-6 is stainless steel by Aichi Steel Corp. similar to 440A.  You used to see this steel in the introduction of knife market models because it is easy to sharpen and has excellent corrosion resistance.

SpyderCard - Open with 50/50 blade

Mine is from 2002 and has what Spyderco called a 50/50 edge.  I think of it as partially serrated.  The hole in the handle isn't the Spyderco trademark, it's designed to give you access to the integral lock.

It’s a very cool and perhaps a bit impractical knife.  Make sure you don’t have it in your wallet if traveling by plane for two reasons.  One, it will literally make the TSA agent’s head explode, and two, you’ll lose an interesting knife.

C11ZFGYBLP - Delica Zome

Delica Zome Blue Gray

The last knife tonight is a sprint run.  It’s the C11ZFYBLP or, as I know it, the Delica Zome Blue Gray.  Knife Magazine published a delightful article about this knife in the July 2023 issue. 

Sprint run knives are a unique manufacturing lot of established knives with different steels, often with hard-to-work steels, handle materials, and colors.  In many respects, Spyderco is a small custom shop experimenting with novel steels, constructions, and processes.  From a selling point of view, Spyderco is a little like Case knife: you'll never collect a sample of all the variations.

Sprint runs are always in limited quantities and sell out quickly.  You usually must buy almost as soon as you see the advertisement.  There is quite a following for sprint runs.  The Zome has a laminated blade with SuperBlue steel sandwiched between two slabs of SUS410.

If you look careful, you can see the differential polishing line in the blade

A laminated steel blade was the answer the ancient knife makers discovered to an old problem.  High-quality steel was never abundant, and while it held an edge, it was brittle.  Softer steel (steel is a mixture of iron and carbon) was flexible and stood up to hard use but couldn't hold an edge.  But laminate the hard steel in a sandwich of soft, flexible steel, and you have a winner. 

The FRN handle is a blue-gray polymer which is hand-dyed to produce color splotches reminiscent of Japanese Ai Zome, a fabric coloration process.

Delicas are one of my favorite knives and the flat grind blades, like this one, have amazing cutting properties. 

More to come!

 Part three

Spyderco

 

Spyderco was established in 1978 by Sal Glesser.  Surprisingly, his first product wasn’t a knife but the Portable Hand, a device created in 1976.  It was a spider-shaped device with ball joints, angles, and alligator clips that helped hobbyists and jewelers work with small parts.  Following the success of the Portable Hand, they produced the Sharpmaker in 1978.

Over the years, they have driven other companies to use new steel to stay competitive, and were the innovators of the one-hand opening folder.  They have become one of the drivers in the knife community.  Undoubtedly, success didn't come overnight but through hard work.  I greatly admire them.  Spyderco lives up to their motto: "Integrity is being good even if no one is watching."

I have been fortunate enough to acquire a mix of Spyderco folders.  In the pre-911 days, I flew with two Spyderco Delicas, and my wife also carried one.  I still carry a Spyderco almost daily.  Let’s take a shallow dip into my favorite Spyderco knives.

C28 - The Dragonfly

The Dragonfly was originally introduced in 1994.  The original steel was GIN1/G2.  G2 was Spyderco code (Good Shit 2) for the steel used.  Mine came in a little solid black box made in December 1997.  By this time, they were using AUS8.  AUS8 is a slightly better steel than GIN1.  Spyderco was still using plastic clips on FRN handles.  The clips worked well but tended to deform if caught in a seatbelt or such.  Unlike metal clips, first used on the Worker in 1981, a damaged plastic clip was bent for life. 

The Dragonfly

I like the Dragonfly.  It was a compact knife you could carry while wearing suit or dress slacks.  The small size makes it compatible with the tiny pockets in women's slacks. The weight of 1.2 ounces didn’t tug at the lines and deform your trouser pocket.  It is a classy knife.

C11 - Delica

The Delica has always been in the top ten best sellers at Spyderco.  You can get it in an amazing variety of steels.  Perhaps my first two were a green FRN and a black FRN Delica.  At the time, Spyderco serrations were still suspect.  We weren't sure about sharpening serrations or what to use them for, and even today, they are a polarizing feature for many knife owners.   Sal Glesser designed the Delica in 1990.  The early ones did not have the type of steel used stamped on the tang and were tang stamped with the acknowledged knife capital of the world, Seki, Japan.  Later ones were stamped Seki-City.  At the time, all the FRN (short fiberglass reinforced nylon.  Engineers often use it for high strength and low weight.) knife bodies had a molded clip.  The clip helped make the knife popular as a tactical knife.  You could fix it at a specific location, and it would remain there.  No hunting in your pocket trying to determine the knife’s orientation.  The clip held the knife tip up, and if you carried on the right side, the blade would nestle against the back seam of your pocket, out of the way until you needed it.

The Green Delica

The green FRN became first available in 1990.  Spyderco started stamping their knife steel in 1992.  I purchased it sometime between 1990 and 1991.

The plastic clip was always something of a question mark.  While it was convenient to anchor the knife in pocket, pouch, or shirt neckline, the clip could be deformed if caught on a seatbelt or forced around thick fabric.  Unable to remove the clip, re-bend it and re-install or replace it, Spyderco responded by grinding the clip off and fixing a metal clip with small screws.  Over time the screws would deform the FRN plastic and loosen.  Most owners who went that route ended up taking the clip off and dropping the knife in a pocket.  I would have bought a new one and exiled the bent one to the car glove compartment or tackle box.

Green Delica - Classic Plastic Clip

The black-handled Delica is marked AUS8A.  The A means the steel was factory-annealed.  AUS8 is very similar to 440C with a slight addition of vanadium, which forms very small and hard carbide particles.  These carbides represent an improvement in steel properties.  At the time, AUS 8 was one of the best available steels for knife blades.

The Black Delica

The tang stamp reads Spyderco AUS8A Stainless.  The reverse is stamped Seki-City Japan.

The Plastic Clip - Everyone loved them until the bent beyond repair

Both knives have the traditional ‘volcano checkering,' a margin defined raised square with a slight spherical depression in its center.  The pattern improved your grip with wet, soapy, or bloody hands.

AUS8A tang stamp

C71 - Salsa

Spyderco's Salsa was made in Taipei, Taiwan, and sports a green anodized finish with a pepper engraved.  It came with a shallow pocket wire clip and top compression lock.  The blade is AUS8.

The Salsa -  Still sorry I didn't get other colors too!

It’s not the first Spyderco with a compression lock, that honor goes to Bram Frank and his design, the Grunting.  The green Salsa was only made in 2002.  The blade is 63mm long with a cutting surface of 53 mm.  The thumb hole is 14 mm in diameter.  As a point of reference, the thumb holes on the two previous Delicas were 12 mm in diameter.  The Salsa thumb hole also has a cobra hood over the hole to promote the blade opening.  Then the blade is locked open, the hood becomes a wide, jimped thumb rest. 

Salsa top compression lock and Cobra Hood opener

My Salsa is partially serrated.  Serration increases the cutting ability of a knife by changing the geometry and increasing the cutting edge.  This is especially valuable in a short-bladed knife.

I'm sorry I didn't buy some of the other colors when they were available.  That is the life of a knife collector, one regret after another. 

C242 - Ikuchi

Ikuchi is one of Spyderco’s ethnic line knives.  This line pays tribute to many diverse cultures and their contribution to knives.  The Ikuchi is named after a mythical Japanese eel-like sea monster.  Paul Alexander designed it with a tapered, curved handle.  Skeletonized stainless steel liners and bitchingly cool carbon fiber/G-10 laminate scales.

The Ikuchi

You can find an excellent description of the Ikuchi in the August 2022 issue of Knife Magazine.

The knife was first shown in Spyderco's 2019 product reveal and was still available in the 2024 catalog. 

The Ikuchi top compression lock and finger opener.

The blade is full-flat ground 83 mm long graceful curve of CPM S30V and sports a tiny 6 mm Spyderco thumb hole.  The thumb hole on Spyderco folders has become a trade make.  I remember when Benchmade lost the rights to Spyderco’s thumb hole and had to change to an oval opener.  The clever thing is, when closed, the blade thumb hole lines up with two holes set in the handle.  That's mega-cool.

The top of the tang is slightly enlarged and becomes the flipper to open the knife.  The index finger of either hand works quite well when opening the Ikuchi.  The closed knife tang rests on a stop block, protecting the blade from hitting the pin connectors between the handle sides.  I like Spyderco's top compression lock, as I don't have to have my fingers in the path of the closing blade.

The wire clip is reversible, but the knife can only be carried tip-up.  I don't see it in the same light I see the Delica.  The Ikichi is much more of a formal dress knife.

We will see what's next!

Part Two

Sunday Blade at Spyderco

         Sunday, the last day of the Blade Show, is always a day of mixed emotions. Everyone must leave and for many dealers that means packing up and making flight connections. Some, like Pro-Tech, are completely sold out. For knife fanciers, like myself, it's a sad day. My wife and I are leaving a community, even as temporary as the Blade show, and reentering a world of people who don't carry a knife, don't understand about knives, and if they own one, they have owned it for thirty years. It is as if an invisible wall is erected between me and them. We don't speak the same language,

The upside is my visit with Spyderco. I really want to thank Kelly Towers, the Director of Sales and Marketing, for taking the time to talk with me.

Spyderco is still in the final stages of building and enlarging manufacturing facilities in Golden, Colorado. They have been at it for some time. The COVID epidemic and the shortages that followed put a damper on their progress. The exciting thing about their expansion is that they are expanding the manufacturing areas, not office space. The difference is that manufacturing space makes money, not office space.

To my surprise, much of Spyderco's new production space will be set aside to develop new knife lines made solely in Golden. I have always associated Spyderco with Japan. Many of their knives are still made overseas, but things change. Don't be surprised to see more knives stamped "Golden Colorado U.S.A. Earth" on their tangs.

I always carry one of these, incase I get kidnapped by aliens, at least they know where to return me

Their value folder line, which serves as their introduction line, is still made in China. If you're a knife person and you aren't aware that China is a huge player in the knife industry, well, you better get caught up. Spyderco makes many of its fabulous knives there, as well as in Italy, Taiwan, and Japan. The Tenacious is one of their better sellers, but a blue titanium-handled Tenacious will be released later this year. https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details/C122TIBL/Tenacious-reg-R-I-L-Blue-Titanium/2554

Titanium Tenacious

The blue Tenacious is fantastic. And at an MSRP of $170, you're going to want one.

Spyderco is known for their sprint runsd, short production runs of new steels combined with unusual handle materials. One sprint run you should watch out for is the Micro-Melt PD#1 series. It's the next super steel. It contains about 7% chromium, over 1% carbon and a whopping 2.3% vanadium along with other elements. Carpenter Technology describes their steel as "…an air hardening cold work die steel possessing wear resistance superior to that of conventional grades such as AISI D2, while still maintaining excellent toughness. This steel can be considered … where a combination of excellent wear resistance and good toughness is required. Many of the benefits realized including … greater wear resistance, and increased toughness."  Carpenter Technology attributes these properties to "smaller, more uniformly distributed carbide particles and a finer grain size.”

The run will feature a black, non-reflective TiCN coating and dark burgundy grips. Look for this steel in many of your favorite knives, Delica, Eldela, Police, Stretch XL and others. Woo Hoo !

I casually mentioned to Kelly that Spyderco likes dealing with different steels and struck a nerve. Kelly told me that one fan sat down and tabulated all the different steels various knife companies use. Spyderco topped the list at 64 different steels currently in use. The next biggest user fizzled out at 9.

Speaking of steel, I fell instantly in love with their CPM Rex 121 steel line with their bright orange handles. I know black is tactical cool, but this bright orange is a cup of hot coffee on a rainy morning. You wouldn't believe me telling you about the wild mix and amounts of elements this steel has. Check it yourself!

https://www.crucible.com/eselector/prodbyapp/highspeed/cpm121.html

The initial run is limited to just the Sage with a $400 MSRP.

Still no word on expanding their lines of automatic knives. Spyderco makes a limited number of autos, chiefly the Autonomy and Autonomy 2, at the request of the US Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers. The Swimmers needed a knife that could be deployed with a single gloved hand, tolerant of salt water, and cut like the devil. Their answer was the Autonomy. But that doesn't mean Spyderco wants to make them. 

The Autonomy

What’s new? Even as you read this, knives are making their way to retailers. I'd check out the new Manix 2XL in canvas micarta. The steel is CPM Cru-wear, and I'll let Crucible Industry brag about it. "CPM CRU-WEAR is an air-hardening tool steel, heat treatable to HRC 60-65. … CPM (Crucible Powder Metal) (is an) upgrade to conventional Cru-Wear and D2, it offers better wear resistance, much greater toughness, and higher attainable hardness. Both D2 and CPM CRU-WEAR contain carbides for wear resistance, but CPM CRU-WEAR has more vanadium carbides than D2."  

Manix 2XL with canvas micarta handle.

If you're a knife guy, you know vanadium carbides are harder than chromium carbides and provide much better wear and strength. This steel has a little secret sauce (tungsten and molybdenum) contributing to a secondary hardening response. D2 doesn’t do that. While Cru-Wear steel isn't strictly classified as stainless, there may be sufficient free chromium to help you with that. I'd run a little oil over the surface and in the pivot, just to be sure. Spyderco has a little product sheet included with the knife warning you to stay away from acid food and use a little oil on the blade. Check it yourself. MSRP is under $300.

https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details/C95MCW2/Manix-reg-2-XL-Brown-Canvas-Micarta-CPM-CRU-WEAR/2507

It’s a great time to be a Spyderco fan!

SMOCK!

 

“Hey, you got my knife!”

That's different from what I hear very often at my sales table.  Often, I hear, "You got the knife I’m looking for!’ or the slightly different version, ‘You got the knife I lost!’  Neither of these states assures you of a sale.

“You’re Mr. Smock?” I ask.  He was pointing at Spyderco’s Smock in carbon fiber.

You must understand I grew up with Steve Allen's late-night TV show, Tonight.   Allan launched the careers of people like Don Knotts, Lewis Nye, Bill Dana, and many more.  But it was his catch phrase that always fascinated me:  'Smock, Smock."

So, when Mr. Smock walked up to my table and introduced himself, I was, without a doubt, at a loss for words and very confused.

Kevin Smock 
He's holding a flier for the WRCA Knife show in April 6 and 7th at MAPS

                                                           near the Akron-Canton Airport

“Yes, I am, and you," he said, pointing at the Smock on my table, "have the new pivot.  I didn’t like the old one.”  It turns out he is Kevin Smock, the designer of Spyderco’s Smock.  The previous one was a simple screw head inset in the carbon fiber handle.  The new one is a polished metal head with an aerospace look. 

I like the look, that button release is totally icey

I've met other famous knife designers, but usually at the SHOT Show or Blade.  But never at the Medina Community Center until today. 

Kevin started as a knife modifier.  He would take other factory knives and modify them, creating unique, one-of-a-kind knives.  This is a bigger knife hobby than you might think.  Facebook is filled with postings of 'patina-ized’ blades, replaced grips, and altered grinds.  I met a fellow who shortened the blades and sometimes the grip of factory knives.  Finally, Kevin’s friends told him, ‘Look, you got the skill and the knowledge; you should be making your own knives.'

That did it.  Kevin wanted to use Spyderco's top compression lock, so he approached them and got permission.  The result is the SK23.

 

Notice the flipper, it's very easy to use and doesn't distract from the streamline profile.  

Later, Kevin showed Eric Glesser his creation and Eric was impressed.  He gave Kevin his card and told him we should talk.  The rest is history.

You can look up Spyderco’s Smock for yourself.  It’s a very cool knife.  The flipper is uniquely positioned and utilizes a button to disengage the compression lock.  The button lets you close the knife without your fingers coming near the closing blade.  That’s a nice touch.

If you don’t think this is significant, you’re wrong.  I constantly deal with people who want a knife, in some cases need a knife, but worry about cutting themselves while closing the knife.  A lot of effort and time goes into finding a knife they feel comfortable with.  This apprehension is especially common with frame and liner locks.

The Smock weighs in at 3.7 oz, and the blade, incompletely described as a modified Wharncliffe, is ground from CPMS30V steel. 

Kevin still makes his SK23 but also makes custom scales for the Spyderco Smock.  You can check out these and other items at https://www.smockknives.com/

Meeting him made my day.  Here's an entrepreneur creating industry and generating profits.  There's a lot to be said for that.

Magnificent MagnaCut

 

Crucible Powdered Metal’s MagnaCut steel is, perhaps the best performance steel on the market.  It is certainly the hottest!

Dr. Larrin Thomas, its inventor, thought there should be a steel that could be optimized to give small grain steel with tiny, supper hard carbides capable of reaching Rockwell 60+ hardness without brittleness and still be rust resistant.

I’ve taken a very short step in to metallurgy and perhaps the first thing you learn is you simply can’t throw elements into a pot and get a great outcome.  Metallurgy is complicated, heat treatment is a specialty, and you just don’t plunge a red-hot knife from the forge into oil and get a great outcome.

MagnaCut was the result of serious study and testing which culminated with a single hit or miss lot of steel.  Larrin got one bite at the apple and he was successful.  The story of its development is here: https://knifesteelnerds.com/2021/03/25/cpm-magnacut

One of Spyderco's MagnaCut folders: 

Let me be honest with you.  The article is written for steel nerds, people who enjoy technical data, like hard science fiction and enjoy reading about science.  I’m one of them.

The upshot is MagnaCut, due to its properties, when processed properly is an amazing steel.  The high-end knife makers jumped on it like white on rice.  This quickly worked its way down to EDC knives.

You can Google MagnaCut and any knife company and get a hit.

Here’s the formulation: Carbon 1.15%, Chromium 10.7%, Vanadium 4.00%, Molybdenum 2.00%, Niobium 2.00%, Nitrogen 0.20%.

Kershaw Launch 4 in MagnaCut

The amazing thing, all the chromium is available for corrosion resistance.  The  carbides are all vanadium and niobium.

We could talk about Charpy C-notch test, Edge Retention (CATRA Testing Relative to 440C), salt spray corrosion test, but you can find that yourself.  The important thing is to realize this steel helps makers use a better blade geometry for improved cutting while ensuring extended performance.  And while performance doesn’t come cheap, this steel is worth it!

Bestech's Swordfish in Magnacut

You’re going to see a lot of MagnaCut in the future.

Delica in the Key of K390

 Back before it started, the old gods came together for a meal and to brag about what they contributed the newly forming reality.  Loki/the Coyote/the Trickster was especially gleeful.

“I gave them iron and carbon.”

“So?”

“They mix to form an alloy.  Too little carbon and the steel formed will be soft and useless.  Too much and it becomes brittle cast iron.  If they add the just right amount they get properties all over the place.  And it still rust!”

The old gods thought it was a clever joke on the humans.  All but one, Vulcan/Brokkr/the Master Forger.  Without steel, how could they build things, he wondered.  He crept off and threw a hand full of elements, and perhaps more important, undiscovered knowledge into the mix.

Thanks, Vulcan!

Delica in the key of K390

I just got Spyderco’s K390 Delica and it is quickly becoming my favorite pocket knife.  I really like the Delica/Endura line.  Back in day, I used to fly with two Delicas and airlines had no problem with that.  Even back then those sealed packages of peanuts were hard to open!

I found I could always depend on Delicas and the K390 is no exception!

I’m not really a super steel fan.  Almost every steel the national brands use is hardened and tempered to bring you good performance.  But right now, for a working knife, I suggest you look at K390 steel.

K390 is a tool steel with interesting properties.  Right now, Spyderco is one of the few companies making knife blades with it.  Chemical analysis would find:

Carbon: 2.47%  (Wow!),

Chromium: 4.2%,

Molybdenum: 3.8%,

Vanadium: 9%,

Tungsten: 1%,

and

Cobalt: 2%.

The rest is iron.

It isn't a gamble with Spyderco's four position clip 

 Each of these elements affect the basic crystalline structure of the steel and its properties.  The metallurgy is more complicated than you can imagine.  In its simplest form, chromium and vanadium form small hard carbides that contribute to edge properties.  The remaining elements alter the metallurgical properties.

It doesn’t take a lot of study to realize K390 isn’t a stainless steel.  It is a hard-working tool steel.  And no, you just can’t add another 8-9 %of chromium and make it stainless.  Well, at least if you want to retain the other properties, most of which go unnoticed by the user.  Science tells us why, but that’s just an understand of how the universe work.  For the real reason you’ll have to ask the Trickster.

I like the coarse jimping on the FRN handle

K390 was submitted for an Austrian patented by Bohler in 2002.  Bohler wanted a steel to compete with Crucible’s CPM-10V.  It is not a new steel and gradually found a place among knife makers.

Like all steel, the properties have a give and take aspect and are affected by heat treatment.  K390 is one of the top tier steels with excellent toughness and slicing edge retention.  That is the take.  The give is corrosion resistance.  You need to take care of your steel, wipe it dry and use a good oil.  Spyderco incudes a little handout on caring for the steel.  I’d read it if I was you.

Heading out for Deer camp?  Make sure you take a Spyderco Delica in K390.

Which oil?  There are really two options, food safe and non-food safe.  I tend to lean toward food safe, but I’ve used  penetrating oils too.

I like my new Delica with K390 steel.  Currently all of Spyderco’s K390 steel come with a unique blue handle.  Mike Janich tells me he calls it K390 Blue.

The Delica has a flat grind, which contributes to it’s cutting powers.  Not having shoulders, like the saber grind or it’s brother, Scandi, it doesn’t have to push material out of the way to keep cutting. 

I don't always go off the beaten path...  But when I do it's with a Delica  in K390 steel

The grips are FRN or fiber reinforced nylon.  The fibers, to the best of my knowledge are short glass fibers which strengths the nylon.  The grip sports bidirectional texturing which radiates outward from the center of the handle.  The texturing is strikingly attractive and more importantly, provides increase purchase with wet and slippery hands.

The blade has the trademark Spyderco hole.  I don’t know which is more uniquely Spyderco, the fat tick-like spider logo or the functional opening hole.  In either case, the thumb hole was genius!

One of the major improvements in the knife world is movable clips.  Sal Glesser, Spyderco founder, is credited with the pocket clip he called "Clip-it."  Later versions of Delica and Endura had a reversible clip.  Eventually most Spyderco folders have four-position clips.  I simple love that options.  Most of my knives are carried tip up right hand, but I’ve been known to set up a knife for tip up left-hand carry.  While this may seem trivial to you, this allows Spyderco to be essentially an ambidextrous knife.  Its estimated 10% of the world’s population is left-handed.  Being able to operate a pocket knife with either your left or right hand is amazing.  Unfortunately, many companies have not caught on to this pocket knife innovation.

For me the ability to make a fire by shaving fir sticks and scrapping Birch bark in the touch stone to all knives.  Spyderco Delica have never let me down.

Spyderco’s  K390 Delica cuts.  I cut seatbelt material.  No problem.  Opened packages and bags, cut string and rope.  I shaved feather sticks to build a fire, my personal touchstone of knife performance.  Carboard trembles in its presence.  What a knife!

The suggest retail price is $176.  Right now, all I’m finding on Spyderco website is the full serration:

https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details/C11FK390/1885 

I suspect if you look about, you’ll find the plain edge on line.