General condition aside, let me say that this is one gorgeous piece. This could be passed off as art in my opinion, just a phenomenal looking tool. The opening hole is a bit small, and the self-close is solid but not in a bad way. Also, when opening you are required to deliberately move it through its arc due to the way the opening hole is tucked back behind the bolster. However, I wouldn't call it hard to open, just not a fast deploy by any means. It opens smoothly, and snaps into place solidly, with no hint of play in any direction. The lockbar is flush with the scales in both the open and closed position, which is more of a feat than most people realize. I also noticed that when depressed to unlock, the blade unlocks at the moment the boye dent is flush with the cut-out, which adds a nice feel to unlocking it as the pressure against your thumb pad suddenly disappears. Unfortunately I didn't think to snap any pics of the spine, but most seams are almost invisible, however there is a slight gap on one side of the lockbar in the bolster area. I believe that centering is spot on (although I didn't scrutinize that).
Fans of bolstered knives will recognize this as truly an example to emulate. The pivot is hidden, and the knife almost appears to have been grown on a plant, so complete is the mystery of how its parts are actually held together. The pins are little more than silver dots, which could be mistaken for purely decorative appointments, and the only evidence of fastening is the 3 screws retaining the clip. Truth be told, the clip is almost an eyesore on this knife, but that's more a statement on the beauty of the design itself than any shortcomings of the clip. Kudos to spyderco for having the guts to only offer one clip position; I feel compelled to shrive any sins committed by the clip due to the lack of extraneous holes.
The blade only serves to reinforce the organic nature of the knife itself. There is not a straight line to be found on it, and many of the lines to not match perfectly, but there is little doubt that everything is exactly as it was meant to be. This is a collector numbered knife (I believe), and along with that number the blade sports the Schempp logo, the Spyderco name, the country of origin and steel, and most interestingly a golden colored Spyder. How this effect was achieved, or how common this was on past designs, I'm unsure, but I find it to be a nice touch.
Overall, this knife is very comfortable in the hand, if a bit heavy in the handle, but not so much that it feels ungainly. To stretch the organic description to its limit, grasping the Kris feels like holding a worn and gnarled tree branch that just happens to fit your hand perfectly. The thorn-like blade undulates slightly downward, a classic Schempp touch, and the thumb may rest either behind or in front of the bolster hump.
Overall, I'm totally in love with the Kris. The only downsides I see to this design are its heft, and the fact that it's almost too pretty to use. Handling this knife has almost assured that I'll be purchasing the Bowie, since they seem to be cut from the same cloth, although I really do love the backlock. I think a sprint of this knife would sell phenomenally well, although I fear it would be expensive to produce, and I'm not actually sure what you'd change other than a different color of G10 or something (polished, a requirement). Anyway, enough talking, onto the pics...
But I would take a used one in a heartbeat. I've actually grown fond of many of Spyderco's recurve blades with the SPYKER being at the top of my list.
