Spyderco Forums

abbazaba wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 02, 2023 1:28 pm

It looked like The One on paper for me, but in hand it never felt safe. The slick scales, comp lock, and shallow choil with very little finger guard left me feeling nervous every time I went to use it with my big clumsy hands.

I think a slight redesign could make it one of the greats, but until then my GB2 gets the 3.5" Tiachung pocket time.

I think you are right yeah that shallow finger choil is not what it should have been, I do find my hand gravitating toewards it just like it does with a PM2 and Para3.

You know another great knife with a choil issue is the Smock love it but the worthless choil will cut you. Seems like some CQI love is in order for both.

Both are really cool designs that work well but could be better with a little tweaking and the SMOCK could go XL and get my money all over again.

I own two, and have customized one with parts from the designer.

My only complaint is the comp lock. I can live with it for the rest of the knife, though. :)

I enjoy the Kapara, it is up there in one of my favorites.
The smooth scales don’t bother me. Seems like the knife locks in your hand when you open it.

Doesn’t hurt your pockets and smooth rounded scales make it comfortable to carry.

Skar wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 02, 2023 2:34 pm

I enjoy the Kapara, it is up there in one of my favorites.
The smooth scales don’t bother me. Seems like the knife locks in your hand when you open it.

Doesn’t hurt your pockets and smooth rounded scales make it comfortable to carry.

Is your the Carbon Fiber version with S30V? I am considering getting one as this seems not to be as smooth as the DLT Grey G10 Exclusive.

Over all love the knife.

JSumm wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 02, 2023 9:18 am

Skinny contoured scales, don't play nice with the compression lock. Too little real estate to pinch when closing. You can close it like a back lock, but at that point it may as well be a back lock. It is extremely comfortable in hand. I will say my preferences have changed in that for a work knife I prefer a little more meat to grasp. For and EDC knife it is almost perfect.

It would be great as a backlock knife, but as it is with some other models I think that blade would not fit into the narrow handle anymore with a backlock.

That´s why I wished for a linerlock, so that the overall shape could remain as it is (and yes, I really like linerlocks anyway).

Abba, you are spot on. A liner lock or back lock would have been better suited I feel. But that is ok, the GB2 is extremely hard competition. One of if not my most favorite Spydie.

My Kapara sees very regular carry rotation especially after fixing the main issue I originally had. That was to replace the slippery scales with RGT Tero Tuf. Great look with much improved grip.

I personally love mine I own over 50 different spydercoats and a handful of Benchmade and this is my favorite knife and find itself in my pocket more than most it is very stylish the way it fits in my hand is perfect I know it was made for cutting food but it works for everything. And the heat treat on it seems Superior to Benchmade in my own opinion

BeggarSo wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 02, 2023 2:49 pm

Skar wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 02, 2023 2:34 pm

I enjoy the Kapara, it is up there in one of my favorites.
The smooth scales don’t bother me. Seems like the knife locks in your hand when you open it.

Doesn’t hurt your pockets and smooth rounded scales make it comfortable to carry.

Is your the Carbon Fiber version with S30V? I am considering getting one as this seems not to be as smooth as the DLT Grey G10 Exclusive.

Over all love the knife.

Yes I have the cf s30v version. The scales are smooth,
The knife just fits me.
I haven’t tried the grey 20cv.

I've never viewed it as overlooked. Seems like it's been pretty popular to me. I can see why some have issues with it but, regardless, it's still one of my favorite models.

For me the Sliverax is the head scratcher. Once I tuned the detent I think it's fantastic. Yet you don't hear much about it

I just like simple handles and drop point blades. The Kapara may be a great knife, but it’s a little “out there” for me.

Overlooked? Everyone knows it’s a great knife. It’s also $245 street price. There’s a long list of cheaper knives I’ll be just as entertained with.

zhyla wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 02, 2023 10:40 pm

Overlooked? Everyone knows it’s a great knife. It’s also $245 street price. There’s a long list of cheaper knives I’ll be just as entertained with.

Yes ,that price is another point.

Don´t get me wrong, the Kapara is worth every cent it costs, I actually think it is not expensive at all for the great fit and finish and CF scales.

But, as explained in my first post here, when for me personally the Endura platform turned out to be still the "better Kapara" and I could have about three VG 10 Enduras (which does not make a lot of sense, so better one in K390 and one in VG10) for the price of one Kapara, this is not speaking for the latter when it comes to my line uo.

BeggarSo wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 02, 2023 1:45 pm

abbazaba wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 02, 2023 1:28 pm

It looked like The One on paper for me, but in hand it never felt safe. The slick scales, comp lock, and shallow choil with very little finger guard left me feeling nervous every time I went to use it with my big clumsy hands.

I think a slight redesign could make it one of the greats, but until then my GB2 gets the 3.5" Tiachung pocket time.

I think you are right yeah that shallow finger choil is not what it should have been, I do find my hand gravitating toewards it just like it does with a PM2 and Para3.

You know another great knife with a choil issue is the Smock love it but the worthless choil will cut you. Seems like some CQI love is in order for both.

Both are really cool designs that work well but could be better with a little tweaking and the SMOCK could go XL and get my money all over again.

I personally had no problems at all with the finger choil on my Kapara.
I´ll put the Kapara depiction from the Spyderco site below for folks who might not know exactly what it looks like.

Actually there is a pretty substantial guard before the edge, and what people tend to forget:
- When putting the index finger in the choil, the hand is additionally locked in by the middle finger behind that "second" guard (the rear part of the choil)


I also think that a choil that is "higher" than the handle behind (so the index finger in the choil is less recessed than the middle finger) gives more control over the knife (another example would be the Stretch 1 choil sompared to the "deeper" Stretch 2 choil - I prefer the former)

Where I actually did not like the slick, narrow scales was in use in humid or muddy conditions and/or with cold, wet fingers - not enough grip then, also when using the lock in such conditions (regardless which closing method of the several I use with comp.locks)

JSumm wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 02, 2023 3:50 pm

Abba, you are spot on. A liner lock or back lock would have been better suited I feel. But that is ok, the GB2 is extremely hard competition. One of if not my most favorite Spydie.

I´d really like to try a Kapara with a linerlock in hand.

While I generally prefer the "linerlock ergos" (cutout almost feels like "chamfering" to me on many knives) over the "comp.lock ergos" (cutout is in an a bit unfavorable place, where it can get uncomfortable in real hard use) this could be different with the Kapara - maybe a linerlock (cutout) would make that narrow handle feel even thinner / too thin in hand - ?

Anyway: It would be great generally if that blade shape and choil style (most of it in the HANDLE) were implemented in more models - perhaps one with a more negative blade angle? (I get that the Kapara was designed with food prep in mind and so the overall shape makes perfect sense, since one could really use the entire edge on a cutting board. For a more general EDC knife though a more negative angle would be something nice to try)

I've never owned or held the Kapara in hand, so I'm not sure what design restraints we're up against. And even if I had I'm not a knife designer, so I'd still be talking out of my behind.
But here's what I wonder, could it be a candidate for a button lock/button operated compression lock? Seems like that would fix most of the handling issues. Pair that with some grippy G10 scales and my interest for it would go way up.

aicolainen wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 03, 2023 2:29 am

I've never owned or held the Kapara in hand, so I'm not sure what design restraints we're up against. And even if I had I'm not a knife designer, so I'd still be talking out of my behind.
But here's what I wonder, could it be a candidate for a button lock/button operated compression lock? Seems like that would fix most of the handling issues. Pair that with some grippy G10 scales and my interest for it would go way up.

Would be a real improvement indeed imo!

But, a bit like with a backlock: I am not sure that the almost choil - less blade (almost all of the choil is in the handle) would fit into the very narrow "not tall" handle with a button comp.lock - ? (I´d have to look into the technical / constructional details of this lock in order to get more clarity on that)

Wartstein wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 03, 2023 2:59 am

aicolainen wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 03, 2023 2:29 am

I've never owned or held the Kapara in hand, so I'm not sure what design restraints we're up against. And even if I had I'm not a knife designer, so I'd still be talking out of my behind.
But here's what I wonder, could it be a candidate for a button lock/button operated compression lock? Seems like that would fix most of the handling issues. Pair that with some grippy G10 scales and my interest for it would go way up.

Would be a real improvement indeed imo!

But, a bit like with a backlock: I am not sure that the almost choil - less blade (almost all of the choil is in the handle) would fit into the very narrow "not tall" handle with a button comp.lock - ? (I´d have to look into the technical / constructional details of this lock in order to get more clarity on that)

To solve the problem of the gap between the blade and the cylindrical pin of the button lock, it would suffice if it were not a solid cylinder but had a milling where the blade passes through. Since it is screwed to the tab of the compression lock, this milled part will keep the right direction.
This could also work to improve the choil of the Smock.

The whole knife is just too slender for me. If it were just taller from top to bottom and more hand filling I probably would have looked closer. I really like how the finger choil was done, it doesn't eat up as much edge length as other designs.

There is (or was?) a smaller slipjoint "Kapara" in the Spyderco prototype cabinet. To me, I think that one is way cooler than the actual Kapara. It could only be made even cooler yet by having a back lock (especially with the stop pins, like on a Chaparral).

I close bias.