Since I'm a person who's always out looking for good value, I've ended up with Byrd knives before. I work an office job and often find myself in a suit (and in my environment, medium to large knives are often, let's say quite difficult to carry in a European city environment). So I've been carrying the Spyderco Roadie for quite a while in my inner vest pocket, but being a knife nut, I kinda like to have multiple options to choose from.
I have always found the Ladybug or the Manbug a bit expensive for that size of knife, so I ended up looking at the Finch and Starling.
After some time - I'll spare you the details - I ended up with both.
Long story short: I like 'em both, you should get both too.
Here are some pics and some more blabla.
Both in open and closed position. To be really honest, I do like the esthetic of the Finch a bit more in closed position, where the thumb ramp melts into the handle, whereas the Starling has a bit of a gap between the blade and the handle. :
Notice the Finch has a more narrow blade and a choil. The Starling does not have a choil but honestly in this size of blade I can't say I prefer one over the other. They're both comfortable in opening and manipulating /holding on to, despite their size. The g10 on both feels good.
The blade on the Starling is cts-bd1, whereas on the Finch it's the expected 8cr13mov. I have always been a fan of bd1 since I first used it in the lw Manix 2, the Raven 2 and the UKPK. Of course it's great again in the Staring. It's one of my favourite edc steels for sure. 8cr13mov is a steel that's been talked about enough in the past. In a knife this size, it's really all you need. The Starling boasts a stock that's slightly thicker. In this view you see that the fit and finish is better on the Starling. It's a newer offering as well so that might have something to do with it. The Finch show some gaps or uneven spaces around the liners. Again, I do like the esthetic the milled backspacer of the Finch shows.
Maybe the f&f being better on the Starling is why it proudly wears Sal's mark? Absolutely no need for a clip on these guys, by the way. Also notice in the pics that the Finch has a multi-screwed construction and probably could be taken apart. The Starling is pinned. Unless a knife of mine was unbelievable gritty or felt like something was wrong, I've never had the urge to take a knife apart so I really don't mind the pinned construction. A knife done right is a knife done right, no need for me to meddle with it.
I haven't said anything on the price yet, but they're byrds so they're inexpensive enough and both well worth whatever you find these for online. 20'ish is my guess? So... why are you still reading this and haven't putten these two in your shopping cart yet? Go!
Edit: seems like photobucket is still a bunch of idiots. Another host it is...
