After a steady six months of hard use I think it's finally time for a review. What you are seeing is my personal Persistence. If you are familiar with Spyderco you will notice several differences between my knife and the stock production model. But for those of you unfamiliar I will begin explaining what is unique about my knife. When I first Bought this knife late last year. I was not too fond of its feel in hand it felt blocky and the outer appearance of the G10 scales were alright but nothing to write home about. The handle is made up of G10 on top of the steel liners which are skeletonized for weight reduction. Upon taking the knife down to deal with an issue I had with the pivot screw(I'll get to that later). I noticed the holes were a perfect size for a nearby drill bit. After 15 minutes of drilling and the use of a Counter Sink bit I had made the knife noticeably more attractive and also lighter. With some finishing touches such as polishing the G10, applying a convex edge and rounding the corners of the handle to better fit my hand I was finished. Please note when I first purchased this knife and began modding it I had no intention of EDC'ing or using it to perform hard use tasks. It was going to be nothing but an around the house knife. The main thing keeping it out of my pocket was the steel 8Cr13Mov a Chinese steel used by various manufacturers and is known for being a somewhat budget steel. This turned me off of beating on it as I initially thought it would hold all of the negative connotations that come with the word "budget" but boy was I wrong. The first thing I noticed upon taking the knife out of the box was the sharpness. To my dismay it was about as sharp as my brand new Benchmade Nim Cub and also comparable to my Delica 4 FFG. I must say I was expecting a dull knife that even after hours of sharpening and strop time would be only mildly sharper. The knife was impressive for the price I paid of only $27.00. Even though I was impressed with the edge and price I wasn't entirely ready to give it the spotlight and put it to the test. That is until I damaged the pivot screw of my previous and much loved EDC the Delica 4 FFG(to which I still have not repaired due to laziness). With my main blade down I needed a replacement. Something that could perform all the tasks of my normal day to day life. That is where the Persistence came in as winter turned to spring and now summer is here I am still using this knife. Where I'm from in beautiful Central Oregon we are surrounded by lakes, rivers, and mountains. When summer comes around we see ourselves spending almost all of our free time outside and that is where I have been using this blade the most lately. Cutting Wood, Plastics, Cardboard, Rope and also being used for food prep. While using this blade outside it tends to get wet quite frequently and for long periods of time which I was worried about due to the steel possibly developing rust quickly but that was not the case. I still have yet to see any rust on the blade. The only hit I can give the steel would be edge retention which would be expected of 8Cr13Mov. I notice myself having to strop after using the blade for extended periods of time. Although the knife seems to always keep pretty sharp. Now I'll move on to handle and lock: The handle is fine after you round the back a little and the lock is a liner lock, not much more to say about that. The knife feels pretty good in hand and your grip is complemented by the jimping on the thumb ramp. The knife deploys as fast as any other Spyderco with a little lube to get things moving. When I received the knife the pivot was tighter than Kim Kardashians pants and what was supposed to be a torx screw was an allen key. All that aside the knife has had no issues. Loosen it to where you want it, apply a little Blue Loctite and the knife should perform like it was meant to. The clip design is excellent like most of Spyderco's offerings and seats the knife fairly well in pocket with only the top portion of the clip exposed. Overall This in my opinion is one of if not the best knife for the price. Whether you are into knives or are looking to purchase your first blade the Persistence is a must have.
