Pros: Very Well Built, Very Sharp Out Of The Box, Inexpensive
Cons: Just a hair too long (for me) for every day carry
The Bottom Line: An excellent low cost knife with high dollar knife quality. I give it 4.5 stars; minus .5 star for not being the perfect size for my every day use.
buggman's Full Review: Byrd Cara Cara, 10 Handle, Plain
Byrd by Spyderco Cara Cara model BY03GP
Having recently purchased a Spyderco Tenacious knife (see my other reviews), I was immediately impressed with the quality even on the more "entry level" Spyderco Tenacious value. After some searching, I found that Spyderco also offers their Byrd series of knives. These knives have some similar designs to other Spyderco knives, but retain the same high quality blade steel of the Tenacious knife. This Cara Cara does not disappoint.
To begin with, the blade is 8Cr13Mov high-tech chrome molly vanadium stainless steel, the same steel as the (more expensive) Tenacious. This steel is extremely strong, yet retains it's sharpness after quite a bit of normal usage.
This is not a small knife, the blade measures in at 3 7/8" and overall the knife is just a hair under 8 5/8" in length. Normally, I prefer a blade that is between 2 ¾" to 3 ¼" long, but this knife doesn't feel cumbersome as I first thought it would.
It is well balanced in the hand and offers a "close to the blade" grip as well as a "farther away from the blade" grip. By close grip, I mean that you can put your index finger in the jimped cutout of the blade/handle which leaves your finger within 1/8" of the cutting edge, leaving your middle finger located in the second cutout area. Using this close grip will leave (in my case) over 1" of handle material at the end of the handle open & not used. Using this grip allows your thumb to securely rest directly on the back bump on the blade, which has plenty of grip thanks to the jimping machined into the blade. (Jimping refers to the little grooves machined into the blade back, etc. for more traction)
By farther grip, I mean that you can put your index finger into the second handle cutout area, leaving the close jimped grip area open. This allows you a little more security against accidentally cutting your index finger or allows you deeper blade penetration. Using this more traditional grip will (in my case) leave almost no extra handle material exposed at the butt end, but leaves about ¾" of area (blade & handle combined) at the front of the knife handle/pivot of the blade exposed. When using this grip, you'll have to stretch your thumb a little further to reach the jimped traction area on the back of the blade. It's not a far stretch, depending on how long your fingers are, but it does require an additional ½" or so in my case to reach the bump on the back of the blade. Either grip you prefer will afford you comfort and confidence that you have total control over your cutting edge.
Similar to the other Spyderco knives, the Byrd series features a cutout in the blade rather than a thumb stud for opening the blade. In the case of most Byrd knifes (including this Cara Cara) the blade cutout is in the shape of a bird's head...sort of a Spyderco hole that has an elongated & tapered front. Oddly enough, I prefer this bird's head shape over the Spyderhole. At first, I thought the oblong shaped hole would be uncomfortable & difficult to use, but it turns out to be quite the contrary. This knife is nearly effortless to open. I believe this is due to the Byrd hole being located slightly closer to the pivot point than other Spyderco knives.
I chose the full plain blade in polished finish, but I've seen this knife with part serrated as well as black coated blades. I'm not a huge fan of the coated blades, as I've found the coating shows signs of use & scratches, even normal use much more than a polished blade will. Right out of the package, this knife was remarkably sharp. I'd estimate this knife is 90% as sharp as my Tenacious & that knife is insanely sharp.
Another feature of this blade is that it is a full 1/8" thick from the pivot, nearly all the way to the very tip. This is my preferred blade configuration. With this full thickness close to the tip, you have much more metal behind the tip (which sees the most delicate use and is the easiest part of the blade to chip off). The full thickness blade along the majority of the spine of the blade also makes it much easier to sharpen (at least for me & my sharpening system). I use a sharpening system (similar to a Lansky kit) in which I clamp my blade into a fixed jig & my sharpening medium gets pulled & pushed across the blade, always maintaining a perfect sharpening angle. With nearly all of the spine of the blade flat & level, this gives me a tremendous amount of area to use my clamping mechanism, not to mention the added strength to the entire blade. The blade is hollow ground up about half way on the blade, still leaving plenty of strength, and the hollow grinding thins the blade before it reaches the cutting edge. This makes sharpening the blade easier. The hollow grinding also makes room behind the cutting edge for whatever you're cutting (chips, etc) to more easily flow out of the way.
Right out of the package, this knife needed absolutely no adjustments. The blade has some oil residue, but that's normal. The blade locks solidly open without any play. Once locked open, the blade has miniscule movement from side to side...I'd guess less than 0.5mm total at the tip of the blade, which is extremely good for a knife in this price range (less than $30 as I'm writing this review). The blade has the byrd logo as well as the 8Cr13Mov etched on one side of the blade, while the other side of the blade only has China and ® etched on it.
Speaking of locking in place, this knife is a lock back, NOT a liner lock. I was concerned at first about using a lock back after using liner locks for so many years, but that quickly went away the first few times I opened & closed the knife. The lock back here is positioned about half way down the spine of the handle & features a small cutout right where you need to press to unlock the blade. Again, I thought this would be something I wouldn't like, but it turns out that the little rounded cutout allows me to easily find the lock without needing to look or fiddle around trying to find the locking mechanism. My thumb goes right to the cutout every time. Just a little pressure on the locking mechanism releases the blade. Once closed, there's plenty of tension to keep the blade securely in the handle, but not so much tension that it would make it difficult to open the knife. Opening the knife using the "Byrd hole" is easy, requires little effort & feels safer (to me) than opening my Tenacious.
The handle material is G10 slabs overlaid over stainless liners & frame. G10 is more likely to be used on higher priced knives. The G10 checkered pattern is 100% identical to that of my Tenacious knife. There is enough grip to keep the knife from sliding around in your hand, but not so much that it makes the knife uncomfortable to handle. This textured pattern also lessens the chance of excessive wear & tear on your pocket or belt. Spyderco has even chamfered the edges of the G10 to make a smooth transition around all the edges of the handles.
The knife is assembled with small Torx screws & it appears as if you could disassemble the knife for cleaning. I haven't tried to take mine apart yet.
I just noticed that the spine of the knife handle is all metal, from the lock mechanism all the way around to the end. However, there are 7 small machined areas where a small amount metal has been removed, I'm not sure if this was done for looks or to cut weight but I like the design it makes, although I'm a little concerned about dust & dirt getting trapped in the little cutout areas.
The handle also has a small lanyard hole located just above the belt/pocket clip. I've never used a lanyard myself, but I know lots of people like having a loop of leather or para cord tied through the lanyard hole.
The clip is removable via 3 tiny Torx screws and you have the option to move the clip from the front to the back of the knife in the tip up configuration only. Some Spyderco knifes have the option to mount the clip in 4 locations rather than just 2, but I'm perfectly happy carrying my knife on my belt in the tip up position. The clip is sturdily built, has just the right amount of pressure (not so loose that it falls off easily, not so tight that it takes a prybar to get it off). There is an open area in the clip of about 1 ¼" wide, which should be plenty of room for most belts, not to mention pocket areas. The clip is mounted quite close to the end of the handle, which I like. When carrying the knife in a pocket, only a small amount of the handle is exposed, where it could get caught on something or be in my way.
This knife weighs in at 4.3oz, which is not bad at all. It's quite easy to maneuver & doesn't feel cumbersome, considering its overall length is longer than the knives I usually carry every day.
The packaging indicates that all Byrd knives have a 1 year warranty to the original purchaser. While Spyderco produces this Byrd line of knives, I'm not sure if you'd be able to send this knife back to Spyderco for routine free sharpening. In all the years I've owned & collected knives, I've never sent a knife back for repair & only one time have I called a company for a replacement part.
If this knife had a 3" blade & appropriately sized handle rather than the nearly 4" blade, it would be perfect, not too big, not too small.
I really can't find any flaws in design or manufacturing to gripe about, so the length will have to be my only complaint here. I'm definitely going to be looking for more of Spyderco's Byrd knives to further enhance my collection; I might even have to try one of their partially serrated knives.
I'd say this would be a great camping knife or even a good knife to keep in a tackle box. The partially serrated versions would come in handy if you cut a lot of rope or leather straps, not that the plain edge wouldn't do the job, but sometimes you need a little bit of a saw blade to power through really tough jobs.
It's just slightly too long (maybe ¾" overall) to be a perfect every day carry knife for me, as I mentioned, I like about a 3" blade for EDC, but that's just my preference... your may like a larger knife, depending on your usage.
For the money, this is a really nice knife, great fit & finish, very sharp & built to last.
Byrd by Spyderco Cara Cara G-10 Clip-It Pocket Knife:Blade: Hollow-ground 8Cr13Mov steelHandle material: G-10 with full stainless-steel linersLock typ...More at Walmart
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