I got the Stretch 2 LW and Ladybug both in K390. For some reason the Stretch opens more easily in my particular hand than my Endura in ZDP-189, although they appear somewhat similar. I may have to try the Endela for fit. But with the 15Vs coming this year I'll probably try for whatever. I wish that I could get both steel choice and model choice. Spyderco's great selection has opened that gee-I-wish door.
Probably has to do with the hole placement. The hole on the Stretch 2 is a little further from the scale, gives you a little extra leverage to swing it out. Spyderco is always gonna have plenty of great options!
Endela is great. Gave two away. I carry 2 delicas in k390 and a dragonfly. I also have those same knives in zdp189. I had everything from paysans to paramilitaries and pm2 &3 in everything from Maxamet to Elmax and M390 and all their cousins in alloy and these were the standouts
Japan ain't nothing to sneeze at. I used to be a machinist and Japan's tolerances are extremely high. They also have been mastering steel making way longer than America has even beed a country. I love my endura. It out performs any Benchmade I've ever used
What a wonderful Ode to my favorite knife! I really enjoyed your treatment of the Endura Clarke! I have been carrying one form or another of the Endura for 20 years including the last year 10 years of my firefighter paramedic career as my primary EDC knife. Out of the 60 or so knives in my collection the Endura is by far my most frequently carried. I have roughly a dozen variants but my 3 favorite by far are the k390, Super Gold 2, and the old G10 scaled VG10. ZDP-189 is also a favorite. Have you tried the Salt variants (Pacific) ?
If you want to listen to someone that spent over $6000 on all the best Spyderco folders, bought two of each each and used one of each and sold everything that did not impress. The FRNs have amazing k390 blades. I like ZDP 189 as well and I only carry delicates in those two alloys today and the dragonfly occasionally.
I've just got the Police sprint run, with a PD1 blade, and it's absolutely fantastic,.. I wish I'd got a Police years ago,,.. Unfortunately, it's illegal for me to carry it outside my property, here in England, 😩
I have that exact knife and I absolutely love the blade. Possibly my favorite blade with k390 And the slicey shape. Back lock is ok. But I hate Seki City handles. I don't love FRN but I much prefer US and Taiwan FRN to Seki City. I don't care about it looking or feeling like plastic. I just hate all those little grooves and nooks and crannys. Whatever is stuck on my hand during the work day - caulking, painters putty, drywall mud etc. just get jammed into every spot and are a bitch to get out. So I rarely use my favorite knife at work cuz I don't feel like cleaning it every week
The Native Chief is a really fun knife. Such a huge, pointy blade! I had a few in my collection for a little while. That CF/S90V version is one of the best.
This is a very personal opinion about a knife. You really can’t make that claim for everyone because you have no idea what people are doing for work and using their knives
I don't agree at all that FRN isn't for weight-saving. Even with those steel liners, spydercos are significantly lighter than knives with g10 or metal handles. Low weight means less blade damage when dropped. I wish there were more fully-FRN spydercos even.
FRN CAN be used for weight saving, but Spyderco doesn't always use it for that purpose. A good example is the Lil Temperance 3. The Lil Temperance 3 LW (FRN) is 3.8 oz. The Lil Temperance 3 G10 was 3.98 oz. Meaning the LW version was only just barely lighter. FRN can lead to some hyper-light knives if it's used without liners (like the Stretch XL LW, or the new Native Chief LW), but Spyderco will often put full steel liners under their FRN (like in the Endura here), which negates most of those weight savings. forum.spyderco.com/viewtopic.php?t=93427 To put a point on it: The Endura here is 3.7 oz, the Pacific - which is basically the same without the liners - is 2.6 oz, with the same overall profile and blade length. So while FRN CAN be used to drive significant weight savings, Spyderco clearly uses it sometimes not with the primary purpose of saving weight, but with the primary purpose of creating a particular handle design and shape that is easier and cheaper to achieve with FRN than G10 or other materials. And I think that's great.
Better steel than Magnacut? I'm not sure about that. The only thing K390 beats Magnacut in is edge retention, and only by a bit. The toughness and corrosion resistance on Magnacut is significantly higher. K390 is only "better" than Magnacut if you value edge retention over everything else, and don't care about corrosion on your blades. (K390 is great, mind you. But Magnacut is the steel to beat at the moment for a reason. It's not hype, it's science.) And Chris Reeve tolerances, build quality, blade geometry, materials, heat treat, and factory edge (the most important elements of a knife) are significantly better than that of the Endura. Is the Endura a great knife? Certainly. Is it a knife almost anyone could be well-served by in use? Absolutely. Is it better or even close to something like a Sebenza? Absolutely not. Chris Reeve is the absolute gold standard for knifemaking to this day, and likely will be for decades-if not generations-to come.
What I mean is the LW version isn't actually that much lighter than the G10 versions! They did the same thing with the Lil Temperance. Basically, because they keep liners in there for most of the length of the knife, the weight savings from switching from G10 to FRN are mostly nullified. It's a LITTLE lighter than this knife would be in G10...but the use of FRN is mostly to provide a different handle shape and only leads to a tiny weight savings. In other knives, like the Stretch XL LW, Spyderco will leave the liners out on the FRN version, and you can get some seriously light knives for their size.
I got the Stretch 2 LW and Ladybug both in K390. For some reason the Stretch opens more easily in my particular hand than my Endura in ZDP-189, although they appear somewhat similar. I may have to try the Endela for fit. But with the 15Vs coming this year I'll probably try for whatever. I wish that I could get both steel choice and model choice. Spyderco's great selection has opened that gee-I-wish door.
Probably has to do with the hole placement. The hole on the Stretch 2 is a little further from the scale, gives you a little extra leverage to swing it out.
Spyderco is always gonna have plenty of great options!
Endela is great. Gave two away. I carry 2 delicas in k390 and a dragonfly. I also have those same knives in zdp189. I had everything from paysans to paramilitaries and pm2 &3 in everything from Maxamet to Elmax and M390 and all their cousins in alloy and these were the standouts
K390 is incredible and the Japanese are really pushing the hrc. Best steel for a folder hands down.
i love my endura in 20cv. it's my favorite light weight edc
Just got one from KJ
Japan ain't nothing to sneeze at. I used to be a machinist and Japan's tolerances are extremely high. They also have been mastering steel making way longer than America has even beed a country. I love my endura. It out performs any Benchmade I've ever used
I own six folders, and one of them is this k390 endura…
What a wonderful Ode to my favorite knife! I really enjoyed your treatment of the Endura Clarke!
I have been carrying one form or another of the Endura for 20 years including the last year 10 years of my firefighter paramedic career as my primary EDC knife. Out of the 60 or so knives in my collection the Endura is by far my most frequently carried. I have roughly a dozen variants but my 3 favorite by far are the k390, Super Gold 2, and the old G10 scaled VG10. ZDP-189 is also a favorite.
Have you tried the Salt variants (Pacific) ?
The Stretch 2 xl g10 and Police 4 lw pd#1 have to be my favorites right now.
If you want to listen to someone that spent over $6000 on all the best Spyderco folders, bought two of each each and used one of each and sold everything that did not impress. The FRNs have amazing k390 blades. I like ZDP 189 as well and I only carry delicates in those two alloys today and the dragonfly occasionally.
Picked up one for about $113 and some change, your review was very appreciated
Great video, I missed any commentary on the clip??
I have the Wharncliffe K390 and it’s a cardboard cutting machine!
The pakkawood is still available at Knife Center. $194.
Have a few , but love the police 4 k390, serrated and none.👍🏻Stretch 2 k390 is a great knife also.
Police 4 in k390 for the win, serrated or plain edge
I have an original endura…first year ….in AUS-8
I've just got the Police sprint run, with a PD1 blade, and it's absolutely fantastic,.. I wish I'd got a Police years ago,,..
Unfortunately, it's illegal for me to carry it outside my property, here in England, 😩
I also live in the UK mate.
We live in the worst country in the world for a knife collector.
The warrnie Endura k390 is a great blade also.👋
I love my m4 version. Got the stretch 2 and endela in k390 😎
I have that exact knife and I absolutely love the blade. Possibly my favorite blade with k390 And the slicey shape. Back lock is ok. But I hate Seki City handles. I don't love FRN but I much prefer US and Taiwan FRN to Seki City. I don't care about it looking or feeling like plastic. I just hate all those little grooves and nooks and crannys. Whatever is stuck on my hand during the work day - caulking, painters putty, drywall mud etc. just get jammed into every spot and are a bitch to get out. So I rarely use my favorite knife at work cuz I don't feel like cleaning it every week
I wish there was a Endura with compression lock. It would blow the Paras out of the water. I have the Black M4 version.
Native Chief is also a great knife. Especially the c/f S90v.
The Native Chief is a really fun knife. Such a huge, pointy blade! I had a few in my collection for a little while. That CF/S90V version is one of the best.
@ 7:40 Sheepsfoot? What are you smoking?
User name checks out….
It's nowhere near a sheepsfoot@bigbadstretch13yrago
stretch 2 FTW
Cold steel clip voyager large...no question
Endela
This is a very personal opinion about a knife. You really can’t make that claim for everyone because you have no idea what people are doing for work and using their knives
I don't agree at all that FRN isn't for weight-saving. Even with those steel liners, spydercos are significantly lighter than knives with g10 or metal handles. Low weight means less blade damage when dropped. I wish there were more fully-FRN spydercos even.
FRN CAN be used for weight saving, but Spyderco doesn't always use it for that purpose.
A good example is the Lil Temperance 3. The Lil Temperance 3 LW (FRN) is 3.8 oz. The Lil Temperance 3 G10 was 3.98 oz. Meaning the LW version was only just barely lighter. FRN can lead to some hyper-light knives if it's used without liners (like the Stretch XL LW, or the new Native Chief LW), but Spyderco will often put full steel liners under their FRN (like in the Endura here), which negates most of those weight savings.
forum.spyderco.com/viewtopic.php?t=93427
To put a point on it: The Endura here is 3.7 oz, the Pacific - which is basically the same without the liners - is 2.6 oz, with the same overall profile and blade length.
So while FRN CAN be used to drive significant weight savings, Spyderco clearly uses it sometimes not with the primary purpose of saving weight, but with the primary purpose of creating a particular handle design and shape that is easier and cheaper to achieve with FRN than G10 or other materials. And I think that's great.
Yeah,for Chris reeves knife you can buy 3 endura’s with a better steel!!!
Better steel than Magnacut? I'm not sure about that. The only thing K390 beats Magnacut in is edge retention, and only by a bit. The toughness and corrosion resistance on Magnacut is significantly higher.
K390 is only "better" than Magnacut if you value edge retention over everything else, and don't care about corrosion on your blades.
(K390 is great, mind you. But Magnacut is the steel to beat at the moment for a reason. It's not hype, it's science.)
And Chris Reeve tolerances, build quality, blade geometry, materials, heat treat, and factory edge (the most important elements of a knife) are significantly better than that of the Endura.
Is the Endura a great knife? Certainly. Is it a knife almost anyone could be well-served by in use? Absolutely. Is it better or even close to something like a Sebenza? Absolutely not.
Chris Reeve is the absolute gold standard for knifemaking to this day, and likely will be for decades-if not generations-to come.
What do you mean the FRN is not to make the knife lightweight ?? the name of this model is the Endura LW and LW stands for lightweight.
What I mean is the LW version isn't actually that much lighter than the G10 versions!
They did the same thing with the Lil Temperance. Basically, because they keep liners in there for most of the length of the knife, the weight savings from switching from G10 to FRN are mostly nullified. It's a LITTLE lighter than this knife would be in G10...but the use of FRN is mostly to provide a different handle shape and only leads to a tiny weight savings.
In other knives, like the Stretch XL LW, Spyderco will leave the liners out on the FRN version, and you can get some seriously light knives for their size.