The Spyderco Byrd Line

A Brief Review by Phil Elmore

Spyderco,
the Colorado-based knife company that is arguably the originator (or
one of them) of the modern-day tactical folder, had a problem. Chinese
copies of the company’s popular and innovative one-hand folders were
flooding the market.  Many uneducated consumers, basing thier
choices soley on price, were buying the copies instead of the real
thing.  With little or no support for copyright and trademark law
from the Chinese Communist government, Spyderco’s Sal Glesser made an
interesting decision:  If he couldn’t compete with the Chinese
copies on price, he’d damn well manufacture his own copies of his knife
line in China, import them, and compete with himself — while competing
with the inferior-quality ripoffs.

A “Sheffield” rip-off of the Spyderco Delica.

Amazing, the strategy worked.

The Byrd line is now one of the most cost-effective knife brands on
the market.  Most of the models are directly analogous
to more expensive Spyderco siblings.  The difference in
quality is perceptible, of course, but the value per dollar of the Byrd
line is very high.  That’s the strategy:  those who want to
pay the higher price for the higher-quality Spyderco will do so, but
those who can’t or won’t can still purchase a very good knife for their
money and get a quality Spyderco-approved Chinese import.
 Spyderco chose to preserve the brand integrity of their knives by
creating the Byrd sub-brand (and giving the Byrd’s arguably ugly
comet-shaped holes, rather than the trademark round Spyderco hole),
instead of simply making the shift to Chinese manufature.  That
dedication to quality, and the first-class treatment of the company’s
customers by Sal Glesser and his employees, is one of the reasons
Spyderco remains one of the United States’ most respected cutlery
brands.

In this brief review of the Byrd line, I’ve selected several of the earliest Byrd models.   These
are the Cara Cara, the Meadowlark, the Crossbill, the Pelican, the
Raven, and the Starling.  All but the Starling have stainless
steel handles (the Raven’s grip is aluminum).  Spyderco has since
introduced other handle materials for these knives, including FRN
(plastic) and G10.  In the photos that follow, the Crossbill bears
some stair tape that I added for a sure grip, while all the others are
as they appear out of the box.  Before we get into specific
thoughts, however, let’s run through the knives and their stats,
as listed on the Spyderco website:

The Byrd Crossbill with grip tape added.

The Byrd Raven, the only linerlock among this sampling.

The Byrd Starling, the smallest of the Byrd line of knives.

I woudl consider the Cara Cara and Meadowlark the flagships of the
Byrd line, because they are directly analogous to Spyderco’s most
recognizable folders: the Spyderco Endura and Delica. Fit and finish
are quite good, particularly for Chinese manufacture, though in all
cases the Byrd line feels
less expensive than the Spyderco line (for obvious reasons).  The
blades open smoothly, with a little bit of resistance as the rocker-bar
locks sldie into place.  In all cases the locks of the Byrd line
feature the Boye detent, which is an attempt to prevent the lock from
being disengaged accidentally while holding the knife firmly.
 There is absolutely no play in any of the locked open blades
among my Byrds.  It is easier to eliminate blade play in a
metal-frame knife than in a plastic- frame knife, of course.

Edges are nicely sharp from the factory, if not quite the “scary,
freaky sharp” that characterizes a Spyderco factory edge.  The
8Cr13MoV steel holds an edge reasonably well.  (The earliest Cara
Cara and Meadowlark models featured blades of 440C.)  Thoughtful,
nicely cut thumb grooves grace the backs of the blade humps on the Cara
Cara and Meadowlark, which is a feature I quite appreciate.

My Crossbill, sort of a poor man’s Spyderco Civilian, Harpy, or
Marlin, features no such grooves, so I applied the stair tape you seein
these photos. The skeletonized pocket clip, like the more standard
pocket clips on the other Byrd knives, has good tension and does not
shift in place.  It is reversible for either tip-up or tip-down
carry, right hand, as it is on the Cara Cara, Meadowlark, Pelican, and
Raven.

The Pelican (now discontinued), is identical to the Crossbill except
for its blade, which is a Wharncliffe pattern (it has no point).
 I don’t have a hard time seeing this knife as one of the less
popular, given the sexiness of the Crossbill and the relatively clunky
overall package the Pelican represents (I’d rather have a Spyderco
Rescue if I’m going to sport that blade type).

The black-coated Raven is the “tactical” knife of the bunch, with a
smooth liner lock that engages the blade tang fully and to the left
(allowing for wear).  It has a nicely grooved choil and thumb
grooves on the back of the blade hump, while the cross-cut aluminum
handle provides decent traction. 

Finally, the diminutive Byrd Starling is the line’s keychain blade
offering.  It’s a nice little blade that feels good in the hand
despite it’s size, and it provides a very keen cutting edge.  The
most useful knife you have is the one that you can reach when you need
it; this one will always be with you if it’s on your keys or attached
as a zipper-pull on a jacket.

I have a great deal of respect for Spyderco for choosing to launch
the Byrd line in response to the Chinese copycat issue.  I believe
the knife industry overall is better off for this approach, and I think
the consumer now has access to a very affordable line of decent-quality
knives whose purchase supports a valued American cutlery company.
 Each Byrd knife represents very good cost-for-value, dollar for
dollar, and that is what a budget-conscious knife-buying public needs. >>

<<
PhilElmore.com  ::  Go Home

Martialist
MySpace
Join Our
Mailing List
Discussion
Forum
Our
Current Issue
Contact
Information