Any opinion of the Spyderco Vesuvius?

Medic1210

Medic1210

Joined
Sep 16, 2002
Messages
1,801
Saw a pic, and really like the design. What are your feelings of the compression lock? Thinking real hard about asking for one for Christmas from the wife.

Mike
 
I got one in a trade about 2 months ago. And I can tell you this, You'll never see mine for sale or trade again. Great knife for the money and the weird lock is cool.
 
I had a Centofante Vesuvius & passed it on to forumite DiALEX's wife (had the blue shell inlay ;)) The problem
I had was with the "compression lock", which, in the "tip up" carry mode tended to allow the blade to open if doing rigorous activity (i.e. running ). To fix the problem, I sent it to Mike Hayes @ Spyderco warranty & repair & had the clip moved to "tip down"( the handle allows for this ;)) Then got bored & sent it to DiALEX's wife. Might get another ( SE, plain handle ) but I dunno. The "compression lock" problem seems to have been remedied in the "Salsa" series. Make's ya' wonder sometimes.

Happy Veterans Day, fellow "dog faces"! ;)

AET ( former 11Bravo ( and DAMN proud of it!;))


OBTW : Spyderco "home" forumite glasshartt can get you the Vesuvius
for $50 plus USPS shipping ;) She's a Law Enforcement dealer, but sells to forumite(s). E-mail her for her list : GlassHartt@aol.com

And tell'er Al Treat (that "dog face";) sent ya'!
 
I have a black handled one with the spyder inlayed and it does look cool. Has a nice cant to the handle/blade which makes the knife set well in your hand. Opens good and is easy to sharpen. Overall a great knife and the price is just right on them to make them good for EDC. The spyder did fall out of my handle one time but soyderco sent a new one within 2 days of contact and I super glued it in and its been there ever since.
 
I REALLY like my EDC Vesuvius. With the ergonomics in shape, I actually can use the serrations (I've got the 50/50) to make good blade up pull cuts. I also like the way you can run your index finger down the top of the blade and it sits just perfectly in the curve for blade down close work, like cutting something out of a newspaper.
It locks up nice, I personally have had no problems with the compression lock, and is the best EDC I've had to date.

El Lobo
 
I handled a few of the early ones. They may have improved since I handled them...

But, honestly, I was not that impressed.

First, the vesuvius is too small for my tastes. Somehow, I expected it to be bigger. The delica seems like much more of a handfull.

I like the compression lock. It's a cool lock, very strong and simple.

But, it doesn't seem to have very positive lockup when closed. In my gunting, this was a bit of a problem, as it would come open easily if the pivot pin was ever-so-slightly out of adjustment. I have heard many stories of the vesuvius coming open in the pocket. Makes me nervous. When I opened the vesuvius, it had the feel of liner lock that has lost its ball detent; smooth, but... not right, somehow.

This could have been fixed on the newer models. Spyderco is always working to improve things. Even the delica and native are subject to change and improvement.

Also, the fit, finish, and quality just didn't seem up to par. I didn't particularily like the inlay, either.

One of my current EDC rotation knives, the Lil temperance, also has the compression lock. It seems to be a vast improvement over the early guntings and vesuvius's (vesuvii?). I like the lil temperance a lot. I can't recommend it enough.

Anyways, you may want to handle the vesuvius before you buy, if possible. I nearly bought one over the internet. Fortunately, I handled it first.

I'm a big fan of Spyderco. I've purchased many of their knives. I have to say, though, that the vesuvius is probably not one of their best.

Just my $.02

-- Rob
 
I bought a Vesuvius, and I was very happy, but the knife behaved strangely when closed, and Mike at Spyderco says that they couldn't repair it and they're reengineering it so that they'd be fixed of the old problems. He said that the process of improving takes at least a month, and there's lots of back order, so he offered me to swap for another knife.
I'll be getting one when thye come back out.
 
There are certain aspects I really like about it, like the blade shape, but I just don't care for the Compression-lock that much. Especially when the Benchmade Griptilian and Mini-Griptilian are in a comparable price range and have the Axis-lock.

Good luck,
Allen.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top