End of the line...The Traveling Delica Volume #4 ... Is home!

Hello K fans! K arrived safe and sound here in Virginia on Wednesday. I was out of town for work so my wife opened the box, texted me that it arrived safely, and K was waiting on me when I got home early this morning. I’m looking forward to hosting this knife and getting a feel for K390 - it’s not a steel I have any experience with yet.

12A69E79-9061-438C-8296-6FA6B21136D0.jpeg
 
Happy Sunday K Fans!

The first thing I did when I met K was wipe down the non-stainless K390 blade with mineral oil emulsified in a carrier solvent. Ok, WD-40. I used WD-40. LOL! Yes, yes, I know some folks fall vehemently on both sides of that fence. Whatever - I don’t get caught up in the drama. I just take care of my tools and drive on. There was a little oxidation starting on one side but some mild scrubbing with a blue shop towel cleaned it up.

The second thing I did was swap the Lynch clip over to the “proper” side. :) If K’s going to spend some time in my pocket, we’re going to do this “right.” LOL!

Joking aside, the pocket clip screws were snug but not tight. None had worked loose. Everything looks to be in great shape. Since K isn’t my knife I did not use any Locktite, and I didn’t overtighten - I used less torque than I use on my personal knives. She looks to be in fine shape!

Here she is with my personal favorite Delica - Gray FRN scales with a saber grind VG-10 blade swapped in from the black scales it came with. And the same Lynch clip that K wears. I would love a set of Micarta scales for this saber grind Delica, but just haven’t spent the money. If anyone can point me to a good source of Delica Micarta that’s already drilled for lefty tip-up carry, I could probably be pushed off top dead center on this.

F7793701-224A-4398-A644-03BB32F3790E.jpeg
 
Nice that you received "K"
But I'm wondering what happened to the
Original form fitted foam packaging "K" had.

J453yWhl.jpg
 
I gave K a little touch up. How do you all like to sharpen these modern powder steels with Vanadium carbides? They need diamond, or something harder than the carbides. I have some diamond stones, but more often than not they stay in their shoebox on the shelf and I use this 10” three-grit diamond rod from Buck. It’s about $60. The grits are 325, 750, and 1200. A few passes on the 1200 is usually all that’s needed for most knives. Then a stropping on leather with some 1 micron diamond paste.

How do y’all do it?

68ABEB5F-F3A4-490C-AD31-7BE9D9174708.jpeg

44F2E10C-5219-442F-AEF9-57DFE5655DE8.jpeg
 
I have, yes! Saturday afternoon I whittled a try stick from Sweetgum that was cut to length fresh a couple of weeks ago so it is starting to harden. Sweetgum cuts very nice and smooth when fresh/wet, but if it has ever made it into your firewood pile and you’ve tried to split it, it’s a bear. Similarly, working it with a knife once it’s dried is more difficult also. The stringy grain can grab the edge and quickly take a bigger bite/chunk than you intended. K handled this with no problems. The downturned spine at the tip was more challenging to work with than a clip point, or even a normal drop point, when making the rectangular through-hole in the square reduction, but it got the job done.

The K390 did as good a job as any other powder metallurgy steel I have used. And it held it’s edge just fine - a quick stropping and it still sliced newspaper cleanly when I was finished.

I didn’t take time for a full try stick, but I also did a little whittling on a very dry and hard piece of dogwood. Basically a pointy end, and a flat/chisel point, along with stripping bark and smoothing off some rough knots. The K390 did just fine crafting a very refined and sharp chisel edge. It cut the fine, unsupported cross-grain very well leaving a nice clean edge.

It powered through the knots with no noticeable degradation in the edge.

Thus far, I’m a fan of this steel.

EAF56745-FFC3-4745-85B5-EA473F6B0987.jpeg

C57A7DF9-BFF7-48FB-AD7B-CAB1AE969F99.jpeg
 
I’m not a proud man - I eat messy sandwiches like this open-faced with a knife and fork. And you know what? The flimsy plastic knife just wasn’t up to the task. But K sure was! Just about cut a tine off the plastic fork in the process, too. LOL!

And if you’re curious, I chose fried okra and mac-n-cheese for my sides. :)


D232E880-BC90-4D93-ADDE-0EB7521A1914.jpeg
 
Had to get K’s picture with all the cousins. Between my wife and our four kids, these are all our Spydercos, minus a pink Dragonfly that my wife claims is still in the house somewhere. LOL!

Included is my original Economy model from the early 1990’s. I was probably about 7th or 8th grade when I saw my first Spyderco in the glass case at the local I. Goldberg sporting goods store. They were pretty radical and modern, with their pocket clip and one handed opening. Especially compared to the Buck knives and Swiss Army Knives that were all I ever knew to that point in life. BUT, that first Spyderco I saw in the glass case had a serrated edge, which was a deal-breaker for me, even at that young age. I vowed if I ever saw one with a smooth blade, it was going home with me. Less than a year later I was again drooling on the lighted glass case and there was a smooth-blade Spyderco! Well here we are, some 30 years later, and I have carried that Spyderco across four continents. It’s done everything I’ve ever asked of it. Buck Knives (and steels) being my first love, I was never completely happy with Spyderco’s AUS-6, but man, that pocket clip and round thumb hole were hard to beat. So much so that the two folders I carry the most these days are a Buck 112 Slim Pro and a Spyderco Para 3. My original Spyderco Economy spends most of it’s days on the shelf by my desk, and it’s earned that right!

DB1F4834-C4AC-4239-A669-CC8EF3E3AC60.jpeg
 
Culprit99 said:
Had to get K’s picture with all the cousins. Between my wife and our four kids, these are all our Spydercos, minus a pink Dragonfly that my wife claims is still in the house somewhere. LOL!

Included is my original Economy model from the early 1990’s. I was probably about 7th or 8th grade when I saw my first Spyderco in the glass case at the local I. Goldberg sporting goods store. They were pretty radical and modern, with their pocket clip and one handed opening. Especially compared to the Buck knives and Swiss Army Knives that were all I ever knew to that point in life. BUT, that first Spyderco I saw in the glass case had a serrated edge, which was a deal-breaker for me, even at that young age. I vowed if I ever saw one with a smooth blade, it was going home with me. Less than a year later I was again drooling on the lighted glass case and there was a smooth-blade Spyderco! Well here we are, some 30 years later, and I have carried that Spyderco across four continents. It’s done everything I’ve ever asked of it. Buck Knives (and steels) being my first love, I was never completely happy with Spyderco’s AUS-6, but man, that pocket clip and round thumb hole were hard to beat. So much so that the two folders I carry the most these days are a Buck 112 Slim Pro and a Spyderco Para 3. My original Spyderco Economy spends most of it’s days on the shelf by my desk, and it’s earned that right!
Click to expand...


That is a Nice collection and variety of steels
 
uxo2 said:
That is a Nice collection and variety of steels
Click to expand...
Thank you - and you're right about the steels. I didn't even think about it, but there are six steels in that picture:

AUS-6
VG-10
Maxamet
S30V
H1
K390

Much of that diversity is due to me looking for my wife and daughter's favorite colors. LOL! Coincidentally, my youngest daughter's favorite color (at the time) was yellow (now teal - she's 11 and a female so she's allowed to change her mind :) ). She has labled herself as "Dangerously Creative" and boy does that moniker fit! Those two yellow Spydercos are the hardest used and abused knives in the house. As an example, five minutes after giving my girls each their first fixed blade a few years ago, a Buck 538 Open Season Small Game knife in a custom leather bushcraft style sheath, she was outside in the garden using it to dig in the dirt harvesting vegetables. I routinely find her knives around her room or the craft area caked in pottery clay, paint, dirt, etc. Her H1 knives need sharpened more frequently than the rest of the family's knives, but that's no problem - they sharpen up pretty quick and she can't chip them. It's fortunate that Spyderco didn't put something like S30V in the yellow knives because she would have chipped the blade by now for sure. If anyone can make H1 rust, it'll be her - but thus far, they've held up to everything she subjects them to. I'm glad her favorite color wasn't teal when I was buying them each their first Spydercos because if she had something in K390, it would look 100 years old by now.

Here’s a picture of K splitting up some leftovers between my son and me.

76072DE7-8547-41F0-ADBD-7DCAC1E28BC1.jpeg
 
K has been continuing to help with my daily tasks - opening boxes, envelopes, etc., cutting woody vines doing yard work, more whittling, and similar chores.

I’ve enjoyed my week test driving K390. I like it, and have no complaints at all. I’m still a guy who prefers traditional, non-Vanadium carbide steels that don’t need diamond abrasives, but this K390 has done all a guy could ask for.

Uxo2, thank you for organizing and running this pass-around. I enjoy things like this. I see that you changed the thread title so I assume I’ll be shipping K home to you and not on to another destination. Please send me your address and I’ll put it in the mail.

Here we are at breakfast this morning.

914EB879-0EED-455A-AAEA-461ECB9853DD.jpeg
 
Culprit99 said:
Uxo2, thank you for organizing and running this pass-around. I enjoy things like this. I see that you changed the thread title so I assume I’ll be shipping K home to you and not on to another destination. Please send me your address and I’ll put it in the mail.
Click to expand...

yes...
You are the last host
Thank you for Hosting!!!
 
K is boxed up, with shipping label attached, and ready for the ride home to uxo2 uxo2 .

I swapped the pocket clip back over to the other side for all you “right”handers (and I use that term loosely :) ), gave the blade a couple swipes on a 1200 grit diamond rod, wiped her down well, and she’s ready to head for home.

I’ve enjoyed using this knife and this steel - thank you again. I didn’t abuse K, but from what I can tell in normal use, I really like this steel. In fact, it may be my favorite of the newfangled super steels - not that I’ve tried all that many of them.

I’m planning to drop K off at the post office during lunch tomorrow. I’ll let y’all know when she’s on her way.

E403B29B-5680-4A4C-8DB5-202A06652041.jpeg
 
K is in Gov't hands and moving through the system.

Final destination "Home" is on Monday the 2nd of October
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top