- Joined
- Jan 23, 2014
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Hey everybody! It looks like these are in stock now so I thought I would post this here to help anybody who is thinking about this one. This is just a copy and paste from a thread I started over on the Spyderco forum. I realize that many may have already seen that thread but for those who have not, here ya go.
So I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a Police4 recently and I thought I would share a bunch of pics and some thoughts I have on it after carrying it for a few days now. It was a total surprise when this thing came and unfortunately I do not have any info on when it will actually be released except to say that Sal mentioned in another thread that they were in QC. I have one so I can only assume that these are about to be shipped out to dealers anytime.
I will just get things rolling with pics and some commentary inserted with them.
I want to say that although this was obviously a gift that it is my goal to give an objective and critical review of this knife. That is seeming to be quite challenging since I have only had it for a few days and I just really, really like it. That said, I will try to point out any things that may not appeal to others. Here goes...
First some comparison pics. I posed it with the Kiwi4 and Yojimbo2 because they are my only other black G10 knives and that is because they have only been offered in black G10 or PPCF which I do not like either. I really do not like black knives myself. See, I started off with a dislike. The next two pics will be with the Farid K2 and the Military. These were chosen because the K2 has the same blade length as the Police4 and the Military is just so similar. I then posed it with a few knives with similar blade shapes for some size perspective. I will also note that in the comparison pic of the Police4 and Military in the closed position that the distance from the top of the Spydiehole ramp to the back of the handle is almost the same. Less than 1/8 inch of difference there so they should basically take up the same amount of real estate in that regard. However the Police4 is much thinner towards the bottom of the handle and thinner from the side as you will see in pics further down.
Here are a few pics to show the thickness (or thinness) of the Police4 compared to the Military and the Caly3. It is similar in thickness to the Caly3 but the Caly3 has such proud screws that it is hard to line them up just right for a picture. The handle and the blade on the Police4 are both nice and thin. It carries well and slices like crazy. That said, with a 4.5 inch blade that is 3mm thick and ground nice and thin it is not a pry tool. This thing is made for cutting. Seriously though, if this one can be screw construction then why can't the Caly3/3.5. The similarity is obviously there. Maybe it is that they are from different makers?
Here is a pic of the tips being exposed on the Military and the Police4. If there is one thing that both the Para2 and Military have in common it is a lackluster blade to handle ratio. The Police4 does a great job of fitting a ton of blade into the handle. By my measurements the Police4's handle is only about 1/16 of an inch longer if that yet is fits 1/2 inch more blade into it. The Police4 also has the hump on the tip like it's other Seki brothers. While I do not care for that feature it is an easy fix and with the tip being so acute it makes sense to ship them this way. Some like the tip buried a little deeper for safety reasons and this one isn't but I could not get my finger pad to catch the tip even when pressing it in there pretty hard.
From the pics above you can see that the Military does have most of the other knives beat in regards to the size of the ricasso. Some see a large ricasso as a waste of blade but they are needed for the choil so a balance must be struck there. The choil and ricasso looks much bigger on the Police4 but even with that the cutting edge on the Police4 is still longer than the entire blade on the Military. Keep in mind that this is done with maybe 1/16 inch more handle length so not much is given up to achieve that larger choil.
Here is a top down pic to show the blade grind and some of the handle thickness.
Even though the Police4 has a lot more blade than the Military and even though it has full liners vs the Military's partial liners it doesn't weigh much more. This is probably due to the thinner blade stock and generously skeletonized liners. Getting a good pic of the liners can be a challenge but this picture shows it fairly well.
Here is the Para2, Military, Police4 and K2 on a cheap scale.
That is most of it. The next post will be in hand shots and some extra poser pics.
So I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a Police4 recently and I thought I would share a bunch of pics and some thoughts I have on it after carrying it for a few days now. It was a total surprise when this thing came and unfortunately I do not have any info on when it will actually be released except to say that Sal mentioned in another thread that they were in QC. I have one so I can only assume that these are about to be shipped out to dealers anytime.
I will just get things rolling with pics and some commentary inserted with them.
I want to say that although this was obviously a gift that it is my goal to give an objective and critical review of this knife. That is seeming to be quite challenging since I have only had it for a few days and I just really, really like it. That said, I will try to point out any things that may not appeal to others. Here goes...First some comparison pics. I posed it with the Kiwi4 and Yojimbo2 because they are my only other black G10 knives and that is because they have only been offered in black G10 or PPCF which I do not like either. I really do not like black knives myself. See, I started off with a dislike.
The next two pics will be with the Farid K2 and the Military. These were chosen because the K2 has the same blade length as the Police4 and the Military is just so similar. I then posed it with a few knives with similar blade shapes for some size perspective. I will also note that in the comparison pic of the Police4 and Military in the closed position that the distance from the top of the Spydiehole ramp to the back of the handle is almost the same. Less than 1/8 inch of difference there so they should basically take up the same amount of real estate in that regard. However the Police4 is much thinner towards the bottom of the handle and thinner from the side as you will see in pics further down.
Here are a few pics to show the thickness (or thinness) of the Police4 compared to the Military and the Caly3. It is similar in thickness to the Caly3 but the Caly3 has such proud screws that it is hard to line them up just right for a picture. The handle and the blade on the Police4 are both nice and thin. It carries well and slices like crazy. That said, with a 4.5 inch blade that is 3mm thick and ground nice and thin it is not a pry tool. This thing is made for cutting. Seriously though, if this one can be screw construction then why can't the Caly3/3.5. The similarity is obviously there. Maybe it is that they are from different makers?
Here is a pic of the tips being exposed on the Military and the Police4. If there is one thing that both the Para2 and Military have in common it is a lackluster blade to handle ratio. The Police4 does a great job of fitting a ton of blade into the handle. By my measurements the Police4's handle is only about 1/16 of an inch longer if that yet is fits 1/2 inch more blade into it. The Police4 also has the hump on the tip like it's other Seki brothers. While I do not care for that feature it is an easy fix and with the tip being so acute it makes sense to ship them this way. Some like the tip buried a little deeper for safety reasons and this one isn't but I could not get my finger pad to catch the tip even when pressing it in there pretty hard.
From the pics above you can see that the Military does have most of the other knives beat in regards to the size of the ricasso. Some see a large ricasso as a waste of blade but they are needed for the choil so a balance must be struck there. The choil and ricasso looks much bigger on the Police4 but even with that the cutting edge on the Police4 is still longer than the entire blade on the Military. Keep in mind that this is done with maybe 1/16 inch more handle length so not much is given up to achieve that larger choil.
Here is a top down pic to show the blade grind and some of the handle thickness.
Even though the Police4 has a lot more blade than the Military and even though it has full liners vs the Military's partial liners it doesn't weigh much more. This is probably due to the thinner blade stock and generously skeletonized liners. Getting a good pic of the liners can be a challenge but this picture shows it fairly well.
Here is the Para2, Military, Police4 and K2 on a cheap scale.
That is most of it. The next post will be in hand shots and some extra poser pics.
