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Getting Into the Bestech Spike

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This is my copy of the Bestech Spike, bought from Drop.
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See that color? It's gonna stay that color, these things aren't interesting when you dye them, like milled G10 with exposed grain that you can play on with dye. This is fairly uniform FRN and it is going to all turn the same color, and that color will be dark and muddy, with no fabric grain to make it pop. Try to dye this a brighter shade, you end up with a darker shade. Try to dye it a darker shade and you'll make something that's kinda brownish greenish black. At least that's been my experience.
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The Spike ships in FRN and Sandvik, and was the second Bestech I ordered from Drop. The Scimitar, which I reviewed elsewhere in Blades, was the first I picked up, and with D2 and milled G10 it is both more expensive and seems more prestigious than the utilitarian Spike -- but after some time of ownership I prefer the Spike. The logo engraving on the blade, like a lot of Chinese engraving, isn't the best piece of the knife -- it looks like it was done by someone with no sense of how to space typesetting. They needed to kern the I, there's too much open space there. But that's cosmetic.
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Also like the Scimitar it burned a little too deep. You really shouldn't be able to feel the edges of a logo with your fingertips, you should be able to feel an uneven surface but if you can feel edginess it's gone too deep. However, unlike the Scimitar, the logo isn't so deep it shreds microfiber towels as you polish the blade with them. It's just a little deep, is all, and doesn't really require fettling. So how's it look inside?
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The bearing works are simple, no races, but they're good, brass and ceramic, a step up from the nylon KVTs you see everywhere. And that's a thing, because this knife flips with a slight bit of rub -- it really shouldn't, with this sort of manufacture.
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So something's causing that, and as I looked through everything for wear I ended up finding it in a spot I usually don't -- the pivot. I don't believe the borehole for the pivot was ever properly reamed out, and it looks to be marking up the steel of the pivot cylinder.
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That's actualy the black coating that they applied to the flat of the tang. It shouldn't be in the pivot like this, and only is because it was overlooked. It flips ok so a lot of people wouldn't have gone looking for something like this, but I decided to spend the time. About five minutes later -
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Thats about as far as I want to take it. I don't like seeing any of the tooth marks but if you grind too much away from the interior of the pivot, the blade will never stay true again. This way it's still smooth against the pivot pin and that little bit of rub should be all gone when back together. While I'm grinding the blade I might as well sharpen it up -- this ain't D2, it's Sandvik, which takes a much better edge. I leave D2 knives with the factory microserrations until they wear down, but Sandvik can benefit from a good hone, straight out of the box. Of course many firms like RSK and SRM ship Sandvik blades with an eye-popping hone on them already. Did this one?
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No, and while I like the precision of this grind, that shoulder's too thick. I like my knives a little more keen. Ten or so minutes later on the Worksharp:
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That will do! And that's all this knife needed. Back together:
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Flips like a switch now, zero rub. Job done. This thing usually retails for at least $10 less than the D2 Bestechs like the Paladin, the Kendo and the Scimitar and so on. Those knifes have superior styling, but I think I like this little Sandvik flipper a bit more than those. I'm indifferent about the black blade coating, and I can wish that they'd thrown in races for the bearings instead of just letting the ceramics wear a path in the tang and the liner. As it stands, though, this is a good little knife. I think you'll like yours if you give it a try.
(Edited)
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