The Lava is one of my favorite little giant knives. As I mentioned before this is by anyone's definition a small folder. But I know police and FBI both that carry these and train with them and it was in fact designed by a police officer. The handle and the ergonomics really add a lot of grip and leverage that is not normally possible on a knife with such a small blade as this. I've seen the insides of many lockback folders over the years and for a small knife this folder stacks up compared to many larger folders I've handled and repaired. The lock contact is quite stout compared to other folders with the same overall foot print. This does not mean its a heavy duty folder like the Manix from Spyderco but for what you get here its more than capable of medium to medium heavy chores when the need arises. This folder here lost a good deal of weight in this conversion but it gained added texture and grip, along with some width
which I think is a fair trade off. I have only done one Lava with titanium liners but that one was all I needed to do to realize its just added weight that isn't needed in a folder this small. The G10 material is quite rigid even in larger knives like the Dodo so in something this small it more than meets most any challenge. For myself this is what I'd carry right here.Thanks for looking.
You do great work Steve.
ReplyDeleteJust a shame that the Lava doesn't come in full SE. Otherwise you would be a busy man.
I really like them frame locks as well and I too like a little umpf to open my blades. I often peen the pins to the point that the blade just sucks in when closing.
Nice and stiff...
Arend(spydutch)
You never know my friend. Spyderco may surprise you with one someday.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by.
STR
What are the chances of you performing such customizations on a paying customer's Lava?
ReplyDeleteWell, not good Michael. I have stopped doing all such work as a lot of these older jobs as of 2010. I posted earlier in another later set when I stopped there around the beginning of 2010. I leave what you see here for display and entertainments sake only.
ReplyDeleteAll I'm doing these days are my custom folders from scratch and not very many at that and my low rider clips and pry bars along with some other misc. jobs such as these. When I broke my wrist I did a number on it and some of the things I took for granted in the past are just not as easy to do for me now. As a result I changed both the way and amount of time I work, as well as what I work on.
I do apologize for the inconvenience.
STR
Sir, your artisan inspiration is not an inconvenience for me. I managed to Google the Lava post but did not read your later bloggings and i apologize for you having to turn me down. Seeing how a good set of G-10 scales look on a Lava should now prod me into carving a set of my own. ;)
ReplyDelete