Yesterday, UPS delivered a surprise from Sal, a C150GP Junior. As with previous designs from Alexandru Dionescu (Dialex), one expects dramatic profiles accompanying serious ergonomics, this knife is no exception. Inspired by his son’s request for his first pocket knife, Dionescu had safety in mind as one can see by the conspicuous handle cut-out. When I first saw the prototype, a year or two ago, my initial reaction was not particularly favorable as the Junior did not look like it would be comfortable in the hand. Fortunately, first impressions are not always lasting ones and after continual handling and cutting, I have completely changed my mind. For my hand, a conventional four-finger grip is quite acceptable especially for push cutting through the many corrugated cardboard boxes we break down every week, but my favorite grip, and one that I usually use with my cooking knives, is a pinch grip. The handle readily allows one to choke-up, grasping the blade by the Spyderhole with thumb and forefinger, and then wrap the remaining three fingers around the handle. The pinch grip gives one perfect dexterity, weightless balance, and positive relaxed control by aligning the pointer finger with the blade. This third eye, if you will, focuses innate natural coordination as the hand will usually follow where this finger goes. All this is made possible by the deep cut-out which is a successful design variant to Spyderco’s varied use of the finger choil.
With such an extremely narrow handle one could imagine that lock strength would be an issue. Fortunately, Spyderco has its Compression Lock that overcomes any qualms concerning weakness. The action is smooth and easy. The lock-up is rigid and crisp without a wobble or flex. Closing only requires a modest squeeze between thumb and forefinger, and a roll of the wrist to close the blade with a positive detent.
The modified leaf blade is well proportioned and strangely balances itself with the rather slender handle. The full flat ground VG-10 blade is a proven cutter that will take and hold a razor sharp edge, while requiring minimal attention on the SharpMaker to re-hone to shaving sharpness. Black G-10 creates a positive grip especially when combined with the blade’s spine jimping. Open construction is accomplished with two barrel spacers, a stepped thong hole liner and inset stop pin. Liners are skeletonized to reduce weight but maintain strength. My only query for Sal is why the Japanese maker (presumably G.Sakai) used nylon bushings rather than the currently preferred phosphor bronze.
Pocket carry is accessible by the use of a tip-up wire clip that allows for right or left hand carry. My only modification would be to perhaps switch the standard wire clip for the deep-pocket-carry clip as found on the Caly3, Caly3.5, and others.
Functional, aesthetic, ergonomic, solid, and minimal are all words that a thesaurus would use to describe any Spyderco, so it does for the C150GP Junior. Thank you Alexandru for this latest Spyderco; may your son continue to be a muse for your creativity.
Originally appeared on the Spyderco Forum on 2 July 2011:
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