Spyderco Caly 3 Carbon Fiber Handle Folding Knife

This Knife is great, but like my title says there are some flaws.For $100+ knife there are some great features, but a couple things that need to be improved.The blade is very sharp with the ZDP-189 sandwiched steel. The blade on my knife looks cheap because the line between the zdp189 and 420 on both sides is noticeable, and unfortunately it looks unfinished. Almost like a gouge, or deep scracth in the blade.I love the ergonomics in this knife, for its size it is the only knife I can easily hold in either hand with a 4 finger grip and thumb on top. I have many kershaw, becnhamde and others, this is the only ~3" blade I can do this with, handles like a few with a 4" blade.I love the pocket clip, it is very deep carry and looks good too.Another factor holding back 5 stars is the fact there are rivets on the handle instead of screws. I could probably overlook this, but on one side the sides stick out and catch on my pocket, the other side are flush and polished.The locking mechanism works well, even though there are better locks available.One other issue is with the opening joint, the blade started showing wear with in a few days. This is also disappointing for a knife at this price point.The Carbon fiber handle looks good too.I recommend this knife, but be warned about these issues keeping it from being 5 stars. Interesting to me was all of my complaints on this knife do not are not issues on the Spyderco Tenacious which is 1/3 the price. It is not fair to compare these knives, but it shows spyderco has the technology that would correct this if the want too, and it shouldn't cost more.

Like some of the other reviewers have already stated the quality of this knife is subject.The materials taken as a whole are very nice, but the craftsmanship comes up a little short. Some of the polish compound that's used on the blade was left where the knife pivots, so when you open and close the blade it just grinds directly against the liners. If it was cleaned off properly with a spot of oil it would work perfect (which I did). The rivets are dull and cheap looking; they don't match the rest of the knife at all. Even the lock on the back had polish caked in between the liners.The knife in general feels like it was rushed, with just a little more care to the manufacturing process this could have easily been a 5* knife.A few of my other Spydercos that cost 1/4 and 1/2 the price of this one are flawless; the attention to detail at this price point is puzzling.

I just finished reading the review and comments on the Caly 3 and decided that I would weigh in.I purchased mine about a year ago on Amazon after determining that they had the best price. Not a surprise.I knew going in that it was rivet constructed with smooth carbon fiber grips and those two things had been the reason I had not purchased this knife earlier. What it had going for it in my mind at the time was the ZDP-189 steel and Spyderco quality. I initially fell in love with ZDP-189 after purchasing and using a Kershaw Scallion special edition for over a year. I have a lot of high end edc blades (including multiple Spydercos) that I have carried over the past 20+ years and I had never found a steel that could hold a candle to that Scallion. The thin profile of the knife made it very pleasant to carry. What had me looking at the Caly 3 was the deep carry clip which I favor due to the environment I work in. The Scallion left too much knife visible in my pocket.To sum up a year worth of experience with this knife I would have to say that my initial concerns were quickly forgotten after using this knife for a couple days. As nearly everyone has stated, this knife comes extremely sharp. What is more impressive is how much work you can do with this knife before the edge needs to be touched up. I enjoy sharpening knives in my free time but this knife rarely needs more than stropping to get it shaving sharp again. I have reprofiled this knife to take advantage of the edge strength and found that it can still handle a substantial amount of abuse. For full disclosure, I did find a couple micro chips in my Scallion after some very hard use. I had reprofiled that blade as well. No chips yet in the Spyderco. The pocket clip has more than lived up to my expectations. I've caught it numerous times while pushing past obstacles and frequently carry it in pants with thick leather reinforced pockets. It is just as tight as it was when new and has not bent at all. The handles are smooth but I don't find them to be slippery. I'm confident when I grip this knife that my fingers are safe. In a defensive roll, this could change but I carry something a little heavier and louder for that kind of work.The rivet construction is not my preference but turns out to be irrelevant for this knife. There was no grittyness in the lock or blade in my example. It hasn't required any adjustments or cleaning that couldn't be accomplished with a Q-tip or compressed air. I prefer not to disassemble my knives unless absolutely necessary anyway because it tends to increase the likelyhood of stripping a screw. The blade will scratch where it rotates in the grip as others have stated. I think it adds to the character of the knife and don't even think about it now. If you are looking at this strictly as a collector, the scratches may be a deal breaker. As an EDC blade, a scratch or two shouldn't surprise or bother anyone. I guess I am a collector in that I own a fair number of knives, the difference is that I'm tend to buy knives I will carry and use rather than as an investment.To sum it up if you have read this far, I'd say go for it. You won't be disappointed in this knife after you get a chance to actually use it. It combines a lot of very good features into a compact, comfortable and highly capable package.

The blade is thick, incredibly sharp & very stable in handle. The handle is carbon fiber but seems heavy due to the sturdy, thick liners on the inside that give the blade stability however doesn't do much to make the knife lighter; so seems a waste to have the carbon fiber handle. Also, I'm not at all crazy about the clip. It's like a paper clip & with a knife in this price range, one would expect they would have a nicer, solid metal steel clip - not a chintzy wire clip. Overall, the blade construction is what makes the knife. They could have done much, much better with the rest of the package. The handle is riveted, inset hex screws would have looked cleaner.Update: The more I examined this knife, I began to realize this knife appeared to be designed by a committee - the blade just did not fit the handle, the handle was too heavy for the blade, the screws that stuck out from the side and the clip just bothered me so much that reluctantly, I returned it for a refund. I hope one day they will use that blade in a more appropriate handle, befitting the blades' extraordinary quality.