Knife review : Spyderco D'Allara

The review consists of :

specifications
stock evaluations
general work : food, field, miscellaneous
edge retention , ease of sharpening
grip
sheath
overview
comments and references

Specifications

The Spyderco D'Allara has an overall length of 8" (203 mm), a blade length of 3 1/2" (89 mm) a cutting edge of 3 1/8" (79 mm) and is 5" (127 mm) when closed. It weighs 5.1 oz (145 g) with a hole diameter of 9/16" (14 mm) and a blade thickness of 1/8" (3 mm). It has a primary hollow grind which tapers to a 0.023 (2)" thick edge ground at 15.6 (5) degrees per side. The serrations are 0.037 (1)" thick and ground at 15.4 (5) degrees included. The blade is made from VG-10 stainless steel and the knife has a FRN grip. From the Spyderco webpage on the D'Allara :

Stock work

The point on the D'Allara is fairly robust and thus its penetration into a phone book is a bit low at 134 (5) pages on a 50 lbs push and sinks to 606 (38) pages on a hard stab.

Food

The D'Allara is too bulky for paring work both in the blade body and the tip and the serrations interfere with most peeling work. Peeling potatos and such tends to be more slicing off sections rather than making continous peels. The cutting ability is similar to the Delica though the smaller knife is more controlable due to the size and weight. Smaller knives like the U2 are optimal for this type of work. The D'Allara is however many times more functional than the Buck/Strider.

For fine utility work the grind is a bit too thick and will crack the stiffer vegetables like carrots on lengthwise cuts. The Manix , which is a similar sized large folder does this type of work better as the profile near the edge is thinner due to the more tapered grind. The Military is one of the better folder for such work. The D'Allara is still however many times more functional than folders like the Fulcrum.

The D'Allara works best on meats and the serrations in particular cut well through the backbone on a five pound cod. The plain edge part takes a lot of force on a heavy push cut whereas the serrations glide through as easily as the plain edge part cuts the flesh. In general though the serrations do hang on fats and a full plain edge would be more effective for such work. The Military with its long and slender flat ground blade makes a very efficient utility style knife for a folder.

The steel was found to easily be corrosion resistant enough to prevent any oxidization from being an issue without excessive care been taken to keep the blade rinsed and dry let alone oiled.

Field

Grasses and light vetgetation : the section of partial serrations works well on grasses and other light vegetation as they will retain aggressive slicing ability long after even very coarse sharpened polished edges. For many uses the grass can just be pulled up by hand, but for some weeds they don't want to be touched by hand (thorns or similar) and for braiding grass to make cordage it works a lot better if it isn't torn apart but instead are cleanly cut. The D'Allara also has enough weight to snap cut through thicker vegetation so it is more powerful on the heavier brush than knives like an Opinel.

More durable cordage is obtained from spruce roots. These can usually be just yanked up by hand though the knife is handy for the thicker ones. The serrated section can be put under the roots and a hard yank will cut right through. Note the dirt on the roots is fairly abrasive to knife edges however. The root is then pulled backward through the fingers with a tight pinch which cleans off the dirt and most of the outer bark. The end of the root is split with the knife and then it is just pulled apart by hand. Bend down harder on one side to move the split back to toward that side to keep it running down the middle of the root. Thicker roots can be split multiple times. The pieces on the right all came from the one small root shown. The split roots can be made more pliable if soaked and they will dry and harden after it has been tied. Pitch glue can be used under the roots for a much more binding attachment.

Carving : for heavy stock removal the serrations can be used because cutting close to the choil minimizes wrist strain. The D'Allara readily produce a pile of shavings from a split stick and leave some as fuzz sticks if desired for fire starting. The D'Allara will outcut other folders with plain edges which have much heavier grinds like the Fulcrum though is however significantly behind folders like the Opinel which are optomized well for wood working as the blade is thinner and the edge profile is reduced.

Carving to shape and refining, the plain edge section is usually the better choice as the serrations are problematic cutting curves plus they don't give a very even surface and they can't be used to scrape wood to finish. With the leading straight edge, the D'Allara readily carves a small tapered pry bar which works well as both a bark spud and digging stick to save wear on the knife. Since the digging stick is expendable it can be used far more aggresive than the knife and thus is faster to dig/pry out larger rocks. It is reshaped as necessary to keep the edge taper thin and effective.

The serrations however are useful for some wood work as they basically can act as a saw and can make shaping of notches easier in some woods, in particular they can make the straight cuts into the woods easier than a plain edge. An actual small wood saw is generally more effective as it cuts cleaner, so the D'Allara is readily outperformed for this type of work by a solid Swiss Army knife like the Rucksack but the serrations can be of benefit over the plain edge section. The inverted figure four shown on the right had the notches cut with the serrations. This is a trap used mainly for mangle type traps where the rope is attached to a log or rock which falls on the animal which pulls out on the angled stick and releases the middle trigger pin. Note however while the serrations can be of benefit over the plain edge section on the D'Allara for some work of this type, in general a much more thin/acute plain edge like on an Opinel tends to be more effective. To make square cuts a few light impacts on the spine of the knife tends to make the cuts very easily.

For soft light woods which are fairly soft, the serrations can actually be of signifiant benefit and will outperform even the best wood cutting knives. Specifically, cutting small Alders under an inch or so thick, the serrations work very well, so much so that the Delica with the SpyderEdge even outperforms the plain edge Manix. The Manix is generally more effective as the alders get larger as it becomes more efficient to chop them rather than pull cut them with the serrations, however on the smaller ones, especially when they are tightly clustered, the SpyderEdge works exceptionally well. The D'Allara is very nice here as it has a decent enough weight to chop through the one inch ones with one to two hits and the serrated section readily tears through the smaller ones. Using the serrations also allows the blade to cut up from the ground rather than down towards it which keeps the edge out of the hard and abrasive dirt.

On small but harder woods, the D'Allara still has enough chopping power to allow the quick breakdown of fairly large seasoned pine and spruce limbs, meaning 4-6' long. This makes it much more efficient than smaller knives like the U2 which have to slice the limbs off, and on the larger ones actually make multiple cuts. In contrast the D'Allara can pop off many of the smaller limbs with one chop though care has to be taken to avoid impacting the serrations as they can be damaged with glancing contacts off of hardwoods. With all the smaller limbs cut off and gathered for either fire starting, the dried needles (red) work very well for early tinder, or thatching, the heavier wood can be cracked apart by hand, or cut with the D'Allara using impacts on the blade as noted below. A heavier folder like the Manix is of benefit here as it has more chopping power than the D'Allara.

For heavier wood work, first obtained is a small section of hardwood to use as a hammer. Ideally this is a broken section of fallen wood which can be carved to shape. However often it is necessary to first cut a piece of soft wood. The piece of seasoned alder on the right was cut with about 25 chops with the wood bent under tension. The D'Allara was inbetween the Endura and Manix for such work. The serrations can cut through the wood on a heavy push better than the plain edge, but are significantly behind the plain edge chopping. The section of alder was then used to cut a piece of well seasoned spruce branch to make a much more sturdy hammer/club. To minimize stress on the lock, impacts on the blade were just above the point that it is inserted in the wood. In this case four notches around the wood with ten impacts for each notch weakened the stick enough for it to be cracked by hand.

Splitting : on light woods like pine shingles and other light board, the D'Allara is strong enough to just twist split the wood readily. The full width of the blade is pressed into the wood and the blade just rotated or leveraged sideways to split the wood. However on thicker lumber and small felled sticks the blade needs to be assisted with impacts on the spine from another stick to drive the D'Allara through the wood. Splitting is fundamental to most wood working hence the need as described previously to first get a decent piece of wood to use as a hammer. Using hard wrist impacts of 16 (2) ft.lbs with the impacts focused near the opening hole, the D'Allara split some small rounds in half and then broke the pieces down readily with further splitting. There was no effect on the lock, no any play induced in the blade. For larger woods it is most effective to use the folder to carve wedges and drive the wedge into cuts made by the knife.

Fire : using the above abilies the D'Allara provides a solid enhancement to fire making abilities. It readily prepares tinder by athering grasses, scraping and slicing wood and cuts down and splits larger wood as necessary to keep the fire burning. It also can carves tools for the small fire pit which will act to shelter the fire from the wind and makes it easier to light.

The pit also has another advantage as it that it can be cleaned up readily. Once the fire has been burned down to coals it can be covered back in with the dirt and rocks. The coals will warm the dirt and rocks and slowly radiate heat for hours. How long depends on the amount of coals. When this is done in the form of a long trench it is refered to as a fire bed and can be used to keep warm in a shelter in extreme cold.

Miscellaneous

The serrations show their strength in cutting a thick piece of dirty poly rope. The plain edge section would consistently go blunt after just a few sections due to the highly abrasive nature of the dirt and grit in the rope, however the serrated section easily keeps cutting for a vastly longer time showing an improvement of more than an order of magnitude.

The serrations also work well on cardboard. The plain edge cuts well but again the serrated section has much better edge retention, many times to one. The strips of cardboard can be coated with about a tablespoon of wax to make pseudo-logs. A small cut section a few inches long burns about five minutes and generates foot high or so flames at maximum. The downside of the serrations though is that they can catch on softer materials. On heavy cotton the plain edge section makes smooth cuts with fairly light force and even when drawn heavily deep cuts are still smooth. However the serrations will snag and in particular at the small choil in the front. The cuts are ragged with a lot of tearing which of course raises the force needed to use to make the cuts. It also makes it necessary for the material to be under tension for the serrations to be able to cut it effectively.

The Byrd Cara Cara is also partially serrated but has a slightly less aggressive serration pattern than the D'Allara. The peaks are not as pointy which makes them more fluid on loose materials. The Byrd Cara Cara cuts the cotton material much more smoothly than the D'Allara, similar on other fabrics, ropes and various synthetics like seat belts. However with a lot of force used and the material under high tension the D'Allara's serrations will efficiently cut most materials, though there can be significant tearing.

Slicing up some light plastic, the more aggressive pattern on the D'Allara goes into the sides of a pop bottle easier than the serrations on the Cara Cara The plain edge sections have to use the point to start a cut though can continue it easier than either serrated section. On the thicker part on the bottom the serrations are much more efficient, it takes significantly more than 50 lbs to press the plain edge section of the D'Allara through the thick plastic however the serrations will saw through with much less force. On thicker plastics, much the same is seen, if the knives are used with light force the Cara Cara is generally more productive however when the blades are leaned into hard, the D'Allara will make deeper cuts and is generally more aggressive. Note the cracks in the thick plastic on the right due to the temperature being below zero during the cutting.

The D'Allara easily cuts CAT-5 cable. Half a dozen pieces were cut with just straight push cuts with no effect on the edge. The serrated section of the edge can't cut this overly well and in general cutting cables should be avoided with really pointy serration patterns as the points can catch and possibly break.

Edge Retention

No stock comparisons have been done with the D'Allara to date, however there is extensive information available based on previous work with VG-10 and the D'Allara is consistent in behavior.

Ease of Sharpening

The acute edge on the D'Allara allows it to respond quickly to applying a micro-bevel with the 20 degree setting on the Sharpmaker. The serration section is easily sharpened with use of the Sharpmaker or other similar small diameter rods. One of the large serrations on the D'Allara was damaged cutting metal flashing and it was repaired using the conical grinder on a dremel.

Lock

The ball lock on the D'Allara is secure under spine impacts, torques and white knuckling. The only issue is ease of operating the ball lock one handed, especially with heavy gloves.

Updated :	03 : 01 : 2006
Written :	11 : 20 : 2005

Spyderco D'Allara