Spyderco Pingo
Spyderco Chicago
Spyderco Pingo
Spyderco Chicago
This review consists of :
Background :
A collaborative effort of Danish knifemakers Jens Anso and Jesper Voxnaes, the Pingo was specifically designed to conform to the knife laws of Denmark, which prohibit both lock-blade folding knives and all forms of one-hand-opening knives.
The heart of the Pingo is its distinctive sheepfoot blade, which is ground from B�hler-Uddeholm�s premium N690Co stainless steel. The blade is designed to meet Danish legal length limits while still providing a very functional and versatile cutting tool. Its Trademark Round Hole clearly identifies it as a Spyderco knife and provides a handy purchase for two-handed opening, but the hole is purposely small to prevent one-handed blade-opening methods. Similarly, its stout notched-joint mechanism is powered by a strong spring that helps hold the blade securely in the open and closed positions, supporting its safe use as a cutting tool while precluding one-handed opening.
The Pingo�s handle is comprised of injection-molded fiberglass-reinforced-nylon (FRN) scales and a sturdy stainless steel back spacer. The scales feature a molded checkered texturing that ensures a secure grip without being too abrasive. A reversible deep-pocket wire clip provides both left and right-side tip-up carry, keeping the knife accessible for immediate use while blending unobtrusively with virtually any color of clothing.
Although designed to meet the unique needs of the Danish knife community, the Pingo�s versatile design and socially friendly demeanor make it a perfect choice for knife users everywhere. It not only transcends the limits of the traditional non-locking pocketknife, but also redefines Spyderco�s own definition of a SLIPIT because of its purposeful two-hand-opening design.
Specifications :
This is the standard sort of edge from Spyderco which looks like it is formed in at least a two step process :
This is a semi-standard method for production sharpening, even custom sharpening and Spyderco does it consistently better than most.
Moving beyond sharpness and looking at cutting ability, carving wood compared to the #1260 Mora by making 2" points on some 1" pine dowel with light force (10-20 lbs), number of slices to make a point :
In shallow cutting the performance will be mainly dependent on the angle and so the performance should be close to 1.5:1 which is what is shown. The Mora is about 50% more efficient as the angle is 10/11 dps vs the 15-20 dps angle on the Pingo.
However when using heavy force (50+ lbs) the performance reverses, again the number of slices :
In heavy cutting the slices are very deep and so the wood "sees" more of the blade. As the Pingo has a blade grind which thins out the edge then it compensates for the thicker edge and allows it to cut better. This is the strength of dual grinds as it allows a higher edge angle and thus improved durability in extremes and still having greater cutting ability.
In the kitchen as a paring knife :
It works well, but is behind an actual decent paring knife like the Herder which is :
But on a small volume of work it does well, is comfortable in hand and the main difference on bulk work like peeling is just a little more force. However on doing more intricate carving or even trying to peel vegetables with minimal waste then a much more narrow blade would be desired.
As a utility knife it starts to suffer almost immediate for one main reason :
For shallow cuts, again thin blade stock, thin edge and low angle does well compared to standard kitchen knives, but if it is compared against even a basically decent kitchen knife like the :
then the difference in terms of both force required to make shallow slices in even soft vegetables is about 2:1, the Pingo can't work well to a cutting board and it will struggle at anything beyond shallow cuts. But for light tasks like making a sandwich, cutting a bagel, then it is works well.
A standard hammer style grip doesn't work that well on the Pingo because of a very simple reason :
That very unique shape does make the knife stand out both open and closed, but it does present some ergonomic challenges for heavier cutting.
Even if that corner was well rounded it would still be uncomfortable for anything but light work as it naturally can rest right in the center of the ring finger and generate a high contact/pressure point. This focuses the force on one area and tends to be uncomfortable.
But, slight modifications to hammer style grips can over come this problem.
The first modification is very simple :
This removes the potential for an abrasive contact point but it does depend on the hand being big enough to accommodate such a split grip.
Now at this point it might make sense to interject that the Pingo was not really designed for heavy duty extended cutting of this type as it is a non-locking folder mainly for lighter use, but exploring grips can be interesting.
However even with this modification, while it solves one problem it creates another. The hot spot is removed but now the power tends to come from the thumb which generates a high rate of fatigue and thus one final modification is needed.
With the grip shifted back to ensure there is no hot spot formed, the final step is to ensure there is a solid base for power. The cutting power in the hand is generated by a push forward on the front of the hand and this is strongest when it comes through the base of the thumb. Therefore all that has to be done is :
Now there are no hot spots and there is a strong power base for cutting so the Pingo can easily handle a large volume of heavy cuts with :
The knife is made from N690Co, a high carbon, stainless steel 1 similar to 440C :
N690
440C
As it is a high carbon, and high carbide steel (large volume of Chromium and Molybdenum) it has a large carbide volume and large carbide sizes as noted in the image to the right. In regards to the Cobalt which is the main difference from 440C, this is added to stainless steels for a number of reasons. In very high carbide steels it is often added as it is an austenite stabilizer and thus keeps ferrite out of the steel in the as-quenched form, this is the main reason it is in S110V for example. It has other benefits in high speed steels such as increasing hot hardness and strength and allowing very high austenization temperatures which are necessary to give the very strong secondary hardening in high speed steels.
Overview :
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Most of the pictures in the above are in the PhotoBucket album.
1
: Blade materials, general reference (440C)
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| Originally written: | 01/03/2015 |