Spyderco Chinook II-Clunker or Classic?

I am, in general, a big fan of Spyderco. Company founder and president Sal Glesser is a cutlery genius best known for popularizing serrated blades, pocket clips and one hand opening via their trademark blade hole.

Spyderco’s trend over the last several years has been to produce scaled-down, smaller “pseudo-tacticals” that were less threatening and pre 9-11 would certainly pass the airplane boarding test so many of us have taken over the years.

I was not a big fan of this strategy. I wanted to see Spydie produce more full sized, hard work knives that utilized some of their great technological advances. Big enough to” ride the river with” so to speak. It seems with the Advent of the Chinook and Chinook II, I have gotten my wish-almost.

A James Keating design, the Chinook is his epitome of what a folding fighter should be. Ergonomic and stout, the Chinook was also plagued by a bulky blade with mediocre edge geometry and an overall weight of over 8 ounces made it far too heavy except for sheath carry, in my opinion. The knife was very interesting though and when Spyderco forwarded me a refined Chinook in the Chinook II, I was very interested to say the least.

The Chinook II has an upswept S30V blade (A nice upgrade over the CPM 440V previously used), stainless steel liners, and a curiously strong reengineered lockback mechanism. “Peel-Ply” rough G-10 scales and a pocket clip (duh!) are standard equipment.

I found the new 6 ounce Chinook a full 2+ ounces lighter and somewhat more streamlined then the older version a welcome addition to my weekly rotation. The S30V blade resisted corrosion much better than my older knife with 440V blade and was also much smoother to open and close. It also has improved lock engineering. Although the old Chinook was muy fuerte, it also had very disconcerting and annoying vertical blade play. I was told this was a by product of the “strong like bull” lockback which was engineered to hold almost 1000 pounds. Both Chinooks held up to vicious spine whacking and other silliness that would wear out any liner lock within 5 minutes. So far so good.

Even though it is big and somewhat clumsy, all the holes and curves are in the right place and the knife opens quickly in either the “pinch” grip or the usual thumb opening mode.
The handle creates a nice, full guard and the “peel-ply” G-10 is rough without being coarse-just right. Another nice touch is the addition to specially shaped thumb traction grooves on the top of the blade spine. The grooves are just grippy enough for leverage sake but don’t snag on clothes or tear your pocket lining.

The upswept 3.75” blade is reminiscent of a mini Southwest bowie designed with the back-cut in mind. A slashing fool if you know what I mean, the curved blade is well designed for trapping maneuvers or even a thrust or two. Keating’s best blade work revolves around the subtleties of big knives and he has designed the best features of a big knife in this beefy but portable folder.

One feature I could do without is the fairly low mount pocket clip. I imagine this is to facilitate knife extraction. In my world it facilitates knife advertising. I like a deep-pocket carry clip, not just for security, but also to keep my full size tactical folder out of sight of our nation of do-gooders and busybodies.

As an aside, James Keating’s videos and articles have been inspirational to me over the years. Some of his techniques are excellent to say the least and he is by all accounts a terrific instructor. He labels himself as “Master-at- Arms”. I guess I am curious to what this means. Is this a self ascribed title, or is there a school of arms mastery out that I am unfamiliar with that grants advanced degrees? Is there a special badge or patch one wears? Why do Martial Arts instructors insist on labeling themselves with arcane and or ceremonial titles only they and few of their minions understand? For many of us that are seeking the truth in the martial way, titles and appellations are fairly commonplace and therefore somewhat meaningless. Keating’s videos, articles, and knife designs prove without a shadow of a doubt that he is a master of the blade, but why spoil it all with a title Mr. Keating when your achievements speak for themselves? Maybe I will start calling myself “Supreme Commander of Weaponry and Other Stuff” if it will help me score points with internet babes! Nah, maybe not.

Because of its size, The Chinook II is not for the faint of heart. Due to its cost, it probably won’t be popular with those folks on a tight a budget. At $167.95, retail price, it is at the upper range of factory tactical folders, but if you are looking for a lockback style knife with superb tactical features, the Chinook II is a solid choice. You don’t even have to be a “Master-at-Arms” to appreciate its high notes.

It seems like Spiderman 2, The Chinook II is a nice upgrade over its predecessor.

Check out www.spyderco.com for more information.

FYI this knife is made in Golden, Colorado, USA, Earth and it says so on the blade. Whew, I was hoping Golden had not yet been claimed by those pesky Venusians.

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