Leek vs Dragonfly2

Perspective is everything.

First thing you need to realize when you read a review is the point of view from the person writing it.  Many reviews are written by those who have handled hundreds to thousands of knives.  This, on the other hand, is written by a knife-newb, and a guy who probably uses his knives for light-duty only.

I recently got into the world of knife collecting (watch collecting was my first love), and I find it a fascinating world that combines chemistry, aesthetics, engineering, and awesomeness.  I came to it via knife sharpening, as I have always tried to get the most out of my kitchen knifes, and the desire to figure out why some knifes are able to sharpen up better than others.  You can read how I got here through this post .  Now that I have both the Dragonfly2 and the Leek, I can begin to contrast them from my perspective.

Most of the duties performed by these knifes are clamshell box opening, cardboard breakdown, and the like.  For me, most of the review weight is given to aesthetics, comfort, build quality, and sharpness.  Both these knifes are more than enough to handle the tasks I will hand to them.  In addition, I also realize that I’m comparing two samples of very high run knife models.  Someone may have gotten a knife that is better or worse than the ones I have.  However, as I said earlier, my perspective is entirely based on my experience with these two knifes.

From the get-go, I have found that the Kershaw is a slightly higher build quality.  The blade is absolutely dead centre when closed, and there is no blade play up-down or side to side.  The Spiderco has a little up-down, as well as being off centre when closed.  It is barely perceptible, but it is definitely there.  I can also feel a little rub on the handle materiel when I deploy via the Spyderhole left handed.  The Kershaw also came slightly sharper out of the box, but honestly, this is a complete non-issue for me.  I have a Sharpmaker (and extra-fine stones), and I really enjoy the act of sharpening a knife.  The Leek was sharp enough that I didn’t want to mess with the blade (yet), but I felt the Spiderco could use a touch-up.  Don’t get me wrong, they both were sharp, but I like to bring things to hair-popping razor sharpness.  The VG10 steel delivered.  After some careful sharpening, it is undoubtably the sharpest blade I have yet handled.  Extremely impressed, enough that I plan on working on the Leek when I get a chance to bring them back to even levels of sharpness.

I can tell that the Dragonfly2 could probably take more of a beating than the Leek.  If I were to go hiking, I would probably bring the Spiderco with me, as the leaf-shaped blade would probably perform better for heavier tasks.  In addition, I would be less concerned with denting or scraping the handle material.  I also really like the D2’s wire clip and extreme light-weight. That said, I love the extremely fine point of the Leek.  It passes through plastic like it wasn’t there.  Great for opening boxes or packing material.  In addition, the thing that seals the deal for the Leek being my EDC of choice is the Speedsafe assisted opening.  It feels great to move the flipper and have the blade snap open.  Extremely satisfying. Everytime.  Which brings me to my next point: if I were travelling (I live right on the Canada-US border), I would bring the Dragonfly.  I don’t want to have to explain to a customs officer why a Speedsafe knife is not considered a switchblade.  The letter of the law would be on my side, but that still wouldn’t help me if it was to come under scrutiny.  The Dragonfly2 wouldn’t put me in that situation and is still by all accounts an awesome EDC knife.  I actually bought two of them, and am going to give my cousin one for Christmas.  I will be interested to see if his has the same blade play as mine.  Before I boxed it up, I gave it the Sharpmaker magic, but I didn’t check the blade play and I don’t want to open it back up again now I have it cleaned and ready to wrap.

So there you go, my perspective one two great EDC knives.  It may sound like I’m down on the Dragonfly2, but I’m really not.  It’s a fine blade, I just love the Leek a bit more.  And Speedsafe is pretty dang fun.  Now that I’ve entered the knife world, the hard part is not going out and immediately buying something else.  The Cryo II Blackwash is the current front runner, but I need to let the pocketbook cool a bit before my next purchase.

Thanks for reading!

This is my first post to Blade Forums, but I wanted to announce the arrival of my first “real knife”.  Before I get to that, allow me to provide some background.  Normally, you’ll find me hanging out over on WatchUSeek, but I have taken a recent interest in knives.  I have always enjoyed having reasonable quality kitchen knives around and I have always liked to keep them sharp.  Back in my university days, when people would come over and use my knives they would exclaim that they are the sharpest they’ve ever used.  This summer, I decided to take them to the next level and bought a Spyderco Sharpmaker.  My definition of sharp definitely changed, and now I could shave with them.

The next piece of the puzzle happened when I impulse purchased a Gerber Paraframe II one Saturday at Canadian Tire (Saturday shopping at a CT is a Canadian tradition), and I found it really handy to have a knife on hand.  I didn’t necessarily carry it every day, but for carrying out random tasks, it was great.  The only problem, is I was somewhat disappointed with how sharp I could get it. No matter how careful I was, I could only get the blade to a certain level and no further.  I then began to look into knives more carefully, and I began to learn a lot about steels, quality and was introduced to the concept of the EDC knife.

What’s funny is the very first knife on my short-list was the Leek.  I then delved heavily into Spyderco (hey, they make a great sharpener, so let’s look at their knives!) and began picking through their lines.  I wanted something smallish, but functional, so I began to decide between the Ambitious, Cat, and Dragonfly2.  After much debate, I settled on the Dragonfly (it has a legion of loyal followers and VG10 seems like a great steel).  I actually ordered it first but had it delivered to the US (US prices on Spyderco are MUCH cheaper - $58.69 vs $90.73) and won’t be able to get it next week at the earliest.  After looking at dozen upon dozen EDC knives, youtube videos, I returned to the Leek.  I decided to treat myself and order it.  Now, I did order it delivered to me in Canada, as I didn’t want to have to explain to a customs officer why a Speedsafe knife is not a switchblade.  It arrived today, and I love it.  Immediately, it screams quality and it comes very sharp straight out of the box.  I think I may be able to tweak the edge a little bit, but it is very sharp from the get-go.

So, like watch collecting, I can see the madness beginning.  I am already looking at the ‘next’ knife.  The Kershaw Blackwash Cryo II is already whispering to me.  I need to slow down a bit, but the world of knives and sharpening is really interesting.  I have my eye on an Edge Pro Apex sharpener.

 
So, there it is, my first post here!

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