Petzl Spatha

A great little knife, that will take a bite out of your salami, but not out of your pocketbook.

A few years back, I was looking for a decent lightweight knife for my hiking ditty bag. But the top rated knives were really expensive, some in excess of a hundred bucks! Though I like quality, I'm also frugal (or cheap, depending on how you want to look at it). When this knife came out, it got great reviews, so I picked one up.

When this knife was first released, it came in two models: a longer straight-edged blade, and a slightly shorter blade with a serrated edge. I notice now, that the straight-edge blade has been discontinued, and the serrated model has been modified slightly. I purchased the serrated model for more versatility.

The 2 1/4" (5.75 cm) inox (stainless) steel blade is still nearly as sharp as when I purchased it. Though intended by Petzl as a "climbers" knife, it is good for all kinds of things, from cutting rope, to salami, to cheese, to tape... you name it. I've never found myself wishing it was sharper or cut better.

The blade is easily opened by way of a textured wheel, which has a hole in the center and can used to hang from a 'biner. It is not strictly a "locking" blade, so if you really need that, this may not be the right knife for you. Though the handle is a piece of molded nylon, it is sturdy and shows no signs of wear or cracking despite years of use. And at 1.7 oz, it won't weigh you down.

In short this is a great, simple knife, which has given me many years of service, and has literally gone on every hiking and backpacking trip I've taken in the last decade. It has no bells or whistles, but at the price, is an excellent bargain.

A real dedicated climbing knife.

No it doesn't lock, but does it have to? In winter climbing when you sometimes have big gloves that render your fingers as usefull as sausages for delicate operations, this knife shines.

Stainless steal means no rust and it kept a decent edge trough some intensive use. (Every weekend for a whole year, with only minor sharpening once in a while) Truth be told for rock climbing there's a lot of good knifes out there. But one as easy as this one to open/close? Havent met many. 

Picture this: You're at a relay station, there's some old crappy slings blocking everything you wanna put in the bolts, you're 20 feet above your last placement and it's marginal. The stance is good but, you can only free one hand. That's when you're glad you bought the spatha or his little brother with the serrated edge. And oh look, he's on his dedicated biner on your harness easy to grab.

And yeah, it's also pretty good at cutting other stuff. Did I mention it was light?