I had this knife since the week it shipped. The same Maple version. At first it wasn’t flickable but a year and a half later it thumb flicks and finger flicks. The designer is Sal Glesser, founder. It has his makers mark. Chaparral is just the model name. Named after some desert weed. This was my first Spyderco. I never found them appealing until I seen this wood version. At the time I only had small pocket knives with natural materials, bone or wood. This turned out to be a gateway knife. One wood scale has warped a bit and separated from the liner a little. And the interface of blade and lock face and lock bar and back spacer isn’t flush when open. There are much better tolerance lockbacks out there and wood scales that are treated longer that resist deformation. I understand why Spyderco has mostly stayed away from natural materials. Not their forte.
I have always lives the looks of this knife. I have the sage 5 lightweight which has a very similar blade and feel. I will absolutely own one of those bird’s eye maple chaps one day.
Such a gorgeous knife! Spyderco always impresses me how they can design such a small knife and it feels great n a large hand. Such a difficult decision between that one and the Sun&Moon.
thanks good review
Lovely maple scales, and a lockback to boot! Thanks Jamie.
I had this knife since the week it shipped. The same Maple version. At first it wasn’t flickable but a year and a half later it thumb flicks and finger flicks.
The designer is Sal Glesser, founder. It has his makers mark. Chaparral is just the model name. Named after some desert weed.
This was my first Spyderco. I never found them appealing until I seen this wood version. At the time I only had small pocket knives with natural materials, bone or wood. This turned out to be a gateway knife.
One wood scale has warped a bit and separated from the liner a little. And the interface of blade and lock face and lock bar and back spacer isn’t flush when open. There are much better tolerance lockbacks out there and wood scales that are treated longer that resist deformation. I understand why Spyderco has mostly stayed away from natural materials. Not their forte.
I have always lives the looks of this knife. I have the sage 5 lightweight which has a very similar blade and feel. I will absolutely own one of those bird’s eye maple chaps one day.
Very nice pickup. I have the original version and the lightweight (my EDC). Been eyeing this one for a while.
Such a gorgeous knife! Spyderco always impresses me how they can design such a small knife and it feels great n a large hand. Such a difficult decision between that one and the Sun&Moon.
It’s a Sal Glesser design. Used to have the lightweight. One of the best apple slicers in the game, but the TRM Neutron kicked it out of the pocket. 🍻
I want 😫