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Permalink Reply by Chris Stookey on January 2, 2012 at 16:11

Today, we'll be taking a look at Spyderco's Wilkins-designed Leaf Storm.

 

 

Model #C128GP Leaf Storm

* Blade Length: 2.438"
* Blade Thickness: .125"
* Blade Material: CPM S30V Steel
* Blade Hardness: 58-60 HRC
* Blade Style: Leaf-shaped Drop Point, 13mm Spyderco Thumb Hole
* Weight: 2.50 oz.
* Clip: Right-hand only, tip-up
* Lock Mechanism: Titanium Frame Lock
* Overall Length: 6.063"
* Closed Length: 3.625"
* Country of Origin: USA, Earth

 

 

 

Blade: The Leaf Storm sports a rather compact 2.438" long blade, made from CPM S30V steel. The drop-point blade has a hollow grind running at about the 50% mark.  The tip of the blade is super sharp and pointy; this is somewhat interesting given that the blade thickness is a sturdy 1/8" (quite beefy for such a short edge).

Though the industry has introduced a number of steel types that are...theoretically..."better" than CPM S30V, it's this user's experience that most of those steels do NOT function better in most practical applications. S30V takes a good edge and holds it well, requiring relatively maintenance in order to keep performing well on a day-to-day basis. In fact, I've had such good experience with this steel that I feel that it should be the standard by which all other steels are evaluated. Spyderco does an excellent job of heat-treating the material and I've never been disappointed in the cutting performance of their S30V.

The blade is deployed via a 13mm Spyder hole. The hole is intelligently-oriented to the handle and is completely accessible. That said, due to the relative "stubbiness" of the knife, I found the blade a little hard to open. While I could "flick" the knife open, it required that I really dig into the hole with my thumb. Some of this may be due to the blade grind intercepting the edge of the hole.

The spine of the blade does have some jimping. This consists of three rather large notches. Frankly, I don't care for the jimping design. The notches are too smooth and while the user's thumb can grab them, it can easily slip forward. Given the front shape (choil) of the handle, this is a design flaw. I'll talk about the impact of this design later in the review.

 

 

Handle:  Grab yerself  something to drink before getting settled in for this part of the review. I'm going to spend a lot of time on the handle of the Leaf Storm and will be going fairly "deep" with detail. So, kick your feet up, relax and read on. If you don't like detail, you probably shouldn't be reading this review. Go watch a video instead; you are probably one of those "me like pictures best; words give me headache" types...

The handle measures 3.625" long and is Jade colored G-10 on one side and a bead-blasted Titanium on the opposing side. The handle scales are held together via 3 torx screws. A larger pivot screw serves to connect blade and handle (again, adjustable via a torx-driver).

The G-10 is somewhat unusual in that the texturing is fairly smooth (uncommon in Spyderco knives). Though I've heard the color described as "Jade", to me it's a VERY light-colored version...if you could call it "Jade" at all. It's almost translucent and is just as blonde as it is green. Personally, I like the color and it goes well with the bead-blasted Titanium of the other handle scale.

The locking mechanism for the Leaf Storm is the Reeve Integral Lock (aka Frame Lock). This device is integrated into the Titanium scale. Though the lock is called out as an RIL, the relief scallop on the scale, thankfully, is positioned to the outside. This actually adds strength to the lock...though that really isn't necessary in such a small knife. As for how this adds strength, if you look at the knife in the "open" position and stare down at the relief scallop, you can see that having it in the "outside" location provides for thicker material to the inside. This way, pressure put on the blade makes the lock less likely to "fold" at the point of the scallop (the weakest part of the Titanium scale). On the Leaf Storm, I found the lock-up to be EXCELLENT. If anything, the Titanium was a little "sticky" when the lock met with the steel blade tang. This made the lock a little difficult to engage, though still VERY doable with one hand. Candidly, I like this very positive tactile confirmation.

There is a Jade backspacer located between the G-10 and Titanium scales. Interestingly, the front G-10 scale has a hole for a lanyard. The opposing Titanium scale does not having a matching lanyard hole. Instead, the "exit" hole for the lanyard is located in the G-10 backspacer. I don't typically use lanyards so this doesn't matter to me. On the other hand, if I did use lanyards, I wouldn't like this design.

The Leaf Storm has a stainless steel pocket clip. The shape of the clip is fairly typical of what can be found on other Spyderco knives. It works quite well, though it features a single orientation; right-hand, tip-up. That the pocket clip is positioned on the Titanium scale side make is very friendly to pants material and this is one Spyderco knife that will never chew up the fabric of your pocket. The displays a polished finish...which I see as a mistake. While a black clip wouldn't have worked with the overall knife design, there is no good reason why the clip couldn't have a bead-blasted finish similar to the Titanium scale. It's not that the finish of the clip looks bad; in fact, it looks "good" since the polish matches that of the blade. The downside to this finish is that the "gleam" draws eyes, whereas a bead-blast finish wouldn't (so much). The position of the clip leaves about 5/8" of handle material sticking out of the pocket. Not horrible...but the Leaf Storm certainly isn't a "low-rider". Last, but not least, the clip is 2 1/4" long with the inside of the clip "grabbing" about 1 1/2" of the owner's pocket. A good thing; otherwise it might be a little too easy for the knife to fall out of the pocket.

The handle shape...at least for me...is a bit "awkward". The front "choil" area is fairly broad...at 13/16" across. The rear "bump" is about the same. Given the handle's short 3 5/8" length, it's strange that so much space would be taken up between these two areas. What does this mean? Well...for me, if I locate my index finger BEHIND the front finger choil, this is really a two-finger knife for me...with a third finger "sort of" resting against the rear "bump". This just feels "weird". So...I end up putting my middle and ring finger in the scooped center area of the handle and letting my index finger "ride" the outside of the choil. This makes the knife a 3-fingered deal for me and feels fairly "decent". But...my index finger ends up being located a bit too close to the blade's rear edge. Remember how, in the Blade portion of the review, I said that I'd get back to why the jimping design is a flaw? Well, here it is. If I let my index finger ride the outside of the choil...and my thumb slips off the jimping, my hand goes forward onto the cutting edge of the blade. While my middle finger probably won't go anywhere...or those two digits behind it, my index finger is certainly "at risk".

 

 

Primary Use: The Leaf Storm is a small EDC knife. It's short blade length makes it legal in any jurisdiction that doesn't outlaw locking folding knives. The hollow-ground blade performs well as a slicer, though the 1/8" blade thickness is a little excessive in consideration of the short 2.438" length. The tip of the blade is extremely pointy...and yet not terribly thin. This makes piercing things very easy with the Leaf Storm. The knife is definitely "sturdy" and will handle tasks larger than it's diminutive size seems suited for. However, the handle shape pretty much precludes the knife from being used on anything but light-duty, mild-resistance cutting tasks. In a pinch, yes, I'd push the blade further than that...but only by suffering some tangible hand discomfort during use (due to positioning my index finger behind the choil area).

 

 

Second Kind of Cool: The design is interesting. The workmanship and quality are very good. The combination of materials are visually striking. The fit and finish of the knife are...very nice...to the point of being representative of the "best" of production knife work. The blade shape is practical and yet aesthetically interesting. On a 1-to-10 scale (with 10 being the highest possible score), I'd give this a 7.75.

 

 

Overall Take: The Leaf Storm is a very well-made small EDC blade. It's quality is excellent. Indeed, it is built well enough to eclipse the use of at least a couple of generations. It performs well for most applications (if kept to light-duty tasks). The handle design is awkward. It just is. I'm going to sound overtly critical here...but what good are the reviews if I don't call out the negatives when I see them? Kevin Wilkins, as I understand it, is an American that moved to Berlin. He was a graphic designer first and a knife designer second. It shows. Sound a little harsh? Sorry...but that's the way that I see it. The handle shape has obvious flaws...ones that should have been easily discernible to an experienced knife-user, let alone knife designer. The Leaf Storm is expensive enough that the weak jimping and handle designs are things that Spyderco never should have let out the door. That comment may make some readers angry with me. I understand that. Again, my reviews are meant to help you decide what to buy and how to spend your hard-earned money. If you bought this knife, based upon my review...and then disliked the handle shape and the weak jimping, you would figure that I'd steered your wrong. Right? Right. I love Spyderco knives (I have more of this brand than I do any other)...but a mistake is a mistake. Sorry, Spyderco. The Leaf Storm is a "miss". Want to fix it? Here's what I'd suggest:

* Change the Spine Jimping; make it with fine, grippy teeth instead of the 3 not-so-grippy notches.

* Reduce the size of the front choil area slightly and get rid of the rear "bump" in the handle. This will give the handle kind of a tapered "feeling" from the front of the handle to the rear.

Permalink Reply by Billy Oneale on January 11, 2012 at 22:16

Good review, Chris.

Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on November 1, 2012 at 19:57

I like it and might eventually try it but I am concerned with slim. I put knives through a lot of hard use ans if it can't hold up to that its a problem. Still though might be good to try and review my experience with it.

Permalink Reply by Jack Haskins, Jr. on June 26, 2014 at 22:17

Chris, I know this reply is over 3 years old. I didn't read the rest of the thread so I may be repeating someone else. I thought the review was very good. I've never bought either of the Caly's but have had the Caly 3 on a wish list for a while. It's one of the knives I seem to "buy around". Just seem to select something else at purchase time. Anyway, about the lack of replies I get the feeling the group of folks on this forum are more traditional folder style people. Since Spyderco's are so far from that type or style of knife there are probably less people reading the Spyderco reviews. Of course I don't know if this is true or not. I carried and used the Stockmans and similar knives since I was about 10 or so. What I like about Spyderco thinking is the willingness to experiment with different model type as well as different high quality blade steels. Also, I've become addicted to knives that can be operated using only one hand. I have a Queen and an AG Russel I can operate with one hand. They don't have thumb studs or anything. They just operate smoothly enough to open and close them with one hand. Both are great knives IMO. But I have become a big appreciator of Spyderco's knives. The attention to detail that goes into even the lower priced "value" models is admirable. Everyone appreciates different things about knives. Some love beautiful handles. Some won't even look at a knife unless it has a super high quality blade steel. Different sizes is a major thing. I've come to carry several knives at once . My selection is normally based on different sizes. I like having a selection to pick from depending on the cutting job. Is this really necessary? Nope. OTOH, I paid for the dang things! Might as well carry them. :)

Anyway, keep the reviews coming is my thought. You could write it and save it so you can post them in different areas. The Spyderco forum for example. LOL

Jack

Chris Stookey said:

It's been a couple of months...plus...since I last posted in here. I didn't get much in the way of feedback from the initial review. It takes quite a bit of time to write up a review that it is...at least...potentially reader worthy. The lack of feedback and participation makes me wonder if people really aren't interested in this. Obviously, if they aren't, I won't bother writing it up. Really, when I write something up, I hope that it is useful to people participating in the site. If it doesn't meet that objective, the writing isn't worth doing.

 

So...I'm wondering whether or not you'd like me to continue doing this. How about a little feedback? Do you like it? Dislike it? Want it shorter? Longer? More photos, fewer photos? Anyone?

Permalink Reply by Ron Cooper on June 27, 2014 at 5:33

Chris,

I know how disheartening it is to research and write a lengthy contribution in a forum, such as the stellar reviews that you have submitted throughout the entirety this thread, and get little or no feedback in return.

From my own selfish perspective, I certainly hope you will continue to write about Spyderco knives. I love 'em! I collect 'em! And, I enjoy reading what you write!

You shouldn't have to poke or prod people to acknowledge your efforts. But, that seems to be a sad reality around this camp. I know firsthand how discouraging that can be. You'll have to decide what's acceptable to you and what the best course of action might be. Your time and effort, at the very least, deserves some acknowledgement. Quite honestly, I don't know how to light a fire under anyone's butt, though? Wish I did!

Cheers, my friend! 

Permalink Reply by Doug Thrower on June 27, 2014 at 12:56

I agree totally, I really enjoy your reviews. It takes time and effort and no small amount of love for this hobby to do this. I am guilty of reading reviews and while appreciating the article, give little thought to saying thank you. I appreciate it, thank you. I think maybe people may see this as a read only type of thing. To attempt to elaborate or add, would be seen as rude.

Thanks,

Slainte

Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on June 28, 2014 at 12:52

Look here is my feeling. As many folks are limited on time, I created a place for all reviews: Called the Sharper Review. it puts it on the Main Page and gets people a look or preview so that they can comment on it. Not sure folks have time anymore to dig through a group and find a review. Not sure its THE answer, but it is an answer.

Permalink Reply by Chris Stookey on June 28, 2014 at 20:26

Hey Jack...thanks for stopping by. You are right, this forum is more oriented towards traditional knives. I stopped writing reviews a long time ago. I was the primary moderator for both the Spyderco and Benchmade parts of the iKnifeCollector site...but other aspects of life necessitated that I devote less time to this kind of thing. Additionally, I decided that most people aren't big readers...so they would rather go to YouTube to watch a video than read one of my long-winded reviews.Who knows? Maybe I'll pick this kind of thing back up and post on multiple web sites. My love for knives is as strong as ever...and I have bought a number of Spydies this year that are fantastic pocket blades. My most recent one, though, is a long-time model...the Military. However...it's the Bento Box edition with Blue G10 handle scales and CPM-S90V steel. It's a real beauty! Again, thanks for reading and participating in this site. If I can ever be of help...or you'd just like to share some common interest in our hobby, contact me any time.

All the best,

Chris

Jack Haskins, Jr. said:

Chris, I know this reply is over 3 years old. I didn't read the rest of the thread so I may be repeating someone else. I thought the review was very good. I've never bought either of the Caly's but have had the Caly 3 on a wish list for a while. It's one of the knives I seem to "buy around". Just seem to select something else at purchase time. Anyway, about the lack of replies I get the feeling the group of folks on this forum are more traditional folder style people. Since Spyderco's are so far from that type or style of knife there are probably less people reading the Spyderco reviews. Of course I don't know if this is true or not. I carried and used the Stockmans and similar knives since I was about 10 or so. What I like about Spyderco thinking is the willingness to experiment with different model type as well as different high quality blade steels. Also, I've become addicted to knives that can be operated using only one hand. I have a Queen and an AG Russel I can operate with one hand. They don't have thumb studs or anything. They just operate smoothly enough to open and close them with one hand. Both are great knives IMO. But I have become a big appreciator of Spyderco's knives. The attention to detail that goes into even the lower priced "value" models is admirable. Everyone appreciates different things about knives. Some love beautiful handles. Some won't even look at a knife unless it has a super high quality blade steel. Different sizes is a major thing. I've come to carry several knives at once . My selection is normally based on different sizes. I like having a selection to pick from depending on the cutting job. Is this really necessary? Nope. OTOH, I paid for the dang things! Might as well carry them. :)

Anyway, keep the reviews coming is my thought. You could write it and save it so you can post them in different areas. The Spyderco forum for example. LOL

Jack

Chris Stookey said:

It's been a couple of months...plus...since I last posted in here. I didn't get much in the way of feedback from the initial review. It takes quite a bit of time to write up a review that it is...at least...potentially reader worthy. The lack of feedback and participation makes me wonder if people really aren't interested in this. Obviously, if they aren't, I won't bother writing it up. Really, when I write something up, I hope that it is useful to people participating in the site. If it doesn't meet that objective, the writing isn't worth doing.

 

So...I'm wondering whether or not you'd like me to continue doing this. How about a little feedback? Do you like it? Dislike it? Want it shorter? Longer? More photos, fewer photos? Anyone?

Permalink Reply by Chris Stookey on June 28, 2014 at 20:36

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the info. I haven't written a review in some time. Just haven't had the free time to do it. That may change at some point next winter...so I may give the Sharper Review some material. In the meantime, I'm digging my new Northfield Talon!

Be well amigo!

Chris

Steve Hanner said:

Look here is my feeling. As many folks are limited on time, I created a place for all reviews: Called the Sharper Review. it puts it on the Main Page and gets people a look or preview so that they can comment on it. Not sure folks have time anymore to dig through a group and find a review. Not sure its THE answer, but it is an answer.

Permalink Reply by Chris Stookey on June 28, 2014 at 20:40

Hello Doug.

Thanks for the kind words...and I'm glad that you've enjoyed the reviews. When people have so little to say...it's hard to know if what I've written "hits the proverbial spot" or misses the mark. I know that the reviews aren't perfect...so there's always room for improvement. That said, I've kind of figured out that most people aren't big readers. Today's people are more visual...and would perhaps rather watch a YouTube video than read a long-winded write-up. Maybe I'm wrong...but it looks to me like fewer and fewer people like to read. Anyway...thanks for stopping by!

Chris

Doug Thrower said:

I agree totally, I really enjoy your reviews. It takes time and effort and no small amount of love for this hobby to do this. I am guilty of reading reviews and while appreciating the article, give little thought to saying thank you. I appreciate it, thank you. I think maybe people may see this as a read only type of thing. To attempt to elaborate or add, would be seen as rude.

Thanks,

Slainte

Permalink Reply by Chris Stookey on June 28, 2014 at 20:44

Howdy Ron!

I'm really glad to hear that you like reading these things. For me, the lack of response wasn't so much disheartening as it was a realization that this kind of thing appeals to a fairly small number of people. I haven't written a review in a long time...mostly due to lack of free time. I certainly have picked up a bunch of great Spyderco knives (and others) over the past year...but when time's tight, something has to get sacrificed...and I chose to forgo writing reviews and to use that time to do some other things. Who knows, though? I may pick it back up in the future. As silly as this may sound, if I had any "hope" beyond people in iKC enjoying my write-ups...it was to get picked up by one of the knife magazines. Of course, to do that...I'd need to market my "material" to them...which takes time that I don't really have. A shame really, as I do enjoy writing. In any event, thanks for participating and the feedback. I appreciate it!

Chris

Ron Cooper said:

Chris,

I know how disheartening it is to research and write a lengthy contribution in a forum, such as the stellar reviews that you have submitted throughout the entirety this thread, and get little or no feedback in return.

From my own selfish perspective, I certainly hope you will continue to write about Spyderco knives. I love 'em! I collect 'em! And, I enjoy reading what you write!

You shouldn't have to poke or prod people to acknowledge your efforts. But, that seems to be a sad reality around this camp. I know firsthand how discouraging that can be. You'll have to decide what's acceptable to you and what the best course of action might be. Your time and effort, at the very least, deserves some acknowledgement. Quite honestly, I don't know how to light a fire under anyone's butt, though? Wish I did!

Cheers, my friend! 

Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on June 28, 2014 at 20:52

I know what you mean, I started doing reviews after a guy I had lined up to do them quit. So I did them for a while, but it is a tremendous amount of work and you do get the feeling no one reads them anyway. Now I will say when you switch to the Forum Sharper review you do get views. Maybe not comments but if you count the views you may be amazed at how many folks see them but don't comment. Unfortunately I can't put views in the Groups.

Chris Stookey said:

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the info. I haven't written a review in some time. Just haven't had the free time to do it. That may change at some point next winter...so I may give the Sharper Review some material. In the meantime, I'm digging my new Northfield Talon!

Be well amigo!

Chris

Steve Hanner said:

Look here is my feeling. As many folks are limited on time, I created a place for all reviews: Called the Sharper Review. it puts it on the Main Page and gets people a look or preview so that they can comment on it. Not sure folks have time anymore to dig through a group and find a review. Not sure its THE answer, but it is an answer.

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