What are your first impressions of the Spyderco Hundred Pacer? Well, it certainly is an unusual looking knife with an unusual name and design inspiration, and I’ll admit to being sceptical about the look of this knife.
But, whatever your first impressions are, I can say that this knife has proven itself again and again throughout the testing process to be as potent as its namesake. The Hundred Pacer is the result of a collaboration with a Taiwanese knife designer and enthusiast Jonny Liao, who manages to bring together potentially ungainly serpentine shapes into a stunningly effective cutting tool.
A few more details:
What’s in the box?:
A good look round the Spyderco Hundred Pacer – Things to look out for here are:
You can’t really miss the design references to the snake the knife is named after. Even under the closest scrutiny the quality of manufacture stands out.
Explained by the Maker:
The reasons for certain design choices may not be clear when simply looking at an object, so this section is intended to give an insight into the thinking behind a design by speaking to the designer themselves.
While at IWA 2018 I had the good fortune to be able to talk to Joyce Laituri from Spyderco about this knife.
Firstly here is the standard description from Spyderco:
The Hundred Pacer is a truly unique folding knife design inspired by a deadly Taiwanese viper with a distinctive “horned” nose. Its venom is reputedly so toxic that a person bitten by it could only walk a hundred paces before expiring. Designed by knife enthusiast Jonny Liao, the Spyderco Hundred Pacer translates the sweeping lines of the snake’s head into a broad, dramatically curved, full-flat-ground blade. The satin-finished PlainEdge™ blade is crafted from premium CTS® XHP powder metallurgy stainless steel and features a fully accessible Trademark Round Hole™ for swift, positive, one-handed opening with either hand.
To replicate the look and feel of the snake’s skin, the knife’s stunning handle scales are meticulously machined from layered G-10 to create a non-slip texture and contrasting color pattern. Skeletonized stainless steel liners nested within the scales complement the handle’s open-backed construction to minimize the knife’s weight, while providing a solid foundation for its sturdy LinerLock mechanism. A reversible deep-pocket wire clip supports discreet, ambidextrous, tip-up carry and keeps the Hundred Pacer poised and instantly accessible.
An image from mitbbs.com of the Hundred Pacer snake.
The following are a few insights into the design courtesy of Joyce:
Jonny designed the knife to have a very wide flat ground blade, shaped to be reminiscent of the head of the Hundred Pacer snake. If you are not familiar with this snake, a quick Google of it reveals he did a very good job pulling off the form of the snake. The handle is textured G-10 with a bidirectional pattern to offer tactile resistance. The original prototype had a two tone handle that was vividly reminiscent of the snake’s colouring, but Spyderco opted for the coyote brown handle with the milled texturing.
With the Hundred Pacer, the surprising thing is once you get it in your hand; as large as it is, and as wide as the blade is, it is incredibly lightweight and incredibly comfortable to hold; add to this the upswept blade being such a powerful cutter and you have an extremely effective knife.
The CTS XHD steel used for the blade is a US made steel, and is shipped over to Taichung where Hundred Pacer is manufactured.
The Blade and Handle – Detailed Measurements:
Now even more detailed!
Taking things far beyond most knife specifications, in this section I will be carrying out a detailed examination of geometry, balance, edge bevels, factory sharpness and structural edge testing using the industry leading measuring tools.
These measuring tools include a Vernier protractor, callipers, fixed radius gauges, the unique Arc Master adjustable radius gauge, Edge On Up’s BESS Certified PT50A and SET tester along with CATRA’s Hobbigoni LASER Edge Protractor.
The BESS ‘C’ scale of sharpness (Brubacher Edge Sharpness Scale) will be used to verify the sharpness of the factory edge and allow the knife to be brought to a minimum standard sharpness before testing a blade’s cutting performance.
The measurements have been tabulated and are presented along with a few reference blades. The ‘Balance relative to the front of the handle’ tells you if the knife will feel front heavy, or if the weight is in your hand (a positive value means the weight is forward of the front of the handle). The ‘Balance relative to the centre of the handle’ indicates how close to a ‘neutral balance’ the knife has in the hand.
The blade is made from CTS-XHP steel.
Take note of that average BESS Score of just 156. This is truly exceptional, and is the sharpest factory edge I have come across.
What it is like to use?
Once you handle this knife, it all makes sense. There are knives I do not find visually appealing, yet once in your hands they just work. The Hundred Pacer from Spyderco is one of these. In fact its abilities are making its looks more appealing, as you start to understand why it looks like it does.
When folded, the large hump of metal around the opening hole is there because this knife has such a wonderfully wide blade. This same large lump of metal makes the opening hole even more accessible, and the opening action super fast. It then provides an effective thumb ramp once the blade is open. Completely function, although making the folded knife appear a little ungainly.
The snake-head shaped butt of the handle forms a grip-hook that provides extreme stability during use, so the odd appearance really does make sense.
For me there is only one minor change that improves the Hundred Pacer, and that is the addition of a sharpening choil. There are some cuts when this can create a ‘hang-up’, but the benefits outweigh the possible pitfalls for me. In adding a sharpening choil, it also allows the entire cutting edge bear down onto a cutting surface. Amongst other things, this knife’s slicing ability works fantastically well in the kitchen, and I use this roughly 50% of the time for food related tasks; this modification makes it significantly better for use on a cutting board.
Shown here with a small batch of knives that I added a sharpening choil to.
Don’t be too quick to judge this knife by its appearance. Certainly some will like the different looks, but I suspect most initially will not. The Hundred Pacer proves itself utterly worthy of your consideration thanks to its fantastic performance and handling.
Review Summary
The views expressed in this summary table are from the point of view of the reviewer’s personal use. I am not a member of the armed forces and cannot comment on its use beyond a cutting tool or field/hunting knife.
Something that might be a ‘pro’ for one user can be a ‘con’ for another, so the comments are categorised based on my requirements. You should consider all points and if they could be beneficial to you.
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Things I like
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Superb handling.
A real ‘Super-Slicer’.
High quality fit and finish.
Ambidextrous.
Great grip.
High performance CTS XHP Steel.
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What doesn’t work so well for me
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Unusual appearance.
Discussing the Review:
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