Spyderco Sage 5 LW Review
There is an undeniable joy in discovery. It is what compelled people in prehistory Africa to venture beyond the horizon in little more than scooped out tree trunks to discover Australia (Aboriginal Australians have lived in Australia for at least 50,000 years). We don’t have those kinds of discoveries anymore though a prehistoric forest was recently discovered in a sinkhole in China by a drone.
For most people “discovery” comes in the form of a new show on Netflix that no one is talking about or a new beer that your friends are unfamiliar with. Its not Magellan-type discovery, but “have you seen this before” type discovery. It is a huge letdown from what our ancestors used to do (such as carving out trees and riding across the entire Indian Ocean). But the joy is still there in some small degree.
So the Sage 5 LW is definitely in the “have you seen this” category, but it is a surprising superb knife, and, secretly, the best evergreen blade in Spyderco’s line up. The fact it took me this long to review the knife is kind of startling, but like the sinkhole in China, I missed it because there is so much going on with Spyderco right now.
Here is the product page. The Spyderco Sage 5 LW costs $141. This is, as covered here before, a variant of a variant. The original Sage 5, which has carbon fiber (or perhaps “carbon fiber”) handles is a variant of the original Sage design. The Sage line up has been all about showcasing locks. The 5 features a compression lock, Spyderco’s own lock design. There is a Mint Green and M4 version from Blade HQ which is probably strictly better than this one, so there is a variant of a variant of a variant. But you know, Spyderco iterates on designs sometimes. Here is a written review of the original Sage 5. Here is a video review. Here is a purchase link to Amazon for this knife.
Finally, here is my review sample:
Quick Review Summary: Secretly the best evergreen Spyderco.
Design: 2
There is something reassuring about the Sage. After all these years, after nearly 500 reviews and many hundreds of knives, the old Spyderco formula of FRN, thumb hole, and good blade shape still carries the day. Beefier and larger than the Chaparral, the Sage design is something that can appeal to everyone and be used in every situation. Its thin enough still to be a good food prep knife, but thick enough to drive through stacks of cardboard mercilessly. Like many things in life we think of as classics, the Sage does a lot of stuff pretty well and it starts with a very good design. The formula for that design is what has propelled Spyderco forward in the knife world for years and why, even in a fallow period in terms of new designs, its still worthwhile to peruse their line up.
The performance ratios on this knife aren’t bad at all. The B:H is .72, which is okay, and the B:W is 1.03, which is also okay. Neither of these numbers are all that important and neither tell the story of the knife and why it is good.
Fit and Finish: 1
In an era of truly astounding productions knives, the Sage doesn’t disappoint, but it doesn’t impress either. Think of this as fit and finish inflation. When I started this blog, this sort of bland but error free production was not a given. You had things like the SOG Flash I with huge amounts of blade play or Gerber’s unplanned serrated edges (aka poor finish grinds on the cutting edge). Emerson knives, despite their comparatively large price tag, were really a bit of a crude mess. Strider even made an advertising point of their knives’ fit and finish saying that they were hard use knives and shouldn’t be refined. Hinderer’s XM-18, one of the ur-flippers, didn’t flip so much as it flopped, with the help of a lot of wrist action, out of the handle. Over and over again at the start of this blog good mainstream knives weren’t error free. In that milieu error free was enough to earn at 2.
But times have changed, thanks in large part to the forces of capitalism and exceedingly strong competition from China. Reate and WE don’t just produce perfect knives, they make complex and interesting perfect knives, like the Sharp by Designs Micro Evo v. 2. Every Civivi I have handled is perfect, with such as much or more complexity than this knife. As a result Emerson raised his game and now makes perfect folders. Hinderer also raised his game and now makes knives that flip well, that are free of flaws, and are stunningly complex pieces of machining. In 2022 if you want to make knives that have high end fit and finish, you need to have both error free construction and a high degree of difficulty. The Sage is “merely” error free.
Grip: 2
FRN is a much-maligned material (say that five times fast) in the knife world. With all the Mokuti, Zircuti, and fat carbon it seems cheap and bland. But, and this is an important thing for a tool, it works. Remember that? Knives that work. Knives that are tools. Well, FRN provides that perfect balance between grip and easy pocket retention. Its ability to take and hold impressions in relatively high definition gives makers the ability to create very high texture surfaces and the new bi-directional pattern Spyderco uses, like on this knife, is quite good.
Carry: 2
Unlike its stablemate the Para3, the Sage 5 LW is a big knife that carries like a small knife. It is light, relatively short, and thin enough. It is not as good in the pocket as the Chaparral, but it is good enough in the pocket to disappear until it is needed.
Steel: 1
S30V is not my favorite steel. I have said this before, but the effort required to get a nice edge when sharpening is comparatively higher than getting a nice edge on M390 or CPM 154. With M390 so widely available (it is on the Asher Nomad that costs $90 and also made overseas like the Sage is), it seems like S30V is a budget-first choice here. I’d love to see this knife in S45VN. If the design speaks to you that much but you want better steel the Blade HQ version runs the old but beloved (for good reason) M4. I’d give that version of the Sage 5 an additional 1 point here.
Blade Shape: 2
Leaf-shaped blade for the win. Not only is the blade shape more pleasing to the eye than other Spyderco shapes, it also works exceptionally well. The leaf shape gives the knife plenty of runway to taper down into a wispy edge and it is provides sufficient acuity to make for a nice, useful tip. All of this is done, however, without compromising the edge like on the Kershaw Leek.
Grind: 2
All of the above is only true about a leaf-shaped blade if it is ground correctly, and of course, the Sage 5 LW is. I have written this before, but it will always be true and worth the repeating—my favorite grind on a knife is thin.
Deployment Method: 2
Let’s pause for a second and marvel at the thumb hole opening. Here is the source of its greatness—how many other things in product design REDUCE the amount of material in a given object and INCREASE its effectiveness? This is a real design masterstroke and I think a not-often-noticed reason why the thumb hole is so good. It is not often noticed because, of course, its success as led to its ubiquity and we don’t even see it as all that innovative anymore. But make no mistake—this is a design triumph.
Retention Method: 2
The wire clip is great. It, like the compression lock, the thumb hole opener, and the bi-drectional texturing found on the Sage 5 LW, is one of the many hallmarks of Spyderco. Like all of those hallmarks it is at least very good. Love me the wire clip.
Lock: 2
I am trying to put into words why the compression lock works here but not on the Para3. I think it come down to the profile on the spine of the knife. With a steep approach angle, the Para3 basically forces your finger or thumb into the exposed portion of the compression lock. Here with a more gradual approach, the Sage 5 doesn’t do that. The problem is also found on the PM2, but with additional real estate on the spine, it is less pronounced than the Para3, but still worse than this knife. This is a design that really works with the compression lock, though I can’t help but think that the Smock button version would be better in every instance than the original Spyderco design. CQI that please.
Other Considerations
Fidget Factor: Very High
A bushing in the pivot assembly helps make for snappy deployment AND a wiggle-free blade.
Fett Effect: Very Low
FRN shows about as much wear as granite.
Value: Moderate
S30V on a knife this expensive without some marvelous handle detailing or striking materials is just barely at par these days. Civivi knives make everyone look bad here.
Overall Score: 18 of 20
The Sage 5 LW is an excellent knife and probably, as of right now, the best of the Spyderco evergreen blades (what with the downgrade in steel on the Dragonfly). It is my favorite knife with a traditional compression lock and it is better than the Native—there, I said it. The steel is a bit below par for the price and the materials and machining are solid but not outstanding. But this is really the Delica of 2022. That design is so long in the tooth that it is hard to consider it for reasons other than Delica fandom or size comparisons. I really like the Sage 5 LW and the version with M4 looks even better.
However, this is a really competitive knife market and while the Sage 5 LW is good, so are a lot of other, less expensive knives. See below for more on this. I like it. It is very Spyderco-y. But times, they are a-changin.
Competition
This is the place where the Sage 5 LW really runs into problems. The SOG Terminus XR is around the same price, has better steel, more high end handle materials, and a stronger aesthetic vision than the Sage 5 LW. The Benchmade 945 is a smaller knife by a bit, but also feels more sophisticated. It too runs S30V and so it feels like a better knife. The most likely competitor is the Benchmade Bugout and that knife is very similar. Choosing between these two is likely preference based only, as there is no real or important difference. The knife does fall behind when compared to stuff like the Quiet Carry Drift, the Tactile Turn Rockwall, or the TRM Neutron 2. For just a bit more cash you get a substantially nicer blade with better steel, better fit and finish, and a nicer design. But this is unmistakably good.
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