Spyderco Endura 4 Review

It is not a secret that Spyderco has always been responsible for the most revolutionary and innovative knives ever created. From their early Worker models to the hi-end collaborations with knife makers around the globe, it was always the company with the spider logo, who brought the best in a pocket knife. You can hate it. You can love it. But the moment you speak about EDC blades, the word “Spyderco” is always somewhere in the air. And sooner or later you will know about the knives like Delica, Endura, Military or Paramilitary. In fact, for me, Spyderco’s knives have always been somewhat overlooked. I mean, yes – they are the best. Still there are many people out there hating their design.

Endura 4, as one of those contradictory blades, has caught my attention immediately and became a one-love knife ever since. Why? Read on and discover yourself. There is really a LOT I would like to write about this knife. However let’s first cover the boring numbers section and then get to the tasty part. Spyderco Endura 4 arrives in a standard red box with the golden logo. The knife’s overall length is 8 and 3⁄4 inches. It is 5″ closed, weighs about 3.6 ounces, has a black clip and blue handle scales.

Key Specs

  • Blade length: 3.4″
  • Overall length: 8″
  • Closed length: 5″
  • Weight: 3.6 oz
  • Blade material: VG-10
  • Country of origin: Japan

Spyderco Endura 4 Review

Spyderco Endura 4  >>   Check Price

  • Blade
  • Handle
  • Design
  • Price
4.2

Summary

Spyderco’s Endura 4 is a lightweight, high performing EDC knife and shouldn’t be overlooked if you are in the market.

Blade

Endura 4 has a very long blade of 3 and 3⁄4 inches. Its thickness is 1/8”. The blade has unique leaf-like shape, accompanied by full-flat grind. This, of course, makes it an excellent cutter. Either you chop, slice or push cut – any technique is a piece of cake for this blade. The knife just goes through material like… well, like a knife through butter. I personally have been torturing my Endura for about 3 years now and there was nothing to make its blade stutter and stop. Sharp as ever, with the geometry of a kitchen knife – the blade does the job.

The blade is made of V Gold 10 steel (hence VG-10) designed in Japan by Takefu Special Steel Company. Originally it was aimed at the production of kitchen knives, but soon found its way into the sphere of EDC. That is when Spyderco and Fällkniven started using it with their knives. VG-10 is famous not only for its extreme corrosion resistance, but also for its good edge retention. The blade just stays shaving-sharp for months and you’ll need about 15 minutes to hone it on a Triangle or any other system.

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Additionally, I’ve been taking this knife with me on some of the trips, kayaking included. Rainy days, sunny days – the knife was always within arm’s reach, clipped to the pocket. And there were no red stains on the blade whatsoever, which again proves steel’s good rust resistance.

Handle

The handle here consists of skeletonized liners and FRN (fiberglass-reinforced nylon) scales. The liners are inlaid, which makes the overall construction slim and lightweight. The drilled sections, according to Spyderco, make the knife much stiffer and more stress resistant. Of course they will take some cleaning now and then, but that is the drawback of all skeletonized liners. Now let’s get back to the eye candy of Endura 4 – the scales.

Due to Endura’s bi-directional aggressive texturing and “grippy” plastic material, the functionality of this knife exceeds the expectations. The gimping and the slightly curved overall shape of the handle make it easy to use the knife in any weather conditions. Wet or greasy – the handle will keep its usability for a long time. Using a knife in suburban areas is one thing, taking it somewhere fishing is sometimes quite a story to tell. But not with the scales like these, trust me. Taking it out of the pocket and clipping it back there – the knife slides in and out with no problems. Thanks to the scales again.

The color of the scales on our knife here is blue. I have an orange one. And there is literary a ton of other cool color combinations (and scale materials) you can purchase and play with. It is funny how a friend of mine once compared Endura to a pair of old Converse shoes. The colors come and go, but the awesomeness is always there. And, frankly speaking, sometimes I have to resist the desire to buy myself Spyderco Endura of another color.

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Ergonomics (lock, deployment, belt clip)

And on the 8th day He created Endura 4… Just joking, but hey, face the obvious – the knife may look ugly but it handles just perfect. I hate huge knives. And Spyderco Endura is actually one hell of a huge blade. Still, in some mysterious way it fits my hand, my pocket, my budget and gets an A-plus for its ergonomics. Sorry for the spoilers, now, let’s go through all the tasty details.

The pocket clip on Spyderco Endura 4 is a standard belt clip they use on Delica, Paramilitary and many other knives. It is spray painted in black, which I personally find quite attractive. The paint chips off with time and the overall look starts screaming out loud, that the knife is actually being used. Some people find it frustrating. Sorry, no good quality coating here. Size wise, the clip is pretty long but stiff and reliable as ever. Oh, nearly forgot to mention – it can be positioned tip up or down, left or right handed. That is the maximum number of belt clip positions you can ever play with.

The locking mechanism here is classic back-lock. Or is it called mid-lock? Like with the blade shape, you are never sure what you get, but it works and that is fine with me. The lock is rock solid. Once deployed, the blade sits in its place and there is no back-forth or side-to-side play. At least from the box there is none. Mine developed quite a blade play in time, but here again – it’s been three years of service.

Besides you can always tighten the pivot screw. The lock-bar has а small grove that outlines it from the rest of the spine. Thus, depressing the lock with a thumb won’t seem a problem even blindfolded. The deployment is smooth as ever. I could write an essay on how well the 1⁄2 inch Spyder-hole works.

But, trust me, it works fine and that you can test in any knife shop out there. The blade flies open with the thumb, the middle or the index finger. And with a little bit of practice you can master some other tricky ways of opening or closing your Endura. Thanks, YouTube, now I can do the Spyder-drop!

Conclusion

All things considered, Spyderco Endura 4 is a really good blade. For what it’s worth ($60 to $70) this Japan-made pocket knife can deal with all the typical tasks through the workday, still remaining sharp and reliable. Heck, Silvester Stallone used Endura in the Cliffhanger movie. Now, seriously, if you haven’t used this knife before – just try it, and make your own right choice.

Spyderco Endura 4  >>   Check Price

2 thoughts on “Spyderco Endura 4 Review

  1. No, the Spyderco Endura 4 does not have assisted opening. The Spyderco Endura 4 features a manual opening mechanism. It is equipped with the iconic Spyderco Round Hole on the blade, allowing for easy and smooth one-handed opening with a simple thumb flick. The knife relies on the user’s manual effort to deploy the blade rather than employing a spring-assisted mechanism commonly found in assisted-opening knives.

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