This special knife can easily cut ropes, webbing and ropes.
Joe Prenzler | posted 9:20 AM, June 8, 2021
In the world of outdoor adventure, there are three tribes who often use rope and rigging techniques-climbers, cavers and ropers. In order to save time and ink, it is helpful to think of these three in Tolkien's terms. Climbers who like sunshine, beautiful mountains and grasslands, and canteens who like spring water are elves. The cavers spend a beautiful sunny day in the dark, their stomachs crawling in the mud, silt and quagmire, these are the internal organs of the earth, they are dwarves. And those rope lovers who hike to the top of the cliff to avoid difficult climbing, they just walked on the easy path while telling themselves that it was an adventure, they were hobbits. Climbers and cavers usually avoid each other's movements, and neither really understand the strange ropes. However, like elves, dwarves, and hobbits, they all use swords—well, they are actually swords. And, in this case, we are talking about the ironic Spatha of the legendary French caving equipment manufacturer Petzl.
In Latin, "spatha" means sword, especially the long and straight double-sided broadsword used by soldiers of the Roman Empire from the 1st to 6th century AD. Spata is larger than the dagger familiar to all gladiator history nerds, and it is also the ancestor of the Viking sword. (For a great introduction to daggers and spatha, check out Metatron's analysis here.) Spatha's blades are usually 20 to 40 inches in length, and the handle is 7 inches, so it is interesting that Petzl named it 2 ⅞ inch blade super light His rock climbing and cave knives cater to the stout dads of the past.
Material: 12C27 steel (blade), nylon (handle)
My Petzl Spatha did not arrive in a Roman chariot. This was not given to me by the emperor's wing-foot messenger. It arrives in a cardboard box via a simple UPS delivery driver, and is simply pasted on a piece of ordinary white card paper, with little decoration or printing. I like that it doesn't come in a gorgeous, over-packed box like many other knives I buy or receive. These days, I try to send as little waste as possible to landfills, and I am very concerned about the global problem of single-use plastic polluting our oceans and coastlines. Spatha does come with a small plastic fastener that passes through the carabiner hole and passes through the hole in the blade and the plastic cable tie around the body. The whole packaging setting, like a knife, has a very simple atmosphere.
Petzl Spatha is not a knife that you carry with you everyday. It is specially designed for rock climbing, caving, canyoning and kayaking (even sailing), and its main purpose is to cut ropes, ropes and webbing. It has no pocket clips and is designed to connect to the carabiner through an oversized hole at the pivot point of the tool. It is naturally clipped to a climbing harness.
The first thing I noticed about Spatha is that it is very light and its weight is barely noticeable, only 43 grams (1.5 ounces). Petzl eliminated the metal pad on the handle, which greatly reduced the weight, but at the expense of the stiffness of the handle. In addition, Spatha has a long teardrop-shaped hole on the top of the blade near the handle, which can not only reduce weight, but also help one-handed thumb to open.
Spatha has a spine lock that can be securely clicked into place and is easy to press to close. This is an improvement to the first generation of Spatha without a locking mechanism.
The 2 ⅞-inch drop blade is evenly divided by 1.5-inch serrations near the handle, and has a flat edge at the tip. It is used to cut old rigging and more accurately cut new ropes, webbing and ropes.
The handle is made of textured nylon with moderate grip and is available in blue, black and yellow. Near the bottom of the handle, Petzl drilled a small hole if you want to connect it. This should be of particular interest to the Marine Corps.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the knife design is the rotating ring. When the knife is opened or closed, the entire ring rotates with the blade. This is especially useful when opening the knife with a gloved hand. Without wearing gloves, you can easily open the blade by holding the top of the blade with the tip of your middle finger and thumb with one hand. The rotating ring is lined with a flanged stainless steel cylinder to provide rigidity and enable the tool to be clamped on the shackle.
To test Spatha, I collected some old climbing ropes and webbing and some new ropes from the basement to see how it performs.
Test 1: Rope. There is a pile of old jute rope from last year in my garden, so I headed back to test Spatha's cutting ability. The jagged edges can quickly handle multi-strand fiber ropes. Spatha cuts cleanly-like a hot knife through butter.
Test 2: Webbing. I took out some old, sturdy one-inch tubular climbing webbing from the trash can in the basement. This thing is from the 1990s, and I don’t know why I kept it, but I can say with certainty that it represents the old, tattered webbing layer you will find on top of most rock climbing cliff rope stations. In addition to replacing the old bolts on the exercise route (if you are qualified to do so), one of the friendliest things climbers can do is to clear the mess of the webbing in previous seasons and use a rap ring and a new, safe Sturdy straps or ropes. The messy rope station makes it very difficult to check the safety of the anchors and unnecessarily litter the cliffs. If you are not 100% confident in your existing rope anchors, always add new slings or ropes that you trust. A good climbing rule to follow is: If you add a sling, remove the sling. For more information, check out Mountaineers.org’s recommendations on mountain ropes and protection stations here.
Test 3: Rope. I compared Spatha with some BlueWater 7mm accessory cords and unbranded nylon core cords I found. Spatha cut the two cleanly.
Test 4: Snacks. Interestingly, Spatha is the hardest to cut Boar's Head Aged Gundam-it tastes delicious.
In general, Petzl Spatha has many things to like as a great value purchase. This is the lightest 7-inch knife I have ever encountered. In fact, it has the largest length-to-weight ratio I have found. This is important because climbing protective gear consists of many large pieces of metal, which come in various configurations and are designed to be placed in cracks in the rock. Nuts, bearing housings, cams, carabiner and protectors are all added together, so I appreciate any opportunity to reduce weight.
The rotating ring greatly helps the gloved hand to open the knife and provides a great way to secure the knife to my climbing harness with carabiner. The blade is kept closed by friction alone, I cannot open it by shaking it. This is a reasonable concern, because you don't want an unintentionally opened blade to hang with the quick handle, rope and prusik on the climbing frame.
Petzl uses high-quality Scandinavian 12C27 steel in the blade. This is a Sandvik formula that provides excellent sharpness, hardness, toughness and corrosion resistance, and is the same steel used for ice drills and high-end skating blades. So I am very satisfied with the quality and cost. The serrated blade cuts the rope and webbing very fast, which is a plus for removing the old webbing on the rape station.
My main observation about Spatha is that the handle is not as ergonomic as a big hand. For a full-size blade, I can only place the first three fingers on the handle. The grip has some texture, but the pattern is not as aggressive as I want. Although the rotating ring is great for opening with two hands while wearing gloves, Spatha is not as easy to open with one hand like other knives I have used. When climbing a mountain, it is best to have a knife that can be easily operated with one hand.
Although the whole knife feels strong when slicing, it is also a bit elastic when lateral pressure is applied to the blade. I dug the steel and edges of the blade, but the top of the blade near the handle might benefit from some jimping (the groove cut perpendicular to the blade) to prevent the thumb from sliding forward. This knife is not open-back, so it is more difficult to clean, which is a problem for cavers who are covered in mud.
Finally, although the serrated part of the blade effectively cuts the webbing and rope, remember that serrated blades are harder to sharpen than regular blades.
For less than $30, Spatha is worth buying. It is super light, so just clip it to your climbing harness and forget it until you need it. I still prefer EDC's Spyderco Para Military 2, but Spatha is a great tool that can achieve its design purpose. Now I want to see the real Roman spathas...
More questions? This is an additional introduction to the mission and purpose.
A: The suggested retail price of Petzl Spatha on Amazon is $29.95.
A. Yes, for the time being. The design relies on friction to keep it closed. By repeatedly opening and closing, it is conceivable that this friction will decrease. I did research on this, but didn't find any situation where it could not be kept closed.
A. Spatha is specially designed for cutting ropes. It is an expert, not a generalist. Although it is lightweight and can complete its design tasks, I think EDC has a better choice.
A. Very careful. just kidding! Most people use sharpening sticks. Check out this video by Schrade here.
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Joe Plnzler was a Marine Corps veteran who served from 1995 to 2015. He is a field expert, long-distance backpacker, rock climber, kayaker, cyclist, mountaineering enthusiast and the best guitarist in the world. He supports his outdoor addiction by serving as a human communication consultant, teaching at Southern Maryland College, and helping startup companies with public relations and marketing efforts.
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Joe Plnzler was a Marine Corps veteran who served from 1995 to 2015. He is a field expert, long-distance backpacker, rock climber, kayaker, cyclist, mountaineering enthusiast and the best guitarist in the world. He is currently on a partial hike on the Appalachian Trail with his partner Kate Germano. He supports his outdoor addiction by serving as a human communication consultant, teaching at Southern Maryland College, and helping startup companies with public relations and marketing efforts. Contact the author here.
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