Spyderco Forums

I've been looking at a dragonfly warnie for a box opener. Specifically a K390.

Has anyone bought this knife for this use? How do you find it? Is there something out there that is better?

i thought about one of these for wood carving. honestly though, a box cutter is better for cutting boxes. but, if you just want to justify a spyderco purchase, this is probably one of the best for it.

I have a k390 dragonfly wharncliffe. It works really well for things like opening boxes and other packaging because of the short blade and the good tip access (due to being a wharncliffe). The short blade is nice for opening boxes since you can just put your thumb/index finger on the spine to limit the cut depth. K390 is a good blade steel too. Stays sharp forever.

IMO this is the best knife in the spyderco lineup for this sort of task. Whether it's better than an actual box cutter? I haven't used one in ages so I don't know.

I have the VG10, it will exceed your expectations

Calling Jazz... :)

I have been using the same wharnie Delica VG 10 since they first came out every day at work cutting tons of boxes. Nothing beats it, and VG 10 is awesome. Really, I still love this knife, and don’t want any other for work. It can’t be beat. I’m thinking do doing a long term use vid for it, but I’m not a person that yaks on and on in vids. We’ll see. You want to see a well used and loved knife, I’ll show you when I take a pic or two.

I have the VG-10 version. It’s excellent as a work/ utility blade as long as you don’t abuse it (edge chipping). Great for most edc tasks as well. It’s one my favorite Spyderco models.

abbazaba wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 05, 2023 8:56 pm

Calling Jazz... :)

... or you just recommend a Delica wharnie yourself...

EDIT: I missed that Jazz had replied already anyway when posting the above...

... and again: Why oh why is there no wharnie SE DFly? I´d get one in a heartbeat, favorably (this particular version) in VG10, but also in K390...

Jazz wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 05, 2023 9:14 pm

I have been using the same wharnie Delica VG 10 since they first came out every day at work cutting tons of boxes. Nothing beats it, and VG 10 is awesome. Really, I still love this knife, and don’t want any other for work. It can’t be beat. I’m thinking do doing a long term use vid for it, but I’m not a person that yaks on and on in vids. We’ll see. You want to see a well used and loved knife, I’ll show you when I take a pic or two.

Please do one

I have the wharnie dfly in k390. Is currently hanging on a hook in the garage and I broke down a few boxes maybe 45 minutes ago with it. For this task, I find the wharncliffe superior to the leaf blade, and I find the smaller blade preferable to larger ones.

I went through a few options: k390 delica, k390 stretch 2, k390 endela, k390 delica wharncliffe, leaf dfly, and wharncliffe dfly.

The dragonfly was the winner.

Also I find the k390 easy to sharpen on the KME. If I didn't have the KME I'd probably go for the VG-10 wharncliffe. But you'll only need to sharpen like twice a year I'd guess.

My wife loves the leaf blade dragonfly for opening packages, so I got her the s30v one. That one I can sharpen just fine on the sharpmaker and just got it hair shaving sharp about 10 minutes ago. If there was an s30v wharncliffe I'd probably favor that one.

If you're really only looking to cut boxes with it I might choose one of the UKPK or other slip-it models, especially if you see yourself needing to draw/open/cut/close/clip over and over, because it eliminates the lock function and would make that action much more fluid. The Urban came in K390 and also came in a VG10 wharnie version, either would be great for box duty but I think I'd go with the K390 even though it's a leaf blade, I don't think blade shape would make much difference but K390 vs VG10 would be a considerable difference.

Or just get a razor blade boxcutter, but that’s no fun

Yeah, Jazz, do one. Your videos are great. Pics too, until you have time. Thanks.

I appreciate your replies fellas. I'll get one ordered.

amateur blacksmith wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 07, 2023 8:17 pm

I appreciate your replies fellas. I'll get one ordered.

K390 or vg10?