Good Spyderco stories—post 'em up

on_the_edge

on_the_edge

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Not sure if this has been done before or, if not, this thread will become a mainstay, but I thought it would be cool to read about some short stories regarding all things Spyderco. Not novels, but short, funny, interesting stuff that hopefully many will come to enjoy in time. I'll start with mine.

So, for Christmas, I was looking to get my GF a knife as the Swiss Army knife her father had given her was snagged by TSA when she forgot to take it out of her pocket before going out of town. She is only 5'2" and did not want something large. She is not a "knife person" and was not sure she needed to replace it, but I have personally seen a knife literally save a life on more than one occasion so I think it is important to have one on your person at all times.

I was not sure what to get her. I looked at an auto or two (she thinks they are cool), another Swiss Army knife, and a few different brands of pocket folders and slipjoints. Ultimately, I settled on a Dragonfly with a serrated H1 blade. I knew she did not care for the yellow, so I RIT dyed the FRN scales black. It seemed to check all of the boxes for me: excellent quality, fairly inexpensive, easy to care for, and a GREAT cutter. (Plus, she loves dragonflies!)

The other day, she told me that she accidentally ran her jeans through the washer with the knife still in the front pocket. Then she told me that was the second time she had done that. o_O:rolleyes: I asked her via text if the "H1" symbol was still on the side of the blade (LOL). She sent me a photo of it, still looking like new of course. Then I broke the news to her, that she could wash that knife every day for the rest of her life and it still would not rust or hurt the knife. She carries the Dragonfly all the time, except of course when she is doing laundry, LOL. Ha ha ha, you gotta love Spyderco!!! :cool:
 
My knife hobby and my wife's horse hobby have been very separate. The only time they meet is when one of her Buck folders gets dull, so I sharpen it for her.

At some point, I realized that one reason she keeps knives around is to cut through thick ropes in an emergency, like a horse freaking out in the trailer. Those thick-backed Buck folders didn't seem like quite the thing, so when Christmas rolled around, she had a Spyderco Atlantic salt, serrated, under the tree.

She liked it a lot, and liked it more when I told her about the corrosion resistance. Even more so, when she came to me several days later and told me that it was really great that they had this big hole, because she could tie them to her saddle with paracord.

I saw those pictures on this forum of someone's Maxamet knife breaking at the spydie hole, so I was horrified. I went out to the barn, and strove mightily to get the paracord through the little hole in the scales, but could not do it.

There's a time to step up, and a time to let go. I let go. I'm content to let her salt knife dangle from its spydie hole. If it breaks, I'll get her another one.
 
Hi UncleBoots,

I don't think that's a good idea unless the cord is also wrapped around the knife keeping the blade closed. If it's just tied by the hold and there is a sudden drop and stop, it's possible that the knife could accidentally open.

sal
 
Sal Glesser said:
Hi UncleBoots,

I don't think that's a good idea unless the cord is also wrapped around the knife keeping the blade closed. If it's just tied by the hold and there is a sudden drop and stop, it's possible that the knife could accidentally open.

sal
Click to expand...

Thank you Sal. I will follow your advice, and of course mention to my wife just how august a personage weighed in. It will help with the persuasion.
 
Had a native I used to carry IWB cause reasons. I dropped it in to the toilet. Cleaned it up with soap and water , it was just toilet water it fell into, no.. uhhh... just water. Couldn’t bring myself to carry it again, much less use it. So, I bought a replacement. They both sit in a drawer now because I don’t know which is which. :(
 
tejasandre said:
Had a native I used to carry IWB cause reasons. I dropped it in to the toilet. Cleaned it up, just toilet water. Couldn’t bring myself to carry it again, much less use it. So, I bought a replacement. They both sit in a drawer now because I don’t know which is which. :(
Click to expand...

Isopropyl alcohol is not just handy for cleaning electronics, and getting tape residue off of knife blades. it's also a great disinfectant.
 
Last week I was carrying a Military with CruWear, I used it throughout the day. At the end of the day, I needed to cut some duct tape on some piping that was on my truck’s pipe rack. I was holding the Military in one hand and pulling the duct tape off the pipe. I thought to myself “ self, I knew it was me because I recognized my voice :p, this is a good way to cut yourself in a bad way. So, I put the the Military on the roof of the truck while I took the rest of the tape off. Then I got in the truck and went to the house. When I got home, I needed to open a blister pack for a battery. Reached to get the Military and felt a deep emptiness in the pit of my stomach that traveled to my fingertips. By the time I went back to the job site, it was dark. I searched diligently, but no Military could be found. Searched the next morning and accepted the inevitable, someone found a great knife.
I really like that knife, so much that I ordered a replacement that same day. Lesson learned, make sure it’s in my pocket from now on.
 
Hi Ajack,

Sorry about your loss.

I lost the prototype to the original "Mariner" model in deep snow while pulling someone out. The first with teeth and I had to go to a show the next day in Nebraska. Came back after the show and looked every day as the snow melted. on the forth day I could see the knife sticking out of the snow. "Too much luck to be luck".

al
 
I was off shore fishing about 50 miles. Had been having a decent run dragging skirts and catching Mahi-mahi and Ahi.

One of my buddies needed to use the toilet. He was wearing a long sleeve shirt, and decided to sacrifice an arm for the cause.

He was having trouble with the bait knife. It was pretty dull. I remembered I had a Ladybug Salt in my surf shorts. I pulled it out and he did some quick surgery on his shirt. His exact words, “Holy s#|+ this thing is sharp!”

It’s kinda funny. Around here there are lots of dudes walking around with a long sleeve shirt missing an arm. Or two. :D
 
I`ve been trying to talk my wife into getting a new knife forever, she keeps telling me shes happy with her 30 year old mini Schrade that she keeps in her purse, I may just buy her a ladybug and surprise her. LOL
 
Not sure this qualifies as a "good story" but I carried a Spyderco on my wedding day in 1999. I gifted my best man and groomsmen Spyderco's at the rehearsal dinner. My dad was my best man - he got a Viele collab. My father in law, of German descent, got a Peter Herbst collab. My groomsmen received a Jot Sing Khalsa, Mariner, Worker and a Centofante I think. I carried a C22 Walker Klotzi model - still one of my all time fav Spydercos

BTW Sal I still have my Mariner I purchased from you in 1982. Has the "prototype" mark on the clip
 
A couple summers ago the family took a vacation to San Antonio, we stayed on the Guadalupe River and tubed it a few times over the week. One trip there was a family of 4 with all their tubes roped together, they had gotten wrapped around a bridge pylon and they couldn’t overcome the current. So I floated by with my BayouShooter Endura and as soon as my edge touched their tube rope off they went.

Catfishing on the Red River I was using my Endela SpyderEdge, that I’ve had about 2 weeks, to cut bait on top of my ice chest. Eventually the bite was over and the trip was winding down so I reel in my line put my rod away tossed my knife overboard and put a shad tail in my pocket. Gnashed my teeth and cussed a little then laughed.
 
In college I told my girlfriend (now my wife) that I was going to a gunshow and might pick up a new knife. By that point in our relationship she had found one of my knife drawers and must have been trying to show interest in my hobbies because she asked me to pick one up for her as well. No need to ask me twice; I picked up a purple handled Delica and for her and a brown handled Delica for me.

She was surprised when I handed the knife to her because she wasn't serious about wanting a knife and had even forgotten about asking for it. Nevertheless she was a trooper and carried it around in her purse for a while and showed it off to her friends before sneaking it into a utility drawer. It's still floating around somewhere in the house.
 
Well, referring back to my original post, my GF (cute but undaunted by how well her knife goes through the wash) did it yet again and managed to lose the Dragonfly clip screws. She looked for them, but I think they went out with the rinse cycle. So…Spyderco Factory Outlet to the rescue. I was at least expecting to have to pay for postage and probably the screws as well, but they weren't interested. Screws arrived very quickly and "on the house", along with a little tube of blue locktite (which I DID use to secure the screws ;)). If there is a next time, it will be getting red locktite. Thanks to the SFO for their quick and professional response. They're just one of many reasons Spyderco is my favorite brand knife.
 
My daughter, age 8: Dad (me) gave her a purple Ladybug. Gave her the safety lecture, and said enjoy.
My daughter, age 8 plus a few hours: watched Dad cut open a package. Gave Dad a lecture, "if YOU'RE not going to follow the safety rules..."
My daughter, junior year of college: lost Ladybug
My daughter, senior year of college: found Ladybug at long last in the bottom of a backpack. Had picked up a few other knives by then (Dad might have been responsible, and there was a graduation present involved).
My daughter, in grad school: actively turning her friends in to knife knuts.

It's genetic.

-Aram
 
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I haven't had too much opportunity to travel in my life, but back in '17 we went to see the wife's family and visit where she grew up, and my little green Delica went with me. We ended up going through Colorado, Wyoming, Touring Tetons/Yellowstone, and visiting the wife's family in Montana.

I remember on the approach to Denver we came across a Coors truck and trailer overturned by the strong wind, thankfully nobody appear to be injured, but there was beer absolutely everywhere all over the road and a couple of guys cleaning up the cans and trash that spilled out. That had to have been a very bad day for those poor guys. We passed through Denver, but unfortunately we had to keep moving and I didn't have time to stop by Golden for a visit. I'll happen next time.

I remember we visited the Alpine visitor's center in RMNP, for the first time in my life I was on top of an actual mountain. I walked up the somewhat steep walkway to the 12,000 ft peak there. I'm not in terrible shape, but I'm not exactly an athlete anymore, I always thought it was mind over matter when it came to high altitude. I was very wrong, after the climb I really started to feel it and everything was getting a little fuzzy on the way back down to the car.

We camped in Grand Tetons and took two days to drive around Yellowstone and take in as much as we could. It's a beautiful place, it was very much worth the trip. We were all exhausted from being on the road non-stop, we stopped at a pull off on the west side of Yellowstone to get out and stretch, at that point I started to wonder if I was hallucinating because the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile came rolling around the bend. I'm sure they intentionally drive around those areas for promotional purposes but it was kind of random.

We saw her family, the Montana ranch she grew up on, the farm her dad grew up on, took the kids to the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, and overall had a great time. The grass fires were out of control while we were there and I have a lot of respect for those who fight to keep the fires under control. As we drove by a small lake a helicopter flew down and filled the bucket from the lake. It was a pretty impressive display of skill, they were there and gone in no time.

On the way back we intended to take the kids to see Mount Rushmore, we arrived just as it was getting dark, neither of us knew that there was a lighting ceremony that takes place at night, and we were right on time for it, so we got to experience that as well.

Looking back it was a great experience all the way through, I would do it all again.

Nothing much noteworthy happened knifewise other than needing to use it for the occasional stubborn package or whittled stick, but since I had the little green Delica with me it has that memory tied to it and I'll never part with it.
 
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