Is the Spyderco Southard Flipper C156GPBN considered big for an EDC?

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Mtty22

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Mar 1, 2013
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I like the way the Spyderco Southard Flipper looks and ive always wanted a flipper and I hear this knife does perform very well for heavy and light tasks. Is this knife big compared to a Caly or Delica? is it worth the money?
 
It is bigger than the Caly 3 and Delica, and very similar to the Caly 3.5 (slightly smaller actually). It has a 1:1 blade to handle ratio (uncommon for Spyderco's) so to me it feels a bit smaller for how long the blade actually is. It is also not wide like a lot of Spyderco's, so again it feels a bit smaller to me for its blade length. Overall, I would call it medium maybe medium-large.
 
Not big at all in my opinion. It does, however, have quite a bit of cutting edge, almost as much as the military in fact. As mentioned, the blade shape lends itself to a slim profile when closed, so it carries much smaller than the blade length might suggest.
 
Medium!
Delica and Caly 3 are small to me
I would say the Southard and Para 2 are medium, while a knife like the Endura carries medium-large despite it's length.
 
Definitely bigger than the two knives you mentioned. Is it worth the money? To me yes, but I bought mine lnib and paid $180 for it so it was a lot easier on the wallet than retail. I love my Southard. It's still my favorite knife despite owning Hinderer, CRKs, various BMs, and a number of other Spydercos. Get it and see for yourself. If you don't like it, put it on the exchange and someone will pick it up.
 
Depends on your definition of "big." There are larger blades that people EDC. I don't find it big at all. I've carried mine since January almost daily and found it the perfect size, definitely my favorite knife of those that I have owned. I bought mine bnib off the exchange for a good price, so I would keep an eye out there and see if you can snag a lnib one at a good price. Give it a try and, as mentioned above, if you don't like it, throw it back up on the exchange for the next luck owner.
 
No, the Southard isn't too big for a comfortable medium edc Spydie. I like mine a lot. As another poster said it's the only Spydie I can

think of the has an equal blade to handle length.

If you have big hands, the handle probably is not going to be long enough. I have big hands, the handle isn't long enough for me. I wish the handle was

at least .25-.33 longer.
 
Southard fits my medium-sized hand perfectly. It's my favorite Spyderco. As to whether or not it's worth the money, check out this video and decide for yourself:

[video=youtube;-rGrxWmLgwQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rGrxWmLgwQ[/video]
 
I'll throw in another vote for "just the right size". I've been carrying mine every day since I bought it.

Another way to think about it: a lot of folks on this forum think the PM2 is the perfect EDC, and the Southard is actually quite a bit smaller than a PM2 in the pocket, while actually providing a fair bit more sharpened steel to cut things with.

It may actually be a hair too small; last night I cut a hole in the pocket of some loose gym shorts when the nearly-exposed blade tip managed to snag the cotton cloth as I removed it from my pocket. That said, I'd still have to vote "just the right size". I've been carrying it all the time for a while now without ever cutting myself reaching for it. It's a great knife.

The only things wrong with it are the brown scales (nothing a little black Rit dye won't cure) and the unnecessary hole in the blade. If those things don't bother a person, I always say go for it--just about everything else about the knife is perfect. :)
 
evilgreg said:
I'll throw in another vote for "just the right size". I've been carrying mine every day since I bought it.

Another way to think about it: a lot of folks on this forum think the PM2 is the perfect EDC, and the Southard is actually quite a bit smaller than a PM2 in the pocket, while actually providing a fair bit more sharpened steel to cut things with.

It may actually be a hair too small; last night I cut a hole in the pocket of some loose gym shorts when the nearly-exposed blade tip managed to snag the cotton cloth as I removed it from my pocket. That said, I'd still have to vote "just the right size". I've been carrying it all the time for a while now without ever cutting myself reaching for it. It's a great knife.

The only things wrong with it are the brown scales (nothing a little black Rit dye won't cure) and the unnecessary hole in the blade. If those things don't bother a person, I always say go for it--just about everything else about the knife is perfect. :)
Click to expand...
I wouldn't go so far as to call the Southard the poor man's XM-18 . . . I'll leave that distinction to the Cryo I, the Cryo II, and a knife I like to refer to as the "Cryo III", the upcoming ZT 0566. But as the video I posted indicates, the Southard has much more in common with an XM-18 than the Cryos do. Like you, Greg, I'm not a big fan of the Southard's brown scale. As you pointed out, however, that can be fixed. And to me, the hole in the blade is just Spyerdco's way of saying "hello". It really doesn't bother me.

As far as I'm concerned, those who own a Southard aren't missing a thing by passing on the 3.5" XM-18 slicer . . . except more weight in their pocket offset by a much lighter wallet. ;) Not only is the Southard arguably the finest knife Spyderco has yet produced, it's poised to earn my BEST BUY OF THE YEAR award for 2013. Way to go, Sal! :D
 
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If you live in an area where the law is 3" or less, then yes, it's too big for EDC :) other than that, it's about perfect in size to me. The knives in my EDC rotation are all between 3"-4". The Southard fits just fine in the lineup.

JD
 
The Southard is the perfect size for me. I have medium sized hands and it fits just right. If anything, it feels smaller than it looks. For pocket carry, it is great as it takes up little space however I do wish it was a tad thinner but that is really me nit picking for my own preferences.
 
I agree with Deacon, they're really close. I was really amazed at how compact it is, compared with a full Sebenza, or those ZT/Hinder-like things, LOL. It doesn't take-near the pocket-acreage that you may think.
 
Perfect size for me when closed and carried in pocket. Amazed at how much blade you get when open.

9178016040_f38245672d_c.jpg
 
Perfect size for me too. Little shorter and a little skinnier than the Para 2. The blade is too thick in my opinion, but I'm getting used to it.

viper89 said:
The Southard is the perfect size for me. I have medium sized hands and it fits just right. If anything, it feels smaller than it looks. For pocket carry, it is great as it takes up little space however I do wish it was a tad thinner but that is really me nit picking for my own preferences.
Click to expand...

Custom scales can help make the handle thinner:
IMG_2913_zps7fddb5a7.jpg

007-11_zpscd19ffb3.jpg
 
Once I replaced the clip the southard became my (almost) perfect knife. I really love the small in the pocket, big in the hand profile. I have considered taking some sandpaper to the G10 to thin it up, but overall it's just an awesome design.

4oz. is at the top end of what I like to have in my pocket and I'd love to see a version with a thinner ti scale and liner just to lighten it up. If they could get it closer to 3oz. and provide a decent clip then this would really be The Best Knife EVAR.
 
The Southard has been my favorite knife since I bought it, and it still is. Second is probably the ZT 560/1, but I have a 566 on order. Size is just right, and the 560 is a little too big (or perfect for a different job). I'm anxious to see what the Domino is like, but anything that comes out of that Taichung factory is an alpha.

I guess I should say that I did a bit of modification on mine. I sculpted the G10 so that it's thinner, and rounded like the ZT scales, and then had it sandblasted to get some texture. I also replaced the clip with a deep carry Ti clip.
 
It seems to look bigger in pictures than it carries in real life. I was well aware that the blade length and cutting edge were quite long, but when it's in your pocket it doesn't feel like it. It carries very well. I've been carrying it as an EDC knife for a few months now and it's been great. You don't really notice that it's in your pocket. It's probably the least intrusive Spyderco that I own when it's in my pocket. A lot of Spyderco knives tend to take up a bit of pocket space, but not the Southard.
 
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