Para-Military (yes another one)

[STR]

I have been buying and selling a lot here lately in the way of knives. In my buying I have specifically been looking for a knife that will meet all my needs. I won't get into all of that here. I will say I thought I had found the holy grail of knives in the Manix but it proved too large really to be effective for me in more delicate tasks like whittling and carving which any knife I carry must do and do well. While it was possible to do some real heavy chores with the Manix the real delicate stuff was just a bit awkward with it. I did love that knife though but sold it nonetheless.

I found a great one in the Para-Military. I must say it is quite nice. In a way I categorize the Para-Mil as a "Mini-Manix" because of a few changes in the handle grip and lock but basically the same style of blade in a slightly smaller size. I have been using it now for a few days and feel some things are worth being mentioned.

I love the blade shape. The size of the Para-Military is also great. It fits my hand so well I could not have made it myself any better. The lock took some getting used to but now I can open and close it with one hand as easy as any liner lock or lock back I have. Out of the box sharpness was great as usual for Spyderco. No grittyness in the opening. It was smooth as silk from the first time I opened it up. It has just enough texture on the G10 handle scales to make it very comfortable and tacky and yet still slide into the pocket easy.

One thing about Spyderco they have the edge geometry down pat. The knives from this company just cut real well. This knife cuts and slices like a thinner knife. I know, as I've been doing quite a few tests of my own with it and I am very impressed with it's performance.

I won't get into details of the blade thickness or other things that have already been covered in other threads. That would be redundant. I will cover what I have seen and feel needs improved upon. Some of that can be seen here in a thread I started on one of the Spyderco forums http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=344251

As you can see from the link to that thread the first thing I did was modify the pocket clip on the PM. The original tip down clip bit into my hand some when using it for certain chores, but that was not the only reason for my change. I simply like tip up carry mode better for a number of reasons. Number one being that I can reach deep into my pocket to get keys or something else without scratching myself on the blade spine or the finger grooves. The Para-Mil has grooves on the top of the blade for the thumb. These can hurt you when you rub them accidentally with your hand while reaching into the pocket. That pointed end on the back of the tang of the blade that hits the blade stop when you open the blade is also quite prone to 'get ya' when in the tip down carry mode. Lets not forget the fact that the knife comes out of the pocket just the way you want to hold it when the clip is in tip up carry. This is the only thing I have found that could be improved upon with this particular knife. I understand Sal Glesser is considering making it adaptable to all modes of clip carry positions on future models.

The Para-Military works well. It works so well that I'm really excited about this knife. It does the chores of a smaller more delicate knife as well as some upwardly heavy chores just short of what the Manix could do. It will slice carrots and apples as well as dice and perform other food prep chores well.

I actually believe the lock on this PM would give the Manix a run for its money as far as strength goes.

In a survival situation it would be quite easy to make your own utensils or some kind of primitive shelter with this knife in the right hands. Kindling is not a problem to make either as I did that just to see how much I could make in 10 minutes time. It handles this responsibility well in my opinion. No problem starting the grill or the home fire place last evening using nothing but the Para-Mil to make the kindling. (got down to 29 degrees last evening here so it was perfect timing)

As for edge holding. I will say this. S30V is very impressive. It has not needed touched up yet in any way shape or form after doing the above listed tasks. I have a floor full of shavings because of this knife from all sorts of both hard and soft woods. It is up there with D2 in edge holding. At this point I could not pick one steel over the other. But S30V certainly holds it's own with D2 for edge keeping based on what I've seen. The PM blade won't shave hairs anymore but it does still cut well and in a real tough situation it is still very useable as is. Here soon I'll find out how hard it is to bring it back to that biting sharpness it had out of the box.

My opinion of this knife is that it is one of the best offerings from Spyderco right now. I have bought 15 various Spyderco knives in the last 45 days, both new and used. Of all of them I am most impressed with the Para-Military for my own uses.

If you are looking for a worker look no further. If you want pocket jewelry this may not be your cup of tea. This is working class all the way and work it does. Very impressive design Sal.

From my observations there are only two things that could be better with this knife.
1: fix the clip issue and it is a perfect package as is for any right hander in this owners opinion.

2: Mirror image the whole knife so the lock is on the opposite side and make some in limited numbers at least for the south paws out there and you'll then have all the bases covered.

This knife is too nice to not let the leftys in the world experience it too. Because of the way the lock is situated I don't think any lefty is going to be too interested in this one as is.

Here are some things I've done so far with my Para-Military to test its ability to do more delicate tasks. Just a pic of some primitive utensils I made pretending to need them in a situation where none was available. I actually ate with these last night. Took about 20 minutes to make each of these using nothing but the Para-Mil and a small piece of sand paper afterwards. Granted the sand paper would not be an option in a real situation of survival but I did it anyway. The Cone head was to entertain my nephew long enough to continue on to more serious tasks. But anyway the point is the knife works.

 

[3Guardsmen]

and a great review, too! Thank you and enjoy your Para, I love mine!

 

[JDBLADE]

Thanks for the review - it's good when we get a number of reviews all basically saying the same thing. Goes to prove this is a great knife and I think because of its size and the compression lock will end up outranking the Military and the Manix. You'll have no trouble sharpening it and be careful not to oversharpen it as I found it came back pretty quickly. I basically only gave it a few swipes on the white rods more the action of using a steel than honing. Also keep it at 30 degrees the edge should be that exact that you just keep it going.

 

[KeithAM]

Really good review -- and cool woodwork too. Thanks!

 

[STR]

Thanks for the positive feedback.

I sharpened the knife up and brought it back to the original edge with 5 swipes per side on an extra fine diamond sharpener by EZLap and about the same number of strops on each side to take of the wire edge that was left with the diamond sharpener. I did this on my leather strop with some flex cut gold polish compound as the polishing medium. Piece of cake as the old saying goes. It is a biting ready to go edge again now. Total time it took to bring the edge back up to snuff was an amazing 1 minute.

This knife is A1. A+++ all the way. Best knife I've had my hands on in a long while. It really fits well into my demands for any knife I would carry as an EDC.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

... tip up carry mode

My hand ramping into a partially opened knife is enough that I never even thought twice about that.

I actually believe the lock on this PM would give the Manix a run for its money as far as strength goes.

Compressions rate quite high and are stable under torques, I would bet on the blade to break sideways before the lock would give, and vertically you are looking at well outside an average mans strength. The only real possible break would be hard batoning on the spine.

In a survival situation it would be quite easy to make your own utensils or some kind of primitive shelter with this knife in the right hands. Kindling is not a problem to make either as I did that just to see how much I could make in 10 minutes time.

I would want a bigger knife around here. Right now any deadfall (which is sparce) is wet and/or frozen so it needs to be split/broken, you could just carve it up with a smaller knife but man is that ever time consuming.

There is some light dead grass for first stage tinder, but it is also wet and/or frozen. Any kind of wood based shelter would be difficult because all the dead woods have long been scavanged and you have to cut a lot of live poles. Of course this is unrealistic because you are attempting to "survive" in an area just a few miles from people. You can survive a lot easier by just walking out.

If I was to go further back where people don't cut woods, you can find more dead woods, but still for building something like an a-frame or bough cave I would rather have something which could chop a lot better than the Para as it would be a lost faster to gather wood than extensive ranging for materials. Plus it is a lot smaller than what I would like to work on snow based shelters, and I would be wary of the fine point cracking/cutting through heavily crusted snow.

It does work well for carving and such, though my forks only have two tines, and usually I just make a skewer, often they started off with more tines, but that is often what they end up looking like, some even become tinder.

I think because of its size and the compression lock will end up outranking the Military and the Manix.

In terms of actual suitability for use, you are probably right. However take a look in the reviews forums, and in the general forum in general and see which knives are being used for which tasks. In general you will see an abundance of very heavy tactical knives which see EDC use on ropes and cardboard. While the Para-Military is likely a more optimal knife in many situations, the size of the Manix will actually make it a selling point to a lot of people.

-Cliff

 

[STR]

My hand ramping into a partially opened knife is enough that I never even thought twice about that.

Tell me exactly how you ramp your hand onto a partially opened blade when the blade is snuggled up into the back corner of your pocket when it tip up carry mode which I assume you are referring to here, and not on the side where you slide your hand when reaching into your pocket. This mode of carry puts the blade on the opposite side of where your hand would be sliding or ramping as you call it when reaching into the pocket.

Are you referring to ramping your hand onto an open blade in tip down carry? I am not sure what you are trying to convey here.

though my forks only have two tines, and usually I just make a skewer,

My first attempt was to make the spoon on one end and the fork on the other but the two tine fork split on me when I got too agressive so it ended up a 'skewer' on that end. My second attempt at the fork was multiple tined because I figured if I started out with five I'd end up with three good ones. Luck prevailed though and all of them survived in useable fashion.

 

[Peter La]

Nice work and a great review too.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Tell me exactly how you ramp your hand onto a partially opened blade ...

You get lucky, a few weeks back I was down on the local wharf which had been recently demolished by heavy waves when I spotted a dead sculpin on the rocks, so like any good hillbilly I picked it up and chucked the fish at my brother who was about 15 yards away, because of course it would be really funny if it hit him in the back. Highbrow humor at its best.

In mid swing I lost control of the fish, my aquatic slinging abilities being out of practice obviously and I had not factored in the slime and so instead of going out towards my brother, it slipped sideways and sailed a good sixy feet to land perfectly infront of his girlfriend, who was side on and blissfully unaware of the impending doom, and explode on the rocks and cover her in partially decomposed fish guts.

She was not pleased.

You can jam the blade against the side, and if it doesn't move, then there sould not be a problem. In reality even if this isn't done, most folders through detents, or stiff backsprings like on the Manix have to actually be opened a good ways before they will actually stay open, the Manix needs a spread of about 1.5 inches. So I would not argue that it is a real practical problem. Personally I like it down as and opening or drawing doesn't effect me either way so why take the chance.

Are you referring to ramping your hand onto an open blade in tip down carry?

Yes, the blade comes open, and the point meets your hand on the draw, or just rooting in your pocket, or whatever else it is clipped to.

My first attempt was to make the spoon on one end and the fork on the other ...

I like the spoons which go into a fork and I just leave enough room to make it into a spoon only when the forks usually spazz. Forks are easily made with a small saw if you want to cheat, power to the SAK, which in general makes a nice carving tool, especially if you convert the screwdrivers into chisels.

-Cliff

 

[JDBLADE]

Originally Posted by Cliff Stamp
While the Para-Military is likely a more optimal knife in many situations, the size of the Manix will actually make it a selling point to a lot of people.

Conversely, the Manix due to its size is not popular amongst many people. Just from experience more and more people are saying the Manix is too big. I think there is a difference between what is said on the forums and what actually occurs. I dare say it might be different in the US but I would estimate that less than 10% of my customers actually know that the forums exist and that less than 5% actually post on forums. I know the US has a bigger market by far but the use of very heavy tactical knives is extremely limited in Australia.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

I think there is a difference between what is said on the forums and what actually occurs.

Yes, I don't think a random polling of the forums would translate well to a random polling of the market as a whole. The forums members are generally not simply knife users, but collectors, hobbiests, etc. . Most people around here for example would view the Endura as an expensive knife.

-Cliff

 

[STR]

Well, first off the Para-Mil is not a small knife really. Second I like big knives and the Manix was just too big for even me to make practical use of it. So, to me if you are getting into that kind of a hefty folding knife with that big of a 'foot print' for lack of a better term, you may as well move on up to a fixed blade.

The Manix is well made and I'm sure it will find it's niche but for me the PM really fits the bill. It is by all definitions a smaller version of the Manix with a different lock.

 

[JDBLADE]

Originally Posted by Cliff Stamp
Most people around here for example would view the Endura as an expensive knife.

Too true! For a number of reasons inc., high wholesale costs and heavy mark-ups even the Delica is considered an expensive knife here. To give an example the Cold Steel Large Trail Guide which sells in the US MRRP for $39.95 sells here RRP for $77.95US on current exchange rates.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

So, to me if you are getting into that kind of a hefty folding knife with that big of a 'foot print' for lack of a better term, you may as well move on up to a fixed blade.

Can't carry fixed blades in a lot of cases where you can carry that size of a folding knife. In fact even smaller fixed blades are problematic around here.

-Cliff

 

[STR]

Yeah, I had not thought of that in an urban environment. Good point.

 

[john.thomas.]

I know that here in the south (USA), style has a lot to do with it. People are more apt to carry an Queen, Buck, or Case than any Spydie, Benchmade, etc. simply because those other knives scream country. In, fact, ppl will often buy lower quality knives due to being a) cheaper, and bb) once again, looks.
In order for knives to get sold around here, they need to be time proven, simple, and cheap. The Endura is at least substantially less expensive than say, the Manix, and a bit simpler in design, so it has that much going for it.

 

[allenC]

Great review on the Para-Military.

I really wish Spyderco made it in a lock-back because I just don't like the Compression-lock very much.
I admit I only own one Compression-lock knife (the Vesuvius), but I have handled the Salsa and the Para-Military and I just don't care for the Compression-lock.

When it comes to knives like the Manix, I think folks are torn between wanting a stout heavy-duty folder, and wanting a lightweight easy to carry folder (especially during summer when it's mostly t-shirts, sandals, and lightweight shorts).
And if you add up all the other things that folks carry (cell-phone, car keys, wallet, ect) the Manix is a little too heavy for an EDC IMHO.
Remember when the Chinook first came out?
It was really heavy as far as knives go--so when it was redesigned they shaved some weight off.

Yep, If the Para-Military was a lock-back I would own one.
In the mean time I'll have to settle for the G-10 Police.

Thanks for the review,
Allen.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

...I just don't like the Compression-lock very much

Is this a strength/security issue, or one of ease of closing/opening?

-Cliff

 

[allenC]

Not really a strength issue because I cannot see how the Compression-lock could fail once engaged, and I am careful in the way I use my folders.

I think my dislike of the Compression-lock stems from the Vesuvius.

It opens with the greatest of ease--in fact, it has opened itself more than once inside of my pocket.
Maybe it needed a ball-detent?
The milled tang does'nt retain the blade very well, and maybe that's why Spyderco changed the Vesuvius into the Centofante III and gave it a lock-back design.

And when I handled the Salsa, the Compression-lock pinched me everytime I open the blade.

But they do seem secure when locked and easy to operate.

Allen.

 

[STR]

I believe there is a detent ball installed in the Para-Military lock mechanism. It has the same kind of stick point holding it closed as a lock with that mechanism in it in a more conventional liner lock or frame lock.

I must admit my first impressions of the lock were not favorable either. It has taken some getting used to. In fact the lock now seems to favor a lefty. I wonder if it would not be more convenient for a right hander to have the lock reveresed from this present confirguation. After owning it for some time it seems to me to work well in the left hand as is. At first I didn't see this but the more I use it the more I think it could actually satisfy a south paw quite well as is.