Spyderco Civilian & Matriarch Review

lava_lamp

lava_lamp

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Spyderco Civilian & Matriarch Review

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Introduction

After years of owning Spyderco knives, I finally acquired a Civilian and a Matriarch this year. As many folks know, the Civilian is a legendary self-defense knife designed in the 1990s for law enforcement use. The Matriarch is is a slightly smaller, lighter weight version of the Civilian with a thicker tip.

Size & Weight

Before owning them, I found it hard to get a sense of the size comparison, so I'm posting these photos and a table to help others. As you can see, the Matriarch is about 50% lighter than the Civilian and gives up 1/2" in cutting edge.

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Handles

The black G10 Civilian handle is similar to that of the Spyderco Military, but thinner where the liner lock would be on the Military. In contrast to the Military, however, which has liners on both sides of the G10, the Civilian has a liner on only one side. The Matriarch has the same FRN volcano grip handles as the older Spyderco Enduras or the Pacific Salt series. Both are secure lockback designs featuring the Boye dent. Both are also tip-up carry only, although you can reverse the clip on the Matriarch for left-handed carry. Both the Civilian and Matriarch are assembled with screws, rather than pins.

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Blade

The Civilian's reverse "S" blade is hollow ground and comes in serrated SpyderEdge only. The Matriarch's blade is flat ground and available in plain edge or SpyderEdge. Both are 1/8" thick at the spine and are ground from VG-10 stainless steel. Unlike many Spydies, there is no jimping on either blade.

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Conclusions

Normally, I'd use this section of a review to describe the knives in use. The Civilian and Matriarch, however, aren't designed for everyday use -- on the contrary, they are knives you hope you never have to use. Both of mine were shipped with tags tied to the handle that say: "NOTICE! This knife is NOT designed to be used as a utility knife. Its unique design will not support everyday use and our warranty will not cover the results of using it as a utility knife."

They both carry well in the pocket and are available from time to time in limited quantities. They are made in Seki City, Japan. The MSRP on the Civilian is $269 and you can find them for sale for $175 or so at our favorite online retailers. The coco brown Matirarch was offered recently as a sprint run at an MSRP of $99. As far as I can tell, they are sold out.

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Nice comparison. Thanks.
 
thanks for reviewing. Do you know why exactly the matriarch and civilian were designed for law enforcement use specifically? I mean the name suggests that the knife is for the everyday civilian.
 
The story goes:
There was a need a weapon that would be effective with minimal training.

One was for a special need where LEOs would infiltrate criminal groups appearing to be un-armed civilians. A gun was an obvious tell, but a knife was easier to conceal.

The Matriarch was for South Africa, if I recall...designed for women to protect themselves.
 
I call BS on "The Matriarch is is a slightly smaller, lighter weight version of the Civilian with a thicker tip. "
 
eccvets said:
I call BS on "The Matriarch is is a slightly smaller, lighter weight version of the Civilian with a thicker tip. "
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I call BS on your BS calling of BS.

The Spyderco Matriarch came about in the 1990s after a South African distributor requested a lightweight folder similar to the Spyderco Civilian.

He wanted the attributes of the Civilian with its tremendous cutting effort but in a smaller size and thicker at the tip of the blade for general use.
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http://spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=474
 
Thanks for the review. The Civilian is a fascinating knife no doubt and a must have for any serious Spydie collector/enthusiast. I have had two pass through my hands, the original version with the rubber inlays and the newer version with the G-10 slabs. I kept neither of them because I long ago decided that any knife I carry has to be good for regular every day tasks in addition to any possible self defence duty. In that regard the Military trumps the Civilian in every way. But they are quite unique and hold a tremendous fascination for a great many people, so in terms of collector value, they are never a bad investment.
 
I have the first generation Matriarch. It has no liners and is very lightweight. It easily sits within your waistband or in your back pocket and you can carry another knife for utility.
 
lava_lamp said:
Normally, I'd use this section of a review to describe the knives in use. The Civilian and Matriarch, however, aren't designed for everyday use -- on the contrary, they are knives you hope you never have to use. Both of them are shipped with tags tied to the handle that say: "NOTICE! This knife is NOT designed to be used as a utility knife. Its unique design will not support everyday use and our warranty will not cover the results of using it as a utility knife."
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Excellent thorough overview.:thumbup:

Minor Point: The Matriarch does not incluce that "NOTICE" (at least my PE version did not), but the sheet enclosed, and the web description, does state the tip of the Matriarch was made thicker than the Civilian for more "general" use and "will offer years of serviceable use".
Still I'd agree it is not a suitable utility knife. The Superhawk would seem a better choice if one wants something along these lines with a more robust blade for utilitarian tasks.

Not sure why there seems to be some disagreement as to the purpose of these two knives. The raison d'être for both is clearly stated in the descriptions on the Spyderco web site.


Zanuha said:
No, the people just wanted a more EDC-worthy version of the police.
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stabman said:
That doesn't even come close to approaching an approximation of being correct.
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:confused: I must be missing something. Did Zanha type Police and when he meant Civilian?
 
Alann45 said:
Excellent thorough overview.:thumbup:

Minor Point: The Matriarch does not incluce that "NOTICE" (at least my PE version did not)...
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Thanks for the kind words about the review. Perhaps there is some variation in when the knives are shipped, but both the Matriarch and Civilian came to me with the "NOTICE" tags attached, as shown.

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lava_lamp said:
Thanks for the kind words about the review. Perhaps there is some variation in when the knives are shipped, but both the Matriarch and Civilian came to me with the "NOTICE" tags attached, as shown.
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My first thought was maybe they only put the notice with the SEs, but yours is a PE like mine. Interesting omission on a sprint run...maybe they just ran out of tags. ;)

Now I'm even more curious what Spyderco feels the difference is between "general" and "utility" use.
The primary purpose of both is pretty clearly stated by Spyderco...maybe they just felt the Matriarch was less "specialized" in its uses than the Civilian, which I would agree with.

I am in no way implying I think the Matriarch is appropriate for what I would consider utility use and I may be over-thinking a non-issue.
 
Nice review Lava Lamp. Thanx much.

Buffalohump said:
I kept neither of them because I long ago decided that any knife I carry has to be good for regular every day tasks in addition to any possible self defence duty.
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Hi Buffalohump,

The argument against that notion is that a knife used for self defense should be as sharp as possible to be the most effective. A knife that is used for general utility is slightly dulled with each use and may be far less effective if needed for self defense. Hence Brownshoe's comment.

sal
 
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