Spyderco Civilian

stabman

stabman

Joined
Sep 17, 2007
Messages
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It will be a bit till I have the cash, but I was wondering how tough the Civilian is. Things like how strong is the lock and how resistant the point is to breaking. I know the knife isn't billed for "utility" use or anything, but still wondering.

Also, what would be a good price for one? I've found a place that's selling for $189 Canadian. Should I go with that place?
 
The tip of the Civilian will break pretty easy if you flex it side to side. The rest of the knife is very strong.
 
I have owned one since 1993. In gin 10 steele I believe. It is only used for defensive slashing and cutting. The tip is very thin steele. Its made for reachinhg out to touch somebody bad.
 
ashtxsniper said:
The tip of the Civilian will break pretty easy if you flex it side to side. The rest of the knife is very strong.
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That about sums it up.

As for the price, not sure what the current exchange rate is, but they go for about $150 US on this side of the border. Of course there's alway the possibility of it getting slapped with duty, or worse yet being classified by your Customs folks as a "flick knife". While the Civilian is damn near impossible to flick open, there have been stories of Canadian Customs getting quite creative with their interpretation of the law. So $189 Cdn in your hand might be a very good price.

Paul
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My Personal Website - - - - - - A Beginners Guide to Spyderco Collecting - - - - - - Kiwimania
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Spyderco Collector # 043 - - WTC # 1458 - 1504 - 1508 - Never Forget, Never Forgive!
It's easy to grin when your ship comes in and good fortune and fame are your lot, but the man worthwhile is the man who can smile with his shorts twsited up in a knot. - Morey Amsterdam
 
Yeah, that knid of jives with what I was thinking. $189 doesn't sound too bad a price for avoiding customs and duty, so I think I'll deal that site. Thanks guys!
 
Get James Keating"s training video for the Civilian. I have two Civilians, they are my main SD EDC knives.
 
Remember one thing...as the Spyde folks say in their brochure with the Civilian ( I just picked up a NEW one)....It is designed to "hit and run"... I paid $164.99 US Getting one more for the safe!
 
It's still on my wish list(the fiance knows, so I hope she gets a good Christmas bonus!:))
 
I've ordered about a dozed knives from the U.S. now, the only time I've had a problem is with knives that do not have an adjustable pivot.
I usually use NGK for my online purchases as they are very good about making sure things are tightened up, other dealers have let things ship loose before.
If you do order from them remember to ask that they tighten the pivot. It is your responsibility to make sure it passes inspection, not theirs.
http://www.newgraham.com/detail.aspx?ID=3802
 
if you do order it from america, and you get it from a reputable dealer, you can ask them to ziptie the blade, through the hole, to the handle. apparently, if they do open it, customs is not allowed to remove the ziptie or tamper with it in any way. and there is no way they can test it for "flickability"
 
mikebandw186 said:
if you do order it from america, and you get it from a reputable dealer, you can ask them to ziptie the blade, through the hole, to the handle. apparently, if they do open it, customs is not allowed to remove the ziptie or tamper with it in any way. and there is no way they can test it for "flickability"
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Does anyone know that for a fact? Or is this just another "internet legend" that will keep getting repeated until someone finds out the expensive way that it's BS.

I'm not saying that's the case, but if they can legally "tamper" with other packaging, why would zip ties be considered sacred? I just have a feeling this might a case of someone sending a zip tied knife, having it survive customs inspection and arrive at it's destination, jumping to the conclusion that something other than dumb luck was at work, and posting that conclusion as fact. Perhaps "inspector 27" was incompetent, inattentive, too busy or too lazy to undo a zip tie.

Perhaps it's just that I'm paranoid, but if I were a Customs inspector, and saw a blade zip-tied shut it would make me damn suspicious.

Paul
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My Personal Website - - - - - - A Beginners Guide to Spyderco Collecting - - - - - - Kiwimania
Dead horses beaten, sacred cows tipped, chimeras hunted when time permits.
Spyderco Collector # 043 - - WTC # 1458 - 1504 - 1508 - Never Forget, Never Forgive!
It's easy to grin when your ship comes in and good fortune and fame are your lot, but the man worthwhile is the man who can smile with his shorts twsited up in a knot. - Morey Amsterdam
 
Well, I've heard of a few cases where Australian customs have cut them, not sure on Canadian or otherwise though.
 
mikebandw186 said:
if you do order it from america, and you get it from a reputable dealer, you can ask them to ziptie the blade, through the hole, to the handle. apparently, if they do open it, customs is not allowed to remove the ziptie or tamper with it in any way. and there is no way they can test it for "flickability"
Click to expand...

In "The Canadian Connection" Forum here on BladeForums, a member claiming convincingly) to be a Canadian Customs agent said: "we are allowed to remove anything on the product that is not part of the product IE zip ties in order to examine it"

As Deacon suggested above, the "zip tie defense" seems to be "internet legend" and far from fact.

David
 
Hey TH232-

Do you know of any spydies Oz customs wont let in (besides for the balisongs!)?
 
The Deacon said:
Does anyone know that for a fact? Or is this just another "internet legend" that will keep getting repeated until someone finds out the expensive way that it's BS.

I'm not saying that's the case, but if they can legally "tamper" with other packaging, why would zip ties be considered sacred? I just have a feeling this might a case of someone sending a zip tied knife, having it survive customs inspection and arrive at it's destination, jumping to the conclusion that something other than dumb luck was at work, and posting that conclusion as fact. Perhaps "inspector 27" was incompetent, inattentive, too busy or too lazy to undo a zip tie.

Perhaps it's just that I'm paranoid, but if I were a Customs inspector, and saw a blade zip-tied shut it would make me damn suspicious.

Paul
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My Personal Website - - - - - - A Beginners Guide to Spyderco Collecting - - - - - - Kiwimania
Dead horses beaten, sacred cows tipped, chimeras hunted when time permits.
Spyderco Collector # 043 - - WTC # 1458 - 1504 - 1508 - Never Forget, Never Forgive!
It's easy to grin when your ship comes in and good fortune and fame are your lot, but the man worthwhile is the man who can smile with his shorts twsited up in a knot. - Morey Amsterdam
Click to expand...

BIG BS
a canadian customs officer said they will do what needs to be done in order to check the knife even if it means cutting the zip tie on a knife

someone else posted it already
 
the Civilian is a good quality knife. but it's just too BIG to carry day to day (in Canada anyways) :)
when i have it on me, it is quite heavy, and you definitely know it's there. i'm not sure if that's a good thing, cause it seems to feel clunky in my jeans (i keep it on my waist near my hip/ top of butt cheek w/ the clip tucked in between my jeans/ belt). i also have a Salt which i think is much more practical/ useful... if you really need a civilian style, consider the Harpy or Tasman.
now, it would be very effective should a would be attacker mess w/ you. but then again, it's meant to slash, so if a dog or animal attacked you it wouldn't be as effective as say a delica style knife, which is good for stabbing. if you accidentally dropped the Civilian on it's tip, it would be a miracle if it didn't break. i've viewed the Civilian in shops, only to open the box to a broken tip :confused:
when i bought mine, it was $127.39 USD.
the same shop i ordered it from (online) is selling it right now for $136.25 USD. and i saw another shop just now who is selling it for $126.95 USD. that's pretty cheap considering the CAD is so strong right now.

here is a pic of my civilian... as you can see, it's pretty large.
IMG_3161.jpg

IMG_3160.jpg


hope that helped ;)
 
feeny said:
Hey TH232-

Do you know of any spydies Oz customs wont let in (besides for the balisongs!)?
Click to expand...

Apart from balis and autos, the same "gravity knife" crap applies down here, so make sure the pivots are tight.

Also, due to one state saying that double edged knives are illegal to possess, customs has said that they're prohibited, as well as knives with a false edge capable of being sharpened (but see below).

While AFAIK AOs aren't illegal anywhere, customs has issued a ruling saying that they will consider them as autos, and aren't allowed.

Now here's the big but. All of the knives can be gotten in with the appropriate import permit. For double-edged knives, just have to get a letter from the state police saying that double-edged knives are legal in your state. I suppose a similar thing could be done with AOs, but I haven't heard of anyone who's tried getting a Leek or something in. In all cases, it's a pain to get one.

Balis and autos are illegal in all states, but I think if you were able to possess them legally (collector or something?), then you could get an import permit.

So, in my state, double edged knives and AOs are legal to own, but illegal to import without a permit (we don't have any rules regarding exporting knives).
 
I know first hand they remove the zip ties & in my case they badly scratched 2 stainless spydercos in doing so. The basically told me too bad,sorry.
So much for the zip tie theory working!
regards,rick.
 
Cold Steel makes a knife called the Black Talon. It is a civillian type knife with the san mai steel so tip should be much stronger, blade is quite thick and it is a liner lock. Costs more and sturdier. They do pay some sort of royalties to Spyderco for the design use. The Black Talon does lend itself to a ghetto wave. Now I will probably get blasted for mentioning this is a Spyderco section.
 
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