Spyderco Little Big Knives

wintermute

wintermute

Joined
Oct 18, 2007
Messages
3,018
Looking for one of these smallies. Seems like there's really no "bad" ones. I personally don't like the blade shape on the Cricket - seems like it's more of a "ripper" than a nice "slicer". Can you find Navigators or Copilots anymore? I'd prefer screwed over pinned construction. My main wants are a securely gripped handle and a fatish (as opposed to long a pointy blade). What's everyone like?
 
OOPS, put this in the wrong forum. If the mod sees this, please move it over to the Spyderco page. Thanks.
 
The Salsa is a bit on the large side of small knife to me. I have one in combo edge (which I don't care for). It is a pretty wide knife when closed, although very flat. The compression lock is very secure when open, rather less so when closed. That, combined with a tip up only clip and a Cobra hood led to my retiring the knife after a few days of carry and a couple of minor cuts.

The Cricket is actually a pretty good slicer in spite of the appearance of the reverse-s blade. The blade is quite thin, and cuts very well. It excels at clampak killing :D

My personal favorite is the FRN Dragonfly. It is small and light, with a flat ground leaf blade that cuts like a razor without looking scary. I'm carrying two right now, one PE and one SE.
 
yablanowitz said:
The compression lock is very secure when open, rather less so when closed.
Click to expand...

Does that mean when you have the thing sitting in your pocket, minding its own business, the blade can pivot open a bit, so when you put your hand in your pocket, you get sliced? Not good. I don't like that at all.
 
Another Dragonfly lover, but I prefer the all steel version. While I edc a Seb these days, I still think Spyderco makes the best little bigs knives, bar none.
 
I used to issue SS Dragonflies to friends and coworkers all the time, without any complaints. One said it was too expensive to use, and I took out a small Sebenza and told him and he said "You paid HOW much for it?!" and happily carried his Dragonfly afterwards.
 
The best of them all though is the Lava. it fits any hand like a glove! That said I love my FRN D'Fly!
 
wintermute said:
Does that mean when you have the thing sitting in your pocket, minding its own business, the blade can pivot open a bit, so when you put your hand in your pocket, you get sliced? Not good. I don't like that at all.
Click to expand...

The detent on the comp lock, at least on my Salsa, is not all that strong, and once you get past that detent, there is no closing bias. In all fairness, it probably would not open by itself if carried all alone in a pocket, but I always have more than one thing per pocket. I don't much care for tip up clipped carry, so I was carrying the Salsa loose in my pocket. Something snagged the Cobra hood and opened the blade partway, and it stayed that way, leaving an exposed razor sharp edge for me to find with my finger. After it happened a second time, I stopped carrying that knife.

The Lava is nice, but I have a thing about metal handles and weight to edge length ratios, so my Lava spends most of its time in the footlocker.
 
I would agree with Dragonfly, unless you want more gents knife - Kopa.
It's the beauty.
 
wintermute said:
Can you find Navigators or Copilots anymore? I'd prefer screwed over pinned construction.
Click to expand...

SS Navigators (Navigator II) can still be found at www.johnfjensen.com They are however pinned, not screw, construction. (John F. Jensen has lots of Salsas also)

For secure grip, the Lava is great (but SS so pinned also). The Dragonfly is a bit more conventional looking than the Lava but still a great little knife. The Navigator II provides a bit larger blade than the Lava and IMO a bit more secure grip than the SS Dragonfly.

I have a SS Cricket which I carry clipped in the watch pocket of my jeans. It's handy, but I can't say I prefer the reverse S blade shape over the leaf shaped Lava or Dragonfly.

David
 
i tracked down a first gen Navigator a while ago and couldn't be happier. it would be worth it (an maybe fun) to try and find one.

as far as easily available, i'll +1 for the Dragonfly.
 
Is the Ladybug too small?

A very sharp 2" of VG10.
The jipping give control of the blade
Sits nicely on a keyring.
No clip.
Very useable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top