Spyderco! Love at first sight?

M

mantzao

Joined
Jun 16, 2011
Messages
1,535
Hello knife people:)

I started collecting "quality" knives since last October even though i collect knives since i was a little boy.
The Benchmade 556 was my first one because i saw a lot of edc knife reviews and decided to go with it. I loved it!

While i was starting to learn more about knives i found Spyderco. Ugly looking at first! I never seen a hole in a blade before:D
You see, i carry my knives everyday but i rarely use them (i'm sure there are a lot of ppl here that feel the same:)) so i buy knives mostly because of it's aesthetics.

Because a lot of people raved about Spyderco i hinted to my girl that i wanted one for Christmas;)
She got me a Delica 4 ffg!
My opinion started to change on the spot!
Great ergonomics with a RAZOR blade.
I couldn't believe that such an odd looking knife could perform so nicely!
However, the withness of the knife in the pocket when closed was somewhat of a letdown:( i wasn't used to it so i didn't carry it that much.

Since buying the Delica i bought a Sage, Leafstorm, Persistence, Manix and a camo Para2 is on the way:D
Oh...and i want a Chaparral too:D
I eventually sold the Leafstorm, the Sage and Persistence and despite not carrying or not using them all that much i can't seem to stop buying Spydercos!

What i mean to say with all this rambling is that, despite my initial hesitation to buy a Spyderco because of it's awkward look i found out that they are an amazing value for the money, they have an awesome and wide variety of knife designs and a functionality that i have never seen before!
In a word: Outstanding!
It is my most bought knife brand by far so i must say: I LOVE IT!

Way to go Spyderco;)

Did the same thing happen to you also?

Thanks for looking:)
 
Yeah, something similar happened. I actually liked the look of them at first. I picked one up, loved it, and started to accumulate :D. They are my favorite knife company hands down..(Case is my favorite traditional) Benchmade appeals to me, but I always look at it this way; I could either have a 710, or a Military. Guess who wins? I like Kershaw, Buck a lot, but Spyderco ends up in the pocket most often. :thumbup:
 
Too funny, same thing happened to me.

I started researching for a high quality EDC folder this past May. I began looking at Benchmade, SOG and Kershaw; never gave Spyderco a second thought and seemed to recall from my younger days that Spyderco knives were gimmicky with that hole in the blade and not that great. Then I found the Para 2 and completely flipped out!

3 1/2 months later and I have 10 of these unique and beautiful knives. Love them all and will never carry anything else.
 
I always thought Spyderco knives were super ugly and never gave them a chance. I was in my local knife dealer about 9 months ago and saw a green g10 delica sprint and got it because I liked the color of the scales. That knife changed my perception of Spyderco forever! It was amazing how well the knife fit my hand and how well it cut. Since buying that first delica I have bought:
XHP Military x2
20CP P2 x2
black P2
camo P2
BD30P Manix
Sage 1
Endura wave
Endura plain edge
Endura partial serrated
Tenacious
So to answer the question it was not love at first sight but over the past year I have grown to love Spyderco knives. I dont leave the house without at least one Spyderco in my pocket or in my backpack.
 
What i forgot to say in my first post is that i'm in a somewhat different position than you my fellow knife lovers;)
I mean, over here there is no Spyderco to be seen!!
Only once i saw a portuguese site selling Spyderco but all the knives were extremely expensive! And in a VERY RARE occasion i saw, in person a Spyderco stainless Police selling on a souvenier shop for 190€=272$!!!!
So, as you can see, I take a chance everytime i import a Spyderco or any other knife to be honest. American or somewhere else made:)
When it arrives it's the first time i ever get to handle it so that's why i sold the Sage, Leafstorm and the Persistence. All great but had something that i didn't like so i sold them.

Anyway, keep your stories coming folks:)
 
Yes. The same thing happened to me. What started as one Spyderco this past April has turned into nearly a dozen today. It's a disease. "Spyder-bitten."
 
I had previously owned a Sypdie (don't know what model, it was the mid 1990's), and it was crap, I hated it. I broke the tip whittling (no abuse, or even hard use, just whittling!), and I didn't buy another Spyderco for over 10 years. finally decided to give them a second chance a couple years ago, & I am soooo glad I did! I don't know if their quality improved dramatically, or if I just had a lemon or what, but Sypderco is now one of my favorite knife companies. I carry my Para 2 & Tenacious as much or more than any folder I own. Great blades, mostly great value, I am now a Spydie fan for life!
 
Before I got into knives I was into guns. Some of the gun mags I used to read had ads for Spyderco so from the start I just saw it as a type of one handed opening folder. The local shop also carried Spyderco so it was never an "odd" looking knife to me. When I finally went to get an upgrade on the pocket knife I was carrying I bought an Endura. I carried it but it wasn't optimal because I'm left handed and at the time they didn't have ambi clips. As soon as 1998 came along and I spotted a barrel bolt clipped Delica I snagged it. I carried that knife for well over a decade. A friend however thought it was an odd and ugly knife until he handled it. A week later I saw him with a Native clipped in his pocket. :)
 
When I was first getting into knives I heard that Spyderco was a quality company and was, in fact, the first to introduce to introduce pocket clips, opening holes, and serrations in pocket knives. So I took a look at some Spyderco knives and was instantly turned off by their aesthetics. They all sorta looked the same to me, with full flat ground leaf shaped blades with big round opening holes and humps in the blade to accommodate the hole and a thumb ramp. So I just thought, ok, they're probably really functional and ergonomic but they're a bit ugly for my tastes. To each their own, it's just not for me.

Then, about a month ago, I stopped by the local surplus store to pick out a knife for a friend. I wanted to get him a quality one-handed knife that wasn't too expensive. I carry a Buck Vantage, but he doesn't like flippers, and the other Bucks at the store in my price range were two-handed lockback models. I looked at the Kershaws, and all the knives in my price range were flippers. I looked at CRKT and the only knives in my price range were of the M16/M21 line, which, again, are flippers. Benchmade was way out of my price range. That left Spyderco, so I chose the cheapest decently sized knife at the shop, a Tenacious. The instant I handled it, I was impressed. I knew the Tenacious was a made in China budget knife, but the fit and finish were impeccable and, to be honest, it just plain felt higher quality than the other knives in that price range. The knife fit in my hand very nicely, and I really liked the feel of the thumb ramp. The blade had the sharpest out-of-the-box edge I'd ever felt.

As it turns out, my friend didn't like the knife (something about the edge on the Spydiehole being too sharp for his thumb) and the store had a no returns policy on cutlery, so the Tenacious is now mine. I still don't care for its aesthetics at all, but I can't deny that its ergonomics and functionality are excellent. The Tenacious has had a huge impact on my outlook on Spyderco knives. I started looking at their other models, figuring that if one of their budget knives was that good, then their other knives must be just as good if not better and I might find one that I liked aesthetically and functionally. As a result, I've got my eye on the Native FRN, the upcoming Native V, the Manix 2, and the Lum Chinese with the Nishijin fiberglass. I've had a chance to handle the Native FRN and the Manix 2 at the local shop and boy are they really really nice knives that look cool and feel fantastic in the hand. And the Lum Chinese Nishijin scales look stunningly gorgeous from pictures and videos I've found online. I really really like the Native and Lum Chinese designs; those are probably going to be my next two knife purchases, as soon as I can afford them (I may try to get rid of my Tenacious to help pay for one of the Spydercos I want).
 
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