Spyderco Manix for EDC carry in the woods?

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daniel4572

daniel4572

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Thinking about a new EDC ....Looking at the Manix
Just wondering if anyone else has used it in the outdoors??
 
I have a Manix and yes I use it in the woods, its a great knife to carry. I use it for every thing, that you would need a knife for in the woods. The knife is real tough, I put mine though hell, and it still holds up and is as sharp as ever. I even batton with it. You cant go wrong with a Manix.
 
I battoned my CF Military very lightly and the lock sliped. i meen so light that it could come loose under normal use, ive since stoped carrying it. just warning about spyderco products.:thumbdn:
 
SubaruSTi said:
I battoned my CF Military very lightly and the lock sliped. i meen so light that it could come loose under normal use, ive since stoped carrying it. just warning about spyderco products.:thumbdn:
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It probably slipped because its a linear lock and that could easily happen on some. IMO it would be harder for the lock to fail on a manix since it is a lock back.
 
i've used my delica for some pretty tough chores and it's held up very well. the onlything that concerns me is the tip profile on the manix. i'd love to see a pic of the spines on the manix, para, and delica side by side, to be able to compare tip thickness.
 
SubaruSTi said:
I battoned my CF Military very lightly and the lock sliped. i meen so light that it could come loose under normal use, ive since stoped carrying it. just warning about spyderco products.:thumbdn:
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Isn't your sample a tad small to be issuing warnings on an entire brand? Expecially as Spyderco uses several different locks and also makes fixed-blade knives.



In the woods, I have no concerns about PC, so I always carry a fixed-blade. No lock to fail. Generally lighter for the blade length. There are even fixed-blade "pocket knives."
 
SubaruSTi said:
I battoned my CF Military very lightly and the lock sliped.
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Liner locks in general can be prone to impact releases, some are better than others. I recently batoned a Military to the point where the liner bent and turned it into a fixed blade as it would not unlock. It developed play during the work, and just before it bent it could be rocked about a mm down with just hand pressure as the lock would move, but it was still solid under spine impacts.



-Cliff
 
It still worked ok but i still dont trust it. whos knives do you use to test with cliff?
 
After crusing these forums for a few months I think I have seen threads about every major knife makers locks failing at some point. If I cant trust a knife from a company like Spyderco, I just give up on folders altogether.
 
SubaruSTi said:
whos knives do you use
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The ones I buy and the ones people (users and makers/manufacturers) send me. I had to hit the Military very hard to get the lock to bend, about 25 ft.lbs many times as I split several rounds of knotty wood. This level of impact energy will for reference will drive a 3.5" nail right into the side of a piece of spruce 2x4. They were also too heavy to use a piece of 2x2 spruce as a baton as it just cracked off, I had to use an actual round. These were heavy elbow swings, just using the wrist was fine :

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y269/CliffStamp/Spyderco/military/military_splits_wrist.jpg

elbow :

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y269/CliffStamp/Spyderco/military/military_splits_elbow.jpg

final lock condition :

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y269/CliffStamp/Spyderco/military/military_liner_bent.jpg

The liner was also mushroomed flat on the top from pressure off the tang. Impressive performance to me anyway in that how it failed and the nature. In its current condition it is still a perfectly fine knife, it is just permanently open. I was also fairly impressed that the tip didn't crack off as I went through two batons during the above because it is fairly thin and was actually sticking right into the baton during the impacts, chopping through them readily.

Note all of the wood was full of knots, I had three wedges carved with the Military which were used to crack the worst wood. I made the wedges from pine just to see if it could be done. They had to be reshaped after every 1-2 logs and cracked off several times, but even a weak wood can be used if it is all you have. The critical thing it to not be hesitant in the impacts, if it is too light the wedge will bounce in the crack and crack off, you need to hit it hard enough to drive it in deep enough to prevent any elastic responce from the wood.

-Cliff
 
shotgunner11 said:
After crusing these forums for a few months I think I have seen threads about every major knife makers locks failing at some point. If I cant trust a knife from a company like Spyderco, I just give up on folders altogether.
Click to expand...


If you looked around, you also saw a thread about a massive fixed-blade snapping in half when used to baton wood.

I have a different take. If all I have is a folder, I would baton with it only if I have to, and I would be careful.

Cliff is testing the limits to discover what they appear to be. I would try not to do so.
 
Thomas Linton said:
I would try not to do so.
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In an actual situation where you are depending on it, no, that isn't the time to evaluate what your gear can do, that should be done long before. There are many ways to split wood without heavy batoning, I posted up a recent thread on this, all of the wood in the above could have been split with the wedges and by just cutting notches in the wood with the Military. Batoning is just many times faster if the knife can do it.

-Cliff
 
this made me laugh. if all cliff has in the woods is a measley old folder, he turns it into a fixed blade. :)

nice test cliff. would you happen to have any pics that i talked about?? or have first hand knowledge of how the para's and the manix's tip compare to my delica. i have been pretty rough with my delica and have had a bit of trouble, other than breaking the clip which spyderco replaced for free without question.

daniel4572- i wouldn't hesitate with spyderco's products.
 
Sorry, I was posting with a hint of scarcasim. I dont carry a folder in the woods normally. I just meant that if a manix has lock failure, built like the lil' tank that it is, god help us all when we NEED to baton a folder.
 
The Manix is an excellent knife, I really like it and would recommend it for outdoors use.

I wouldn't know about battoning, because I carry fixed blades as my main cutting tool in the woods and would never batton a folder. If you want a folder that can cut fire wood, get a SAK with a saw.
 
The Manix seems like a decent folder (never used one) for EDC but when in the woods on purpose carry a tough fixed blade.

A folder is not a "survival" knife but it is better than nothing.

Skam
 
skammer- do you carry your "survival fixed blade" with you at all times?? as in everywhere?? to the grocery store, dentist, etc.??
 
The Manix is a high quality folder, very strong and very sharp. It's a little too big and heavy for me (for a folder). I gave it to a friend when he graduated from the police academy. I'm sure he'll put it to much better use than I did.

For the woods, I took the Manix camping last year. It was too wide for my liking when doing fine wood tasks, and too small for batoning. I like both smaller folders and larger fixed blades for outdoors uses. So it was too in-between for my uses. That's one of the reasons I gave it away. YMMV.

Very solid, high quality folder. If it is what you like in a knife, you won't go wrong with it.
 
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