Tell me about Spyderco southard vs. Military

Surfingringo

Surfingringo

Joined
May 25, 2013
Messages
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Hi all. I own the pm2 and the military, and have been looking at the southard flipper. I absolutely love my pm2. I just got my titanium Millie a couple of days ago. I'm trying to love it, but I'm not 100% yet. Part of it is the weight (I have a nagging feeling it was a mistake to pay extra $$ for ti) and part of it is the tip down only. I just hate not being able to lanyard my truck key to my knife. Doesn't work since I carry iwb.

Anyway, I haven't decided where I'm at on the Millie, but it's got my wheels turning. Can some of you owners tell me about the southard. Looks like it's got a ton of cutting edge in a small package. How are the ergos. How does the spydie hole work? I'm not 100% sold on the flipper (never owned one) idea, so I would want to be able to thumb flick it easily.

Thanks,

Lance
 
My southard can be thumb flicked easily and flies out. And yes, a ton of cutting edge for that size knife.
 
Ergos on the southard are great, I actually find it more secure in hand then my pm2 even without good jimping because the thumb locks into the cutout.!it can be thumb flicked fairly easy no way as good as the pm2 though. The flipper on it works perfect though. I love my southard.
 
The Southard does have almost as much cutting edge as the military, with a significantly shorter handle. That may be a good or bad thing depending on your preferences. I much prefer the handle on the military.

The thumb hole on the southard works fine with the flesh of my thumb, but of you're talking about flicking it with your thumbnail, there isn't enough room for me to do that. I prefer to flick my military open from the back with my middle finger which is impossible with the southard. The Southard's flipper works great and is easy to get used to, so I wouldn't let the slightly obscured hole sway you.

They are both great knives! I like the military more, but I got it recently so it may just be a honeymoon phase.

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Surfingringo said:
Hi all. I own the pm2 and the military, and have been looking at the southard flipper. I absolutely love my pm2. I just got my titanium Millie a couple of days ago. I'm trying to love it, but I'm not 100% yet. Part of it is the weight (I have a nagging feeling it was a mistake to pay extra $$ for ti) and part of it is the tip down only. I just hate not being able to lanyard my truck key to my knife. Doesn't work since I carry iwb.

Anyway, I haven't decided where I'm at on the Millie, but it's got my wheels turning. Can some of you owners tell me about the southard. Looks like it's got a ton of cutting edge in a small package. How are the ergos. How does the spydie hole work? I'm not 100% sold on the flipper (never owned one) idea, so I would want to be able to thumb flick it easily.

Thanks,

Lance
Click to expand...

What are you looking to do with it?
If you're looking for the perfect Spyderco for you it's probably out there but if you're going to try every one it's going to be a long, expensive experiment. Fun though!
The Southard thumb hole is partially obscured by the handle and there have been many complaints about access. It doesn't bother me because it's a flipper. If I wanted to use the thumb hole feature I'd carry one of my other many Spydercos.
Fit and finish quality is probably unparalleled in comparison to any other models (IMO) and it's a great performer.
 
I wanted a Southard for a long time, and when I finally got one, I felt disappointed. Too small for my hands, and I can't stand the assymetrical thicknesses of the scales. The Ti Military is still my top Spyderco.
 
Here's a picture that I had on hand to show the thumb hole position on the Southard. Excuse the Domino, I didn't want to take another photo. ;)

Uploaded with ImageShack.com
 
Barman1 said:
What are you looking to do with it?
If you're looking for the perfect Spyderco for you it's probably out there but if you're going to try every one it's going to be a long, expensive experiment. Fun though!
The Southard thumb hole is partially obscured by the handle and there have been many complaints about access. It doesn't bother me because it's a flipper. If I wanted to use the thumb hole feature I'd carry one of my other many Spydercos.
Fit and finish quality is probably unparalleled in comparison to any other models (IMO) and it's a great performer.
Click to expand...

Hahaha.....maybe. How do you know so much about this experiment?? ;).
 
Surfingringo said:
Hahaha.....maybe. How do you know so much about this experiment?? ;).
Click to expand...

That's between me and my wallet sir. :rolleyes: :D And at one point I started to lose count so I was sizing my collection by the pound. Way out of hand but since then I've sold a bunch and am keeping the models I believe fit me and fit into one large Spyderpac. I still have some to sell to get to that point though, it's difficult.
 
That's the one thing that makes me ok with the "hunt". I tend to jettison the ones I don't use pretty quickly. If I've got more than about five then I start feeling nervous. Like I don't have enough love to spread amongst them all. :). Seriously, that's kind of how it feels...like I'm neglecting them if I'm not using them. And once I've got more than four or five it's too much trouble figuring out how to use em all. :) So I end up selling the ones that don't get daily use to someone who will enjoy it. I've got 6 right now so....

The military is an awesome knife, but I'm not sure I like it for larger blade work any more than my $75 se pacific salt. I'm actually not even sure I like it as much. So we'll see what happens.
 
I will echo the awesomeness of the Southard. Get one and if you don't like it, sell it here for 90% or more of what you paid for it.
 
In the picture above, compare the cutting edge of the Southard with that of the Military. Cutting edges are very close while the handle of the military is ridiculously oversized. With the Southard, you get all of the benefits of the Military in a more compact package with far superior knife steel. For the record, I have large hands, size XL gloves are somewhat snug and the Southard fits me very well. Of course, I'm not one of those people who needs an inch or more of the scale to extend from my grip in order to feel like it's a good fit. If the scale length equals the width of my palm and it's comfortable under heavy use, I consider it a good fit, YMMV.
 
The only downside to the shorter handle of the Southard is when closed, the tip is very close to the end of the handle. I've nicked my finger a couple of times while it's pocketed. I still enjoy the knife, but wished it had a 1/4" more handle.

And I don't find the asymmetrical handle bad in use. It's a subjective appearance thing for me. I have to get custom scale to thin it out a bit.

Given the choice between military and Southard, I personally would choose the Southard.
 
I held a Southard this past weekend and didn't like how it felt. It felt really chunky and thick. The action was great though.
 
I just landed a Southard and I think I like it better than the PM2 I have, at least so far. It is so smooth and I the flipper is growing on me as I wanted something that I can open faster than the Spydie hole and this one works for me for now anyways. I need to spend alittle more time with both to make up my mind. :D
 
Accelerator said:
In the picture above, compare the cutting edge of the Southard with that of the Military. Cutting edges are very close while the handle of the military is ridiculously oversized. With the Southard, you get all of the benefits of the Military in a more compact package with far superior knife steel. For the record, I have large hands, size XL gloves are somewhat snug and the Southard fits me very well. Of course, I'm not one of those people who needs an inch or more of the scale to extend from my grip in order to feel like it's a good fit. If the scale length equals the width of my palm and it's comfortable under heavy use, I consider it a good fit, YMMV.
Click to expand...

The Military works way better with gloves and is imho a superior outdoor knife (the CF ones are also as light or lighter than the Southard). The Southard carries much smaller and is far more suited for city use. I swapped the clip on my Southard and it is one of the knives I carry most when in the city. In hand I prefer a Military, in my pocket I prefer a Southard :D

I'm not a fan of the Ti Millie since for me it is more weight with no benefits. The fluted Ti looks great though..
 
I only checked out the Southard and it wasn't for me. Much thicker blade…I can't imagine it's as slicey as the Military?
 
The Military has better ergonomics because of the larger handle but the southard packs a lot of blade and a pretty decent grip into a small handle. The Southard carries better with it's slimmer profile and it also has CTS-204P which is a very nice steel. I think the thumb hole is on the southard solely for trademark reasons. The Southard is a flipper and the flipper works great.

For weight reasons, I would choose the Southard over the Ti Military, but I would choose the G10 Military over the Southard. It doesn't sound like you are too excited about the Ti Military so I would suggest getting rid of it and picking up a Southard. If you don't like the Southard then you can sell it and buy a G10 Military and have $100 left over to drop on another knife.

I really liked the Southard and will probably get another one at some point, but if I have to choose between the two then I'm sticking with the G10 Military.
 
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