The Spyderco Military is Awesome

My Millie is seeing a fair bit more use today doing landscaping work in the rain. The knife proved very grippy while wet. Brush is still proving to be no problem. I lightly hit some concrete while cutting, but the edge is fine.
 
why did you not like having partial liners? did the g10 crack on you when you used it?
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I had a Military for about 5 years, carried it daily, and never had an issue.

It's pure preference, something very subjective and not based on facts.

After having liner lock knives with thicker liners, I prefer the solid feel of a thicker liner to a springy thinner liner. Same deal with partial liners, after having full liners I just prefer them.

I actually like the Endura more than the Military, because of the lock and the full liner and the solid feel in a "plastic" handled knife.
 
MatthewSB said:
I had a Military for about 5 years, carried it daily, and never had an issue.

It's pure preference, something very subjective and not based on facts.

After having liner lock knives with thicker liners, I prefer the solid feel of a thicker liner to a springy thinner liner. Same deal with partial liners, after having full liners I just prefer them.

I actually like the Endura more than the Military, because of the lock and the full liner and the solid feel in a "plastic" handled knife.
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I could never carry a knife I didn't like for a week, much less 5 years. Just sayin'...
 
I carry a Military everyday. :)

Rotating between S30V, XHP and M390..... :D

Carrying the M390 more now though giving it more attention. ;)
 
The G10 and Carbon Fiber Military is one of my favorite knives. I don't care for the heavy Ti version.
The Military and Sebenza are by far my favorite two knives ever.
I'm carrying my BG42 CF Military today.

You can't beat the Military for its size to weight ratio. That, and it being a great slicer is why I love it so much.

You mention thats its not great for chopping, and while its not made for that I find it works very well on very small branches and briars. I use a S30V model to keep the trail from my house clear. I choke way down on the handle with two fingers. You can get alot of whip action that way since the handle is so light, and its goes through the small stuff like butter.
 
Spyderco makes a great product and the military is one of their best. I love mine. Got her used at a pawn shop.
 
singularity35 said:
I too, like thick, beefy folders with steel liners but I also like knives that are plain cutting machines. For me, the military belongs to the second category and is top of the heap as a work knife. The lightness and slimness coupled with it's cutting performance is what makes the military what it is. I was underwhelmed when I got my first military because I was anticipating a beefy folder and I was just pissed of at what I felt was a deceptive name for it.

I still owned a mango farm during that time and since I paid a premium for that military(I got it from a local dealer at a ridiculous price) and I wanted to get my money out of it so I started using it in the farm for a lot of my farm chores, one of which was shaping a lot of bamboo to maintain my bamboo hut. That was when it clicked. I also used some other knives and even my old bali. The military really shined when you cut a lot of material. The military taught me that if I wanted to just cut open envelopes and packages, then any old thick tactical knife would do, but when there was serious work to be done, I took out a military.
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To me, a beefy folder and a great cutter is the Manix 2 XL. How do you feel about it? I love it. It's my current primary EDC.
 
aguijonmagico said:
To me, a beefy folder and a great cutter is the Manix 2 XL. How do you feel about it? I love it. It's my current primary EDC.
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I still haven't handled a Manix XL. I should probably get one but I have a regular manix 2 and it's one of those knives that I really tried to like but just cannot warm to.
 
Ken44 said:
You can't beat the Military for its size to weight ratio. That, and it being a great slicer is why I love it so much.
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To be fair, there are some knives out there that match its blade length while at least matching it's weight/thickness, if not beating it outright. HOWEVER I have not seen one that comes anywhere near to its ergonomics. It found that perfect divide between very simple and universale, and more "locked in".

For instance, something like a BM 710, pretty straightforward grip, just enough swell at the front to keep your hand from sliding forward without locking you into one grip, however you can't choke up, and it's just generic enough to where you can choke down for more length/whip/whatever, but doesn't feel great to me. Overall I give it a 7/10.

Other end of the spectrum is your typical Emerson grip with that massive built in guard. VERY secure for thrusting type things, however you are pretty much stuck in that hammer grip. Even worse choking up ability than the typical BM handles, and a lot less variation in grips available. Overall I give it about a 4/10 rating.

Military. You can be in the "normal" grip, index finger at the lock cut out "choil" area, puts you about in the ballpark of the standard BM grip (but the curved back makes it better in my hand), or you can choke up on the blade choil for detail work. One of my favorite for hard power cuts is choking back so the pinky side of your hand is firmly against the "rear guard", thumb putting pressure on the thumbramp, etc... Now that I think about it, the thumbramp just about doubles the usable grips that the stellar handle/choil combo has in the first place. You don't have to use it, but I often find myself using it without realizing it. Saw a picture of myself chopping veggies while camping last weekend and had no idea my veggie chopping grip had my index finger on the ramp.

spot the Millie :p
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I simplified the other two knives a bit, but I still don't think they give you half the grip choices the military does. Maybe you are fine with simple hammer and reverse grips far away from the blade, but I have found when I am doing a lot of manual labor all day with lots of different cutting, having all those different options of great grips comes in handy. Of course I used to do them with real crappy knives also, so it can be done, it's just preference.

Ken44 said:
The G10 and Carbon Fiber Military is one of my favorite knives. I don't care for the heavy Ti version.
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How about I meet you in the middle?
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:p
 
People that don't like the knife because it's tip down carry really gotta give it a try. Using the stock clip, the knife really just falls perfectly into hand when you grab it. There's no need to reposition the hand several times to deploy.
 
goodeyesniper said:
To be fair, there are some knives out there that match its blade length while at least matching it's weight/thickness, if not beating it outright.
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The only factory folders I've bought in the past couple of years are Chris Reeve, Spyderco, Case, and a couple of Benchmades.
The CF Military I carried today is 4oz. What other factory folders have a 4" blade and weights 4oz even ?

How about I meet you in the middle?
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I don't care for those myself. The light weight is why I often carry a Military. When I carry Ti its a Sebenza.
 
ar11 said:
People that don't like the knife because it's tip down carry really gotta give it a try. Using the stock clip, the knife really just falls perfectly into hand when you grab it. There's no need to reposition the hand several times to deploy.
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I second this. You get used to the tip down carry quick enough, but I have found that it is a bit of a pain to put back in my pocket. Still an awesome knife though.
 
I prefer my large knives tip down so the Millie is super perfect for me. In fact, I just sharpened the Millie I got off of the forums and am planning to start carrying it.
 
Ken44 said:
The only factory folders I've bought in the past couple of years are Chris Reeve, Spyderco, Case, and a couple of Benchmades.
The CF Military I carried today is 4oz. What other factory folders have a 4" blade and weights 4oz even ?
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Well, the stock Benchmade 710 only weighs three tenths of an ounce more than a stock Military, so I suppose slapping CF scales on a 710 would put it in the same ballpark.

One of the reasons I prefer the 710 is that at around the same blade length (a little more sharpened length on the 710) and weight the 710 is a fair bit smaller in the pocket.

That said, they're both great knives and I get why folks love the Military.
 
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