Another thing too in that area you might find interesting and I have no idea why it's that way either >> but when it comes to the shoulder being bigger than I like on a new Spyderco knife I've found it's more of a problem on new fixed blades ( especially the full flat grind models) than it is on most of their folders.
On the other hand the more narrow bladed of a folder like the JD Smith, Ayoob, Des Horn and a few others I could mention with that type of blade geometry I find those type of blades a lot of times coming out of the factory with very little shoulder on them which makes them ideal to use right out of the box in many instances. But do keep in mind that many of those types of models are also hollow grinds which I do think makes a huge difference as well.
But to be totally and completely fair about this I do find Spyderco, Benchmade and Al Mar to have about the best edges coming out of the factory than about any other commercial knife companies out there IMO.
