Thinking about another spydie

A

Armenate

Joined
Oct 1, 2014
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I keep drooling over the spyderco catalog and am thinking it's about time to get another. Right now my collection of spydercos consists of:
- Dragonfly 2 (orange, vg10)
- Delica 4 (grey, vg10)
- Endura 4 (grey serrated, vg10)
- Tenacious (8cr13mov)
- Spyderco bug set
- Spyderco PM2

Right now I can't justify more than about $80 and I will use this knife not looking for something delicate.

I have considered the native 5 in frn with the s35v steel as I would like to try out that steel. Also the Manix 2 lightweight in BD1 steel (don't know if it's worth it to get the s110v at this point. I've also looked at the centofante 3, however, the handles seems a little too slick. In addition, the spyderco roadie seems like it might be a cool knife to carry and would be especially useful as it meets most requirements for knife safety wherever I may go.

To give you a general notion of my preferences, the endura feels a little too big for me to carry. The PM2 is about the largest I would normally like to carry. I like vg10 and s30v. I enjoy having blades with a variety of steels and am always willing to have a knife in a new one if it has the potential to be good.
 
Well ... the Manix and PM2 are beyond your $80 limit.

The Native 5 LW in S35 would be my recommendation. Like you, I found the Endura too large to EDC. Same with the PM2. But the Native and Delica are just right.
 
Try a serrated Salt. Serrated H1 is really awesome. Might also be a good time to try a hawkbill blade shape...if the Tasman is too big or you're not sure you'll enjoy the blade shape I'd recommend the SE Hawbill Ladybug Salt to try the shape out.
 
Very similar to the advantages of serrations, with basically the same drawbacks, personally if I was looking to get a full serrated blade, I'd look for a hawkbill. Also, the tip is especially pointy, so it's more-fragile-than-otherwise, but amazingly useful for fine detail work.
 
Great for tip related detail work, but also more useful in situations where you're pull cutting rather than push cutting, and exceptionally useful when cutting rope or netting, or plant material (Pruning etc.). I find it an exceptionally useful shape when opening plastic vacuum sealed clamshell packaging, and also exceptionally capable of making short work of rope (As a rigger I work with a LOT of rope).
 
Cutting grass, I cut a lot of tree limbs with this little thing. It's much tougher than it looks, IMO.
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which version is this? Also does anyone have pics of the ladybug alongside one of the knives that I listed above as having owned.
 
Sorry for the crappy pics, but they convey the size etc. based on 4 of your current knives (Variations of 4 of yours at any rate), plus I threw in my SuperBlue Ladybug for comparison to the Hawbill Ladybug. Everyone needs a Ladybug of some version (Or Jester/Manbug) on their keychain.


 
3rdGenRigger said:
Sorry for the crappy pics, but they convey the size etc. based on 4 of your current knives (Variations of 4 of yours at any rate), plus I threw in my SuperBlue Ladybug for comparison to the Hawbill Ladybug. Everyone needs a Ladybug of some version (Or Jester/Manbug) on their keychain.


Click to expand...

I know spyderco's knives cut larger than they look but I feel like the dragonfly is as small as I want to go for anything that's going to be used a lot. The ladybug looks really cool but it's hard to justify the $ for a knife that will probably sit on my dresser
 
Put it on your keychain...the keychain (Or alternatively a lanyard) allows you to get a full 4 finger grip on a knife that small, and gives you almost the same cutting ability of the Dragonfly, but smaller and integral with your keys. Makes a perfect companion to a PE Dragonfly or larger (I chose my SE Dragonfly because it was the closest at hand...I have 4 Dragonflys). A SE compliments a larger PE exceptionally well and gives you a lot more versatility in daily cutting chores.
 
Yeah true. Honestly right now I am leaning towards a native 5. Mostly because I wanna try s35v. I may end up getting the salt though just because it is a little more budget friendly :)
 
Tasman Salt, SE and Delica 4.
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Tasman is noticeably lighter, but not as smooth opening/closing. Also a bit wider in the pocket, so sometimes it gets clipped to my rear pocket instead. I like it a lot, however. Would prefer an hourglass clip, but I understand the one on the Tasman is Ti.
 
Armenate said:
Yeah true. Honestly right now I am leaning towards a native 5. Mostly because I wanna try s35v. I may end up getting the salt though just because it is a little more budget friendly :)
Click to expand...

You can't go wrong either way. However, once I started carrying both a SE and PE knife, I find it hard to want to go without having both due to the added versatility. I still prefer PE most of the time and it is my go-to for almost everything, but I do find SE to be useful often enough to carry as augmentation. The Hawkbill Ladybug isn't mine (Gift to my father), and I don't have a Tasman, but I do have a Spyderhawk Salt in SE (Endura size vs. the Delica size Tasman), and I absolutely love it...a Tasman is on my list for sure, and probably a HB Ladybug eventually despite that I'm more of a Jester fan regarding keychain carry. A SE Dragonfly Salt should also be a consideration if you're willing to explore the benefits of a smaller SE secondary carry to augment one of your PE knives.



 
Top to bottom - Native, Tasman Salt, Delica, Dragonfly Salt ...


The Dragonfly is about as small as I like to EDC.

Hawkbill blades excel at cutting things that won't still like rope and vegetation. The curve tends to pull the object into the blade.
 
For me, part of the fun for me in collecting knife is trying out different blade steels, I have delica 4 with VG10, SuperBlue, ZDP189, VG10 damascus laminate, and they came with different variety of the handles.

If you haven't had a chance to try ZDP189 blades please do it!

Blade grinds and shapes are also fun to test out.

I use all my knives the same way, whip it out when the situation calls for it.

I just don't understand the "beater" mentality, why would you carry a $200 knife and baby it and use the $10 knife to do most of the cutting needs?? A lot of guys carry 2 knifes.... one for show and one to use.
 
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