Which Spyderco are you carrying today?

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Been carrying a new Starmate (that I just received) for the last couple of days.

I've had some "bad luck" with the Starmate. The 1st one I bought on the Exhange had an unnoticed (by the seller) flaw in the blade; there was an unground depression in the show side of the blade. I spent the extra time & $ to send it to Spyderco to see if they could fix it but they said they couldn't and the seller refunded my $ for the knife.

Bought a 2nd one for more $ off of EB but, even though it was supposedly NIB, it had an annoying "rattle" (like a loose spring in an AO blade). So, I disassembled the knife and there's nothing on the blade side that could have caused the problem. Not sure how I came to focus on it but it turns out the problem was the lanyard hole spacer which was loose; additional tightening the spacer screws did not help.

I remembered a "trick"mentioned to me in another thread about how to quiet a loose AO spring by using vaseline, so I greased up the ends of the lanyard hole space w/a little vaseline and the rattle went away. I'm a little concerned that the vaseline might melt in hot weather but I don't plan to carry the knife that much and, if I do carry it in hot weather and the rattle returns, I'll replace the vaseline w/hi temp bearing grease instead. Anyway, the knife doesn't rattle any more. ;)

Love the big polished blade and the very smooth, quick deployment, which was probably helped by my cleaning/oiling of the pivot and teflon washers while the knife was disassembled. The detent is very light (a preference of mine). Not so light that the knife will just "drop out" (which I don't like) but light enough that I can wrist flick it open (like my ZT850) which I like VERY MUCH!

Opens as fast or faster than any automatic that I own. :)

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Pocketed a Vallotton Sub-hilt today, which is simply a gorgeous knife.

The profile of the Vallotton is very similar to the Starmate that it replaced but comparing it to the Starmate and other Spydercos in terms of looks/build quality is like comparing my MB & BMW w/my Chevy Bolt & Toyota MR2. They are all functional vehicles but there are distinct differences in the quality of materials and construction that favor the MB & BMW over the Chevy & Toyota. They're just NOT the same.

On the other hand, the Vallotton is a little stout/heavy because it is distinctly overbuilt; again the way a MB often is. So, some may complain that the Vallotton is too thick/heavy for an EDC but those things don't bother me about the knife.

BTW, I already had a D/A Vallotton Auto that previously purchased from @Rusty_shakleford off of the Exchange but that knife is so rare/expensive (as well as illegal to carry outside my home) that I just had to buy this unmodified Vallotton for normal carry/use.

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