I bought my first Spyderco in 1987. There were three to choose from, all with similar Seki builds, stainless scales with brass liners, a big Military, a wicked cool curved Harpy and a very useful and very portable CoPilot. They were in a little shop called Sharp Stuff owned by Sam, a place that doesn’t even exist anymore. Old Sam had every kind of blade imaginable, even very hard to get stuff in all manner of cases of wood and glass. He hid treasures in drawers and would take them out one at a time, holding and passing them like they were valuable relics, which they were. So on that fortuitous day almost 39 years ago I was introduced to the finest makes of folding knives in the world. For the younger members this was before the internet.
Mine have travelled with me all over the United States, deep into Mexico and up into the stunning forests of Canada, backpacking on foot, traveling by trains, buses planes and boats. I have lived on whatever I could procure in mercados and small out of the way stores and my sharp tool never let me down. Oh, and I am one who doesn’t much care for thumb studs.
These days the ingenious Chaparral is with me always. We do a lot of wilderness hiking in desert, canyon and mountains. It is right on the edge of weight that I’ll allow but you know where that weight went, into super tolerances and build with a cutting edge the same length as the ubiquitous 91mm SAK, a famous traveler’s knife, and about the same width spine. The steel however is far, far more advanced. They’ll have to pry this one from my cold, dead hands. Just one traveler’s opinion.
Then and now, you’ve come a long way baby.
