Before I met my girlfriend, I didn't care for Spyderco knives at all. They just didn't look right to me. And aesthetics matter. They don't help do the job, but they matter anyway.
Anyway, in one of our very early email exchanges I exhorted her to "Repent the Spyderco!" because she carried a waved Delica for work. I was a total ZT fan at the time, glorying in the ruggedly overbuilt 0561, I think it was. I still have it, but I don't carry it (the weak detent has let the blade open in my pants one too many times). I had a chance to play with her Delica when I offered to sharpen it (it was a twig at the time, wouldn't cut butter--she really uses her knives at work; I'm an office ninja). The lock up on the thing was beautiful. I degunked the blade, and put it on the Edge Pro and returned that VG-10 blade to razor sharp. My first exposure to VG-10, too. Nice!
So, every week or so, I'd sharpen her Delica and I kinda got to like it, or at least respect it quite a lot. As some people have said, "Everything you need in a knife and nothing you don't." I totally agree. Great ergonomics, great blade shape, solid lock up, highly durable, classic slicer (OK, not the waved saber grind so much, except when compared to my first generation ZT 0550, which basically pried open our watermelon one evening--kind of embarrassing, really).
Being a geek, I read up on them, checked the reviews, and bought a few. These things are cutting machines. They aren't like my Striders or ZTs, no. I'm never going to pry open an elevator with my Endura (and certainly not with the Super Blue!), but maybe my Native5. Besides, I haven't ever had to pry open an elevator door, not even with a ZT, though I know of people who have. Great knives, ZTs. But they aren't slicers. A Spyderco, just about any Spyderco, will have better cutting geometry out of the box than any ZT I own, and I own a lot of them. I'm a huge ZT fan (just ordered two more in the past week), but I'm clear about their limitations.
Let's talk warranties for a bit, since they are an important reflection of how the company feels about its customers and its products. Zero Tolerance, Kershaw, and Spyderco all have world-class customer service. Literally, they define the top tier of customer service should you ever have a problem with a knife. They are as good as CRK. Any knife company that pretends to address this corner of the market (knife geeks) had better have a world-class customer service department or they will be ripped to shreds on here. Spyderco's customer service is as good as anyone anywhere.
All that said, many people (like me) don't care for Spyderco knives for what I'll classify as essentially aesthetic reasons. They don't like the looks, essentially. Which is totally fine and perfectly acceptable. However, if you can get past the looks and examine them simply as cutting tools, you'll be blown away.
. I think that's a pretty damn good start up the spyderco ladder. I don't mind the back lock in the delica and endura, I just use the assistance of my leg to close the blade if my hand isn't free
