Your First Spyderco

I'm really going to date myself here. My first Spydercos were sold to me by Gil Hibben who got them directly from Sal for his friends and customers. This was either in 1979 or 1980. I studied a one page catalog and ordered a LH Standard and a LH Police "PIG" model. I never carried the Police much and sold it years ago for much more than I paid for it. I still have my Standard and do carry it some. For some reason I never warmed up to the Worker; I owned one once and quickly sold it. Not long after getting my first Spydie knives I also bought an early Sharpmaker; still using it!!!!
 
My first Spydie was a FRN Delica I bought in 1991 IIRC. I still have that knife. Many of you guys weren't even born then!
 
I currently only still have a little Jester G10, but my first was the Bush Spydie:

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My gateway Spydie was dragonfly clip-it model. Sold it a year or so ago but really liked that knife.
 
My first was a Caly 3 back in 2006. I think I am currently have around 42. That little Caly brought me to Bladeforums, more Spydercos, customs, axes, machetes...been painful to the wallet. I have enjoyed it very much. Currently have a Hap 40 Stretch in my pocket.
 
My first was the ZDP Dragonfly2. Since then I've had the Chaparral, PM2, Urban, Kiwi, Mantra, Yojimbo 2, and the ZDP Delica.

Through all the buying and selling, I've only kept the Delica, in all its varying iterations with a growing collection.
 
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Just got mine today, after some run around with USPS. I'm ready digging it so far, just gotta figure out the right combination of the 4 screws too adjust the action just right (why in the weird do they do it that way on the pm2??), but I love the feel of it in hand. I don't see this one going any where in the near future.

My name is George, and I approve this message.
 
My first Spyderco a Delica 4 combo edge carried it so much i broke the original pocket clip. As seen in my picture the coating is in good shape for a 8'ish year old knife, i EDC it for 4+ years. As you can see im a user not abuser. :D

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First one was either 1989 or 1990. Endura plain edge plastic clip. Carried it for several years, then it retired for a good many years and about 8 years ago started to carry it for a little while but the lock wont lock the knife securely anymore. When I first saw the knives I thought they looked weird with the large hole in blade. Many years later my favorite brand.
 
in the early 80's I started collecting Gerber knives.... still have several 'Paul' knives... and I started carrying the LST... then I saw a Spyderco Worker at the Knife shop in the mall ... weird... and I couldn't afford it at the time... but I went ahead a bought an 'economy' View attachment 662596 (the clip was pressed out of a slab pinned to the side... ugly) and then BAM I fell in love with the pocket clip! then the one-hand opening that I had never experienced before... together they have resulted in my collection of over 500 spyderco knives
 
Tenacious was the first. Loved that knife... still have it (never had the heart to sell it off).
It was followed by a PM2, a DF in zdp189 and a Salt1.
Since then the DF was "upgraded" to nishijin glass fiber and the Salt to a Damascus Jigged Bone Delica...
 
My first Spyderco was this Merlin* that I found on the beach when I was young:

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It has been with me ever since. Super smooth action (Spydie flicks like a champ), perfectly solid lockup, great clip, lightweight, and very sharp. Love it!

*For some reason I had never looked that closely into it before, but I just confirmed that this is one of the second run of Merlins that bore the same model number as the Harpy C08. Sources: http://spydercosource.com/2009/02/spyderco-harpymerlin-c08/ and http://www.spydiewiki.com/index.php?title=C08_Harpy.
 
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Where were you guys buying those knives in 80's and even the early 90's? I guess I'm wondering if an average Joe could find a Spyderco knife then or you had to go to shows or specialty shops.
 
bluedog said:
Semi-retired a few weeks ago, this early 90's Gen 1, GIN 1 Delica.
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My very first Spyder was also a GIN-1, SE bladed model. Back in 1995 at a Kansas City Gun Show I got my very first Spyder which was a stainless handled, GIN-1 Mariner model. I had never owned a premium serrated blade knife up to that point. It was very shortly after that I got a JD Smith, Harpy, Delica, Police, Endura, Renegade and Blackhawk models>> and I amassed all of them in a very short time.

I've always been an admirer of high quality items and Spyderco was every bit high quality and they had extremely nice eye appeal as well. I also couldn't believe how nice the company was to deal with direct. They have the best "Warranty & Repair department I've ever encountered on any product. I've been sold ever since.
 
JBradley500 said:
Where were you guys buying those knives in 80's and even the early 90's?
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Pretty sure I got my Gen-1 Delica at REI, circa 1991 (pic in post #32). It was the first time I had ever seen a one handed folding knife, first time I had ever seen a clip, and definitely the first time I had ever seen serrations on a folder.



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