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JShirley

JShirley

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Someone asked to see my folders. I have even fewer of them than fixed blades: what I've carried most of the time since '99 or so has been a Spyderco Native. This is all of my folders, except I have a Case Peanut around somewhere. I may also still have a waved Endura.

The tan Native you see was given to me by Spyderco while I was deployed. I'll let y'all guess which other knife here was given to me. ;)

John

5467168247_89071d1c85_z.jpg
 
Left to right:
Manix 2, Native FRN, Native, Salsa, Polliwog G10. CS large Voyager Tanto, Endura FRN, ZDP Delica.

These are all great knives. The Salsa is a surprisingly good little knife, and I'd love for Spyderco to reintroduce it in FRN or G10 (most were aluminum handles), with skeletonized liners.

The neat little Polliwog feels like a much bigger knife in the hand, but it's a little too thin and short for me to feel like it's always going to stay in my pocket. Knives that are a little longer and thicker seem to stay in place better: this is my problem with some of the Kershaw folders, too.

The Endura and Delica are very light but strong and useful folders. Lately, I've been carrying the Manix more than anything else, but there are no bad choices here.

John
 
Not a single slipjoint in the bunch....no jigged bone or stag, not a nail nick or long pull to be found...

A very nice collection of tacticals but where is the soul? That Case peanut belongs in the pocket....not "around somewhere".
 
John, I think you turned me onto my Native. One of the s30v ones. I'm so happy with this knife. I'be had it for almost a year, and haven't had to come close to needing to sharpen it yet.

Next may be an Endura, but I just wish they made them in the US. I'd pay more for it if they did.
 
You need to change your username to "SpydercoFanboy#1"... :D

Nice collection though! I like that black Native best, and it looks like you have carried it a time or two as well...
 
451, that's easy: the soul is in me. :) These are just tools. Sure, I like them- a lot- but if I met you and liked you, and we happened to look at each other's knives by and by, if you admired mine, you'd stand a pretty decent chance of walking away with it in your pocket.

Don't misunderstand me. I can feel the spirit that's been put into some knives. Even then, they're just a thing.

J
 
Trust me I have gifted away more knives than I own...which if you knew how many I owned would really be scary. I have given knives away to family, friends, and complete strangers. To me the tacticals I own, despite some being rather pricey, are disposable. None of them really have any memories for me because I don't use them, carry them yes but they are a last resort knife and I have never been a situation when it came down to needing that last resort.

My slipjoints on the other hand get used daily and do build up memories. The peanut that was in my pocket when my daughter was born and was used on a stubborn knot on the scrubs I was wearing. My great grandfather's harness jack that has 4 generations of memories built up in it. Even a lock back that was a gift from AG Russell. Those knives end up going to family only and are not disposable.

Perhaps soul is the wrong word but the memories built up over the years do give them something special. The patch knife in my fixed blade pic is one I put together myself, the handle is a tine off the first deer I shot when I was just a kid. Knives I can buy, memories I can't. Yes you can build memories in tactical knives but the is just something about worn bone in the hand, it never really feels cold to the touch.

I guess I am just old school and sentimental about some things. As I said you do have a nice collection there, seems you do favor the Spydercos. I am guessing the Cold Steel was a gift...lol.
 
Spydies

I do not yet have anything by Spyderco among my folders.

Eventually I hope to remedy that.

Meanwhile, though, I have some other deficiencies I'm trying to address.

 
451, there are two schools of thought about carrying defensive knives. One school says that such a knife should only be used in an emergency situation. I can't say that school is wrong.

From my standpoint, though, the things that make my knives "tactical" to some people- especially a one-handed opening, locking blade, and pocket clip- are just attributes that make these knives more useful on a daily basis. And, should I ever be in an emergency situation where using my folder seems like the right choice, I believe I'll be more capable with a knife that's seen frequent usage. I never cut anyone's throat with that tan Native: but it did open a lot of packages, and also some mortar "tootsie roll" round carriers.

John
 
That "family" of knives now ranges from the 2" Ambitious to the 4(+)" Resilience. These are all G10 liner-locks, with a steel that's about like AUS-6. I think most people will get the most use from the Persistence.

J
 
i use to carry spyders but i have switch to Kershaw's SpeedLock! but i also have a slipjoint in my pocket!
0_0_0_0_250_188_csupload_28623637_large.jpg
 
Tom,

I appreciate Kershaws for being good values, and sharp. But most of them are just too thin to carry well clipped to my pocket.

J
 
I bought one of the first Spyderco Standards out, in the early 1980s. The pocket clip was part of the scale. Lost it at a building collapse in 1992/1993, during a blizzard. Replaced it with another Standard which rides on my belt as I type this. It was used to cut seat-belts, clothing, cardboard, rope, plastic sheeting, automotive wiring harnesses, and assorted other things during my career with Fire/EMS. Stays sharp, the joint is still tight, and it still locks up solidly.

Spyderco makes one heck-for-solid knife.
 
No one who's been here long would be surprised John's folder of choice would be Spydercos.

My earliest was one of the plastic clip Delicas. Since then I've added a "couple" (dozen:rolleyes:) more. Spydercos is one of the finest knife manufacturers ever and makes some of the best value in knives around.
 
Offshore QA

How is Spyderco's quality control for their "offshore sourced" pieces?

I have learned to trust a couple of makers out there who have some of their stuff made in China.

(I'm gonna have to learn trust all over again for Kershaw, now that a number of their formerly Japan-made pieces instead say "China" on the blades.)

Buck seems to have got the hang of offshore QA, as have Benchmade and Gerber, but not everyone is having the same success.

My default inclination is to trust Spyderco's QA for their offshore lines, but I have no experience to back that up.

 
They've done an excellent job with their Byrd line. So much that they've included Chinese made knives under the Spydercos name, which would never have happened without 100% confidence.

I thought Buck pulled production out of China.
 
Buck Out of China

They're still working on it.

They've sourced all their new designs (like the Vantage and Paradigm lines) locally.

Last I spoke to C.J. they were having to balance the release of new designs (made locally) with the logistics of bringing the Chinese stuff home.

I haven't spoken to him in about six months.

 
I did the Spyderco's years ago, my Endura has the plastic pocket clip and my Police Model is the very early black version from the early eighties. In the nineties I bought a Cricket when they first came out and a couple years ago I acquired a green Salsa. I like the knives well enough but never got the bug to collect them.
 
How is Spyderco's quality control for their "offshore sourced" pieces?
Click to expand...

Superb. I've given 5 of them in the last 8 months or so. The Tenacious, Persistence, and Resilience are all excellent knives, and one of the moderators here assured me this week that the Ambitious I sent him is almost perfect. (He has incredibly large hands, so "perfect" for him would be a hole positioned for about .05% of the male population.) I've seen a few recent claims that the Taiwan-built Spydercos have the best fit and finish of any of them, and the original Spydercos were made in Japan.

I never actually meant to collect Spydercos either. I've primarily carried a Native for years. Every now and then, I'll get another Spyderco to try, but so far, end up going back to my Native eventually. The Manix 2 has lasted an unusually long time as one of the knives I grab first when I dress for the day, though, so we'll see...
 
I'm blaming all y'all for my purchase today of three knives.

I just picked up a CRKT Drifter and a couple Case Small Stockmans.

The Drifter I got to use at work. The Stockmans I got so I can carry one without worrying about losing my old Schrade, and I'm thinking about gifting the other to a friend.

You folks sure do seem to keep posting pictures of my dream collection(s).
 
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