Spyderco Civilian--Ohhhhh yeaaa!!!!

[Sir Galahad]

WOW!!!!!!! You HAVE to see this knife to appreciate it. When I opened the zippered case in came in, I had a grin you wouldn't believe. This knife is beautiful. Awesome. Solid. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being best, I rate it as follows:
1.) QUALITY---10
2.) FIT & FINISH---10
3.) SMOOTHNESS OF ACTION---10
4.) TIGHTNESS OF LOCK-UP---10
5.) ERGONOMICS---10
6.) SHARPNESS---Giving it a freakin' 15!! Shhhhharrrrppp!!! YES!
7.) COMFORT OF CARRY---10
Overall rating---10

This is a MUST-BUY if you've been considering one. Don't consider---buy!! Pictures don't do this knife justice. It's a like a great painting---you have to actually SEE it in person to fully appreciate it. Not a sheeple-friendly knife and when you see it, you'll see why.

 

[Kevlarman]

I agree it's a nice knife and all, but aside from slashing things, what else can you do with it? I take it the blade design doesn't lend itself to more "utilitarian" uses.

 

[brownie0486]

Kevlarman:

The civilian is a personal defense knife originally meant for LE's as a backup/last ditch life saver.

It has no utilitarian purpose nor was it intended to be used for anything but slashing. The idea behind it was that you didn't need a lot of training with this, just access and slash whatever seems to be the offending limbs of others.

In that designed role, it excels. It is a special purpose knife and not prone to utilitarian cutting.

Brownie

 

[Jim March]

The late great James Mattis (G_d do I miss him!) claimed it was an excellent gardening tool .

But yes, it's a "pure fighter". So the story goes, the first one was designed for an undercover cop who had no knife/dojo training at all, was in some nasty situations and couldn't conceal a gun. The idea with the Civvie was to allow a "horrific random slash and run" gameplan.

It will indeed do this. In spades. Wounds tend to look like something done by a large angry animal...like, say, a Velociraptor.

BUT, it has it's limitations.

1) For the blade length, blade mass isn't all that high. Combined with the relatively stiff lockback action, it doesn't want to do snapopens. A 6" Cold Steel Voyager/Vaquero class lockback with it's higher blade mass is a snapopen dream.

2) The Civvie is difficult to stab with, and the necessary "sideways hitch motion" to do so slows down the attack just a hair.

3) Precise cuts to key tendons can be somewhat difficult. With a 5" or 6" plainedge or fine serration pattern in a standard blade type, you can reach out and nail the tendons across the inside of the elbow paralyzing one arm, or reach down and pop a hamstring. The Civvie, on the other hand, needs "force and fury" to work, which when present allows horrific wounds but isn't as compatible with such "precision cuts".

4) If your knife-hand wrist is grabbed, there are a whole series of "rollouts" in both reverse and forward grips that allow you to cut the other guy's arm or wrist while throwing off his grapple and shifting to your own attack. The Civvie puts the tip at an awkward place for these moves; although they're not impossible, they're faster with a 5"/6" blade of conventional type.

-------

Upshot: if you're carrying two knives, the Civvie is a wonderful off-hand weapon, and is quite possibly the best folder ever as a handgun retention tool.

But despite it's horrific looks and serious wounding potential, it falls short as a primary battle blade. A 5" or 6" Cold Steel megafolder, the REKAT Sifu and the Camillus Maxx series are all better "primary fighting knives" than the Civvie, for those willing to at least modestly study bladecraft.

 

[Sir Galahad]

Not to quibble, Jim, as you do raise some valid points. But if I was to make the effort to go down and hamstring a guy, I'd find it quicker and more convenient to just practically unman him with an upward rip staring between the legs or sever a femoral artery on the way down. Before you even went that far, you could do a deep abdomenal slash and practically disembowel the guy. Any of the three would do the trick, with unmanning probably the quickest, as the guy's concern at that point would be getting to an ER ASAP to get his birth-issued procreation gear re-attached before they fall down his pant leg and get lost.

 

[Inspector Callahan]

Very eloquently stated.

 

[Jim March]

I would never argue against the Civvie's wounding potential.

However, a SHARP standard blade shape of the same length has a lot of slashing power too.

And there's a place for precision.

 

[StonerStudent]

Not to metion it's one of the nastiest looking blades on the planet. Which can go a long way to "talk" and attacker into finding a easier mark.:

 

[Cal4D4]

A quick welcome to "Stoner". These discussions tend toward graphic at times! After visualizing the Civilian and an instep attack, I'm going to have to coax my manly parts out of hiding.

 

[StonerStudent]

Howdy to all..... yes the Civilian is the orginial Karambit, use it in the reverse grip in the left hand with the Police in the right.

 

[Combat-wombat]

Hmm. Might want one of these because the primary reason I carry knives is Self-Defense and I have no training.