Manix 2 LW needs an update badly.

[kennethsime]

Well, I realize I’m joining in on this late.

I think the OP’s original concern is best met through a Macanese Maxamet :o Manix - I like mine well enough, and it sure can cut a **** of a lot of cardboard before dulling.

As for the rest, I’d love a more neutral handle for the Manix, more along the lines of the Native and Shaman. In fact, if you just shrink the Shaman handle a bit to accommodate the Manix blade, I think I’d be a happy camper.

[JRinFL]

I asked Eric to design the Manix to meet a particular need. I think he did an excellent job. Then he developed the caged ball, which I think improved on the model. Personally, I have no problem with the pinned LW. If fact, I'm packing the SPY27 version right now.

Eric decided to convert to screws due the requests from you. We're also retooling the Caly 3.5 LW to be screw construction, again, due to your requests.

Folding knives, even with non stainless blades have been made pinned for a century and many are still being made this way. Not everyone is a tinkerer. We have many early knives made pinned that are still in use 40 years later.

sal

Eric did an excellent job on the Manix.

Thank you for listening and adjusting designs to meet our requests, even if sometimes they are questionable.

There are very old pocket knives made in the last two centuries that are still functional after all these years, made with basic carbon steel and brass. Sal's point is well made, but only a few will hear it.

[Bolster]

I think the OP’s original concern is best met through a Macanese Manix...

A what, now? Macanese Manix? Whazzat? The Porsche SUV?

[Chuck James]

The Manix is, at it's heart, a tool designed for people who need to cut a lot of material a lot of the time. It has a nice thin blade, the ergos are amazing with a hand-filling handle with a finger choil that allows for great control over a relatively short cutting edge. The ball bearing lock combines strengths of axis-style locks and back locks, making it strong, robust, and easy to use. The spyderhole and lock mechanism are extremely accessible, even for gloved hands. This makes for a knife that is big in the pocket despite its relatively short cutting edge, so it's really a good choice for people who are going to have a knife out of their pocket more than in the pocket.

The Manix 2 LW in its standard BD1N steel just doesn't quite live up to the potential of the design. I have both the G10 knife in S390 and the FRCP knife in BD1N. The LW version is, as advertised, extremely lightweight for a knife its size, and of course has basically the same ergonomics, although I think the wire clip is a lil less of a hot spot than the spoon clip on the G10 version.

The problem with the BD1N steel is that for a knife that is designed to do a *lot* of cutting, with a relatively short blade, you're really testing the edge retention of the knife, and in my experience BD1N just doesn't hold up. If I'm doing a lot of cutting, I would like for the knife to still have a good slicing edge at the end of the day as at the beginning, and I found the BD1N on my LW to develop both microchips *and* rolled edges when doing a lot of cutting on dirty cardboard (which I know is hard on edges, but let's be real that's what a lot of people are going to be cutting on a frequent basis).

My M390, on the other hand, holds up just fine to this kind of use. I know that they try to keep costs down on LW models with less expensive steels, but I wish the base steel for the knife were S30vn or S35vn. If they can make an S35vn Tenacious for under $100, I think they should be able to do similar with the Manix.

Further, the fact that the LW knife cannot be disassembled also takes away from the "this is a serious tool" factor. I get why Spyderco would discourage this for ball bearing locks, because they are kinda tricky to disassemble and reassemble correctly when compared to other lock mechanisms, but being able to maintain the pivot easily is important to me.

I think the fact that it is an injection molded component should enable some ergonomic upgrades. I think it could benefit a lot from having rounded corners similar to the other knives with injection-molded handles, I also wish it shipped with a deep carry clip, as I find deep carry to make it take up less room near the entrance of my pocket, and to be a little more ergonomic in the hand.

So yeah, I think that it's a great design with a flawed execution that could be tweaked just a bit to make it closer in functional capability to its G10 brother.

You are correct Sir....The Manix LW is in desperate need of an upgrade ......... Steel Liners and G10 Grips!!!

Then it would be a Great Knife!!! :D :D

[Paraguy]

The Manix is, at it's heart, a tool designed for people who need to cut a lot of material a lot of the time. It has a nice thin blade, the ergos are amazing with a hand-filling handle with a finger choil that allows for great control over a relatively short cutting edge. The ball bearing lock combines strengths of axis-style locks and back locks, making it strong, robust, and easy to use. The spyderhole and lock mechanism are extremely accessible, even for gloved hands. This makes for a knife that is big in the pocket despite its relatively short cutting edge, so it's really a good choice for people who are going to have a knife out of their pocket more than in the pocket.

The Manix 2 LW in its standard BD1N steel just doesn't quite live up to the potential of the design. I have both the G10 knife in S390 and the FRCP knife in BD1N. The LW version is, as advertised, extremely lightweight for a knife its size, and of course has basically the same ergonomics, although I think the wire clip is a lil less of a hot spot than the spoon clip on the G10 version.

The problem with the BD1N steel is that for a knife that is designed to do a *lot* of cutting, with a relatively short blade, you're really testing the edge retention of the knife, and in my experience BD1N just doesn't hold up. If I'm doing a lot of cutting, I would like for the knife to still have a good slicing edge at the end of the day as at the beginning, and I found the BD1N on my LW to develop both microchips *and* rolled edges when doing a lot of cutting on dirty cardboard (which I know is hard on edges, but let's be real that's what a lot of people are going to be cutting on a frequent basis).

My M390, on the other hand, holds up just fine to this kind of use. I know that they try to keep costs down on LW models with less expensive steels, but I wish the base steel for the knife were S30vn or S35vn. If they can make an S35vn Tenacious for under $100, I think they should be able to do similar with the Manix.

Further, the fact that the LW knife cannot be disassembled also takes away from the "this is a serious tool" factor. I get why Spyderco would discourage this for ball bearing locks, because they are kinda tricky to disassemble and reassemble correctly when compared to other lock mechanisms, but being able to maintain the pivot easily is important to me.

I think the fact that it is an injection molded component should enable some ergonomic upgrades. I think it could benefit a lot from having rounded corners similar to the other knives with injection-molded handles, I also wish it shipped with a deep carry clip, as I find deep carry to make it take up less room near the entrance of my pocket, and to be a little more ergonomic in the hand.

So yeah, I think that it's a great design with a flawed execution that could be tweaked just a bit to make it closer in functional capability to its G10 brother.

1. if it was made in china
2. True
3. also true

[Paraguy]

Eric had mentioned something about he's retooling the pinned Manix to have screws..

sal

Awesome!

[kennethsime]

I think the OP’s original concern is best met through a Macanese Maxamet :o Manix...

A what, now? Macanese Manix? Whazzat? The Porsche SUV?

Oh man, that might be my best autocorrect typo yet! Fixed.

[Bolster]

You are correct Sir....The Manix LW is in desperate need of an upgrade ......... Steel Liners and G10 Grips!!!
Then it would be a Great Knife!!! :D :D

This must be a joke. Because a Manix LW with steel liners and G10 grips would definitely not be LW anymore. What you want is a regular G10 Manix.

Sal must think we're insane.

[DougC-3]

...Never thought there'd be people voting against ergonomics, although lots of people fear change.

Right. (As my wife says, the only thing we have to fear is change itself.) The Manix has been my favorite from the start, mainly the G-10 model, and I've mentioned the square edges of the FRCP, particularly the little ridge around the edges, as being a little uncomfortable. But lately I've been gravitating more to the LWs (I like the wire clips) and really don't want any major changes in the overall grip or ergos.

On the other hand, the Para 3 LW changes look like they've made a real ergonomic improvement over the G10 Para 3 (haven't got to handle one yet, but I've been itching to.) So I think we can trust Sal & Eric to get it right.

I pretty much agree with Wartstein, as long as any handle rounding doesn't make the handle thicker:

2.) For the rather soft palm it makes a difference in comfort if it is pressed against a "sharp" more or less 90 degree corner or a more smoother, rounded transition, regardless if the rounding offers the same, a bit less or a bit more contact area than the more flat/ "sharper" cornered area

That being said: Again, I DON´T think the Manix LW handle should necessarily get more rounded, since for almost any task it is very comfortable anyway. But "rounding" would not hurt either and make the handle even better in a few tasks imho

I have some micarta scales on an Endela which are more rounded on the edges than the FRN, and I think they actually improve the ergonomics a bit.

[DougC-3]

I wonder if there'll be any name change for this update, since we already have a Manix 2 Lightweight... or maybe some designation like CQI?

But mainly I want to know what we can do to speed it up :eek: