Spyderco Forums

As you might know the Spyderco Reverse is designed to be used either RGEI or RGEO....I'm not going to debate which is better, what's better is the way you feel comfortable about using your knife. Which ever method or set up is good for you....Spyderco and the designers Michael Janich/Craig Douglas have taken the guess work out of it.....you want it one way over the other all you need do is REVERSE the grip slabs. Pretty ingenious....But Reversing the grip slabs is not what this post is about. I have been carrying the Spyderco Reverse for several weeks...testing...testing and more testing. Basically I really like the knife, mind you this knife is a dedicated fighting knife, it's not for utility, not for work in the kitchen, not for the camp-site, you are not going to clear brush with it, but what you will do, is carry it concealed for self defense. I find that the sheath and Spyderco G -Clip are a good combo for just that. The knife conceals very well in all different positions around the waist. The flat rectangular G-10 handle slabs are comfortable to wear as it hugs the body closely especially in IWB set up, which also aids in it's ability to conceal the knife easily. There are thousands of great knives out there for self-defense but I find that most of their carry systems are pretty bad. This is not the case with the Spyderco Reverse. That said, I'm a firm believer in the fact that the most important thing about a Self-Defense knife and maybe even more important than the knife itself is the speed in which you can deploy your knife when SHTF. So one of my tests is to speed draw the knife from concealment hundreds of times. In my attempts to do this I found that I was only able to get good purchase on the handle (from IWB) for a speed draw about two out of every ten attempts. Most of the time I was drawing the knife and undressing myself at the same time....Time after time I kept coming up with Knife and T-shirt in hand.....not good! At first I thought maybe the problem might be with the carry system...but this was not the case.....By wearing the knife OWB I had no problems getting good purchase on the handle for speed draw deployment. But....the knife had forward and back play of maybe an inch to and inch and a half of waist wobble, wearing it that way on the belt......and it seemed to defeat it's excellent concealment capabilities. Once again no good....I started to think that no matter how much I liked the design and feel of this knife it was destined to sit in my draw until I put it up for sale. Then I got an idea...what if I wrapped the handle in some 550 Para-cord and finished it off with a coating of Resin to insure non-movement on the slabs.....I used a Strider Wrap for the handle and found that my problem was now solved, after hundreds and hundreds of more draw strokes I can now say the knife is combat ready. The wrap gave the knife more of an oval feel and slight palm swell to the handle (which I prefer) and retention is excellent. The wrap also lifted the handle off the body just a tad (without compromising concealment) so that I could smoothly access the knife in speed draw drills without having my shirt go along for the ride draw after draw with 100% success. One of the side benefits was the realization that If I wanted to now use the knife RGEI or RGEO....I didn't have to switch the grip slabs on the knife....It is comfortable to use in either grip....So this Post is not about which Reverse is better RGEI or RGEO, and it's not about whether you should buy a Spyderco Reverse or Not...It's all about speed knife deployment and Self Defense, If you have this knife I urge you to test it for yourself and see if the flatness and rectangular shape of the handle creates a problem for you by doing a whole bunch of repetitive draws from the IWB position...Don't have a problem Great!!!...Have a problem? I just gave you the fix.....Remember a SD knife is only as good as your ability to deploy it fast and bring it into action....I'm liking this knife more and more by the second. But test it for yourself to be sure.....It's not good to be half nakid when wielding a knife in self defense.... Doc:)

Nasty and nice, all at once.

Thanks for the post Doc, very nice as usual. Some day I'd like to take some training in defense techniques, though I fear I'm so out-of-shape there may be no hope for me :). I haven't ordered a Reverse yet, though I've had it in the shopping cart a time or two.

I have the OG Pi'kal and I love it. Fantastic design. I find it comfortable in both grips personally.