HELP PLEASE - New Collection ideas - appreciate some input.

[MGN]

Welcome to the forum. If you don't already have a Para 2, you should. Available in many steels and a great design. The compression lock is too fine. All the Sage knives are excellent. The Dragonfly though smaller is a "little big knife" The Caly's are also great. Enjoy

Thanks Tdog - Seems to be a good consensus on Para 2.

[MGN]

Welcome mgn!
What do you have in the collection from spyderco so far?
I would say check some of the sprints. I think someone said the hap40 caly is back in stock at gp knives. That’s a good one. The k390 urban is small but mighty.
Check the discontinued list for some deals. The southard was really cheap. Or try to find a domino.

SF Native - have Mule 23, 25, 26. and 4 of the Native line.

[MGN]

Welcome to the forum. If you don't already have a Para 2, you should. Available in many steels and a great design. The compression lock is too fine. All the Sage knives are excellent. The Dragonfly though smaller is a "little big knife" The Caly's are also great. Enjoy

Seems to be a consensus on the Para 2 - what about the 3?

[MGN]

You mentioned outdoor activities. For me both the Military and the PM2 are my choice for these. Both very capable folders, light, and as mentioned, come in variety of stainless and non stainless steels.

i don’t have any Spyderco fixed blades, yet.

anycal and all of you that have responded - Thanks for all of your input.

anycal- I love the Mules Great price for testing knives - Have seen Ankerson tests on a couple - I used them in October on an Elk Hunt - Perfect knives - not to large, sharp as all get out and a good size for in the cavity and for skinning. I plan on getting into more Spyderco fixed blades

Have a 23 (CPM- 20CV) attached to my Car Go Bag along with a Benchmade Grizzlly Creek Folder/Gut hook combo in a pocket.
I have a Mule 26 - (AISI A11, K294 (Böhler-Uddeholm), and CPM® 10V (Crucible®), on my Hunting Go Bag which is attached to the bag, along with by a Cold Steel Master Hunter in 3V, Benchmade Hidden Canyon Hunter is S30V, and a Benchmade Bone Collector Gut Hook in D2 inside. Might be over kill but I am an Elk Hunter and do not want to sharpen knives on a hunt.

[MGN]

You also mentioned that you have been at this (collecting) for couple of years. Sounds like you have a variety of knives. And even if you don't have many Spyderco folders, you probably know what works for you - size of hand, type of use. As these topics pop up now and then, the Golden CO made knives are always highly recommended - Military, Manix, PM2.

Since you also mentioned ZT, I have the 0562. It is a great knife and I really like using it. But since I got the Military, it sees less carry.

anycal - Re: ZT - 0770 (Elmax), 562CF (20CV), 566 (Elmax and S35VN), 0909 (S35VN) - Love them all!

So now I have to go to the Military varients - oh joy :cool:

[MGN]

Hey MGN, welcome to the forum, Military and Paramilitary 2 are a couple of favorites and very popular, lots of great/different steel choices.

They are next :D

[MGN]

Evil D - new here - How do I reply to you directly - love knives but not technology :-(

You can reply directly to someone by selecting the quote button (next to the exclamation point) in their post.

You mention the Advocate, I don't own one (yet) but I think it's an excellent choice. You definitely need to have a Para of some type. I currently have 3 PM2s and a couple Para 3. Both models are great but the Para 3 may not be for you if you have large hands. You said you have Natives, the Para 3 is similar in size.

If you like flippers I would suggest looking at Spyderco's Southard. They're recently disco'd and BHQ has them on closeout form$170. I just picked one up and that price is a bargain for that price. It's really a beautiful piece and well worth the price.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=76722&hilit=Southard

Something from the Sage series is a must IMO. I have all but the S4. They're all good but the S2 is my favorite. S5 is a good choice too if you want to try a compression lock. The action on mine is ok but I think Golden does compression locks a little better than Taichung at this point.

Chaparral is like a mini Sage. Thin handle & and thin blade stock (CTS-XHP). What's not to love? The new FRN Chap is awesome and a bargain IMO. CF Chap is another must have. Rafir Noble if you want something unique.

Manix 2 is a classic. I prefer the M2 LWs but they're not for everyone. The G10 is solid and the one I have is one of my smoothest Spydies. It's a little heavy so it doesn't get carried as much as the others. The caged ball bearing lock is great but I do find it a little difficult to close with my left hand because I can't use the clip for leverage. Lots of choices in the Manix line including a backlock version.

Another one to look at is the new Sliverax. Mine took a little pivot tweaking and break in time but it's fabulous now. It's not gonna flip like your ZT but it flips great once you get used to it. You also have access to the Spydie hole so there's multi ways to deploy the blade which I like. I carried my Sliverax today IWB with a Mantra in the front pocket. I'm digging both those knives!

As I said before, lots of great choices in the lineup. Your going to get a zillion different suggestions. Hard for someone to tell you what you'll like. You just need to start looking at specs for models that appeal to you and start ordering. You can always get most of your money back for models you don't like. Checkout the Exchange over on Blade Forums.

BTW, Spyderco doesn't typically publish the Rockwell hardness of their blades. It's my understanding that they have the heat treating thing down.

Sharp Guy - You pretty much nailed a lot of what I have been looking at with the Spyderco collection- My activities as stated - Medium size hands, cold weather hunter, bird hunter, fly fishing, ocean fishing, camping and backpacking etc..

[MGN]

PM2. Just get the s30v to try it out. It's addicting. I have smaller hands so a military is too big for me. Plus I have no desire to have a knife that large; it is complete over kill for anything I use a knife for. PM2 is just right. I had a para 3 but I like the native better.

I use my PM2s outside all of the time. And usually I use the s30v because I figure if I snap it doing something I probably shouldn't be doing, i can easily replace it. If you do decide to get a PM2 in s30v, buy from a dealer. There are a lot of copies of this model out there.

Thanks for the guidance - All my knives are bought through Knife Center, Knife Works, Blade HQ, Midway etc. I saw the posts and legal action that Spyderco took on the "fakes" at ebay. I am glad that Spyderco did what needed to be done.

[MGN]

Welcome MGN! I cannot recommend either the Military or Advocate more!! They are outstanding knives! You should definitely try one out if you are interested!

Will be a t a cutlery shop this weekend and certainly will handle the knives in all of these replies. Many thanks.

[MGN]

Personally i enjoy having complete "families", like all Sages, All Jess Horn etc. (exception to that is the PM2 and Manix, both of which i respect for being good knives but i have no interest in getting every **** flavor of them)

Larry - I like families too. Looking at Sages, OWN 5 Natives, Chaparral too.

Thanks for your reply.

[MGN]

Seconding the Southard. It's comparable to the 562CF in terms of beefiness, but is decidedly thinner behind the edge.

Can't discount any of the classic big hole lines (military, PM2, manix, etc.) because NOTHING works better in below-zero temps with frozen hands in thick gloves than a big ol' spydie hole.

There common denominators in all of theses posts which is very comforting - I am getting used to the Spydie Hole. many thanks!

[MGN]

To every one of you that responded to my request - I cannot tell you all how much I truly appreciate all of your input. I am grateful to all of you. You all pretty much confirmed what I was thinking of collecting along with a few surprises. Nothing is better than getting information like this from people like yourselves.

Again I am grateful and Thanks very much......

PS - I have a new community and plan on sharing with all of you as I go along.

[MGN]

As a follow up ......I had a Spyderco Collection back in the late 1990's that was stolen - it was my only collection - it broke my heart. I would love to have that collection to compare to what we have today - all the alphabet steels etc. aside. So I am back and building - saved Spyderco for last.

Thanks Again.

[Nate]

Welcome MGN!

*Sorry to hear about your prior collection being stolen, that must have been tough. *

The Chaparral is great, the carbon fiber model was one of my first Spydies. Really nice for a slim, light, "gent's" folder. I have the new frn version in my pocket today.

In case it helps, here's a comparison pic of some of the larger Spyderco folders that have come up in this thread:

[ZrowsN1s]

If you're looking for a user and something uniquely spyderco, check out the "salt" knives. I'm super exited for the upcoming native salt (I too am a native fan), and in my humble opinion no spyder collection is complete without an H1 SE hawkbill of some kind :D (they come in extra small, small, meduim, and they're doing a sprint of the large ones soon) (ladybug, dragonfly, tasman, spyderhawk)

[ThePeacent]

another vote for the H1 knives, they're unique to Spyderco and very special and worth checking out on their own
Pacific Salt would be my first recommendation, or any of their salt Hawkbills for a change in blade shape

[ross8425]

Welcome to the forum. If you don't already have a Para 2, you should. Available in many steels and a great design. The compression lock is too fine. All the Sage knives are excellent. The Dragonfly though smaller is a "little big knife" The Caly's are also great. Enjoy

Seems to be a consensus on the Para 2 - what about the 3?

I had 1 para 3 but it was not for me. Para 2 is my hands down favorite folder and this just felt like a smaller handled, less cutting edge para 2 (which it is supposed to be). If I want that , I would carry my native. However, I may opt for some para 3 sprints.

Honeslty either one is awesome but for me, the 2 is hard to beat.

If you have no restrictions , get both and decide. :)

[SharpieB]

I love my Para 3 Camo and ordered a 2nd in black. My favourite Spyderco just behind the Manix 2.

Amazing ergonomics for me but I would strongly suggest handling one before buying. My kids (20/22) really dislike how the P3 feels in their hands, but it is perfect for me.

[MGN]

Welcome MGN!

*Sorry to hear about your prior collection being stolen, that must have been tough. *

The Chaparral is great, the carbon fiber model was one of my first Spydies. Really nice for a slim, light, "gent's" folder. I have the new frn version in my pocket today.

In case it helps, here's a comparison pic of some of the larger Spyderco folders that have come up in this thread:

Many Thanks Nate - Appreciate the pictures. Regarding Chaparral family - I have medium hands so how do they fit. I think my smallest (width) knives are the BM 470-1 Emissiary and the BM 707 Sequel McHenry Williams and they are about as "small "as I like in my Hand. So I am interested to know if you can assist in the size dept. The Picture below shows the 3 BM's alongside one of my Native 5 Spyderco.

Not sure specifically what some of the knives are in your picture - I think there is a Manix, perhaps you could be more specific on what your knives were.

Many Thanks

I am trying to add the Pics....so here goes.

[MGN]

I love my Para 3 Camo and ordered a 2nd in black. My favourite Spyderco just behind the Manix 2.

Amazing ergonomics for me but I would strongly suggest handling one before buying. My kids (20/22) really dislike how the P3 feels in their hands, but it is perfect for me.

Many Thanks for the input SharpieB. I will go to a Cutlery shop and handle them. By way of reference the Native 5 is extremely comfortable in my hand.