When / where was the first time you heard of or saw a spyderco?

[JD Spydo]

For me it was probably way back in the early 90s. I was starting to subscribe to 3 of the major knife magazines as I was starting my collection of knives. The ads in Blade and Tactical Knives I think were the first two publications I seen the unique serrated folders that Spyderco was advertising. Eventually they caught my eye and I started even reading some articles about certain Spyderco models in the knife and survival magazines.

Then about in the mid 90s I decided I wanted a premium serrated folder and I talked to two deer hunting buddies of mine and both said without hesitation that Spyderco had the very best. So at a Kansas City Gun Show in the Spring of 1995 I bought my first one which was a GIN-1, full SE, Stainless handled Mariner model. Actually I wish I still had it.

[hmr170]

In 1991 at the Valley Indoor Swapmeet near my house in So.Cal there was a booth selling these "weird looking" knives with holes in the blades. A guy was demonstrating how easy it was to open with one hand. I thought they looked practical and I bought both, the small one and the big one. The people that owned the booth selling the knives that day eventually opened one of the best knife stores in So.Cal, called Recon 1. The knives I bought were the Delica and the Endura. I'm proud to still have both today...original molded clips in-tact :) :spyder:

1994. A shipmate showed me his FRN Clipit Rescue. It blew my mind. I had never seen a one-hand opening knife or a fully serrated knife (other than a bread knife). I picked up a serrated Gen 1 Endura as soon as I could. I didn't have it long as I lost it over the side of the ship after only a month or so. My shipmate had it clipped in his back pocket and that seemed like a good place to me also. It worked its way out of the back pocket while I was working near the side of the ship and that was it. It never occurred to me to clip it in the front pocket.

I'm surprised your Delica's blade is in such good shape since the Youtube experts have told us that a knife without a sharpening choil will develop a recurve from sharpening... Anyway, beautiful knives.

[Xplorer]

I'm surprised your Delica's blade is in such good shape since the Youtube experts have told us that a knife without a sharpening choil will develop a recurve from sharpening... Anyway, beautiful knives.

Thank you.
Although this Delica hasn't been in my rotation for many years now, I can definitely say that the blade does not necessarily have to develop a re-curve. There were many, many times when I was younger that I sharpened this knife badly with little or no knowledge of what good sharpening skills were. Thankfully, I've learned a lot since those days but nonetheless I was able to avoid a re-curve throughout many years of usage before I even realized that it was something I should try to avoid. All said, this is also a knife that I have never been careful about in any way and I have never tried to keep the edge looking aesthetically perfect. It was just just a user knife and treated as such. Don't get me started on the idea of "Youtube experts" :p .

Your post made me want to take a few closer shots of the base of the blade..here they are :)




Best regards,
Chad

[steelcity16]

Thank you.
Although this Delica hasn't been in my rotation for many years now, I can definitely say that the blade does not necessarily have to develop a re-curve. There were many, many times when I was younger that I sharpened this knife badly with little or no knowledge of what good sharpening skills were. Thankfully, I've learned a lot since those days but nonetheless I was able to avoid a re-curve throughout many years of usage before I even realized that it was something I should try to avoid. All said, this is also a knife that I have never been careful about in any way and I have never tried to keep the edge looking aesthetically perfect. It was just just a user knife and treated as such. Don't get me started on the idea of "Youtube experts" :p .

Your post made me want to take a few closer shots of the base of the blade..here they are :)

Best regards,
Chad

Love the photos Chad! I really like these old Saber Ground Delicas. If you could pick any Bohler Steel for a new "hard user" type Saber Ground Delica sprint, which would you pick and why? I say Bohler because we have seen K390 and now M390 in Seki, so maybe something like V4E, Elmax, Sleipner, AEB-L, or even Vanax will be possible in the future.

[Xplorer]

... If you could pick any Bohler Steel for a new "hard user" type Saber Ground Delica sprint, which would you pick and why?...

The geometry of a sabre ground Delica makes the blade inherently tough as it is so within the context of your criteria, my personal preference would be something easy to maintain and easy to sharpen with mid-level wear resistance like Vanax (Uddeholm steel). Every steel you mentioned would make a very nice hard-use sabre ground Delica IMO. I am partial to Vanax for the overall balance of properties, and V4E (also Uddeholm) is another one of my favorite steels, but I'd say a K390 (Bohler steel) sabre ground Delica (although not as easy to sharpen) would probably excite me the most if it were available. K390 would stay sharp for a very long time and offer a great balance of toughness in that design (as would V4E and Crucible's CPM CruWear..second and third choices).
However, I personally think the Delica is too small for hard use and I tend to use my Endura or my Pacific Salt for the real hard-use tasks that are appropriate for a folder. For me personally, the ideal Delica is full flat ground in Maxamet (Carpenter steel)...but only because I am lucky enough to have a vitrified CBN stone to make sharpening easy. :)

Best,
CK

[Mako109]

1981, Bellevue, Washington at a cutlery shop in Bellevue Square. The shop owner had just received the C01 Worker and pointed it out as something very special. First folding knife I've ever purchased outside of a SAK.

[Supacede]

Like JD, for me it was the mid 90's tactical knives ads and review articles. They're where I first saw the micarta handled Calypso models. That's all it took.

Thinking of it now itd be neat to have some of those old issues..

[Mad Mac]

In 1990 I began pistol shooting with the USPSA. On a given Wednesday night, 50 men and a few women would compete and could they shoot. They were my heroes and most of them had knives clipped in their pockets.

Benchmade was popular then, but out of my price range when one of the shooters showed me his Spyderco. The opening hole looked elegant compared to a thumb stud, the hollow grind glowed, the serrated edge was vicious and the price was right.

Next gun show I went to I bought an SE Endura. Carried it for 25 years and was perfectly happy until I fell down the Spyderhole four years ago.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

For me it was the Spyderco Police with stainless steel handle, seen clipped in the pocket of an audio engineer at an outdoor event. To my amazement, he drew the knife out and opened it with one hand to cut some rope or tape or something. I asked him what knife is that? and he said "Spyderco Clip-It." After that, the main sighting was in the movie with Sylvester Stallone, "Cliff Hanger", as was mentioned above. I also saw them for sale in different knife stores between those times. I then began to see them in various knife magazines.

[bearrowland]

This is a great thread! I wish I had discovered Spyderco back in the early 90's.

[BLUETYPEII]

It was probably around 1993. My friend showed me one of his fathers knives. It was the small Spyderco folder with the cutouts on the blade and handle (forgive me I forget the name of that model).

It was driving me insane so I googled it. The model was the “Q”

[Mattysc42]

I was into sharpening for years before getting into knives, and only really started looking into knives ~4 years ago. The first time I recall seeing a Spyderco was while browsing the becker section of bladeforums. Someone had posted a picture of a pm2, and I remember thinking “Good lord, that’s hideous”. I pretty much wrote Spyderco off as a brand right then and there.

Fast forwards a year and a half, and I was on the hunt for a 20CV fixed blade. It was during this search that I found mention of the Mule Team program, which led me to the MT23. It was love at first sight, and 10 minutes later I had 3 Mules ordered (23, 25, 26).

Over the next year, I started finding more and more Spyderco models that appealed to me, the more symmetrical leaf blades in paricular. The Caribbean, Manix XL, Shaman, and Native all ended up on my wishlist, and eventually in hand.

After that, the Spyderweb had me firmly ensared, and I doubt I’ll ever escape. :p

[The Deacon]

It was in early 2003, while reading Hannibal. Saw the references to Spyderco knives, wondered if they were real or just something Thomas Harris had made up, so I Googled it. Turned out to be the most expensive web search I've ever done. :eek:

[A.S.]

I first found out about Spyderco in Tactical Knives Magazine back in the mid-90's. Before the internet, that was all I had to see new knives and read up on what was out there.