Y’all like rare knives? First run Paramilitary, circa 2004.

[AwayFromMySpydieHole]

Hey guys. Figured I’d take some time and show my original, first run Paramilitary. Maybe Sal can chime in, but by all the research I’ve done this is one of the first Paramilitary’s to be made. It would have been made in 2004.

This one was made before all of the subsequent CQI on the original paramilitary, and still bears the “patent pending” on the clip. I assume for the compression lock.

Also of note, look at the large cutout on the blade tang. The knife actually has no detent ball! The blade is retained in the handle just by the action of the lock bar itself engaging into that cutout when the blade is closed.

This piece is a star of my collection. It is unused and uncarried. Perfect condition. Just wanted to share, and if you have any more info I’d love to hear it! I’d love to hear from Sal if he can chime in.


Edit: not sure why some of the images are being flipped and some aren’t. I can’t seem to make them upload correctly. I flip them and upload them, and they turn the wrong way again. Anyway, click the images for full res.

[bearrowland]

Very nice!!

[Accutron]

What's the date code? I have an ED date code Paramilitary that has most of the pre-CQI features but doesn't have the larger exposed cutout on the ricasso or the 'patent pending' clip.



I also have the D2 sprint

[JMM]

What a cool piece of history, thanks for sharing, I have never seen one with the cut-out before.

Cheers,

John

[kennethsime]

Sweet!

There's a collector's club number on it, so I bet it's absolutely part of the first production run.

We used to have one of these in the knife shop I worked at in college, and I tried incredibly hard to sell it. Unfortunately, the PM2 had recently come out and was all anybody wanted.

Do you happen to have a Para 3? I didn't actually realize that that PM1 was smaller than the PM2 until seeing your comparison pictures. I'd love to see all three lined up!

[Cambertree]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing that.

Was this one of the first uses of CPM S30V?

And if not, I'm curious what year and model S30V was introduced in?

[Halfneck]

I had one exactly like that, though not as nice. Got it used off ebay for $50 because the owner didn't know how to sharpen serrations. Used it as my yard knife for a few years, but the ergos of the original ParaMilitary were not good for me so I sold it.

[Pancake]

Hey Awayfrommyspydiehole
Cool knife.
Did you have some photos from disassembly? I can't still figured it out how compression lock worked without detent ball. What is keeping the blade closed?

[araneae]

What is keeping the blade closed?

The lock tab sits in the cutout notch in the tang and that provides the detent.

I've got a PE para 1, it was my first higher end Spyderco. It's got the patent marked clip. I bought it used on eBay with a custom sheath, at the time I couldn't afford a new one. Maybe I'll carry it tomorrow. It's a good reminder of how refined the para series is.

Everything good about the paramilitary got better in the P2. The Para 3 took those refinements and made it more compact. The para 3 lightweights solved the issues I had with the g-10 version, the clip placement and the somewhat blocky handles. I'm probably done buying g-10 variants and I'm expecting a P2 lightweight will materialize sometime soon.

CQI sets Spyderco apart from a lot of other companies. Simply making a good knife and then calling it a done deal isn't their way, but that's how most of their competitors work. There's almost always room for improvement, but each generation, a Spyderco knife tends to have noticably less room for improvement than the previous version.

[koenigsegg]

Because there is no V after the collector number it's absolutely the original version of the knife. Any versions after would have a V at the end to say they're a variation

[Doc Dan]

This is interesting. I did not realize there was a cutout instead of a detent. Why did the move away from the cutout?

[Wartstein]

Very nice!
Though the serrations look really aggressive.. (compared to many "modern days" SE Spydies)

[jezabel]

Nice! I still prefer the early Para's and SE too .. some how they suit me much better.
I get why everyone loves the para 2, but while I have a couple, I still can't get excited about them.

J

[AwayFromMySpydieHole]

This is interesting. I did not realize there was a cutout instead of a detent. Why did the move away from the cutout?

Probably much easier to machine a little hole compared to a large cutout that has to be milled.

Also, since there is no detent ball the contact area between the lock bar and blade is much larger while opening. Therefore more friction.

Detent balls greatly reduce that contact patch while opening and closing the knife, so it feels a lot smoother.

Many reasons really.

[bearfacedkiller]

Here is the detent on my D2 sprint. Even without a detent ball it is as smooth as glass.

[Doc Dan]

Genius.

Does it hold the blade closed better than the detent?

[AwayFromMySpydieHole]

Genius.

Does it hold the blade closed better than the detent?

Not on my example. A nice dialed in detent ball works better. Guessing that’s why they CQI’d it to a ball.

Basically every change that was made to bring us the paramilitary 2 was a positive. This is an AWESOME knife but the paramilitary 2 improves on it in every way.

Expect nothing less from spyderco.

[kennethsime]

Everything good about the paramilitary got better in the P2. The Para 3 took those refinements and made it more compact. The para 3 lightweights solved the issues I had with the g-10 version, the clip placement and the somewhat blocky handles. I'm probably done buying g-10 variants and I'm expecting a P2 lightweight will materialize sometime soon.

CQI sets Spyderco apart from a lot of other companies. Simply making a good knife and then calling it a done deal isn't their way, but that's how most of their competitors work. There's almost always room for improvement, but each generation, a Spyderco knife tends to have noticably less room for improvement than the previous version.

Man I can get behind this. I think that Sal mentioned somewhere Eric is working on it.

I picked up a Manix 2 LW recently and while it's a great knife, my biggest takeaway is that I can't wait for a Para Military 2 Lightweight.

[Wartstein]

Everything good about the paramilitary got better in the P2. The Para 3 took those refinements and made it more compact. The para 3 lightweights solved the issues I had with the g-10 version, the clip placement and the somewhat blocky handles. I'm probably done buying g-10 variants and I'm expecting a P2 lightweight will materialize sometime soon.

CQI sets Spyderco apart from a lot of other companies. Simply making a good knife and then calling it a done deal isn't their way, but that's how most of their competitors work. There's almost always room for improvement, but each generation, a Spyderco knife tends to have noticably less room for improvement than the previous version.

Man I can get behind this. I think that Sal mentioned somewhere Eric is working on it.

I picked up a Manix 2 LW recently and while it's a great knife, my biggest takeaway is that I can't wait for a Para Military 2 Lightweight.

Probably one of the (few) points where we DON´T agree (since I know already I´ll prefer the Manix 2 LW over the PM2 LW, just cause I do like the Manix platform more in general), but still I am a bit puzzled that it takes them so long to release a PM2 LW. Must be due to limited production capacity or some strategic thoughts. Just from my total layman point of view, most of the developing work should have been done already with the Para 3 LW (constructing a genious basically linerless comp.lock knife. The concept should be quite "easily" be transferred to the PM2? Could be wrong though, layman as said...)

[James Y]

That original PM was cool.

On a side note, I seem to remember on that old show, Man vs Food, the original host, Adam Richman, used to carry (IIRC) an original PM with a DLC-coated blade. I seem to remember him using it once to open oysters(?), and bringing it out on another episode(s) as well. At first I’d thought it was a Military, but after seeing it more than once, I concluded that it was a PM. This was before the release of the PM2.

Jim