The Civilian - Opinions please.

[Big Nick]

Hi Sal & Spyderco family,

I have been contemplating buying a Civilian for some time now, primarily for SD and also for collective value.
Can I please ask for people's experience with the fit & finish and also the ease of deployment.

Sal, while reading up on Civilian revews on line, I stumbled across an old post of yours, (on a knife review forum) where you suggested that the current Civilian may be getting a "re-design" at some stage. I would respectfully like to ask if this was still the case.
I do however fully understand if you decline to answer that :-)

Many kind thanks, Nick.

[Doc Dan]

Hi Big Nick,

That must have been an old post. If I recall, the Civilian became the Delica, the perfect EDC.

[JD Spydo]

I've been fascinated with all of Spyderco's "Reverse S" style blades and have owned many of them over the years. I've owed some of the Civilian models over the years and I do like it's construction as well as the G-10 handle. I've always found the fit & finish along with the lock up on the ones I had was nice. With that being said the Civilian has a smaller counterpart model known as the "Matriarch" which is basically a scaled down version of the Civilian. The Matriarch fits my hand much better than the Civilian does. It's been my experience that the Civilian is a model designed for a guy with a large hand IMO.

Now the Matriarch models that I currently own all have FRN ( Fiberglass Reinforced Nylon) handle scales. I do prefer G-10 handles over FRN myself but the Matriarch model fits my hand so well that I will go with the FRN handle in that case. It's sort of a funny sidenote that I discovered in "The Spyderco Story" book written by Kenneth Delavigne that the smaller more novelty Spyderco model known as the "Cricket" model that has had so much success with is actually an extremely scaled down version of the Civilian :eek: I would have never even imagined that if I hadn't been told as much.

It just depends on the size of your hand in my opinion as to whether or not you will like the Civilian because to me it is designed for someone with a rather large hand. Now I'm sure that if you like the Civilian model a lot it may not make any differnce to you personally how it fits your hand but I've always found the Matriarch to be a far better model for me personally because I have a lot of confidence in how it fits my hand and feels to me when I use it. But overall the Civilian is a well built model>> the plain edged versions are getting to be a rather rare find now a days from a collector standpoint.

[Doc Dan]

Old Timer's disease catching up. I was thinking of another knife. Sorry.

[twinboysdad]

It makes a good collector's piece. It makes a good SD piece. It does not make a good utility knife. If you get one for reasons 1 or 2 you are GTG. If you try to make a Civie number 3, expect a broken tip. Might I suggest the Lil Matriarch as a gateway Reverse S? It is smaller, discontinued but available, and has an EDC friendly tip.

[PM1]

I prefer the Matriarch 2 black blade with Emerson opener to the Civilian. You don't lose much blade length, but it is lighter, has a more robust tip and it deploys faster. The all black also looks great in my opinion.

[v8r]

I had a Tuffram model for several years that I recently traded. The Civilian is a very nice, though highly specialized knife. You would think that if you had to pull it out and use it for what it was intended that the assailant would stop and think......don't know if I want to mess with getting cut by that thing! It is not a EDC use for anything knife.
As far as collectability goes you see them up all the time for sale. I don't know that they are worth much more than what they sell for. If you buy one, buy it because you like it or have a need for it. They aren't really collectors pieces due to their specialized nature.

[JD Spydo]

I had a Tuffram model for several years that I recently traded. The Civilian is a very nice, though highly specialized knife. You would think that if you had to pull it out and use it for what it was intended that the assailant would stop and think......don't know if I want to mess with getting cut by that thing! It is not a EDC use for anything knife.
As far as collectability goes you see them up all the time for sale. I don't know that they are worth much more than what they sell for. If you buy one, buy it because you like it or have a need for it. They aren't really collectors pieces due to their specialized nature.

I tend to agree with "V8r" with just about everything he had to say in regards to the Civilian model. I also agree with his assessment concerning collectibility concerning the Civilian model. The one exception I could think of would be the original, first run Carbon Fiber handled version that were made back in the early to mid 2000s decade. Especailly if you could find a left handed CF version because those CF models are getting extremely tough to find and more so the left handed models.

If "v8r" didn't do well selling the version with the Tufram handle which by the way is also getting rather difficult to find then I would say the Carbon Fiber versions or maybe, possibly a very early GIN-1 version NIB in pristine condition would be the only versions I would give any consideration as far as collectiblity goes. But I will say this about the Civilian and Matriarch models both>> they both have excellent re-sale value>> I've never had any trouble finding a buyer or trader for any of mine.

[euphorbioid]

I would think that the Civilian is very collectible. Multiple blade steels and handle materials makes it very attractive to collectors. I can't imagine it was a big seller for all the reasons enumerated above. Plus the excellent resell value mentioned would indicate that there is reasonable demand.