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

[lonerider1013]

So when did you first hear of or see a spyderco? For me it was (seriously) the film "cliffhanger". I think it was an endura if I remember.
You?

lonerider

[Evil D]

Probably the Police model in Training Day back around 2001, but it wasn't until 2005 that I bought my first.

[Woodpuppy]

Smoky mountain knife works catalog when I was a kid growing up in the FL Keys in the late 80s.

[vivi]

SE Police, Fight Club.

I still thinks its one of their best looking models.

[Xplorer]

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:

[JonLeBlanc]

^those are some cool vintage Spydies lol. At first I was thinking "I haven't a clue when I first heard of Spyderco" but now I remember it was in reading Hannibal. I know it isn't exactly what the company wants to be known for, but I reckon many people had their first exposure to the brand through that book.

[bbturbodad]

I think it was 92 or 93 my boss at the time, had a "Police knife made with Japanese surgical steel" ...at least that's the way I remember him describing it.

[Cowboyfromhell]

Mid nineties in a mountain climbing store. Plus in the movie cliffhanger...Didn't even own a spyderco 2 months ago, now I have 12!!

[Doc Dan]

Back in the late 80's or very early 90's at a sporting goods (hunting and fishing) shop. I did not buy one, but they looked awesome. Then, in the early 90's I bought my first Spyderco.

[Evil D]

SE Police, Fight Club.

I still thinks its one of their best looking models.

I still think it's the quintessential Spyderco. I really need to get myself a stainless steel version just for the cool factor.

[Enactive]

Must have been the early 90's I remember seeing an orange handled rescue in an REI catalog.

[vivi]

SE Police, Fight Club.

I still thinks its one of their best looking models.

I still think it's the quintessential Spyderco. I really need to get myself a stainless steel version just for the cool factor.

Same. I sold my SS Police when the Police 3 came out, and once in a while I get nostalgic for one.

[James Y]

Well, the first time I saw one was probably in 1993, in the movie Hard Target. The villain's right-hand man carried a SS SE Police. But for some reason the first time seeing a Spyderco actually registered in my brain was in the movie Anaconda back in 1997. It was a Delica. Shortly after seeing that movie, I received an unsolicited knife catalog in the mail from a knife dealer based somewhere in WA state. That catalog was the first I ever hard of Spyderco, Benchmade, Kershaw, and even Case (as a kid, I never saw Case knives for sale in my area, only Schrade, Ka-Bar, Camillus, Buck, etc.). I recognized the Delica as the knife I'd seen in Anaconda, and at least found out it had a name. Later that same year ('97), I bought my first Spyderco, a PE AUS-8 Delica.

By 1997, I had already been carrying and using pocketknives for 20 years.

Jim

[Foundry81]

I was looking for a knife to replace my block 110. I googled EDC pocket knives, and among others, "spyderco" kept popping up. I then Googled spyderco and instantly knew they were not to me, too ugly… About a year later, I picked up a tenacious from the local Walmart, followed by an endura, pm2, and shaman over the next year or so. It really spiraled our control after the Shaman....

[Foundry81]

Sorry buck 110, not block 110.

[Halfneck]

Flew back to Salinas, Ca. to visit friends from High School in 1987. While I was out there I was hanging out around Carmel, Ca and went into a Tobacco store to look at the small selection of knives they had. This stainless steel handled, serrated edged, humpbacked, hole in the hawkbill bladed knife stood out from the rest. Bought it because it was so different from all the other knives I owned at the time.

[bearrowland]

I honestly can't recall, but handling my son's Pacific Salt was all it took to hook me

[Sharp Guy]

Back in the early 90's a friend that helped at our gun shop wanted some gun part of mine. I think was something on a used gun I bought and wasn't going to use. Thinking about it I'm pretty sure it was the wood grips from my S&W model 10 because I now kind of regret trading them. He knew I like sharpening my knives and offered me a Spyderco 203 Sharpmaker in trade. I accepted the deal and that was the first Spyderco product I had up until a few years ago. I know I had heard of Spyderco before that time but didn't know much about the company.

NOTE: while I'd still like to have those model 10 grips (still own the 10) I'm also thankful to have found the Sharpmaker. So it was a good trade for me. :)

[TomAiello]

I think it was 1993 or 1994. At REI in Sacramento, on the drive out to go climbing in the Tahoe area (which we did almost every week). I bought a SE Snap It.

[ladybug93]

for me, it was a ladybug in a local knife shop. they mostly sold kitchen knife sets, but had some pocket knives from various companies. this was back in 1992 or 1993, when i was just a kid. the ladybug ended up being my first knife. i remember thinking it looked ugly and awesome and i had to have it. it was especially cool seeing a spyderco in cliffhanger after that because stallone was one of my childhood heroes. you know... rambo. how many of us owe at least part of our knife obsession to rambo?