Trinity of SpyderCo's

[SaltyCaribbeanDfly]

You beat me to the punch @Cowboyfromhell I was gonna say PM2 Salt…you’ll thank me later too! Happy Halloween

[JoviAl]

Temperance SE Cruwear sprint - you don’t have a fixed blade and that is an incredibly good value, robust and versatile knife for the money.

[TimButterfield]

A little over a year ago, I was where you are. Now, I have 37 Spyderco including a few of the small kitchen knives. Only one model is a duplicate, though with two different blade styles and blade steels Some are the more standard production offerings. Others just really caught my eye like the Nishijin/Damascus Stretch 2 XL or the Chaparral. If you browse through some recent (last year or so) Spyderco Byte newsletters, do any of those really catch your eye? Would larger than what you have be a good fit for you or maybe smaller? Or, would you prefer to flesh out the mid sizes more? Do you feel your current set is just missing something? Maybe you really like what one of your knives does, but ..... (fill in the blank about anything). If so, explore that to see if you can better identify what it is. Are there any sprint runs that you may regret later if you don't get one while they are available? Do you ever travel to areas with more restrictive knife laws? Maybe the UKPK, Urban or another may be legal there? If you may be traveling through an area with a decent knife store, perhaps you can get actual hands on with some others. It is easy for any of us to recommend our preferred models. You can also check older threads for polls on those if you prefer to see numbers. All of these are suggestions for you to investigate. Self reflection may still be needed to determine best fit of what you see or, just go with your gut, what catches your eye. Learning about Spyderco has been a wonderful journey for me. Enjoy the ride!

[benben]

I have 30+ Spyderco's, everyone of them is great, but nothing opened my eyes to flat out performance like my very first serrated Pacific Salt!

You need some Toxic Green in your life!

[SchoonerBum]

Ladybug in either K390 or H2.

[legOFwhat?]

$125. Such a great price and knife!
https://www.bentoboxshop.com/images/PE_ ... Endura.jpg

[jwbnyc]

Okay. You got me with that one..

[standy99]

No Fixed blade

A Stok will sort you out for under $100

[Mrj]

If you are going up in size then PM2 or stretch. If it’s a money issue then Endela or Endura.
But my number one recommendation is go smaller with the PD 1 sprint Manbug. I love the manbug!! Put on a key chain and you will use it everyday.

[spydergoat]

Pacific Salt LC200n: bigger than your knives there, nice steel, useful blade, and most importantly- a bright green to add to your cheerful collection. It's getting close to black friday and I bet you can get one cheeaaap then.

[gtdiver]

And to me, the sage 5 lw represents the pinnacle of 3” pocket knife design, period…s30v, spy27, rex 121, maxamet, m4 (if you can find one), whatever your style is…it’s allll good.

This is a really good recommendation. The Sage 5 LW comes in a variety of steels, blade coatings, and scale colors. I also find that the scales are easier on my pockets than the the ones on the Delica or Manix.

Judging by the clip positions on your current trio, you carry LH. I'm able to manipulate the compression lock easily with either hand. YMMV but this is one to consider.

[Manifestgtr]

And to me, the sage 5 lw represents the pinnacle of 3” pocket knife design, period…s30v, spy27, rex 121, maxamet, m4 (if you can find one), whatever your style is…it’s allll good.

This is a really good recommendation. The Sage 5 LW comes in a variety of steels, blade coatings, and scale colors. I also find that the scales are easier on my pockets than the the ones on the Delica or Manix.

Thanks : )

And now, it’ll be showing up in magnacut as well. I’ve been over the moon with all of the attention the sage 5 lw has been getting from Spyderco recently.

[sal]

Hi Triquetra, Gtdiver,

Welcome our our forum.

sal

[gtdiver]

Hi Triquetra, Gtdiver,

Welcome our our forum.

sal

Thanks you, Sal. It was a pleasure meeting you, Eric, Michael Janich, and many others at Blade Show this year.

[Vamais]

You have a good spread of blade lengths.
They are all stainless steels.
They all have choils.
They all have molded bi-directional grips.
They all have ambidextrous locks with a self-close bias.
They all have roughly the same blade shape.
You have both PE and SE edges.
I am guessing that you are a lefty and like deep carry.

I don't know if you want to stay with the same theme, or get something with different attributes that will complement what you already have.

It looks like your bases are fairly well covered, but if you haven't tried something with more belly, maybe go that route. Or perhaps you'd like to try a wharncliffe or a hawkbill. Maybe you want something fancier for formal occasions?

How many do you carry at at time? Just one, or multiples?

Personally I would try a tool steel. If propensity for staining is a concern for you, I'd try a coated tool steel. Cru-Wear is fairly stainless as far as tool steels go.

If you like the designs that you have, maybe get another of the same model, but in a different flavor. That way you can better understand what you like (holding the model constant and varying the steel can teach you about your steel preferences).

You could always go smaller and get a Manbug. There are leaf, bellied, wharncliffe, and hawkbill (coming soon) options. Stainless steels and tool steels. Coated and uncoated.

[sal]

I almost always have a Manbug with me, despite what other models I may have. I may change variations, but one is always in my pocket. I'll be carrying the serrated Hawkbill today.

sal

[Notsurewhy]

You have great taste, those are three of my top five.

For recommendations, I will offer the other two in my top five:

-A native chief (in whatever scale/steel combo tickles your fancy)if you want something larger. Great blade, great ergos, light and super pocketable for the size.

-A birdseye maple or raffir noble chaparral if you'd like something a little fancy. Supremely slicey, great in hand and pretty to look at. There's also nothing wrong with the frn version, if you want to trade some looks for some extra grip (and save a few bucks).

[Wartstein]

As a poor graduate student, I've had to choose my spyderco's carefully. Anybody have any good recommendations for a 4th that would round out my starting lineup?

Welcome to the forum!

Very cool lineup you have already, i particularily like that you choose to try a serrated Spyderco right from the beginning (your Native Salt SE).

To me personally all of your Spydies are rather small though (including the Manix with its short cutting edge) and I'd get an additional larger one as a (to me!) "regular" sized, do it all EDC.

Here i can recommend the thin line Endura (ffg comboedge, disco'ed, but still out there for reduced prices) or the Pac Salt SE (for general EDC I'd go for the ffg LC 200N version) or the VG10 Stretch 2 XL SE (it has a very fine tip though, which can be both a pro and con)
You can of course go PE with these models too, I prefer SE though.
All not too expensive, and you say you're on a budget.

"On a budget" also screams "Tenacious":
The S35VN LW is a great choice with a very good steel for not too much money, and to me, though actually not larger, still a "bigger" knife than the Manix due to the Tenacious' substantially longer cutting edge (pretty much like an Endura).
Also with that one you could try another lock, the imo very convenient linerlock.

[skeeg11]

You don't seem to have a liner lock in your repertoire. I have not always been a fan of them because there are so many poorly made and unsafe ones out there. This is not the case with Spyderco liner locks. They are very well made. It is a different action from what you have. Wartstein's suggestion bears some merit.....especially if you have occasion to wear gloves frequently.

[Wartstein]

You don't seem to have a liner lock in your repertoire. I have not always been a fan of them because there are so many poorly made and unsafe ones out there. This is not the case with Spyderco liner locks. They are very well made. It is a different action from what you have. Wartstein's suggestion bears some merit.....especially if you have occasion to wear gloves frequently.

Yes, a good (!) linerlock is really something to try and also yes, this locktype probably has a bit of a bad reputation cause there are too many crappy and cheaply made ones out there (not by Spyderco!).
Very convenient to use with its large cutout (great for operating it with gloves indeed) and the position on the handle right where the fingers sit anyway.

So imo the Tenacious would be a good one to try out.. a ton of cutting edge in a beefy, comfy handle (for a folder) with still a very compact size and a good linerlock.