Matriarch Appreciation Thread

[JD Spydo]

I got off work early this afternoon and with a bit of spare time on my hands I went to my Spyder Footlocker. The first blade I pulled out was my beloved Matriarch :cool:

As much as I dearly adore the Civilian I just can't say enough about the Matriarch. This Spyder fits my hand as though it was tailor made for me personally. With all the talk lately about Hawkbills in general I think it's simply apropos to give the Matriarch a round of applause and for the Spyder Brethren ( Sisters too :) ) to express your appreciation for this Hall Of Fame Spyder.

For all of you newer Citizens here at Spyderville I beseech you to do some internet homework on this great model. It's certainly not your dad's Hawkbill and it's not an SD knife that you would buy at a "Ninja-Wannabee" shop :rolleyes:

What makes the Matriarch so perfect to me is the size, scope and the fantastic proportional fit of that handle to my hand ( your's too I bet). Mike Sastre preached the Gospel of the Matriarch to me a few years ago and all I can say is that the man definitely knew what he was talking about. OK Matriarch fans let's talk

[Lord vader]

I got off work early this afternoon and with a bit of spare time on my hands I went to my Spyder Footlocker. The first blade I pulled out was my beloved Matriarch :cool:

As much as I dearly adore the Civilian I just can't say enough about the Matriarch. This Spyder fits my hand as though it was tailor made for me personally. With all the talk lately about Hawkbills in general I think it's simply apropos to give the Matriarch a round of applause and for the Spyder Brethren ( Sisters too :) ) to express your appreciation for this Hall Of Fame Spyder.

For all of you newer Citizens here at Spyderville I beseech you to do some internet homework on this great model. It's certainly not your dad's Hawkbill and it's not an SD knife that you would buy at a "Ninja-Wannabee" shop :rolleyes:

What makes the Matriarch so perfect to me is the size, scope and the fantastic proportional fit of that handle to my hand ( your's too I bet). Mike Sastre preached the Gospel of the Matriarch to me a few years ago and all I can say is that the man definitely knew what he was talking about. OK Matriarch fans let's talk

Well,I may have to introduce myself to the Matriarch soon.I know how you feel about that,i feel the same about my pacific.It fits my hand like a glove.

[slice22358]

lol is this going to turn into another matri-duty hawk thread? :D

[Mike Sastre]

Lord vader,

Guess what - same handle. Couldn't resist. I've done my preaching on the subject, so I'll sit back and watch, but i will say that I still carry my grey Matriarch whenever I'm away from home. (the 'other one' too, JD. :) )

[CombatGrappler]

Sold mine about 2 years back in a money crunch. I wish everyday that I had it back

[Don Ellis]

Sold mine about 2 years back in a money crunch. I wish everyday that I had it back

Here's your chance... seems to be in stock, as well:
http://216.71.158.68/webcat/asdhdnew.shtml

:eek:

Happy New Year.
Don

[Lord vader]

Lord vader,

Guess what - same handle. Couldn't resist. I've done my preaching on the subject, so I'll sit back and watch, but i will say that I still carry my grey Matriarch whenever I'm away from home. (the 'other one' too, JD. :) )

I thought so.

[JD Spydo]

lol is this going to turn into another matri-duty hawk thread? :D

Hey SLICE if you think for one second I've forgot about the idea of the "Matri-Duty Hawk" >>> I can assure you I've done a lot of thinking about that.

I'll be more than glad to lay out some very explicit plans for a heavy duty, working Hawkbill with a Matriarch type design. I guess we left off talking about Matri-Duty Hawk on the big Hawkbill thread.

Make no mistake the Matriarch is one of Spyderco's very best SD blades ever. As good of a blade as the Civilian is I still say that the Matriarch to me is just a well refined version of the Civilian.

If Spyderco ever does do another sprint run of this great blade I hope they do 2 modifications different from the original. First a G-10 handle would be super and then if they would make a blade from one of Crucible's incredible tool steels and to make the blade about 1.5 millimeters thicker than the original.

[SimpleIsGood229]

If Spyderco ever does do another sprint run of this great blade I hope they do 2 modifications different from the original. First a G-10 handle would be super and then if they would make a blade from one of Crucible's incredible tool steels and to make the blade about 1.5 millimeters thicker than the original.

Wouldn't a G-10 Matriarch be, for all intents and purposes, just another Civilian? To me, the Matriarch's unlined FRN handle makes it what it is.

What about an H-1 Matriarch (as unrealistic as it may be) to go with an H-1 Spyderhawk? Would that not be the most awesome duo EVER? :eek: :cool:

[JD Spydo]

Wouldn't a G-10 Matriarch be, for all intents and purposes, just another Civilian? To me, the Matriarch's unlined FRN handle makes it what it is.

What about an H-1 Matriarch (as unrealistic as it may be) to go with an H-1 Spyderhawk? Would that not be the most awesome duo EVER? :eek: :cool:

No the G-10 handle would not make it the same as a Civilian. The Civilian has a considerably longer blade than the Matriarch. The handle design is also somewhat different.

Also I don't think of the Matriarch as being a "worker's Hawkbill" like the Spyderhawk, Merlin, Harpy or Tasman. The Matriarch is solely an SD blade just as it's big brother Civi. Nor I do think that the Matriarch is the type of blade you would want to do in H-1 blade steel.

Now don't get me wrong because I'm not complaining about the Matriarch just the way it is with FRN handle scales. Just thinking of ways to improve it. A G-10 handle would enhance it.

[SimpleIsGood229]

Also I don't think of the Matriarch as being a "worker's Hawkbill" like the Spyderhawk, Merlin, Harpy or Tasman. The Matriarch is solely an SD blade just as it's big brother Civi.

I absolutely agree. However, I think the Matriarch, academically speaking, would benefit from H-1 in that the tip would be less likely to break, and that it would be maintenance free.

Oh, well. So maybe it isn't as good an idea as the H-1 Spyderhawk.

[DAYWALKER]

Aloha JD,

Good to see you, and Happy New Year!

I think I threaded about carrying this model as an EDC piece...out of curiosity in regards to the tip. Well, tip stood up fine. I was extra careful though when cutting clam packed type plastics, but other than that...

All good.

I'd prolly remove a small section of serrations from the front...not much, but just enough to perhaps enable the tip to be thicker for daily use. I have always considered my SD blade the same as my using one.

Limiting the "Lady" to SD only is a shame IMHO.

God bless and Happy New Year! :)

[clovisc]

i was a bonehead for selling my matriarch... but not really, because it fetched a great price, and i spent all the dough on new spydies. :D still, i REALLY wish i had a couple of them... matri-duty hawk sounds superb... :D as does delica-sized reverse-S curve blade...

[JD Spydo]

Aloha JD,

Good to see you, and Happy New Year!

I think I threaded about carrying this model as an EDC piece...out of curiosity in regards to the tip. Well, tip stood up fine. I was extra careful though when cutting clam packed type plastics, but other than that...

All good.

I'd prolly remove a small section of serrations from the front...not much, but just enough to perhaps enable the tip to be thicker for daily use. I have always considered my SD blade the same as my using one.

Limiting the "Lady" to SD only is a shame IMHO.

God bless and Happy New Year! :)

Hey Chad it's great to hear from you :) I do seem to remember that you were a fan of the Matriarch and I'm glad to hear that you still are. This is just one of about 6 Spyderco models that for what ever reason didn't gain much fanfare until it was deleted from the main line up. But like the Yojimbo, Ronin, Dodo, Ayoob and a couple of other great Hall Of Fame Spyders it sure isn't lacking any favor now.

Say I'm curious if your Matriarch is a VG-10 model. I just had a brother tell me that there were very few of the VG-10 Matriarch made and sold. I also know that there weren't too many of the Gray ones either. I had heard that the Gray ones were supposed to be shipped to South Africa and they somehow ended up back here :confused: .

Hey I like this idea you have of grinding off a few serrations to make a more well defined tip. I now have one of those TORMEK wet grinding units that I can do that with. Keep me posted and let us all know how that turns out. However I won't do that to my VG-10 model I'll wait and snag another one to try that with. Hey Chad we really appreciate you chiming in on this Matriarch Appreciation Thread. I knew that blade had a few serious fans and I'm sure we'll hear from some more brothers. Keep us posted. JD :spyder: O

[DAYWALKER]

Yo JD sir,

NO!!! Don't do it yourself...the tip is too thin for any type of re-pro. Let Sal do it with a blue handle! :D Kidding...but thickening the tip was just my opinion on making it a more...versatile Lady.

Not sure which steel mine is...I gotta go check, but it is a black handled one, not the elusive Gray version.

Seriously though, the Matri acts like a "big Cricket"...throw on a thicker tip for daily usage, and it would end up in my pocket again...that is IF my P'Kal lets it. :p

God bless! :)

[goke]

I love the Matriarch and I wear it inside the waist band when I carry it. It's nice and light- that's why I like it better than the Civilian. I don't think it's much smaller than the Civilian blade, maybe a few millimeters?

[Dr. Snubnose]

My Matriarch (a gift from Chad) sees outer pocket duty each winter for my left hand....great knife, great feel, great edge.....when you need to rip and run, can't think of a finer knife....Doc :D

[Mike Sastre]

Civilian has about 1/4" max more blade length than the Matriarch. Original G-10 Civilians had no liners at all, which made for a nice lightweight carry piece. Liners were added shortly after G-10 handles were introduced to improve pocket clip retention (never had that problem myself), but added weight. FRN handled Matriarch brought back lightweight carry - no need to change this, see Civilian. Originally the black Matriarchs were ONLY available in South Africa (concept - SD piece for women), then Spyderco did a special run with grey handle for BF members (500). Sometime after that, the black handled Matriarch appeared as a regular catalog item for a while, then discontinued.