Your most sentimental Spyderco?

[babtron]

I was just wondering what is/are your most sentimental Spyderco(s)? Maybe we can get some nice stories regarding your most beloved or prized Spydie. Safe queens are permitted :p.

For me, I didn't have a hand-me-down or was gifted any. My first Spyderco I bought in 2011, I gifted. It was a DF2 in black FRN with VG-10. That could have been it if I still kept it.

Flash forward to mid-2014. I took the plunge on a couple Super Blue DF2s from New Graham. My plan was to open one and make it a user, while the other one was for backup--and to keep it BNIB (I still haven't taken it out of the package). From first sight, I fell in love with it. I loved the handle color, the laminate, the F&F. Really, I loved everything about it. It would then go on to be my primary EDC. I watched as the patina grew. Then, corrosion hit. I live in Hawaii so corrosion was bound to happen eventually. I'm not sure if I got complacent, but I went a couple months without any form of corrosion. I did the deed and made it all better. The blade now has dark spots from the pitting on the spine. I like it as I feel it adds character. After numerous times sanding the thumb hole, the grooves on the jimping and the spine, it brought a certain sentimental value for me. I appreciated the knife more. Kinda crazy as it's a material thing.

But what put it over the edge and made it my most sentimental knife, was the sharpening experiences I had with it. Upon learning how to sharpen, this knife was my lab rat. I found some rust spots on the edge and decided to convex the edge. It was my first time trying the technique. I ended up grinding away the patina from the first months of use, but it became the sharpest knife I've ever sharpened--adding to the sentimental value. No longer did I care how the blade looked from the grind marks. The cladding especially adds a different look. For me, it's all about how the knife performs now, not how it looks. It isn't the prettiest knife out there, but holy crap does it perform. Quite frankly, after looking at it more, I think it looks awesome. The character on this thing is awesome, especially starting the patina again.

Well, that's my lame story of my most sentimental Spyderco/knife. I'm sure there's a lot better stories out there. Who would like to share? :)

[MacLaren]

My 1st. The Vallotton.

[FCM415]

My powder blue ZDP Stretches. Both my safe queen and user.

[Liquid Cobra]

For me its a toss up. It's either my Bob Lum Tanto Folder (grey) which I found BNIB at a random store in the mall or my Black PM2 which I bought in person at the Spyderco Factory when I got a chance to visit (I live in Vancouver, BC). I never thought I would find a Lum, nor did I ever think I'd get a chance to visit Golden.

[gbelleh]

The Spin given to me by my best friend since 4th grade. The Sage 3 and Manix 2 Lightweight received as contest prizes, and the Mini Dyad received through a generous giveaway here on this forum. Knives with such generosity attached to them become sentimental of course. Then there's the handmade Swick scales, and Bradley Air pouch also given by generous forum members. All of these mean a lot to me.

[yablanowitz]

Pretty easy choice for me.

[3rdGenRigger]

It's not my most prized, and not in my top 5 favourite...but the most sentimental has to be my first Spyderco (And it's identical twin...surprise lol). My first Spyderco was bought over a decade ago. It was an FRN Native that I bought at a WalMart during a trip to the USA because my uncle always had a Spyderco on him and I liked it...and the WalMart deal at the time made it affordable to me. I even brought one back for my best friend and he still has his. I lost mine on a job site while tagging an antenna up the side of a tower in a field and sadly couldn't find it...this was a few years after I'd bought it, and before the end of the week I had an exact replacement in my pocket before the end of the week (Though at the price of $90 CAD locally instead of $45 USD). The replacement went on to be my main EDC during and after work, and certainly has earned its keep (Like its predecessor/twin).

The main event though that I remember of this knife is what makes it so sentimental to me...I was climbing down a tower after relamping the top beacon light and the tower had a fairly narrow face width and as I was squeezing through the torsion resistor the knife, which was clipped to the outside of my tool pouch, got hung up on the clip and pushed out of my tool pouch. It fell 275 feet onto gravel and I was sure that I'd need to buy a third Spyderco. However, when I made it to ground level and found the knife, it was half open (The impact obviously partially opened it) and there was no damage to the blade whatsoever. I was especially surprised to find no damage or effect to the locking mechanism or the functionality of the knife, and furthermore, the impact mark on the FRN handle was so small that if I handed anyone the knife they'd have a very hard time pointing it out to me. I still carry it from time to time. I'll include a picture from about the same height as the fall for perspective.

[farnorthdan]

Mine would be the PM2 digi dlc that I bought on my visit to the SFO with my boys, very memorable trip and both my boys got to pick out there own :spyder:

[ManixFan]

2013 Forum Knife........the knife that I joined this Forum for after lurking for so long after thinking that you needed to be a registered Forumite to purchase it. I almost missed out on it too because I kept following and refreshing the discussion thread in the last couple of weeks leading up to its release waiting for a release announcement not knowing that I should have kept checking the overview page for an announcement sticky. Felt really dumb about it but got lucky a few days after the release when I called in by phone and was told that some more had become available because of duplicate phone and online orders.

Now because of the last Forum knife, you guys have to put up with me.

[762cal]

A pair of H1 Dragonflies my GF (now my wife) and I chose: she got PE and I take the SE. and then engraved :)

[Evil D]

Toss up between my Native LW because it was my first, and my Caly 3 ZDP because it was my first high end.

[opusxpn]

Black Frn Endura4 sabre grind my favorite knife. When I first held it on my hand it was perfection. Since that day I became a spyderco user.

[acer]

Worker sprint co1gpgr, ordered it from dealer 930 am August 2014, my father died 3.00pm same day in hospital , after battling throat cancer for the last 28 months, and that's the way the cookie crumbles, won't be selling this one .Have fun , Life's to short . Acer. :)

[DutchBlades]

Pretty easy choice for me.

I can see why it was an easy choice, nice! :D

[Michael Janich]

What a cool thread... thanks for posting it!

I have a lot of Spyderco knives with sentimental value, but my favorite is one that I gave away. It was a fully serrated early generation Endura with an integral clip. I bought it from Brigade Quartermaster back in the mid 1980's and carried it while working the POW/MIA search mission in Vietnam and Laos. When I went to work for Paladin Press in the early 1990's, I used it to cut some clothing while setting up test targets for the late NYPD gunfighter Jim Cirillo. Jim was blown away by the cutting power of the knife and kept commenting on how cool it was. I may be slow, but I can take a hint and gifted it to him on the spot. He carried it and used it regularly after that.

Stay safe,

Mike

[GoldenSpydie]

Probably my stainless Poliwog.

I got it for $30, so it was already special because it was such a great deal. Then I EDCed it across the country and back on a trip to Florida. I have a picture of it in over 12 states.

[tvenuto]

Ha is it strange that I feel sentimental over several of my Spydies? I guess I'll tackle them in order...

1. Manix XL (clear button, solid liners)
Gifted to me by my now wife, was my second spydie of all time and is my favorite design. It would be the folder I'd grab if I was only allowed to have one.
2. Warrior
Used it to cut my wedding cake, and the resulting picture got me in the calendar. (Also guaranteed that I'll never have to sell this one!)
3. Delica 4 (gray)
My first ever spydie, which started the "addiction."
4. Green Native Forum Knife
When I carry it I feel like I have a piece of the forum with me.
5. D'allara (drop point)
9/11 happened sophomore year of college for me, which was a crazy and formative time in my life. This knife reminds me of that time, and not just the attacks on NY. It also seems to be a unique design in the spyderco line-up, which I like.
6. Sage 3 (geometric CF)
My prize from the aforementioned calendar contest, and the first (and only) knife I've ever "won." When I carry this one I'm reminded of how Spyderco has created a special community.

When I finish my bushcraft blank I'm sure I'll have to add it to the list!

[Bradley]

Of my own collection- S90v yo 2 I've admired the yojimbo 2 since it was first released 3? Years ago and I never could find it in stock, then I think I waited for over a year for the kw exclusive to drop, and I ended up ordering it in the middle of nowhere with the only bar of service to be found while out on a fire call.

Then outside of my collection its a toss up between two that I have gifted, A BASF labeled cricket I gifted to my uncle, and a fully serrated remote release given to my dad. Both really cool knives that if I still owned would be carried frequently. I'm gonna be on the hunt for business branded crickets from now on :)

Cool thread!

[brj]

Easily the S90v Para my better half got me a couple of years back, by far the best Christmas present I've ever received.

[jackknifeh]

A funny thing is that I just saw this thread and it's about the two knives I'm carrying today. I posted a pic of them in the "what are you carrying today" thread. So here's the same picture here. The bradley folder is sentimental because of all the knives I've sold or traded it was the only one I sold because I needed the money for something other than a new knife. If it would have been a sprint I would have come up with another way to get the quick cash. But since it's in regular production I knew I could replace it. I did and that indicates to me how much I like this knife. Very few others have I regretted letting go as much. The other sentimental knife I have is the Michael Walker CF/ZDP sprint run that was gifted to me recently. I sold the one I got when they were released because it was one I didn't carry as often as others even though I easily saw what a great knife it is. But,,, there was another one I wanted to try and needed the money for it. Needless to say I regretted selling it immediately. That was 2-3 years ago I think. About 2-3 months ago I was watching one on ebay and couldn't get it. A most generous forum member contacted me and gave me this one. He made a couple of modifications that I like more than how the knife is originally. Jimping on the thumb ramp and he raised the clip. He had also replaced the CF and didn't drill out the lanyard hole. I doubt if I ever will but I can re-drill the CF for a lanyard hole if I decide to. Another example of Spyderco forum generosity. :) Thank you forum friend very much for that if you are reading this.