Spyderco Forums

Mrj wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 17, 2026 11:19 am

Spyderco Para Military 2 - 3.45" CPM-REX 121 Black ZrOC Blade Finish Wharncliffe Blade - HEX Pattern Orange G-10 Scales - CUTLERY SHOPPE EXCLUSIVE - C81GPWCORRX121BK2
** sold out in 5 minutes**

I was lucky enough to snag two within the first 30 seconds. What a smooth drop! Thanks, Jeff for breaking this beauty to market.
Bruce

I wonder how many were available it’s almost 2 hours later now and still showing sold out.

My understanding from the video interview with Jeff is that there will be 4 models, with a production run of 750 each -

Satin Wharncliffe
Satin Regular
ZRoC (black) Wharncliffe (today’s offering)
ZRoC (black) Regular

So there is still one more to come I believe. An exotic shape with an exotic steel tickled the fancy of a lot of collectors, and there was a lot of chatter about this one. I imagine that the last one offered will sell out a little slower than the wharncliffe variant (but still quick).


What a cool knife this would be to carry, but it almost demands to be a safe queen, what with the rarity of both the steel and blade shape. It wasn’t as big of a draw for me, since Rex-121 sounds hypnotizing on paper, but highly impractical (for me) in actual use. Still, I absolutely applaud Spyderco for taking huge risks and putting in the large effort to bring these to the market, in a move that was very likely to be a net loss for them.


When that 3V PM2/Para 3/Bodacious rolls around though, watch out! Even though we don’t have to be limited to MAP on exclusives, I really hope that any upcoming 3V releases can be a Sprint Run so that they can be spread out to all dealers.

vanka wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 17, 2026 11:23 am

Mrj wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 17, 2026 11:19 am

Spyderco Para Military 2 - 3.45" CPM-REX 121 Black ZrOC Blade Finish Wharncliffe Blade - HEX Pattern Orange G-10 Scales - CUTLERY SHOPPE EXCLUSIVE - C81GPWCORRX121BK2
** sold out in 5 minutes**

I believe it's not sold out yet. Last time they were dropping them in batches. I managed to grab one about 2 hours after the initial release. I hope it's the same this time. My guess is that is to give more chance to people to get one. Lots of folks can't be available exactly at the time of the drop.

I believe it’s sold out sorry my friends the old days drops weren’t discriminatory.

dullmaker wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 17, 2026 11:24 am

Mrj wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 17, 2026 11:19 am

Spyderco Para Military 2 - 3.45" CPM-REX 121 Black ZrOC Blade Finish Wharncliffe Blade - HEX Pattern Orange G-10 Scales - CUTLERY SHOPPE EXCLUSIVE - C81GPWCORRX121BK2
** sold out in 5 minutes**

I was lucky enough to snag two within the first 30 seconds. What a smooth drop! Thanks, Jeff for breaking this beauty to market.
Bruce

It was fun to see the excitement and the quick sell out of this blade! I applaud Jeff and the Cutlery Shoppe crew for their commitment to their exclusive "brand" = ORANGE &

I applaud them as well by buying 6 of these REX 121 drops between the Satin and the new coated stuff. In 2 weeks when the next drop comes it will make 8.

I am surprised no one else is putting out PM2 Wharncliffee I have the original S30V and CTS-XHP models also.

I believe Cutlery Shoppe has an exclusive on PM2 Wharncliffe models.

tbdoc4kids wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 18, 2026 12:34 am

I believe Cutlery Shoppe has an exclusive on PM2 Wharncliffe models.

Wow now that is a sweet coveted deal.

Hey Jeff if your reading thank you very much for offering these drops of REX121 at such a reasonable price compared to what some of this is and has been much higher for this steel.

Mine landed.

SpyderPhreak wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 20, 2026 4:27 pm

Mine landed.

IMG_7833sm.jpg

IMG_7834sm.jpg

Very nice!

Do you have any experience with DLC? Any initial thoughts on the ZrOC coating compared to DLC?

Super quick shipping! My friend is bummed hers did not arrive today.

Both of mine delivered today new coating feels different than DLC Slicker not as chalky dull like DLC but not as smooth shined as PVD.

Feels slick and does seem to reduce friction in a cut.

Action and blade are flawless on both the black and orange with blacked out hardware is striking in person.

Only the blade appears to be coated in ZROC it is less shiny.

Cool, thanks for sharing Beggar!

In one of the videos where Eric showcased the coating, he mentioned one of the potential advantages to ZrOC was a "higher lubricity" compared to DLC. I can't remember which video it was said in but your initial impressions sound as though that could be true.

Your welcome, I think so I get the impression this stuff is tuff and should hold up the coating is very uniform and hugs the blade shape tightly.

Mushroom wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 20, 2026 4:35 pm

SpyderPhreak wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 20, 2026 4:27 pm

Mine landed.

IMG_7833sm.jpg

IMG_7834sm.jpg

Very nice!

Do you have any experience with DLC? Any initial thoughts on the ZrOC coating compared to DLC?

TONS of experience with Spydie's DLC (since my first Millie with it in ~2004). This ZRoC isn't as "chalky" feeling, and it's noticeably darker. Still a matte finish, but not as much as DLC, it's a bit smoother.

That's it so far. I hope this stuff holds up like DLC does, but I have my reservations, it's just not as hard. I get why Golden is moving to it with their in-house capability, but I hope it holds up reasonably well like DLC does.

I suspect the clip and liners are coated with something else, they both look and feel much different than the blade. The clip almost looks powder coated, but it could be the basic painted clips we've seen before.

ETA - Haha, my thoughts mirror Beggar's almost exactly. I promise I hadn't seen his post when I replied!

I just hope this isn't the last we see of ol Rex 121.

geekjosh wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 20, 2026 5:01 pm

I just hope this isn't the last we see of ol Rex 121.

From everything I've read, it probably will be, sadly.

SpyderPhreak wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 20, 2026 4:59 pm

Mushroom wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 20, 2026 4:35 pm

SpyderPhreak wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 20, 2026 4:27 pm

Mine landed.

IMG_7833sm.jpg

IMG_7834sm.jpg

Very nice!

Do you have any experience with DLC? Any initial thoughts on the ZrOC coating compared to DLC?

TONS of experience with Spydie's DLC (since my first Millie with it in ~2004). This ZRoC isn't as "chalky" feeling, and it's noticeably darker. Still a matte finish, but not as much as DLC, it's a bit smoother.

That's it so far. I hope this stuff holds up like DLC does, but I have my reservations, it's just not as hard. I get why Golden is moving to it with their in-house capability, but I hope it holds up reasonably well like DLC does.

I suspect the clip and liners are coated with something else, they both look and feel much different than the blade. The clip almost looks powder coated, but it could be the basic painted clips we've seen before.

ETA - Haha, my thoughts mirror Beggar's almost exactly. I promise I hadn't seen his post when I replied!

The more feedback the better, thanks for sharing your thoughts so far!

I'll definitely be interested to see how it holds up compared to DLC as well. It will be fun to see some other color's down the line too.

Mushroom wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 20, 2026 5:25 pm

SpyderPhreak wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 20, 2026 4:59 pm

Mushroom wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 20, 2026 4:35 pm

SpyderPhreak wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 20, 2026 4:27 pm

Mine landed.

IMG_7833sm.jpg

IMG_7834sm.jpg

Very nice!

Do you have any experience with DLC? Any initial thoughts on the ZrOC coating compared to DLC?

TONS of experience with Spydie's DLC (since my first Millie with it in ~2004). This ZRoC isn't as "chalky" feeling, and it's noticeably darker. Still a matte finish, but not as much as DLC, it's a bit smoother.

That's it so far. I hope this stuff holds up like DLC does, but I have my reservations, it's just not as hard. I get why Golden is moving to it with their in-house capability, but I hope it holds up reasonably well like DLC does.

I suspect the clip and liners are coated with something else, they both look and feel much different than the blade. The clip almost looks powder coated, but it could be the basic painted clips we've seen before.

ETA - Haha, my thoughts mirror Beggar's almost exactly. I promise I hadn't seen his post when I replied!

The more feedback the better, thanks for sharing your thoughts so far!

I'll definitely be interested to see how it holds up compared to DLC as well. It will be fun to see some other color's down the line too.

The other color options are the main benefit to this coating IMO. But I still, generally, prefer an uncoated blade.

I don’t think there is very much REX121 based on the price of the stuff. These were reasonably priced for what they are.

Lots to like here.
Wharncliffe blade.
Excellent super cool handle design.
Cool handle color works better with black than satin in my opinion.
The first with ZROC
Completely Blacked out hardware which was very uncommon years back they used to be mixed on the hardware even when they had some black hardware.

All in all a great product.

BeggarSo wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 20, 2026 4:46 pm

Feels slick and does seem to reduce friction in a cut.

Not sure what is on the recent Tenacious black blades , everywhere I looked it is just called Black Oxide, but it is far more slick than the old DLC . Just running the end of my thumb nail over the side of the blade there is a lot of difference .
I'm all for it .
I like looking at the DLC but because of the friction thing I rarely carry and use one .
But then . . . I'm not an "Operator" .