First Spyderco?

[CDEP]

PARA3 LW BD1N

Aside from instantly recognizing the superior design engineering involved, the opening hole and acceptance of FRN were the big perspective shifts. After carrying a few days I came to love the clip (was a 110/112 boy for decades) and the one hand closing of the comp lock won me over. Eric did a masterful job of converting the PARA3 to LW, and of course I now have quite a few G10 versions in different steels.

I have the LW model in SPY27 and Magnacut now, so the first doesn't get carried anymore. Will never sell it, though. Sentimental value...

[olditguy]

I didn't discover Spyderco until 2020 while working from home during the initial covid months. I turned 60 that year and spent my entire career in an office setting so I never really carried the few knives I had. I've since purchased more than I care to admit, mostly OpFocus and various online sales. My first was a Zome Green Delica 4 and my last a Sage 1 Maxamet (thanks to a very generous mother ship sale this year). What really pushed me down the rabbit hole was this forum and the OpFocus program. Great company, family, and community. I love being a part of it.

[Hopsbreath]

The Delica came first followed closely by the Endura. They’re both long gone now but that’s where it all started. Up to that point my best knives were Bucks and Kershaws. It really was eye opening when a buddy showed me his Delica followed shortly by another friend showing his Sage. Truthfully I thought they were ugly and cheap looking — until I got one in hand. The Delica specifically was a real eye opener when I felt it melt into my hand. Had to have one and now that I’ve handled over 100, I still love the Seki FRN series. Great knife with great ergonomics; just find the color and steel you want.

[Actinolite]

My first was a Dragonfly 2, VG-10. Several months prior, I had replaced a work out gas station knife with a too-expensive, American-made folder with scratchy, flexible, plastic scales. This disappointing purchase led me to look for something less, but hopefully more.

The DF2 was so much more than I expected. I’ve since added DF2s in K390, Wharncliffe, and Salt versions. My favorite 5th pocket knife is a DF2 K390 Wharncliffe. Oh, yeah. I’ve also added four other models in multiple steels and scale types.

[Actinolite]

Double tap.

[Bolster]

The original Manix.

Or maybe it was the Schempp Persian.

Can't remember which!

[Bill1170]

ZDP-189 was still the hotness in 2007. My dad wanted me to have a knife with this miracle metal for a blade. I asked for a Delica because I was dimly aware of its sterling reputation for all around excellence. Like with Vivi’s Native, I loved the edge holding. I also loved the one-hand opening and handle thinness and ergonomics. And I also was disappointed with its performance in thicker materials like cardboard where the robust saber grind was a hindrance. My previous pocket knives were thin traditional designs.

Even fully convexed (by hand!) the Delica was underwhelming in corrugated cardboard. The FFG Delicas that emerged a few years later were a huge improvement. I carried an M390 PM2 as my daily work knife for several years continuously, still have and love that knife, but favor slimmer, lighter FRN-handled Spydercos lately.

I’ve only owned a few thumb stud opening knives. They’re okay but I greatly prefer the round opening hole. Same goes for flippers. Thanks to this preference and my general alignment with Spyderco’s overall design philosophy, it’s quite rare that I purchase other brands of OHO folding knives.

[Halfneck]

I bought my first Spyderco knife around 1987-88. I had flown to California over the summer to visit my High School friends after moving back to Georgia the previous year. I had stopped in Carmel, California at a bookstore I liked & was killing time waiting on the bus. Walked into a tobacco shop to look at the knife display they had. There in the display was a knife unlike anything I'd ever seen - hooked blade with a serrated edge & an opening hole and a stainless slab handle with a pocketclip. This was unlike the standard Buck 110 lockback clones I'd been carrying, and very different to the Schrade stockman slipjoint I'd grown up using. So, I took the plunge and bought my first knife from this new company:

A C08 Spyderco Harpy.

Carried it a few times. Loved the pocketclip & opening hole, was not a fan of the hawkbill blade & had no clue how I was going to sharpen a serrated blade. I went a few years before I got my next Spyderco knife, a Delica, that I liked a lot. No idea what happened to that Harpy, I might have traded it, pawned it, gave it to a friend - no idea.

37 years, and many more Spyderco knives later, and I'm still carrying them.

[KeepCalm&Carrion]

Great thread, thanx much Kristi,

To the posters, Thanx for the trip down memory lane. Thanx also for the support.

Hi KeepCalm&Carrion, Enix, Gk4ever2, Kurtis,

Welcome to our forum. Hope you enjoy your time here, great group with a great deal of knowledge and understanding about knives, blade steels, and with depth,.

sal

Thanks for the warm welcome, Sal.

[sv4]

A serrated Military C36GSE way back in the 2000s.

Those days I only had Swiss Army knives. I was at a local hardware store browsing through their Victorinox offerings. The store owner came over and said that he wanted to introduce me to some really good knives with very easy one-handed opening, and extremely sharp with great edge retention.

He brought me over to his Spyderco display and took out a serrated Military, and let me handle it, testing the one hand opening Spyderhole and liner lock. Duly impressed, that serrated Military became the first of my many Spydies.

[Doc Dan]

My first Spyderco was a Viele. I was struck by the sharpness and the quality of the knife. However, my hands are a bit dry and that knife was so slippery that my hand slid forward on a push cut and I barely avoided a serious injury by lifting my finger just in time. I got a shallow, paper cut type cut. I immediately traded it in for another brand. Move forward several years and I was looking to replace a frame lock pocket knife that kept opening in my pocket, but the size was perfect. I saw a Spyderco Caly3, and remembering the good quality of the Viele, I decided to look further. The knife was exactly the same size as the one I wanted to replace, had a better lock, and the fit and finish were stellar. I bought it immediately and never looked back. It has never opened in my pocket. The knife was perfect and I carried it for a long time, the only one I carried, until I finally replaced it with a Delica 4 in my pocket. I still have and enjoy that Caly3, but replacing it if lost would be problematic, so I don't use it as much, but keep it and treasure it.

[Wartstein]

My first Spyderco was a sabre grind, combo edge Delica 4.

I've been carrying some kind of (often crappy) folder most of my life, but was pretty late to the quality knife party.

When I decided to finally try higher value folders I got myself a BM Minigrip (the thumb stud sabre grind version) and that Delica.

Thought back then that the Delica looked a bit "weird" and not like a "cool" folder "should"... but when I used and compared it to the Minigriptillian, I could not help but realizing that I preferred the Delica in every aspect except the shorter cutting edge (knew nothing about silly blade length laws in other countries back then, and so it bothered me a bit that they did not give the Delica a fully handle filling blade).

This was before I knew practically anything about Spyderco as a brand, had no idea who "Sal Glesser" was and thus was pretty much unbiased and just fully and directly convinced by how the knife felt and performed in real, practical use.

Still have that Delica though I much prefer ffg and larger folders these days... while the Minigrip is long gone...

[skeeg11]

S110V Manix lwt. Got it because I wanted to try out the steel and compare it to the S90V in my old Scot Cook. Fine with a low grit edge, but I preferred the S90V on my Scot Cook. The Manix was fine, but I didn't carry it much because it took up more pocket space than I wanted for an EDC. Second Spydie was a slim Mantra 2 which became my favorite EDC.

[OV1kenobi]

I completely forgot about this one until prompted by this thread. I went digging through the dresser drawers and found this one that my father gifted me sometime in the mid-2000s.

[Aladinsane]

I completely forgot about this one until prompted by this thread. I went digging through the dresser drawers and found this one that my father gifted me sometime in the mid-2000s.

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Very interesting! I had to search for this one. C102 Adventura?

[S-3 ranch]

1993 I had graduated from college and was heading to Alaska with my uncle to do a DIY moose hunt, walked into Marburg sporting goods to buy a backpack and saw the spyderco knives on display, and saw a delica g-1 serrated and a OS3 hunter 440v and eureka I had to have them for the trip , the thought of carrying a heavy buck 110 ever again was wiped out!
Still have those knives and have bought many knives over the years but always give them away
To buy and keep another spyderco, can’t beat the steel & ergonomics, weight of them !

[Pokey]

Two Delicas and a Sharpmaker back in ‘93 or ‘94.

At the time I had a co-worker that was ordering two Endura’s. He showed me those when they came in. I thought they were a tad big in my pocket, so I ordered the Delica’s.

I thought the pocket clip was a great idea for the obvious reasons. The knife was more accessible, and it no longer had to share space in your pocket with your keys and Chap-Stick.

Along with the odd looking Trademark Round Hole, retrieving it, opening it, and clipping it back in your pocket was a piece of cake while hugging an antenna positioner mast with your other arm.

[Pokey]

So Kristi, what was your first Spyderco knife, and how did it change your perspective?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[PanChango]

Mine was a Harpy purchased from a climbing store in Philadelphia somewhere around 1996. I was just finishing up university and was working as a bike messenger. The harpy was great and used to zip through strapping and packages. It was my first one handed knife and first pocket clip and lived in my back pocket. I had it about a year. I was riding in evening rush hour traffic on South Broad street when it pulled out of my rear pocket and was gone forever. It took until 2007 for me to get my second, a SE delica. When the Super Blue Caly 3.5 came out in 2011, I was done for.

[TkoK83Spy]

Mine was a Manix 2 LW in BD1.

I had been carrying a few different Kershaws for a few years, but became frustrated with the steel not holding up for warehouse work. At that time in my life, I thought spending over $50 on a pocket knife was crazy. A friend at work had some Benchmade's and he let me try a few. I liked them, but they didn't really stand out to me. He mentioned that Spyderco was considered comparable to Benchmade. I looked into them and found the Manix to be a really good looking knife. I thought the Axis lock on his Benchmades was pretty cool and I figured the CBBL looked similar.

Instantly fell in love with the ergos of the Manix (even to this day, all these years later, it's still my favorite model) I found the hole for opening to be a wild idea and loved it from the get go vs a flipper or thumb studs. Then I went nuts over the past few years and spent thousands and thousands of dollars and have learned a ton and had A LOT of fun while doing so!