Spyderco Forums

Carrying a BFK (Big Folding Knife. Why? What were you thinking?)
in your pocket reminds me of the old Mae West line
from the the 1937 movie, Every Day's a Holiday.

"Is That a Gun in Your Pocket, or Are You Just Glad to See Me?"

One of the reasons I'm buying and looking exclusively on Spyderco is pocket wear.
I used to carry Cold Steel Mini Recon 1 in my pocket for a while a couple of years back.
The clip thinned my back pocket quite a bit, but that was not the problem. The problem were the thumb studs.
As they are sticking a bit, and I'm walking with it and sitting with it in the back pocket all the time, it made a substantial hole in the pocket.
I said to myself - f**k it, I don't want to change pants every couple of months.
Plus the thumb hole gave me MUCH more control when opening and closing the blade.
That, spydercos clips that are well thought through, and all the steels you have in the glossary got me here.
Plus the company reminds me of my own, a small family company which started from zero.

My worst one, caused mainly by a ZDP Dragonfly:

I'm loving this pocket patina thread :p

attila wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 27, 2020 1:13 pm

My worst one, caused mainly by a ZDP Dragonfly:

:eek: Something so small making a gouge that big! Little big knife indeed.

Great thread.

This is a follow up on my earlier post. Below is a before and after picture.
On the left, jeans worn for about a year before dehorning my Spyderco ClipiTool Standard.
On the right, jeans worn for more than six months after dehorning the Standard.



The lack of pocket wear is clear to see. The picture below is of the Standard.
Using an emery board, only the end of the scale opposite the clip was smoothed or dehorned.
The resulting bullnose is barely perceptible and has no effect on functionality.
But it sure is easy on the bluejeans.

I removed the clips from my Chaparrals and can just carry them in the bottom of any pocket. I also have a few leather caddies in different sizes, most EDC sized folder fits.



I do IWB a lot too.

I regard this wear as a badge of honor that fits nicely into my no-logo wardrobe. It means, or at least may mean, you’re using your knife.

Besides, the tattering is far more graceful than swag, not to mention bumper-stickers and other unneeded noise.

I find myself carrying my smooth handled knives more and more. Carbon fiber, titanium, polished G10. I never seem to have a problem with my FRN knives that others do either. I've taken to carrying the pocket eaters IN my pocket.

All I can say is DON'T weld. I wish my jeans lasted long enough for pocket wear . That being said, the type of scales are going to make the most difference, though certain clips will make it worse, a nice coarse G10 military is going to eat your pockets up compared to FRN or especially anything smooth handled.

The jeans I personally wear have a side pocket half way up the thigh that's for keeping a knife, but isn't so large or baggy that it looks like you're wearing cargo pants, or even anything but regular jeans. The destruction of jeans is part of the reason I much prefer tig welding if I have the option, no sparks or molten slag to eat holes into your jeans. But one bit of general information I learned is that while you might think buying the cheapest jeans you can is the obvious solution when you know they'll be exposed to damage. I switched to carharts from 15$ walmart jeans when I realized a small burn hole stayed together in a higher end pair of jeans, in cheap jeans, once the damage starts, it'll open right up. So far Carhart has been the most comfortable, durable jeans I've worn for serious work. FR rated jeans don't hold up to heavy sparks and slag, they simply won't catch on fire, and eventually the chemical treatment wears off so I've never found spending 3x the money worth it.

Now I'm always open to some line of extreme duty jeans as rips and tears happen around a fab shop even with good jeans. But when you're outside welding on a 95 degree day, you'll quickly realize you'd rather shed as much protective leathers and such as you can get away with and just take the occasional burn over baking alive. So I'd rather not wear pants that cook the nether regions immediately.

Yeah, I'm in the same camp, only it's mostly chemicals and concrete that eat my pants. Clips don't cause enough wear for me to worry about.

I've never given it much thought. My pants are usually worn out long before I have to worry about the pocket.

I find the pocket clips that come on the spiderco knives completely useless and swap them for Lynch or MXG Deep pocket clips. Maybe this helps keep the wear down...maybe not.

To keep my car keys from wearing a hole in my pocket,
I fold a handkerchief twice to form a square,
deposit the keys in the middle
and stuff it into my pocket.

It also makes the keys more comfortable against ones leg.
And there is always a handkerchief handy when needed.
I do the same for coins and whatnot in the other pocket.
A gentleman should never be without a handkerchief.

I've never had this issue with Spydercos, only knives from other brands that used sandpaper inserts for grip.

I've finally gotten rid of most of my jeans with shredded pockets. I replaced them with new blue jeans but not before I tweaked the hourglass clips on my FRN knives so they don't have quite as much grip. I still have some cargo shorts that are semi-shredded but those aren't so bad yet

The original Benchmade Presidio series with the serrated anodized aluminum scales were the worst on pant pockets. I can’t say I’ve ever had that same level of pocket destruction with my Spydies.

Chuck James wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 05, 2021 6:29 pm

.
I find the pocket clips that come on the spiderco knives completely useless and swap them for Lynch or MXG Deep pocket clips. Maybe this helps keep the wear down...maybe not.

How odd. I love the Spyderco clips! The only ones I replace are those on the Para3 because they hold the knife high enough it seems to rotate a bit and I worry about loss. So I go deep Lynch on them. But otherwise the Spyderco clips are great!

Chuck James wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 05, 2021 6:29 pm

.
I find the pocket clips that come on the spiderco knives completely useless and swap them for Lynch or MXG Deep pocket clips. Maybe this helps keep the wear down...maybe not.

How odd. I love the Spyderco clips! The only ones I replace are those on the Para3 because they hold the knife high enough it seems to rotate a bit and I worry about loss. So I go deep Lynch on them. But otherwise the Spyderco clips are great!
[/quote]

I also find that kind of strange. Maybe it's the fact that they're not all deep carry that they find useless? To each their own I guess

Jeans that a wire clip has shredded... Switched to the lynch wire replacement clip thats cerakoted and doesn't damage the denim as much