Spyderco Forums

My Dragonfly 2 is great, but it's just over the 2" mark - which is a problem some places. I'm looking for something as close to 2" as possible without going over.

My Ladybugs are also great, but no clip! Searching through my pockets isn't ideal and I don't like having it on my key chain much either. I've also tried those SAK clips but they don't really do it for me.

I've been eyeing the Chicago, but 2.2 ounces is a bit more than I want for a small knife.

Is there another option? Historical or sprint runs are fine, assuming I can find one eventually. I was also thinking someone might have tried grinding down a Dragonfly, but not sure if that's worth doing.

I doubt it's the very lightest, but the McBee is 1.7oz and under 2" blade length and has a clip.

what about the squeak?

Its a little small but the police tie clip is probably it.

What jurisdiction has a 2” blade limit?

I would just take a Dragonfly or better get a Chaparral and grind it down to 1.9”. You can make any knife shorter.

I'd say either the McBee or the Squeak.

I would probably grind off the quarter inch or so of blade necessary to bring the Dragonfly down under 2 inches, which would also push it down close to 1oz weight which is just silly light. It'll be the best overall design in this size range and will be available in a pretty wide range of steel and handle choices, making it worth the effort of modifying it to make it what you're looking for. I'm not sure anything else will come close to the weight/ergonomics/usability/have a clip/true one handed opening/steel selection as you'll get with a Dragonfly.

I agree with Evil D.

The cricket is 1.75oz and has a 1.875" blade.

Evil's idea is pretty cool, and probably the most practical.

Here's something I've pondered, but haven't acted upon because I really don't want such a thing. But if you're so inclined, get yourself a Ladybug. In the handle, use your Dremel tool to cut a couple slots adjacent to the lanyard hole. Take the clip off your Dragonfly and put it on your Ladybug. BAM! <2" Ladybug with a clip!

RustyIron wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:38 pm

Evil's idea is pretty cool, and probably the most practical.

Here's something I've pondered, but haven't acted upon because I really don't want such a thing. But if you're so inclined, get yourself a Ladybug. In the handle, use your Dremel tool to cut a couple slots adjacent to the lanyard hole. Take the clip off your Dragonfly and put it on your Ladybug. BAM! <2" Ladybug with a clip!

You would need to be careful with how you cut the grooves, the top one would be very close to spine of the handle and practically off the side due to the location of the hole. I'm almost certain I've seen this done before, someone posted a pic but it was forever ago. The only other issue is there isn't a "clip pad" for the clip to press against so the FRN texture would grab pretty hard under the clip but at least it would clip securely. You might need to use a countersink bit to round out the lanyard hole a little so the screw heads seat into the FRN a little. This may be even easier to do if you heated up the clip and used it to melt the grooves into the FRN, so long as you don't get the clip too hot and over melt it.

Manbug with a suspension clip like the P7.

Actually, I saw someone on this forum that made a clip or bought a clip for a Manbug and Ladybug that used the lanyard hole.

Spyderco Lava BLUE G-10 SPRINT RUN
Co-pilot
Spin
Navigator with Almite handles.
Not lightweight perse but a small knife with a small handle needs some weight .

Thanks everyone! Lots of great suggestions.

Just a thought, but couldn’t you just string one of your ladybugs on some very thin cord and wear around your neck? Or is that contrary to the jurisdictional regs that limit the blade length?

I suggest this because today I went to grab a folder w a clip for a short hike and realized all my pockets were “vertical” (don’t ask)…I grabbed an ARK because that kind of why I have it, but had I thought about it, I could have just tossed the ladybug loose in an empty pocket or strung it up to wear around my neck rather than the ARK. I love both my salt and wharncliffe DF2, as well as the ARK, but at the end of the day, the edge length on the ladybug is almost the same as the DF2/ARK and much much smaller/lighter. My sole ladybug lives in one particular pack, but I’ve been considering picking a few extras up for other applications. They might relegate a bunch of knives to the sock drawer.

If it has to have a clip, my 2 cents would be the DF2 wharnie ground down as Evil D suggested. This thing gives both my ARK SE and Watu runs for their money in regards to being the sliciest folder I own.

I've commented about this a couple of times. I almost always carry a small knife in my shirt pocket along with pencil, pen, etc, usually a Dragonfly, sometimes a Kiwi 4, depending on how sturdy the shirt fabric is. The Kiwi carries just like a pen, in the edge of a pocket. But I'm always looking for a lighter one. IIRC the D-fly is 1.2 oz and I'd really like something a little under an ounce for thin summer shirts.

So this led me to mount a Dragonfly clip on my Manbug, using the lanyard hole. As you can see in the picture, I've got the clip slid back a little for deep carry :-) It would fit pretty much just like a regular clip if I slid forward about 4 mm. I just used the edge of a flat needle file to file slots for the clip. Luckily, the grooved lines on either side of the lanyard hole were just about perfect guides for filing the grooves. Like David indicated, if you decide to carry it regularly this way you'll probably need to smooth off the area where the clip makes contact. It's extremely grippy. And also, as he indicated, on the Ladybug, one side of the clip would be pretty much over thin air, which is why I'm not doing this to my Jester, which has a handle just like the Ladybug's. I got a tiny black KEY|SMART clip for my Jester, which suspends it nicely in my shirt pocket using a tiny split ring in the lanyard hole. I'd no doubt drag it out and lose it if I tried a separate clip like that in a pants pocket.

I made similar grooves by the lanyard hole on my Dragonfly (on the underside in this pic) for deeper carry. This makes it almost out of sight in my shirt pocket. And speaking of Wharncliffes, I'm strongly leaning toward the K390 D-fly.

Since you considered the Chicago, you ought to at least try to handle its lil' brother, the Squeak. At 1.6 oz, it's 0.4 oz heavier than the Dragonfly and 1/2 inch shorter, a fairly serious small handful of knife: