I’m going to start with the price. I have put off buying the Shaman for quite a while because of the price. If I could buy the PM2 which is also G10, compression lock, and has better steel a lot of times (20cv was available at the time, and cruwear) why would I spend 30-40 more and get the shaman? It just made no sense when looking at the specs on paper. No way I was going to spend $210 on a shaman.
The last part of that is still true. Why? Because the prices jumped and I spent $231 on the shaman. Was it worth the price? ABSOLUTELY.
So what changed my opinion? I found one in stock local and handled it just to see how it was. I bought it on the spot.
The first thing I noticed when I picked up the shaman was the G10. The G10 on the shaman is beautiful. In my opinion it appears much nicer than the G10 on my other Spyderco’s. It might just be the milling that brings out the almost carbon fiber-like pattern, but it also FEELS nicer. More dense perhaps? Anyways, I don’t know if it’s the same or not, but it feels and looks much more high quality. I’ll go as far as saying, feel and looks, they are my favorite scales on any knife I own. I also love that the PB washers are visible through the pocket clip holes. It is subtle but it stands out against the black of the g10 and gives it a nice look. I realize this is true for other Spyderco’s, not just a Shaman thing, but I just noticed it more on the shaman and thought I’d note it.
Another thing that stands out is the stonewashed finish on the blade, backspacer and clip. It has me wishing Spyderco used this finish on more knives. The stonewashed look against the beautiful G10 give it a very nice look.
The lines on the Shaman keep that same uninterrupted arc from tip to rear that the native 5 has. It’s something that sets it apart from all other knives in my collection. I love it.
The Shaman feels much more like a hand made knife than all my other Spyderco’s. I don’t mean this as an insult, I love my PM2’s, but just trying to get my thoughts out there: The PM2 feels more cookie cutter when comparing it to the Shaman. The Shaman has a hand crafted feel to it. My apologies for that sounding negative to the PM2, I don’t mean it that way. I just don’t know how to speak well enough to explain my thoughts… the Shaman is on another level.
Weight is balancing act on knives. IMO, Too light and a knife feels cheap. Too heavy, and it feels cheap. Not sure how that is true, but for me it is. The Shaman is heavy. But it isn’t heavier than it feels like it should be. It feels just like what you would expect it to feel like. And I think that is a good thing.
What Spyderco has done is made a knife that feels both hard use and classy at the same time.
After having it it hand I also began to think of the extra steps the milling, stonewashed blade etc went in to this knife. That all has to add up. I’m not going to pretend I know how that all works, but any way you slice it, I still think it’s worth the price, easily.
So what did I learn from this? Something I learned already, you can’t always compare spec sheets and think the pricing should also compare. The spec sheets don’t account for the small details, and the small details sometimes make a huge difference.
If you are on the fence with buying a Shaman, I highly recommend picking one up and handling it. Internet pics and videos do not do it justice.
Ike
Spyderco : Resilience, Tenacious, Persistence, Manix 2 G10, Para 3 G10, Para 3 LW, Paramilitary 2, 
