Spyderco Forums

I just received my new PM2 Salt in the mail today, and while putting on my LynchNW clip, I noticed that the black part of the scales was not quite the same on each side of the knife:



For anyone else that has one of these, is this normal? It almost looked like there was a plastic film on one side, but it isn't something that comes off.

I only have some guesses , two different scale vendors , or a step finishing the scales was missed ? Shining side reminds me of my Caribbean scales . MG2

Mine has the matte finish on both sides.

sovereign wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 02, 2025 2:38 pm

Mine has the matte finish on both sides.

Yea I suspected this is what it was supposed to look like. Like Manixguy said, maybe this missed QC and the show side scale just wasn't finished on the surface.

I'm probably going to swap it over to AWT scales anyway, but still kinda sucks these special Salt-specific scales showed up like this.

Wallach wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 04, 2025 9:15 pm

sovereign wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 02, 2025 2:38 pm

Mine has the matte finish on both sides.

Yea I suspected this is what it was supposed to look like. Like Manixguy said, maybe this missed QC and the show side scale just wasn't finished on the surface.

I'm probably going to swap it over to AWT scales anyway, but still kinda sucks these special Salt-specific scales showed up like this.

Just my thoughts but yes they are special and you plan a scale mod , I would still possibly send in to be corrected in case in the future you may want to switch back or mod the original scales . Absolutely a pain to make it right but you may be glad to take the time to do it in the future . MG2

If was mine, I would just take one of the soft green Scotchbrite pads and lightly just rub the Shiney side to get the mat finish.

I hate sending my stuff in, much rather just fix myself instead if I can. With this knife of yours worst case you rub both sides of the knife with the green scotchbrite pad to make look the same, then stick the knife in my pocket and proceed about my day.

Like this, you can make the knife look the same on both sides. Then as you carry it and use it, the edc will do the rest. Just a thought for you, if you really don't want to send it in... just say'n

Great looking knife by the way lol. If was mine I would be guilty of dying the yellow red too. Jeb is going to be getting one of those salts in the black and red bumble bee, whether I buy one that I find on the second hand market, or I get the black and yellow and I dye it myself.

I would say congratz you have a unique factory made Spydie. That itself is worth loving it extra.

If you decide to go the scotchbrite route, be sue to disassemble first or you will also scrape up the screw heads.

I went and checked my PM2 magnacut. It seems to have a checkered? surface. It makes for a firm grip. I wonder which finish is supposed to be on the scales?

Ya mine doesn't have that texture on either side. I'm almost wondering if this is even legit, but I've never heard of National Knives selling clones, even unknowingly.

Both sides of the knife in that first post look weird compared with the textured G-10 on the other Caribbean pictured in the thread. My own Gen 1 Caribbean has a smooth finish on the black surface of the G-10, but I can see the glass weave behind the shine. It might just be down to video quality, but the black ridges in the video look more like plain plastic than like G-10.

grimlock wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 05, 2025 3:08 pm

I went and checked my PM2 magnacut. It seems to have a checkered? surface. It makes for a firm grip. I wonder which finish is supposed to be on the scales?

I don’t know, but that texture on your Magnacut Caribbean looks superior for grip. My Caribbean is too smooth for a reliable grip when wet/greasy.

I believe the satin version is supposed to have a smooth finish, where the black version has the additional peel ply texture. This certainly seems to be the case if you compare the product description on Spyderco.com, however the stock images both appear to have peel ply texture (although not always representative of the finished product), note below only the black version mentions peel ply texture:

https://spyderco.com/products/para-mili ... m-magnacut

The all-black Para Military 2 Salt cloaks its blade in a stealthy Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) coating. Its scales are both peel-ply-textured and machined with Spyderco’s signature Caribbean Bi-Directional Texture™ pattern for an ultra-secure grip….

…For higher visibility, the Para Military 2 Salt is also available with a satin-finished blade and two-toned G-10 scales featuring a black and yellow Caribbean Bi-Directional Texture­™pattern….

I recall there were manufacturing difficulties with the yellow and black g10 but not specifically, perhaps inconsistent material layer thickness, or surface finish - as I also think Eric said in a video that the material is actually peel ply, but just not ‘peeled’ in this case?
If i were to speculate, this usually ‘sacrificial’ outer layer maybe isn’t a consistent grade and some just had it removed entirely leaving the texture.

grimlock wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 05, 2025 3:08 pm

I went and checked my PM2 magnacut. It seems to have a checkered? surface. It makes for a firm grip. I wonder which finish is supposed to be on the scales?

Hmm this is confusing. So some are smooth and others are peel ply?

To my eyes the width of yellow channel grooves are different on each side; smaller on the matte side, and thicker on the gloss side. This is obviously a mismatched set of scales. If that bothers you, it might be worth it to contact Spyderco to see if this is out of spec for the model. I suppose once more of these get out into the wild, we may know more if this is a fluke or not.

grimlock wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 05, 2025 3:08 pm

I went and checked my PM2 magnacut. It seems to have a checkered? surface. It makes for a firm grip. I wonder which finish is supposed to be on the scales?

Just to clarify. The knife shown is a para military 2, not a carribean. This knife was purchased from national knives. I have bought several knives from this company and I am very happy with all of them.

They probably flipped the G10 over and cut out the wrong side. Probably a few exists with the same problem. I would send it back. I wouldn´t start fixing it .

Jim Malone wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 06, 2025 10:46 am

They probably flipped the G10 over and cut out the wrong side. Probably a few exists with the same problem. I would send it back. I wouldn´t start fixing it .

Hmm, interesting.

Wallach, can you check to see if there is any texturing on the inside of the scales.

I'm pretty sure I took a picture of a PM2 Salt at the SFO, let me see if I can find it and what it looked like.

My pm2 salt (satin)scales are NOT peel ply however they are a lot grippier than the Caribbean scales. The ribbed cutouts create a rough texture that feels comparable to bi directional texturing on FRN.

I’d love to see the upgraded scale pattern of the pm2 salt on a Magnacut Bodacious.

@Wallach Don't worry, your knife is authentic.

This is just a result of manufacturing due to using the multi-color G10. They're aiming to both keep the layer inside of the scales black and also expose a certain amount of the yellow in the milling pattern on top. They can control how much of the yellow gets exposed by surface machining the top of the material smooth. (They might even surface machine both sides of the material before cutting the scales)

The multi-color g10 material probably starts out with a peel ply texture but that gets removed in the surface machining process. Which is why we see some of them with a tiny bit of texture remaining; it's not getting entirely removed in the surface machining process. I'm guessing they don't maintain the peel ply texture on the yellow version because they would have to mill too deep to expose the amount of yellow they're aiming for.

They can keep the peel ply texture on the black version because they don't have to account for the yellow layer underneath.