hey everyone David C Andersen here coming at you from the knife Center and
today we're gonna be taking a look at a few all-time classics from one of our
favorite companies and that's Spyderco let's check them out
Spyderco is a company that has a long history of not being afraid to take
risks and the way they pulled together emerging elements in their early years
such as synthetic handles pocket clips and one hand opening blades the way they
merged all these things together into one knife really change the landscape of
the knife industry in ways that we can still see today their famed for their
precise edge geometries and most recognizable for their leaf shaped
blades and trademark round hole opener which is an elegant solution for a one
hand opening blade that allows left or right-handed use without the need for
protruding thumb studs they've had a lot of great models over the years but here
are a few that we think are some of their all-time classics their greatest
hits if you will some of these designs have been constantly tweaked and updated
over the years which shows their commitment to constant quality
improvement which allow these designs to change with the times and stay just as
relevant today as they ever were first up is a twofer and that's the very
closely related delica and endura I'm gonna talk specifically a little bit
about the delica first and one of my favorite things about this knife is this
is a great catch-all recommendation no matter who's asking for a suggestion I
know I can pretty much say get a delicate and call it a day and here's
why first off it provides us a very good blade length for EDC with a size that
can be taken almost anywhere the base models feature vg10 stainless steel
which holds an edge very well still pretty easy to sharpen and can take a
wickedly fine edge as well it also sports a full flat grind which makes it
a very efficient slicer which let's be honest that's the thing we really need
to do most with our pocket knives you can see this model here features a green
handle and that's another area where the delica sets itself apart whereas most
knives out there these days come in black and you can also get the delica
in black if you want Spyderco also sees fit to actually offer us options with
plenty of highly visible and colorful handles to suit all kinds of different
preferences it also features another element that Spyderco is known for and
that's their bi-directional texturing on these FRN handles
what's nice about that is that the knife can be nice and thin and still maintain
a lot of traction and that texture is gonna be really appreciated in certain
wet environments or grimy situations where you got to put a lot of hard work
in and you don't want to risk losing your knife one of the other things that
makes this a great catch-all recommendation is that it's not biased
for right-hand use or left-hand use it's a very good ambidextrous design no
matter which hand you're using it's easy to catch your thumb in there and open
the blade very smoothly the second reason is the lock back that this knife
uses again very easy to use no matter which hand you prefer and there are a
few nice things that Spyderco does with their lock backs that while they didn't
come up with them they helped to pioneer first is the mid mounted position for
the lock bar release whereas a lot of older lock back designs feature the
release here at the back some people found that depending on their grip if
they were holding on too tight to the knife it would be easy to accidentally
disengage that by moving it to a mid-mounted position
that helps to alleviate that issue and then furthering that mission we have
what's known as the David boy dent here on the lock bag and it's essentially
just a small cutout now this does two things one again it makes it a little
harder to accidentally disengage but it also makes it easier to find that lock
bar if you're not looking directly at the knife it's easy to just slide your
thumb along the back and you can find exactly the position you need to press
that in and disengage the lock the last thing that makes this knife a good
option for anyone is the 4 position pocket clip no matter what your
preference whether you prefer to carry on the left or the right side with the
blade oriented tip up or tip down this thing will accommodate whatever you're
looking for you can get all those same great characteristics in a slightly
larger knife with the Endura we've got the same great handle treatments also
available in a bunch of different colors and if you look at the shape you can
really trace the DNA of this knife back to the original Spyderco police but the
Endura has really eclipsed that knife several times over and that's why this
knife deserves to be on the list really you can't go wrong with either of these
two designs they're hard working knives at a workingman's budget and something
that every Spyderco fanatic should have at least one of in their collection
so after talking about those two knives I'd be remiss if I didn't talk a little
bit about the dragonfly 2 and this features a lot of the same elements that
make the Endura and the delica great including that bi-directional FRN the
boy dent on the lock back as well as different handle options but this knife
has a few other elements that have become staples in Spyderco's design
language the first is this large finger choil and they've integrated it with the
blade and the handle itself and this is not meant to just be a place where you
choke up on for specific moments but it's an integral part of the grip on the
dragonfly this actually allows you to get a three and a half finger grip in
what is otherwise a very small and easy to carry blade and because of that
it inspires a lot of confidence when you want to put some heavy cuts in this
knife also has Spyderco's deep carry wire clip and even though on this knife
it's not truly deep carry since it is mounted a little lower this is a very
unobtrusive design that blends in very nicely when you're carrying it and
that's one of the reasons that it's been so popular with Spyderco fans over the
years also another thing to talk about the version that I'm holding here
actually comes from Spyderco salt series as I said at the beginning Spyderco has
never been afraid of taking risks and that extends to experimenting with all
the latest Steel's on the market just to see what they can come up with and with
virtually all their models they have a tendency to put out sprint runs that
feature those more exotic Steel's as well as handle materials the dragonfly
isn't the only knife in the salt series but these blades have featured h1 steel
or more recently LC200N and they're both nitrogen based metals that are
virtually rust proof making them great options for maritime environments next
up in my opinion is one of Spyderco's greatest EDC designs of all time and
that's the native 5 like the dragonfly this knife features that finger choil
that allows you to get the full grip on the knife but because of the way this is
built it's a lot more robust than some of those other folders again we see a
mid-mounted lock back although no boy dent in this case but we also get a full
metal back spacer and full dual metal liners which really impart a lot of
strength to this frame aside from that this knife also features a ton of the
things that make the Endura and Delica so great again that mid-mounted lock
back as well as a four position pocket clip we also get that excellent
leaf-shaped blade with a full flat grind for
excellent cutting geometry as well as some nice jimping here on the choil and
on the spine of the knife making it very nice and easy to choke up another thing
that we appreciate is this one is made in Golden Colorado USA Earth you can get
lightweight versions of this knife that have that bi-directional FRN just like
those earlier knives as well as heavier duty g10 this particular one is upgraded
even further with their blurple g10 and s110v steel which provides just an
absolutely insane amount of edge retention next up is a no brainer and
that's the paramilitary 2 which is an excellent hard use tactical knife this
list certainly wouldn't be complete without this knife but I actually prefer
the newer para 3 it's a little bit of a smaller knife but for me I feel it's a
little better suited for EDC and the handle ratios are a little bit better
for my hands but whether you prefer the larger paramilitary 2 or the smaller
para 3 the reason they show up here is because they are the premier
platform for Spyderco's compression lock in the way it operates you can kind
of think of it as a spine mounted liner lock although it's even stronger there's
a small tab that sticks into the tang of the knife so you actually have multiple
surfaces of engagement which creates a stronger lock up than the single surface
that a standard liner lock has but what's really nice about this knife is
it enables safe one-handed operation apart from that you can still see all
the great spyderco DNA in this design we've got that nice finger choil with
that integrated thumb ramp behind the opening hole as well as nice g10
material this one happens to be the camo pattern a four position pocket clip and
in this case we even get an oversized lanyard hole allowing you to fit just
about whatever you'd like through this the next knife is sort of an offshoot of
another one of those risks that Spyderco wasn't afraid to take and that's the UK
penknife this takes all the signature elements of Spyderco design vocabulary
and puts it into a non-locking folder that's right this is a one-hand opening
slip joint which is a style that Spyderco certainly helped legitimize and
popularize today but the reason this knife has been so successful is it just
plain works Spyderco has learned a thing or two over the years about making a
good blade design and it certainly shows we've got their great leaf-shaped blade
excellent slicing edge geometry as well as multiple versions with upgraded
materials we also get that wire deep carry clip which in
this case truly is deep carry making this a very discreet knife there's also
really nice ergonomics on this knife it's nice and slim and handles very well
the point drops a little bit and it Orient's very nicely when you're opening
boxes or packages and since this is a non-locking knife the choil pulls double
duty here it plays a very important role when you're really bearing down on a
slip joint knife you always have to be careful that it's not going to disengage
that's where the choil comes in it's a very elegant solution to solving that
safety issue that some people have with non-locking slipjoints next up is the
tenacious which is a very affordable knife and shows you no matter what your
price range anyone out there can enjoy those great Spyderco design chops this
is a knife that's made in China but when it first came out it blew people away
with the level of fit and finish that they were able to achieve at such a good
price even today it's probably my favorite option for a true working blade
under the $50 price point it's got a really good handle feel as well as that
full flat grind and a little more belly than some of their other designs we get
a very sturdy liner-lock with full skeletonized liners which just like the
native 5 imparts a lot of rigidity to this frame you've also still got that
four position pocket clip although since it is a liner Locker this is a little
bit more of a right-hand bias design but overall this is just a really
well-thought-out and usable knife one of my favorite little touches is the edge
itself which comes all the way back to the heel combined with the handle shape
here at the front it eliminates something that a lot of folders are
plagued with usually there's sort of a dead zone on the folder because of the
pivot itself where it doesn't function either as a handle or blade now on some
other Spyderco designs the finger choil solve this problem but the tenacious
doesn't need it you can really get up right behind the edge which is quite
nice all of these knives have stood the test of time very well and have
definitely earned their place in Spyderco Hall of Fame and they also happen
to be some of my favorites as well but what do you guys think is there a model
you think deserves to be on here if so make sure to let us know down below in
the comments and in the meantime to get your hands on any of these great
Spyderco knives or any of our other great designs click the link in the
description below to head over to KnifeCenter.com