Hey, everyone.
David C. Andersen here coming at you from the KnifeCenter, and today we’re taking
a look at a pair of famous micro knives; pitting the Spyderco Ladybug against the Case Peanut.
Let’s do this.
When it comes to a classic small pocket knife that still maintains a good amount of usability,
the two favorites around here that immediately come to mind are the Case Peanut and the Spyderco
Ladybug.
While they fill a similar role, they couldn’t be more different.
You’ve got something more traditional with the Case, but something very modern with the
Spyderco, but both take up nearly no room in your pocket.
You won’t be breaking down tons of boxes or doing any kind of really heavy work with
it, but you can still open packages or letters, or cut any small things very easily, and honestly
that’s going to be more than enough for most people.
So, speaking of those blades, with the Spyderco Ladybug, you do get some one-hand opening
functionality, thanks to their signature opening hole in the blade, and despite the small size,
it’s still very easy to use, and it even gives a nice thumb ramp to aid in how you
hold the knife because of the way the hole sits in the blade.
The quality is very good, as you can see from this side of the blade, they’re made in
Seiki City, Japan, and on the other side you see that the steel is VG-10, which is a great
stainless with good edge holding qualities, but there are upgraded steel options, too,
including ZDP-189, HAP40, and the rust-proof H1 if you’re looking for a few different
options.
The Case, on the other hand, is American made, and they use Case’s Tru Sharp stainless
steel, which is essentially 420HC.
It won’t hold an edge as long as the VG-10 on the Spyderco, but to make up for that you
do get an extra edge.
You can bring two blades to bear against your daily tasks, including a longer clip point
blade that’s a little bit shy of two inches of usable edge, and a shorter pen blade which
has about one and three eights of an inch of edge, and this compares to about one and
three quarters of an inch of edge on the Spyderco Ladybug.
Now, for a long time the Peanut has been something of a prototypical small knife, but you can
actually see it’s a little bit larger than the Ladybug.
With the blade open, I get a three finger hold on the Peanut with my hands, whereas
the Spyderco has a two and a half finger grip, but despite that it’s still easy to hold
on to.
Credit to that goes to the finger grooves, which gives you something to index with, as
well as their bidirectional FRN, which features a radial pattern with raised peaks.
This is designed to provide retention both forward and backward.
Now, Spyderco is known for putting a wide range of variants out of any given model,
especially a classic one like the Ladybug, where they switch things up by changing out
the steel or the handle materials.
But, even so, they don’t even come close to the sheer number of Peanut handle variants
out there.
I’ve got two of them out here in front of me; this one features a chestnut brown bone,
as well as a Caliber Peanut featuring a camouflage zytel handle, but this is just the tip of
the iceberg.
You’ve got options for jigged bone, wood, delrin, stag, antique yellow synthetics, kirinite,
different shields on the covers; there’s tons and tons of options at a range of different
prices.
Now, if you like the classic aesthetics of the Peanut, but you want the modern aspects
of the Spyderco, then this KnifeCenter exclusive Ladybug is worth checking out.
Not only do we get a laminated blade with this model with a HAP40 core for more edge
retention, but we also get stabilized pakkawood scales.
This gives you that classic look without having to worry about shrinking or cracking, and
it’s proven to be a very long lasting material, but it still has the warmth of real wood.
We also get an extra level of security with the Ladybug, because we have a lockback mechanism.
It also features the Boye dent.
Now, they use this little feature on a lot of their knives, but it’s even more important
on the smaller designs like this Ladybug.
What that dent adds is it actually helps you to keep from accidentally disengaging the
lock if you’re really bearing down on the knife.
And because of the way you hold the Ladybug, it’s extra important here, because you wouldn’t
want your thumb pressing in when you squeeze on the handle.
The Case, however does not lock; it is a slipjoint, which is as classic of a pocket knife as there
is.
It does have a half-stop, though, for a degree of safety, and it’s really satisfying to
use.
Now, there’s no pocket clips on either of these knives; you are just going to have to
slip them into your pockets, but they’re small enough they can fit in that fifth jean
pocket to stay out of the way if you need it to.
The Spyderco also comes with a lanyard hole.
You can add a fob to this knife to increase the effective grip length or make it easier
to fish out of your pocket, or you can even attach it to a key ring if you wanted to.
So what do you all look for in a small knife?
Would you rather take the traditional looks of the Case Peanut, or the modern convenience
of the Spyderco Ladybug?
Be sure to let us know in the comments, and to get your hands on one for yourself, you
can use the links in the description to head over to KnifeCenter.com.