Spyderco Resilience

Spyderco Resilience

If you are a Spyderco fan then this is one model you want to make sure you add to your collection. The superbly crafted folding knife is big on detail and not so big on price.
The unmistakable logo which has featured on all the Spyderco models makes this Spyderco Resilience a cool must have, either to add to your current collection or for a work horse of a utility knife.

This blade can be used and abused and you will find that it will work just as well as the day you bought it. It has quite a large blade being 4.5 inch and is a tactical model from Spyderco. The Spyderco resilience is one of the larger tenacious models and weighs in at about 5Lb 2 ounces. This is relatively lightweight considering the size of the blade. It is ergonomic and can be used for a variety of uses. Many people take this knife, hunting, camping and use them around the home and garden. One user likened the blade to a super vegetable knife.

This is also a great collectable especially if you are a spyderco fan. Don't be put off by the low cost of this knife, whilst low in cost it certainly isn't low on quality. The largest of the Spyderco folding knives, no collection would be complete without the Spyderco Resilience. Although it is quite large the blade folds down neatly and can still fit snugly into your pocket.

• Features of the Spyderco Resilience
• Full-flat ground 8Cr13MoV Stainless Blade
• Tip to handle cutting edge
• Slip proof seat for the thumb
• G-10 handle
• Phospher bronze washers for smooth and resistance free action.

Many people have commented that the deployment of the blade is short and sharp and is suitable for right and left handers.

What to look out for 

Unfortunately the stainless steel in the Spyderco Resilience isn't as good quality as we would like, however for the price, this is to be expected. Many people choose to coat their blade or alternatively you could use a quality gun oil which appears to prolong the life of the blade.
Overall this is a great knife for the money and the reviews for this knife have been favourable wherever you look.

The Spyderco Resilience looks cool, acts cool and has a cool price tag.
The other models to look out for fro Spyderco are the Tenacious, Persistence, Delicia, Ambitious and of course the Manix for which there are two series. The second edition in the range is not much different from the first but does come in a variety of colours unlike the first edition.

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Spyderco Delica 4 FFG: long term review

In the 1990s Spyderco was requested by a branch of a U.S. law enforcement agency to make a knife for their undercover agents. They needed to have a last ditch weapon just in case they found themselves in a situation that prevented them from carrying a handgun. The knife should allow an officer with no formal knife training to escape life-threatening situation.

The Civilian is the result of that design challenge. The current production model now has a G-10 handle but the business end of the weapon is unchanged; a fearsome 4.125" (105 mm) fully serrated, hollow ground S-curved VG-10 blade with a 3.75" (95 mm) cutting edge. Blade thickness is .125" (3 mm) at the base near the handle and the overall length when opened is 9.188" (233 mm).

You’re not reading this review for just the specs right? Let's go on to what this knife is meant for.

The Civilian is the only production folder that I know of that is intended for cutting human flesh and nothing else. In fact, using this for gardening, cutting rope, opening boxes or any other utilitarian task will void the warranty. The card that came with the knife – along with the cool fleece-lined storage case – is quite clear about what the knife is designed for. This is a self-defense knife only and for that purpose I think it’s very well designed however the design also limits its use as a tool. I’ll explain more about the reason for this limitation later.

The S-curved blade looks even more terrifying in person. I’m not a believer in using a knife to simply intimidate an attacker in a self-defense situation but this knife has spectacular pain and brutal dismemberment written all over it, in bright neon colors. An attacker would have to be completely drunk, stoned out of his mind or just crazy not to notice the wickedness of the blade and consider what it will do to him.

The knife blade is indeed 3mm thick at the base, near the handle. But it tapers to a very thin profile at the tip. My guess is it’s shaped that way to allow for easier insertion into the target. The knife is obviously for slashing only, a gross motor movement that will be much easier to do under extreme stress than fine motor movements. If the user contacts the target with the tip, the continued motion of the strike will drive the blade deeper into the flesh and the follow-through will push more material onto the serrations.

The result would be a very deep gaping wound, with tendons and tissue sliced to the bone. Cutting to a forearm, bicep or leg with this blade will render that limb useless. The attacker can’t hold onto his weapon if he no longer has tendons and muscles controlling his fingers. Even if the blade hit the target toward the belly of the edge, the damage from the follow-through will still be massive as the material goes through the length of the blade and the tip ripping out the last bits of resistance.

Its design as a slashing weapon makes it naturally comparable to a karambit. Although both are indeed meant for slashing and not stabbing, the karambit has the finger hole in the handle that reinforces the grip and prevents the user from dropping the weapon or being disarmed by his opponent but the Civilian gets plus points for having a blade that I believe is better designed for its intended use. The tip though of the Civilian’s blade is very thin and could break off in actual use. I imagine that this is the primary reason for the product’s usage limitations. Another clue to the knife’s design as a slashing weapon is the absence of any jimping (notches carved into the blade to increase friction between the metal and the thumb) on the blade, behind the hole.

From what I gathered from my research on this weapon, the design was meant to not be lethal, in the way a British commando dagger is. The latter is designed purely as stabbing weapon – for taking out enemy sentries - and it certainly does the job well. In contrast the Civilian is designed to make devastating wounds that will stop an attacker but not necessarily result in his death.

Having said that, I can imagine how this weapon can be used that will make it truly lethal. Slashing at some targets on the human body will result in overwhelming shock, massive blood loss and eventually death. Such lethal methods – to access these targets - would require training, which is exactly what the Civilian user is not required to have.

It’s a mistake though to think that anyone can pick up a Civilian and deploy it effective in self-defense. As a folding knife, it still requires practice to access and open under stress. This makes me wonder why Spyderco never made a training version of this knife; granted that Civilians probably don’t sell as much as their other products, Spyderco should still consider offering a specialized training version of this weapon just for practicing deployment. I’m considering adding a zip tie on this to make it “waveable” and thus more accessible.

There’s nothing that says that one can’t practice for using a Civilian. Anyone with enough knife training will know exactly how to maximize the knife’s potential as a weapon. Such training though will have to be specially adapted to its unique profile. That means replacing thrusting responses in training with slashing; not an easy transition to do once you’ve put in many hours of training with a conventional knife.

So would I recommend this for an untrained person, as a self-defense option? Yes, but only if he or she trains to get to the weapon under stress, which is easier said than done. This knife is certainly going to be very devastating once it’s opened fully by the user and heading toward a target. Until that happens, the defender needs to have some skill to create the time and space needed to properly and effectively access the weapon.

My new favorite little big knife, Spyderco Techn

It takes me a long time to buy anything. Once I decide I'm interested in something, I spend the next few weeks doing research, trying to make sure I'm going to make the right decision. I went through the same process when I decided I wanted a new pocket knife. I ultimately decided I was going to go with the Spyderco Techno, and when it first arrived, I thought I'd made a mistake.

 

The Techno is a design from Marcin Slysz, a Polish knifemaker. It has a blade made from CTS-XHP, and the handle scales are made from titanium. It is a framelock design, which means part of the scale on the right side acts as the locking mechanism. It's a very secure design, and this particular knife has no blade play in any direction.

The knife is very well made. Fit and finish is the best of any Spyderco that I've owned. Seriously, that's not an exaggeration, it is the best made knife I've ever owned. I think the actual size of the blade caught me off guard. It's right around 2.5" long, and right at 1/4" thick. This is as thick as some of the larger fixed blades I've owned. That thickness, coupled with an unimpressive edge, really hindered the cutting ability of the knife out of the box. I also like having a nice pointy tip on my knives, and that's something that just wasn't possible with this design. I ended up posting it for sale the day after it arrived.

Now, the Techno is a pretty popular design, and it is sometimes hard to get for a decent price. I was a little surprised the offers didn't just come rolling in. Thankfully, that gave me some time to get to know the Techno a little better, and I decided I was going to keep it after all.  First thing, I took care of the edge, thinning out the shoulders, and lightly convexing the edge. I know some of this might not make sense to some of you non-knife folks, but basically I took the edge, and I made it gooder.

It's a real slicing machine now, which is surprising for its thickness. I have knives with blades half as thick that don't perform as well as this one. The other surprise with this knife, is just how comfortable the handle can be. It seems short and stubby, but it works well in a variety of grips.

Over the past month or so, it's become my favorite knife. I don't even have to think about which knife is going in my pocket for the day, because it's been this one everyday since I decided to keep it. I really don't feel the need to carry or buy anything else, and that's about the best recommendation a knife can get. 

I know knives aren't everyone's thing, but it never hurts to have at least one around the house to take care of those little cutting chores that pop up from time to time. If you're interested in their designs, just visit Spyderco's website and see if there's anything that catches your interest.