u/Empty_Art2176

Ok, after the other three in the mail, im done for awhile. But I needed to have these two.

YoJimbo in S30V

Sage 5 in Rex121 and AWT AA Cerakote scales....which were installed immediately.

Last week I saw a post here about great prices on Spydercos at Sportsman's Outdoor Superstore.

I chose a PM 2 SALT in Magnacut for $147.66, and a YoJimbo in S30V for $153. There was $23 shipping but still an exceptional deal.

Everything went great, they put a hold on my debit card for the $343.50. This would be well over $400 anywhere else.

So the next day I get another charge from them for $159.48. OK, I called them. They said their drop shipper puts a hold on the knife when they deliver it, but it will be returned after 3-5 days.

Later that day I get a another charge for $165.67 because the other knife was shipping. This was all on August 13th. So ive had $634.32 held on my debit card sinse last Thursday. But no money returned yet.

I called again and was told by their customer support guy that this is how all retailers do this. I told him ive bought hundreds of knives, from dozens of online retailers, and ive never seen this. He said all retailers do this, I just font know about it. I asked him if he felt ok. He said Amazon does this on every order. Again, I have bought many hundreds of things from Amazon, and never once seen this. He literally called me a liar.

He put their customer support lead on the phone. She said this is like when you pay for gas at the pump, they double charge you all the time. Again, I get gas once or twice a week for over 40 years and have never seen this.

I asked about the drop shippers. She said its clearly stated on their site. I finally found it in the "small print" in the 7,000 pages of "terms and conditions".

She gave me the names of the shippers, fortunately both are authorized Spyderco dealers. She told me the bank must not be releasing the money. I told her I talked to the bank, they were ready and willing to pay. Then she said it must be the credit card processor. So I called them, nope, they said they have NOT recieved a request for the money from Sportsman's Outdoor Superstore. I called them back, they hung up on me.

So, if you order from them, expect them to hold DOUBLE the money for a week. The fraud department of my bank called on August 14 to see if these charges were good. They said this is very bad and shady business, but they do see this with shady retailers.

Anyways, I did get the PM 2 today, and its fine. But the money is not back on my card. I still have $634.32 on hold from Sportsman's Outdoor Superstore, for a $343.50 order.

Even if you have had a good experience with them, I HIGHLY suggest to stay away!

Anyways, here's the PM2 I paid $318.96 for as of now. 😬

But I WILL get my money back.

The Knife Works exclusive Shaman in 204p and Forest Green G10.

The DLT Trading exclusive Delica in CruWear and OD Green FRN.

Lynch titanium clip for my SMKW exclusive Para 3 in CruWear and Purple Haze Fat Carbon.

When I ordered this Lynch clip I didn't realize the bronze on top. I thought it was all shades of purple. When I opened the box 15 minutes ago, I didnt like it much. Then I realized that in the right light, the iridescent fat carbon has a bronzeish tint swirled in. It looks fantastic IRL. I couldn't be more happy. And no, my hand is NOT that red. I was trying to get the fat carbon to pop using light.....it didn't work. This Purple Haze fat carbon is beautiful...IRL.

I just put some AWT Aggressive Agent Cerakote scales for my Sage 5. They are a huge improvement over the LW scales. These scales made this one of my favorite Spydercos I own.

This model is not very difficult to take apart, but its kind of odd that AWT does not include any installation instructions. It all went together fine.....then the rattle!

I went to their website where they say you might have to put some blue Loctite on one of the pins they included. I didn't do that, I just put a tiny piece of folded paper in the hole. Its absolutely perfect now.

Also, they included the two pins they say you must use. I measured them...by eye, and they are identical to the stock pins. I used the ones they included just incase there is an indeterminatable difference.

I may have made that word up. 😬

My recent acquisition is a SMKW exclusive Para 3 in DLC CruWear and Purple Haze fat carbon fiber. The picture doesn't do the iridescent carbon fiber justice. Its pretty cool IRL.

I guess its time to assess my current "collection".

I bought my first one in January 2026, it was the Native 5 in S30V. Today I recieved the Para 3 in DLC CruWear and Purple Haze CF. Here are some bad pictures, Im in my basement with no natural light.

Im taking a short break from buying I think. I need to decide if I want to choose a direction for the collection, or just continue buying what I like. There are plenty more models and steels I NEED!

Ive used them all, but the most used are the Delica and Stretch XL in k390, the CruCarta, and currently the Digi camo Para 3 in DLC s45vn. Its a tough knife not to carry!

I just recieved my 10th Spyderco within the last month. This makes 16 this year. Im hoping to take a break and maybe look for some out of production models on the used market. The only model I want that I dont have is a Shaman. But I really dont want a s30v.

This came today, a Smock in s30v. This may be my favorite one yet.

I just recieved a MagnaMax Manix, and although I love Spydercos G10, I want something different. I know of the usual places...AWT, Flytanium, Rips Garage, Etsy.....but Im looking for something different.

Does anyone make diamond plate scales?

Is there any other companies or individuals making "different", or unusual scales?

I like the couple diamond patterns from Rips, but they are never in stock. Ive been looking for months, but no diamond.

I really dont care about titanium, but its fine, aluminum is fine, or any other material if I like the pattern. I keep seeing cool scales in this group, but I forget where they got them. Diamond plate would be fantastic. Price isnt an issue if there is a custom maker anyone knows about. Ill even pay to be a guinea pig if someone wants to try diamond plate.

I also picked up a production Spy27 Mule so I can try making my own wood scales. Wood I know, I have an entire woodshop. Im going to use oak from a 180 year old desk my grandpa had in his office for 60+ years. The desk is beyond repair, but there is good wood. This knife is basically a "finnished" blank. It is polished, sharpened, and has the Spyderco nomenclature. It was $60 on the Spyderco website if anyone is interested. I also have made a couple leather sheaths, so ill make one for this knife.

I thought I should take a break from Spyderco, so this knife caught my eye.

Its a Hogue Mysto (Earth). Its a new model.

So far it seems great, ill put it through its paces and report back. Ill include the specs below.

I took a chance ordering a Sage 5 LW in S30V from Amazon. I did some research and heard Onkata is an official Spyderco dealer.

The knife was $127, which is $50 less expensive than most other places, so I was skeptical.

It came today and its absolutely good to go. This is my first Taichung Spyderco, I cant wait to use it.

In my recent quest of buying Spyderco knives, I found a "3 birds with 1 stone" knife.

I didnt have any Slipit models yet, I didn't have any m398 Spydercos, and I didn't have any from Maniago Italy.

So, the Metropolitan hit all three. Ive heard mixed reviews of the Italian Spydercos, but I'll say im impressed. The knife is very light, the Slipit action is fantastic, and the F&F is spot on.

I also recently got a ring light photo box so I can eventually take decent pictures of my knives. These are the first pictures taken in the box, they aren't great. Once I work out all the light and color options, I hope my pictures improve.

Having an addiction to buying knives in different steels, different locks, and different styles, I bought this Cold Steel AD15 LITE in Aus10a, with G10 and steel handle and their Scorpion lock.

This lock was designed by Andew Demko. Honestly, I can't think of a stronger lock design. The harder you hold the handle, the stronger the lock is. Thats a bit simplified, but accurate. It takes a bit of practice, but after a few minutes its very easy to operate. Im pretty sure this lock doesn't get much love because it is kind of impractical and strange to use.....and can pinch you! But I really like it.

This knife is the Lite version of the original, but it is still what most would call a large knife. Its about 8.5 inches open, with a 3.5 inch blade.

This is the second Cold Steel ive bought, and they are very well made. The f&f is perfect, and the knife is solid as a rock. It feels like a hard use tool. They do come in S35VN, but I went with the Aus10a because I was buying for the lock honestly. I will absolutely be buying more Cold Steel knives.

This came in at $95, just under the limit here. The S35VN one is $189. I thought that was excessive for "slightly" better steel.

I know these posts are pretty boring, but I just need to share with someone. 😁

Spyderco Military 2 Blade HQ exclusive in 204p and Forest Green G10. Luckily its another perfect example.

And for absolutely no reasons than I like different knife locks, and I wanted to see how the Scorpion lock works, I got a Cold Steel AD15.

Unknown to me when I logged on to Blade HQ, they were offering a free Vosteed Mini Naga Dessert Warrior if you spent so much. My niece loved the Civivi Gojiro I gave her which I got for free last year. My sister thought this Naga looked cool, so I gave it to her. Sorry for the bad picture, im in the basement! I will give a more detailed review of the Military after a few weeks.

I love big knives, so I couldn't resist a Military 2.

I decided on the Forest Green Blade HQ exclusive in 204p. Once again I was lucky to get another perfect knife. I always open Spydercos with a bit of fear. Uneven grinds, lock stick, not being centered.....Spyderco can have some quirks. But when you get a good one, its perfection.

I have zero experience with this steel, but I look forward to working with it.

I've always used stones to sharpen knives. Recently I thought it might be fun to try a fixed angle sharpener. So I did this. It sets up very easy, and seems easy enough to use, we will see. I figure it will be good to at least get a sharp and even grind going. Then I can always use my higher grit stones to hone the knife if needed. But this should get them plenty sharp from what ive read.

I use my knives a lot. Im not getting into it, but im constantly cutting stuff around my farm and property.

But there are so many times I find myself using a cheap utility blade for opening packages, cutting the tip off glue or calk tubes, and many other things around the house.

The other day I had an epiphany! Why not get a cool, fidgety, more knife like utility knife. Thinking that they probably arent faked a lot, I went to Ebay for the free shipping. I looked at a few, and landed on the Kizer Uti Bear 2.

It was a whopping $42.50 delivered. It has Kizers usual great build quality, but so much more. It has great feeling "worn" Micarta, 5 extra blades, a toothpick and Tweezers in the handle, and all the extra parts. It has an entire set of extra screws, extra omega springs, and even extra pick and Tweezers. I like it!

Yesterday I recieved a Para 3 in a DLC S45VN, and digi camo G10. I was told by a few of you when I talked crap about the G10 on my Blade HQ exclusive PM2, that Spydercos normal G10 feels much better. Well, you were right, its very much better.

But I was not expecting a guillotine drop shut. Ive heard a lot about stiff or gritty compression lock issues, and possible lock stick. This thing nearly cut my finger off!! It shuts so quick and loose that it bounces if you let it. The blade had a microscopic amount of blade play, which I fixed, and.....still a guillotine. The knife has a great detent, but easily flicks both ways, and drops effortlessly. My PM2 is great, but not like this. Sorry about the focus, I have a $30 phone.

Last week while adding my name to the PM2 Tanto drop, I looked around the Blade HQ site.

I remembered Ive wanted a CruCarta Manix...then I noticed the Para 3 DLC s45vn in digi camo G10. While trying to decide, I went over to WMK and gazed upon the Kershaw Bel-Aire XL in 3V and aluminum.

So, 4 days later.....

(Moderators, please ignore the Bel-Aire. 😬)

While adding my name to the PM2 Tanto list on Blade HQ, I decided to look around.....bad idea.

I couldn't decide between the Para 3 in DLC s45vn, and a CruCarta Manix. Then I noticed the Kershaw Bel-Aire XL in 3V.

So....

Ive been out of the budget knife thing for a few months now....Spydercos are addicting.

But I have two Miguron knives I bought a couple years ago. I have a Norsa, and a Gatov, both in D2. They are absolutely great and hit way above their $30 price tags.

Recently ive been wanting to try one of their knives with their "new" 62-63 HRC D2 blades. Then I absolutely fell in love with the look of the Karok, its beautiful....like a Bulldog is beautiful.

The Karok has a button liner lock, 62-63 HRC D2 blade, a reversible and inset deep carry pocket clip with inset screws, and a very thin but comfortable aluminum handle with some sort of enamel paint.

The knife was $37 from the Miguron website. No tax, no shipping, just $37 delivered. And, Miguron has USA stock which ships from Jamaica NY. It made it to me in 4 days. Ive been playing with it for a couple days, its fantastic. If you own any Miguron knives, you know they are as good as any high value budget knife on the market. And look at that blade! Its glorious! 😁