Spyderco Joy

I like the Spyderco line of knives. Good blade steel and geometry produce good working blades that last and are very sharp right out of the box. I've owned an Endura and Delica with the fiberglass reinforced handles. Strong, tough knives that will handle anything and light enough to carry anywhere. It doesn't hurt that the clip feature allows one to carry one readily accessible just about anywhere in the clothing.

I carried an Endura with the combo edge for many years in the military. I would clip it inside the top of the front button row on the BDU jacket. That left it readily available and concealed from everyone. A perfect, last ditch back up just in case somebody tried to use me for access to the unit arms vault.

Now that I'm a civilian, I have admit that I more closely adhere to certain rules and laws. In Virginia 3 inches is the maximum length of a hidden blade including a folder. In truth, I got the Endura when there was no Delica and bought the Delica as soon as it came out and carried the Delica in civvies while the Endura stayed with the uniform. The 2-7/8 inch blade of the Delica is all one needs to make a slashing attack and get away from an attacker and is more than enough blade length to cut strapping such as seatbelts in an emergency. The very sharp Spyderco edge Even cuts through heavy rope in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, I lost my Delica! The integral clip on my fiberglass reinforced handle apparently slipped off it's mooring and took the knife elsewhere. I was heartbroken.

Then, as a I mentioned earlier, I was in Hunter's Paradise and discovered that the shop was closing and selling everything at cost. There was one more C-11 (as shown) and I got it for $45. The Spyderco joy began.

Unfortunately, the clip is at the wrong end for me. When I pull the knife from the pocket I like the knife to have the thumbhole (patented by Spyderco) under my thumb. The position shown in the photo doesn't allow that when the knife is clipped into my right front pants pocket. I needed to change the position of the clip.

Spyderco has some thoughtful designers because they know that any given clip position won't work for all their users. Being able to move the clip is a big plus. Spyderco also uses a neat 3 screw arrangement to fasten the clip to the knife. If you prefer, you can remove the clip all-together! Great versatility. What Spyderco doesn't mention anywhere is that the screw heads are TORX heads.

As you know I mentioned before that I just started wearing my new bifocals. The T6 size head of these screws is so small that I couldn't see that they were a TORX head and wasted a lot of time looking for a proper fitting hex key. Finally, I was looking at the screw heads and hit the correct focal point with the glasses and noticed the distinctive shape of the TORX head. Viola! But a T10 (available in the wrench sets now available as are the hex sets) was too big. So a search of the local hardware stores finally turned up the necessary T6 bit which was used this morning to satisfy my soul. My C11 now resides, safely, in my right front blue jeans pocket. Oh JOY!


The knife with the clip in the "correct" position.