quote:

Originally posted by 400m:
Wow! Now I understand.

Yeah, I checked later and I didn't even give you better example of the two. The Military I scored for $79 is normally $360.

A friend clued me into it and I kept trying all day in the background to get an order through, once I did I had to register, that crashed it a bunch more times. I wanted to shop more but just wanted to get my order through to make sure I didn't lose out on what I had, my order was:

Endura 4 Lightweight $37
Mystery Box 2 knifes: $150
byrd Tern: $13
Military: $74

Hours later I tried it again and it started dropping my choices as being unavailable when I went to checkout but I got through 1 Para Military 2 CPM for $100 and 1 Para Military 2 Blue for $74.

Free shipping and tax free somehow, works for me.

I’m guessing that was the S15V to go with your S110V. I have the latter, it had the sharpest factory edge I’ve ever encountered in a knife and the guy I go to brought I back to something amazing once it was dull. The S15V is sought after in a number of models. You did well.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
I’m guessing that was the S15V to go with your S110V. I have the latter, it had the sharpest factory edge I’ve ever encountered in a knife and the guy I go to brought I back to something amazing once it was dull. The S15V is sought after in a number of models. You did well.

Correct. I'm stepping up from a 15yr old Delica, so I'm excited to have some better Spyderco on its way on the cheap.

Got my knives today. Shipped in a cardboard box packed with paper, the knives themselves were in bubble wrap sleeves, no boxes.



These are new, I see no defects, scratches, etc. Fast shipping by UPS.

Mine also got delivered and I just looked them over. The Military and Manix 2 have some uneven grinds up near the choil, and I can find absolutely nothing else on them. The PM2 CRUWEAR I added on later in the day has a rounded shoulder on the spine near the "Spydihole" where someone might've gotten overly vigorous with the buffing wheel. I don't care about these things at all, they're entirely cosmetic and in the case of the grinds, they're no worse than I would do with a sharpener and they'll be gone the first time they get sharpened anyway. A nice haul.

The crud on the blades is adhesive from the labels that melted on from the heat. That's my biggest disappointment with these knives right now.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
The crud on the blades is adhesive from the labels that melted on from the heat. That's my biggest disappointment with these knives right now.

One of mine, the label came off cleanly, but the other left a little bit of sticky residue. Rubbing alcohol took care of it.

Yeah, I went after it with rubbing alcohol and followed up with light coats of Rem Oil on each. It looks like it left a stain on the DLC coated Military, but I decided I don't care.

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:

These are new, I see no defects, scratches, etc.

Etching is light on the one.


On one video I saw about them, high magnification of the metal showed the issue. But probably not anything that would ever really be an issue.

I did order one, one I came close to buying a couple years ago. It was a HUGE savings over what they wanted at the time, so that was a big convincing factor. But I saw the current street price is close to $100 less now than what they were then. So I saved about $80
Which is no small savings, unless you factor in that I didn't need it AT AL, then it's not nearly enough.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:

These are new, I see no defects, scratches, etc.

Etching is light on the one.

Lighting in the room/camera. To the naked eye, both exactly the same.

I got mynfirst order today, look perfectly fine except the small etch Spyderco puts in the back.of the blade to mark factory second. My $150 Mystery Box was a PITS Titanium handle knife, that's like $400 MSRP and a Catbyrd.

quote:

Originally posted by Scuba Steve Sig:
I got mynfirst order today, look perfectly fine except the small etch Spyderco puts in the back.of the blade to mark factory second. My $150 Mystery Box was a PITS Titanium handle knife, that's like $400 MSRP and a Catbyrd.

That's pretty cool. I briefly considered the mystery box, but I couldn't bring myself to roll the dice.

I'm really liking this micarta PM2. I haven't cut anything with it yet, but the micarta feels nice in the hand, pretty grippy. I was thinking of doing a scale swap on it and do a full custom just for giggles, but I noticed the liners aren't nested the way they are on the models that come in G10, they're the full outline of the body and the compression lock toggle is bigger, so I don't know that anything but the blade will swap out. Probably just leave it as-is. Neat knife.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
I did order one, one I came close to buying a couple years ago. It was a HUGE savings over what they wanted at the time, so that was a big convincing factor. But I saw the current street price is close to $100 less now than what they were then. So I saved about $80
Which is no small savings, unless you factor in that I didn't need it AT AL, then it's not nearly enough.

What did you get?

Mine finally showed up today after a delay from UPS.
I bought the same blades as ODDBALL.
I have not found any defects that I can easily see, it seems stiff but some oil will probably fix that.
The biggest most obvious defect is the "CHINA" engraving on the blade.

^^^^^^^

On both of my Para 3s, Golden, Colorado U.S.A. Earth is etched on the back of the blade.

looking again at your picture I see your is different than mine. I have a shorter stubby blade half serrated.
For $22 I can't complain but still wish it was made here.

Both my Para 3's showed up and they look great.

Yeah, they have several lines. The one in Golden, CO, another in Taichung where a lot of collaboration models like the Szabo and Vallotton I have and probably the Mas Ayoob they're currently running, then another in China for "the Value line." All of them have Spyderco employees from the States there overseeing things, and I would say that for the most part, there isn't a heck of a lot of difference on a level we the consumer can see. The obvious one is blade steels - the Tenacious, Emphasis, Efficient, and Insistent I've been gifted are all 8Cr13MoV. The Taichung knives are S30V, and the US models start at S30V and go up from there in terms of how exotic a blend they are. I could hand you one of each line with the markings taped over and I think most people would be hard-pressed to tell the difference if they didn't already know which models were made where.

Spyderco having a plant in China is them having a presence in the country where 99% of the counterfeits are made. I know Sal Glesser initially didn't want anything to do with China, but at least they have a line where they have complete and direct control over everything.

Such a terrible I mean wonderful influence...

I went with the Paramilitary 2 Maxamet.

Such a sweet knife. Only defect is the cut on the choil on one side was uneven. I couldn't care less, its a sweet knife.

^^^^^^
I am a fanboy of the PM2 and have had that model on my to get list for some time.

For you to snag one for $79 is a true bargain.

The Maxamet is a awesome steel and I am envious.

Congrats!!!

Nice score! Maxamet is some damn good stuff, that knife is going to last you a long time!

If I could go back and do it over again, I would've skipped the Military and snagged one of those instead.