Spyderco Dark Blue Paramilitary 2 Folder Knife Review

Spyderco is a Colorado based cutlery company that produces knives and knife sharpeners. Spyderco pioneered many features that are now common in folding knives, including the pocket clip, serrations, and the opening hole. Spyderco has collaborated with 30 custom knife makers, athletes, and self-defense instructors for designs and innovated the usage of 20 different blade materials.

Spyderco was founded by Sal Glesser. The first product Spyderco produced was the Portable Hand in 1976, this “spider-shaped device,” was a series of angles, ball joints, and alligator clips that helped people such as jewelers and hobbyists to work with small parts. Glesser and his wife Gail converted an old bread delivery truck into a motor-home and traveled to shows. As they became more successful, they graduated from the bread truck to a truck and trailer. They settled in Golden Colorado in November 1978. Spyderco began producing knife sharpeners in 1979 and produced their first folding knife, the C01 Worker, in 1981. This knife was the first to feature a round hole in the blade designed for fast, one-handed and ambidextrous opening, which is now the company’s trademark. Additionally, the company claims that this was the first knife to feature a pocket clip on the right side of the handle.

Most knives produced by Spyderco are folding knives of various designs, blade steels, handle materials, and locking mechanisms. However, they have also produced fixed-blade knives for various purposes. Spyderco’s knives are made with plain edge, a partially serrated edge, or a fully serrated “Spyder Edge” configuration. Their most common handle material is FRN and G10, although they make knives with steel handles as well as some limited editions with handles from various other materials.

Something unique to Spyderco is their use of Sprint Runs. Spyderco often produces limited edition models, referred to as sprint runs. These limited runs are generally versions of discontinued models with different blade and hand materials though some are completely new models, such as the Kopa; a dress knife with several variants.

Today we will be going over the Spyderco C81GPDBL2 Dark Blue Paramilitary 2 folding knife.

 

The Blade:

The blade on this knife is made out of CPM S110V stainless steel. This is a high alloy martensitic stainless tool steel produced by the Crucible Particle Metallurgy process. CPM S110V contains a high volume fraction of both vanadium-rich and niobium-rich primary alloy carbides for exceptionally good wear resistance compared to other commercially available PM tool steels. This also offers better corrosion resistance than 440C or CPM S90V. This CPM process results in a fine and uniform carbide distribution in CPM S110V compared to conventionally produced high alloy tool steels which results in relatively good machining, grinding, and toughness characteristics despite the alloy content.

The blade has been satin finished, which is the most traditional blade finish in the cutlery market today. This finish is created by repeatedly sanding the blade in one direction with an increasing level of abrasive, which is usually a sandpaper. The finer the sandpaper (or other abrasive) and the more even the lines, the cleaner the blade is going to look. Like I mentioned, this is the most popular blade finish that is used today because it creates such a classic and traditional look. In terms of luster, the satin finish is right in the middle. A mirror polish finish is going to be much more reflective than the satin finish and a coated finish is going to keep it much more matte than a satin finish. With this blade, you can know that your blade is not going to go out of style. The satin finish also slightly increases the corrosion resistance of the blade, although that characteristic of this blade is not necessarily noteworthy.

The blade has been carved into a clip point blade style. This blade shape is one of the two most popular blade shapes that is used today in the cutlery industry. This is because it is a versatile blade shape that is functional in a wide variety of different situations and tasks. The most common place that you are going to see this blade shape is on the Bowie knife style, but plenty of other pocket and fixed blade knives also sport the clip point blade shape, such as this Paramilitary 2. The blade shape is formed by having the back, or unsharpened, edge run straight form the handle before it stops about halfway up the knife. At this point, it turns and continues to the point of the knife. This section of the blade is referred to as the clip, because it looks as if it has been clipped off of the knife. This section is straight on the Paramilitary 2. Because of the clip, the tip is lowered, which means that you are going to have more control when using the knife for slicing or for fine detail work. One of the other reasons that this blade shape is so all-purpose is because of the large belly that it boasts. The belly makes slicing much simpler, which is going to make the majority of your tasks much simpler. One of the only disadvantages to the clip point blade shape is also one of its key advantages: The clip point has a narrow tip, which means that it is going to be more prone to breaking than say a drop point. However, because the tip is sharper and thinner at the spine, the clip point has been perfectly designed to lend itself to piercing and stabbing. This is also what differentiates the clip point from the drop point—the drop point has a much broader point, so while it is going to be more durable, the drop point does not have the same stabbing capabilities.

On the portion of the blade that is nearest to the spine of the handle, there is a row of very shallow jimping that will assist you in having better grip and more control when you are doing fine detail work with this blade.

This Spyderco knife boasts a plain edge, which helps this knife be the perfect everyday carry knife. The plain edge has equipped this blade to take on a wider variety of tasks while also giving you very clean cuts.

 

The Handle:

The handle on this knife is made out of dark blue G-10. G-10 is a high-pressure fiberglass laminate, which is a kind of composite material. This material is created by stacking multiple layers of glass cloth, soaking it in epoxy resin, and compressing the resulting material under heat until the epoxy cures. This material is manufactured in flat sheets. G-10 is very similar to Micarta and Carbon Fiber laminates, because all of the materials are resin-based laminates. However, in G-10 the base material is glass cloth. G-10 is considered to be the toughest of the glass fiber resin laminates and therefore the most commonly used. G-10 is so widely used because of its high strength, low moisture absorption, and chemical resistance. Because G-10 is created in layers, the manufacturer can create unique colors for knife handles. This Spyderco knife is dark blue G-10. The dark blue color is unique enough that the knife is sure to be a showstopper, but it is also subtle enough that it does not look tacky. This is close to a navy, which is a neutral color, so you won’t have to feel like the handle is the only thing that people can focus on. This material is also easy to texturize, which comes in handy for all-purpose knives, because it means that you can have a good grip on this knife in almost any environment.

The ergonomics of this knife handle have created a very comfortable handle. The center of the handle bottom bellies out to fit your palm well. There is a slight finger groove and a slight finger guard, which helps to keep your fingers safe in case of slippage. The spine of the handle has a slight curve to it.

On the butt of the handle, there has been a lanyard hole carved out. This lanyard hole will come in handy for a variety of reasons, even though this is just an everyday carry knife. For instance, if you have a lanyard attached to your knife, you will be able to withdraw it from your pocket quicker than if you were using your pocket clip. Also, because of this, you can keep your knife more deeply concealed in your pocket. Overall, the lanyard will allow you to keep your knife close by at all times, without the hassle that comes from keeping your knife with you at all times. And, as a side advantage, with a lanyard, you are also able to add a little bit of your own style to your knife.

 

The Pocket Clip:

The pocket clip has also been finished satin to match the blade, it also contrasts nicely with the dark blue handle. This clip is kept in place by three small, silver screws that match the rest of the hardware on this knife. One of the biggest advantages to the Paramilitary 2 pocket clip is that it is a four-way reversible clip. This means that the clip is fully ambidextrous as well, plus you can carry it in the most comfortable position for yourself. On the pocket clip, Spyderco has stamped their logo near the top.

 

The Mechanism:

This Spyderco knife is a folding knife that uses their round hole to assist you in opening your knife as well as their patented Compression Lock mechanism.

The thumb hole is very simple to use and it essentially replaces the nail nick or the thumb stud on a knife. Spyderco likes the round hole because it allows the blade of a folding knife to be swiftly and easily opened with only one hand. This revolutionary feature was granted a U.S. utility patent in 1981 and literally helped define the form of the modern folding knife. Unlike thumb studs, disks, and other one-hand-opening attachments, the hole offers a larger surface area for greater reliability and does not interfere with the cutting action of the blade. Spyderco has said, “An iconic symbol of our brand, the Trademark Round Hole also serves as a user-friendly alternative to a traditional nail ick in our two-hand-opening folders and a proud expression of our brand identify in our fixed blade knives.”

Their compression lock is a lock mechanism that uses a leaf-like spring from a split liner in the handle to wedge laterally between a ramp on the blade tang and the stop pin. This lock was developed and patented by Spyderco, and it provides extreme lock strength and ease of use.

 

The Specs:

The blade on this Spyderco knife measures in at 3.42 inches long, with the handle measuring in at 4.82 inches long. The overall length of the blade is 8.24 inches long when the knife is opened. The Paramilitary 2 weighs in at 3.9 ounces. This knife was made in the United States of America.

 

Conclusion:

Highly regarded as one of the most popular folder knives ever created, the Spyderco Paramilitary 2 slightly diminishes the exceptional performance and reliability of the Spyderco Military model into a more compact and pocket-friendly design. Each model features a premium stainless steel blade that is supported, this time, by Spyderco’s patented Compression Lock™ mechanism–allowing users to safely close the blade with one hand without ever having the operating hand come near the cutting edge. Much like its larger predecessor, the Paramilitary 2 features a slightly flared base of the handle as well as the integrated jimping which provides increased control with any cutting job. This model, the C81GPDBL2, features a dark blue G-10 handle, a satin finished clip point style blade, Spyderco’s trademark round hole opening feature and an ambidextrous 4-way positional pocket clip which allows for a tip up or tip down carry option on either side of the handle. Pick up this fantastic everyday knife today at BladeOps.