On Spyderco

My brother-in-law's birthday party was last night and I'd planned on getting him a nice knife. I knew he usually carried Spydercos (he's an electrician), but I wanted to get him a knife that was... you know; nice. Now, before Josh starts yelling, this was BEFORE our Spyderco challenge, and before I had considered taking Spydercos seriously. Since I realized that there might be something about Spyderco, I called my sister to see if he always used Spydercos for a particular reason. She said she thought he liked them because his dad always used them, but wasn't sure. I told her I'd like to take him to the knife shop, and get him whatever he wants, but I was afraid he'd worry about price; she though it'd be fine so I'll do that.

At the party I found some friends of his talking about guns and took part in the conversation regarding legalities of OLLs, and other possibly illegal guns. The guy was an EMT, and had a slew of unregistered guns. It reminded me that many in California simply don't care or worry about the Assault Weapon laws. We needed to pick up the food so she suggested I go with the EMT as an extra set of hands. When we got to his car, I asked him what he did, and when he said he was an EMT, I asked him what knife he carried; SOG Flash 2. Assisted opening, one sided slider lock, partially sarrated, and obviously well used.

"SOG Flash... Looks like you use it too!"
"Yeah, I like it. The assisted opening is nice."
"Benchmade 940. My EDC."
"Hey, I like Benchmade... *opens* Niiiiice!"
"And...! *reach* Spyderco ladybug at 6 o'clock on my waistband. Added the clip myself."
"Nice! That's cool!"

*talk about different brands, vendors, and models we like*

(this guy knows his stuff, why don't I ask him...)
"Hey; what do you think about Spyderco?"
"I like 'em."
"... Why?"
"Well... Actually, I don't own one."
"...Uh huh..."
"But I do like some of their stuff... Like the Spyderfly... And... There was another one..."
"The native?"
"Yeah! The native... I guess I just know a lot of people with them. They seem alright."

Hmmm... Later I asked my brother-in-law why he liked Spyderco and he said that he just got them because he always has. When I told him I was planning on getting him a Griptilian, but I wanted him to pick something from the knife shop. He perked up when I mentioned the Griptilian so, maybe he's not really that married to Spyderco.

Just some more opinions to throw on the pile...