That Civilian is a beastly maiming machine. I agree a serrated blade makes sense for that particular design (and Spyderco themselves make it clear the Civilian is not for general use and is only suitable for self-defense).
This
I own at least 100 knives and only have 2 serrated. A bread knife and a Spyderco Civilian.
what influenced your decision?
i'm sure the one you picked is still a good knife, i just think the chive/leek/scallion is the epitome of functionality at a good price.
spyderco's a great knife. only reason i've never had one is that i never liked 'thumb holes'- yeah, i'm particular about this shit.
I definitely like it a lot better than the Blur (which I also own). Too bad the full-flat-grind ones are much more expensive. I would also take a Spyderco Endura or Stretch over the Blur.
For my money (and I own many knives), it always makes more sense to buy a plain-edge blade over serrated, but obviously that is a matter of personal preference.
i keep wanting another knife for the hell of it, but i don have the first complaint with the leek...so every time i start looking at other knives i worry that id find one that has something i dont like and never carry it :-/
How the hell can you have over 100 knives and only 1 with serrations?I own at least 100 knives and only have 2 serrated. A bread knife and a Spyderco Civilian.
I find it hard to believe you have over 100 knives and only 1 has serrations.
Did you buy a 100 pack of $0.25 locking blade knives from a flea market?
Agree. I have a fully serrated Endura I bought used for pocket change a long time ago. It successfully sawed through a frozen rope in a situation where I had to stand on my toes and hold the knife with my fingertips to reach the rope at all, and consequently had no leverage. Serrated is cool for rescue-type use. For anything else I'd take a plain blade. I don't agree with the Civilian design - sawing-type cutting ability just isn't that important in a defensive knife. Interesting as a historical/collecting item though.Serrations are really only good for specific cutting tasks which I don't really have need for. Plus they are a pain in the ass to resharpen.
Plain edge blades are much nicer looking and more useful.
Serrations are really only good for specific cutting tasks which I don't really have need for.
I know Civilian sacrifices all general usability for its single purpose - I'm arguing it's not a good design for that single purpose. With almost any normal blade shape you can stab through clothing (and then cut if you intend to cut). That is superior to sawing through the clothing, so it's silly to optimize the knife for sawing through clothing.It's not a knife I would nomally carry.
It's designed for a single purpose, a self defense knife for when the shit hits the fan. The serrations will easily cut through clothing and the shape of the blade will tend to pull itself deeper into the attackers body doing the maximum amount of damage.
There is also a plain edged version which I have.
I would definitely get that over the Kershaws.