Hey Guys!

So, I just recently picked up a used Spyderco Tenacious as part of a trade, and I’m really very impressed with it. I’m loving the feel of the mechanisms, the nice solid click from the liner lock, the easy and buttery smooth deployment, the blade geometry and design, and most of all I’m astounded by how sharp of an edge I was able to put on it, even though it uses one of the lower quality steels in their lineup (8CR13MOV). Spyderco has always been on my radar as a quality knife company but after carrying the Tenacious for a while I’m ready to step it up and get one of their higher quality blades, I basically figure that if I’m this impressed with one of their entry-level knives then I should be blown away by one of the “good” ones!

Of course, there’s about 5 million different models to choose from, so I’m hoping all you Spyderco guys here can help guide me in the right direction. Here’s the basic stuff I’m looking for:

My priorities are quality feel, easy one-handed use, smooth deployment/closing, and high-end steel (looking for sharpness and edge retention over corrosion resistance). I’ve felt their bi-directional FRN scales and they’re ok, but I think I’d probably like something a little more substantial. The blade must be plain edge, and I generally like sheepsfoot and wharncliffe styles as well as any unique/unusual blade shapes as long as they’re functional and don’t have any recurve (I hate trying to sharpen blades with recurve). I also like unique and non-standard locking mechanisms, but again it must be functional and easy to use one handed so I’ll take a liner lock any day of the week over something that looks incredible but takes two hands and a mechanical degree to close. As far as size goes the Tenacious is probably just about as big as I’d want to go and I’ll honestly probably go smaller; I’ll be EDCing this at work and I need something that won’t use up my whole pocket and that also won’t scare the bejeesus out of my coworkers every time I whip it out, although on the flip side I do want something still big enough to be useful as a primary blade so I don’t want to go too tiny.

I’d like to keep things in the sub-$200 price range, but if there’s something that I REALLY like I may save a bit and spring for it. I am pretty curious about the flipper knives just because I really like flippers and got very used to them from all my Kershaws and CRKTs, but obviously the price on Spyderco’s flippers is a bit on the high side so I’d love to hear opinions from anyone who’s got them.

OK, that should be enough to get started, thanks in advance, I’m looking forward to hearing what you guys come up with!