Riz!
Platinum Member
- Joined
- May 5, 2014
- Messages
- 3,890
I broke down. The other night I started feeling all guilty about never having held a Military. So I hopped online and ordered up a MillieCherryPopper. I wanted my first time to be special, so I ordered the KW exclusive: the "1.5 model" with a CTS-204P blade and military green scales. I carried that today; I have very mixed feelings. It's clearly not my kind of knife. I'm fat, and my knife should have a big belly too - the military is just a bit too narrow. Too light as well, IMO. Action was a bit stiff out of the box, and clearly Spyderco made the decision to use red loctite on the screws; I might know this because I have loosened the pivot screws up a hair, and I might have had to use decent quality tools from SnapOn to pull it off. But I learned my lessons 20 years ago building racing bikes: yes, SnapOn might charge $200 for a driver, and another $175 for a bit set. But the handle generates torque in a smooth, controlled fashion, and the bits fit into the screws like no other. I've actually had nuts that an SK socket was starting to round off; I put on a SnapOn socket, and it removed the nut like there was no problem at all.
Anyhow, I'm carrying the Millie today. I dislike it - the overall look and feel is approaching that of a child's toy, in my opinion. Compare the szabo folder; I'll bet there is less total blade / handle surface area with the Szabo, yet the Szabo weighs 2x as much. The Szabo just screams "abuse me and I'll love you" while the Millie whimpers "Don't hurt me, I'm delicate & precise."
Wow, never thought i'd ever hear something negative about the KW exclusive Millie. I think it's one of the best spydercos ever made, don't confuse it's pretty appearance with weakness, i've smashed the heck out of a standard Military for a long time and it's as good as the day i got it. The fixed points - pillar construction, new stop pin and lanyard hole are also all stepped and shouldered in the steel and G10, it's as strong as the Military could ever get. Also the performance to weight ratio is a plus in my opinion, weight doesnt equate to strength, heck, some Cold Steels are lighter than the Military and would beat it at any torture test and don't even have steel liners. Also i think i got lucky because i took mine apart as i do with them all to inspect the new structural design and shouldered standoffs and mine had zero loctite anywhere (thank god i hate the stuff) But everyone likes something different, plenty of knives out there for everyone.
Two interesting and opposing points of view. I have to agree with the latter but do not fault dubbya for his opinion. Thats what is great about Spyderco. If you like spyderco, there is a knife for everyone.
