Hey guys, I started a post a while back asking if the CRKT would be a good defensive knife. After reading the replies, I decided to go a different rout. I have read many positive reviews about Spyderco. I really like the Endura 4 made in Seki City Japan. It is marked VG-10 at the bottom of the blade. It is a large knife but I plan on using it more for SD than work. I am trying to upgrade from my Kershaw Leek, is the Spyderco Endura 4 a good durable knife or would you consider another option.
AmmoFan01
I carried an Endura for years- a great knife until I lost it a couple years ago. Last year I was going to replace it but unfortunately they're too long for me to carry now that I live in Colorado (a 3.5" limit).
As long as the Delica but as thick as the Native. Never much liked how thin the Delica's blade was. Haven't had the Endura, myself, but I would think it should work well for you. If you're satisfied with your ability to rapidly deploy, use the lock/hole feature, and retain it in a situation, it should do okay.
* Have owned the Delica and a pair of Native blades, from Spyderco. Like them, for what they are. Not "combat" blades, but not bad for what they are. IMO the S30V steel on the Natives I have are markedly tougher to keep sharp than other blades I've had, as edge retention doesn't seem nearly as great as many report S30V steel generally to be. But otherwise, they're nice blades.
* Have owned the Delica and a pair of Native blades, from Spyderco. Like them, for what they are. Not "combat" blades, but not bad for what they are. IMO the S30V steel on the Natives I have are markedly tougher to keep sharp than other blades I've had, as edge retention doesn't seem nearly as great as many report S30V steel generally to be. But otherwise, they're nice blades.
I have been buying SpyderCo's since they first came out and no one knew their name. I never considered them a fighting knife. Great EDC and special purpose knives but I do not buy them for defensive use except for the Matriarch 2 which is a slashing, rather than stabbing knife. I also have the original Police model. My problem with them is that with slick hands, like blood, you hand can slide off the grip and onto the blade when you stab. You may hit a rib and next thing you know, you have sliced your hand open. As any ER people you know what a tell tale sign of stabbing someone is.
I prefer knives with a hilt that prevents your hand from sliding onto the blade or in the case of my Jim Wagner Benchmark auto knife, finger groves like you find on a gun. Given the large odds that the knife will be used just for every day purposes, a Spyderco is a good choice. Quite honestly, as someone who has some custom made and expensive knives, my inexpensive knives do a great job of everything I need them to. My favorite is a Leatherman Folder. Been using it almost every day and it is still sharp and sturdy. My best defensive knives are:
http://www.blackhawk.com/Products/Accessories/Knives/Folding/CQD™-Mark-II™-Type-E-Manual-Folder.aspx
and
http://www.blackhawk.com/Products/Accessories/Knives/Folding/Be-Wharned™.aspx
The Be Wharned is essentially a heavy duty razor blade. I have cut myself a few times just cleaning this one. Very sharp and a great slashing knife and good for opening boxes and letters.
Another favorite of mine which is just mean looking and will cut to the bone is:
Spyderco Matriarch 2
I always have a small SpyderCo LadyBug on my key chain which takes care of my every day cutting needs. I also wear a neck knife at times but for defensive I take one of my serious blades with me. Any knife can be a weapon in the right hands but the problem is that less people take training with knives than do with guns.
What I have done lately is just carry a 5 oz. NAA Pug in .22 mag instead of a defensive knife. I do not have to get close to use it and it is smaller than any of my carry knives. Then I can slip a small knife like a Delica into my pocket for normal needs. Neck knives are nice. I have a few. Sometimes you are in a scuffle and cannot get to your pocket and that is when your neck knife comes in handy.
For serious use I carry my Cold Steel Tanto. It has a very sticky rubber grip and can penetrate a car door without your hand sliding over the blade. It is the original model with the good steel. I forget all the steels on my knives; too many of them to remember. My favorite of all is my Vietnam knife. More like a dagger with a nice handguard. It is essentially the Gerber MKII with serrations near the hilt supposedly for cutting into kidneys. Mine has a slightly curved blade. It is curved so that when you strap it to your leg, it conforms to the shape of your outer thigh and holds it close. For me, it is a perfect fighting knife along with the popular Applegate-Fairbairn. If you wear un-tucked shirts, concealing a knife is easier than concealing a gun. They even have shoulder holsters for knives.
If you are just looking for a get off me knife, anything with a sharp blade will do. If you intend to fight with one, I would consider a different knife. I have lots of folder and non folder knives to choose from so I like to mix them up like I do with my guns. These days I often just carry my NAA Pug in .22 magnum. While it cannot cut (unless you put a bayonet on it and they do sell one), it is a great get off me weapon without having to get close to your opponent.
Here are the knives I carry for defensive use. I have a SpyderCo Lady Bug on my key chain and it handles most of my cutting jobs.
http://www.blackhawk.com/Products/Accessories/Knives/Folding/CQD™-Mark-II™-Type-E-Manual-Folder.aspx
http://www.blackhawk.com/Products/Accessories/Knives/Folding/Be-Wharned™.aspx
https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=719
https://www.boker.de/us/pocket-knife/boker-plus/tactical-knife/01BO048N.html
If you are just looking for a knife that will probably never be used for defense, than any good blade will do. I have very expensive knives and the one that I use daily is made by Leatherman. It is very light and still has a sharp blade after 5 years of daily use. You cannot go wrong with Spyderco. I keep their original Police model in my car and have most of their original line of knives which I will someday sell on ebay.
I prefer knives with a hilt that prevents your hand from sliding onto the blade or in the case of my Jim Wagner Benchmark auto knife, finger groves like you find on a gun. Given the large odds that the knife will be used just for every day purposes, a Spyderco is a good choice. Quite honestly, as someone who has some custom made and expensive knives, my inexpensive knives do a great job of everything I need them to. My favorite is a Leatherman Folder. Been using it almost every day and it is still sharp and sturdy. My best defensive knives are:
http://www.blackhawk.com/Products/Accessories/Knives/Folding/CQD™-Mark-II™-Type-E-Manual-Folder.aspx
and
http://www.blackhawk.com/Products/Accessories/Knives/Folding/Be-Wharned™.aspx
The Be Wharned is essentially a heavy duty razor blade. I have cut myself a few times just cleaning this one. Very sharp and a great slashing knife and good for opening boxes and letters.
Another favorite of mine which is just mean looking and will cut to the bone is:
Spyderco Matriarch 2
I always have a small SpyderCo LadyBug on my key chain which takes care of my every day cutting needs. I also wear a neck knife at times but for defensive I take one of my serious blades with me. Any knife can be a weapon in the right hands but the problem is that less people take training with knives than do with guns.
What I have done lately is just carry a 5 oz. NAA Pug in .22 mag instead of a defensive knife. I do not have to get close to use it and it is smaller than any of my carry knives. Then I can slip a small knife like a Delica into my pocket for normal needs. Neck knives are nice. I have a few. Sometimes you are in a scuffle and cannot get to your pocket and that is when your neck knife comes in handy.
For serious use I carry my Cold Steel Tanto. It has a very sticky rubber grip and can penetrate a car door without your hand sliding over the blade. It is the original model with the good steel. I forget all the steels on my knives; too many of them to remember. My favorite of all is my Vietnam knife. More like a dagger with a nice handguard. It is essentially the Gerber MKII with serrations near the hilt supposedly for cutting into kidneys. Mine has a slightly curved blade. It is curved so that when you strap it to your leg, it conforms to the shape of your outer thigh and holds it close. For me, it is a perfect fighting knife along with the popular Applegate-Fairbairn. If you wear un-tucked shirts, concealing a knife is easier than concealing a gun. They even have shoulder holsters for knives.
If you are just looking for a get off me knife, anything with a sharp blade will do. If you intend to fight with one, I would consider a different knife. I have lots of folder and non folder knives to choose from so I like to mix them up like I do with my guns. These days I often just carry my NAA Pug in .22 magnum. While it cannot cut (unless you put a bayonet on it and they do sell one), it is a great get off me weapon without having to get close to your opponent.
Here are the knives I carry for defensive use. I have a SpyderCo Lady Bug on my key chain and it handles most of my cutting jobs.
http://www.blackhawk.com/Products/Accessories/Knives/Folding/CQD™-Mark-II™-Type-E-Manual-Folder.aspx
http://www.blackhawk.com/Products/Accessories/Knives/Folding/Be-Wharned™.aspx
https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=719
https://www.boker.de/us/pocket-knife/boker-plus/tactical-knife/01BO048N.html
If you are just looking for a knife that will probably never be used for defense, than any good blade will do. I have very expensive knives and the one that I use daily is made by Leatherman. It is very light and still has a sharp blade after 5 years of daily use. You cannot go wrong with Spyderco. I keep their original Police model in my car and have most of their original line of knives which I will someday sell on ebay.
I have the Endura. While the big blade makes it suitable for SD, if I were you I would pick a different knife.
A self defense event is a high-stress situation. The less you need to do to bring the knife into action, the better. This means fixed blade knives are best, followed by automatics, then assisted openers, then manual openers. Fixed blade knives are unwieldy, autos are illegal federally and in most states, so that leaves most people with assisted openers.
The leek is an assisted opener while the Endura is manual. To make it worse, the Endura uses lockback mechanism, which means the blade is always under constant pressure of the back spring except when you unlock it. Have you tried opening a new Endura with your thumb? I guarantee that your Leek opens much faster and easier.
Kershaw makes all sorts of Endura-sized assisted openers, look them up.
A self defense event is a high-stress situation. The less you need to do to bring the knife into action, the better. This means fixed blade knives are best, followed by automatics, then assisted openers, then manual openers. Fixed blade knives are unwieldy, autos are illegal federally and in most states, so that leaves most people with assisted openers.
The leek is an assisted opener while the Endura is manual. To make it worse, the Endura uses lockback mechanism, which means the blade is always under constant pressure of the back spring except when you unlock it. Have you tried opening a new Endura with your thumb? I guarantee that your Leek opens much faster and easier.
Kershaw makes all sorts of Endura-sized assisted openers, look them up.
Pretty much all the knives that I have in my EDC rotation are Spydercos or Benchmades. I'm a fan of the Endura, and mine has withstood a fair amount of abuse.
I am also a big fan of the wave feature that they put on some of the models. It makes the knife faster to deploy from a pocket than any auto I have owned, including a Leek.
I am also a big fan of the wave feature that they put on some of the models. It makes the knife faster to deploy from a pocket than any auto I have owned, including a Leek.
I am partial to Ontario and Tops although Kershaw has 2 that I like and that's the USA made Speed Bump and ZT 350.
I EDC a Spyderco Endura Wave. Learn to use the "Emerson Wave" (registered trademark) and you'll never find a folder that's faster into the fight. But I primarily carry fixed-blades for defense, because NO folder is...faster!
EDC'd a Delica for many years. Considered it a tool, not a weapon. If you're set on a Spyderco for SD, don't horse around. Get a Police model and some training. Learn how to use it.
Endura is a great knife, very useful, and with the Emerson Wave model, quick to be deployed. Would it be my first pick as a self defense knife? No, but it is still a good knife for every day carry.
I have the 'waved' version as well....it is my dress knife. I carry it when I have to go dressed up & want something light in weight & easy to carry when dressed up.
I might be a bit biased, as I own around 250+ Spyderco's.
I think the Endura is a pretty good knife for the money. I have some that cost more, some that are prettier.
I view knives as primarily tools not weapons, I have no martial arts/self-defense training, but if I can't have a gun with me, it is comforting to at least have a knife. And you never know when you will find a loose thread that needs to be cut
.
A fixed blade is faster to deploy than a folder, but harder to conceal, and a folder has the advantage that I can carry it in my hand without threatening anybody as I walk through the parking lot at night.
I usually have multiple knives with me, one of which is often a Yojimbo 2 - a little bit more expensive than an Endura and more special-purpose as it *is* designed for self defense. I like the Spyder-hole opener better than the thumb stud often used by other makes, and with a little practice, on most Spyderco models I can open them every bit as fast as an auto.
I think the Endura is a pretty good knife for the money. I have some that cost more, some that are prettier.
I view knives as primarily tools not weapons, I have no martial arts/self-defense training, but if I can't have a gun with me, it is comforting to at least have a knife. And you never know when you will find a loose thread that needs to be cut
.A fixed blade is faster to deploy than a folder, but harder to conceal, and a folder has the advantage that I can carry it in my hand without threatening anybody as I walk through the parking lot at night.
I usually have multiple knives with me, one of which is often a Yojimbo 2 - a little bit more expensive than an Endura and more special-purpose as it *is* designed for self defense. I like the Spyder-hole opener better than the thumb stud often used by other makes, and with a little practice, on most Spyderco models I can open them every bit as fast as an auto.
I am not a big fan of spyderco but after looking at the endura specs.. I would say that it easily meets the minimum requirements I would assign a SD folder.
I have carried an Endura 4 for my EDC for quite a while along with a SAK Classic to cover all my knife needs. I prefer the saber grind over the flat grind with a plain edge as it makes for a stronger blade for what I use a knife for. I do not carry it for a SD knife however. While the blade is long enough I just don't carry it for that purpose although I suppose if pressed and my gun is ....where? My firearm and my feet are going to be used if at all possible long before a knife ever would.
To clarify: while the Endura is a great all-purpose knife for a number of reasons, you can do better for the money if your purpose is strictly self defense.
Take a look at Kershaw Piston or SOG Trident. The steel is not as good as the Endura, but it will cut BG just as easily while being easier and quicker to deploy.
Take a look at Kershaw Piston or SOG Trident. The steel is not as good as the Endura, but it will cut BG just as easily while being easier and quicker to deploy.
I've carried a Spyderco Delica 4 for a long long time. It is a wonderful daily carry knife. Light weight, durable, an overall good daily carry knife. The endura would be a good choice too.
I'm no knife geek, but I bought a Spyderco Tenacious about 7 years ago and have done nothing but abuse, sharpen and occasional drop some oil in the hinge after excessive abuse. It's a working knife that will scrape paint, pry things open, dig things out ans generally stay sharp enough to shave the hairs off the back of my hand. Again, I'm no expert, but it's the best folder I've ever owned.
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