Blade Show 2023: New Steels, Sprints, and More from Spyderco

Last week Spyderco launched its thirteenth product reveal in preparation for Blade Show 2023. It was a mix of official announcements for things we knew were on the way, like the Native Chief Lightweight and Military 2, and some surprises, including a beefed up Tenacious and some spicy new Sprint Runs.

Native Chief Lightweight in SPY27

As mentioned above, the Native Chief Lightweight first appeared on our radar in March, when SpyderCollector showed it to the world during the Amsterdam Meet. That version was the “standard” model, made with black FRN and CTS-BD1N steel; but Reveal 13 showed an additional model, with blue scales and a blade made from SPY27, the Colorado company’s proprietary formulation.

MicroJimbo

Long-anticipated, the smaller version of Michael Janich’s Yojimbo knife, officially called the MicroJimbo, is on the way. Still equipped with a Compression Lock, the MicroJimbo brings the blade length down to 2.24-inches. A made-in-the-USA Spyderco, the MicroJimbo comes with S30V steel.

K390 LeafJumper

2022’s LeafJumper gets its first variant this year, with blue handle scales that denote it has an upgraded blade made from K390 steel. The LeafJumper model is a leaf blade version of the RockJumper and, like that original model, is a Sal Glesser design.

M4 Tenacious

Here’s a pretty impressive upgrade. The longstanding Spyderco Tenacious model, one of their most memorable budget folder designs, gets bumped up to brown G-10 scales and M4 blade steel. This steel, well-known for extremely high edge retention, is a good fit for the hardworking Tenacious, and makes this flavor the second “premium” variant of the knife after the recently released S35VN version.

UKPK in SPY27

The Native Chief isn’t the only model making the transition from CTS-BD1 to SPY27. The UK Pen Knife, a non-locking knife (Spyderco’s first in fact), returns with the stuff, and the corresponding dark blue FRN scales.

Subvert Sprint

Nati Amor’s Subvert model, originally available in orange G-10 and S30V, gets a notable upgrade here to full contoured carbon fiber scales and a blade made from CPM-20CV. The handle material change does bring down the weight a bit too, to 5.9 oz. from 6.15 oz.

Nishijin Stretch 2 XL Sprint

Even as the entire knife industry gets more playful with handle materials, Spyderco is still the only one using Nishijin. It’s a very limited material but it’s back on this Stretch 2 XL, which also has a damascus-clad VG-10 blade.

Knife in Featured Image: Spyderco MicroJimbo

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