Spyderco Para 3 Lightweight In 2024: Is It Still A Strong EDC Contender?

Giving my view as it stands nearly midway through 2024. Everything is speeding up nowadays at a almost overly fast rate, and the knife game is following suit. Its a good time to be into knives (besides the whole you know, spending excessive amounts of money thing).

[@Rubes160]

I've got a factory second, Para 3 light weight, CTS-BD1N, arriving tomorrow. I'm a huge Spyderco snob. My current daily carry is a heavier, Police 3 plain edge from about 2014. I need a lighter one I can carry in my basketball shorts, etc. I've owned the PM2 before but have lost it. I feel like I'll love the PM3 lightweight with that BD1N steel A LOT. Can't wait to use it. Thanks buddy!

[@Archetype_EDC]

Hey thanks as well, the PM3 LW is such an amazing knife all things considered. Ive yet to get a regular Para 3, but with two LW models (BD1N and SPY27), and one very nice Para 2 (outfitted with carbon fibre scales which I absolutely love) I might not bother. Enjoy your new knife when it arrives! all the best

[@lencycler1]

Yeah my Manix 2 LW with spy has a nice sparkle to it. I ruined the plastic scales trying to remove that same screw. I was furious I had to spend $100 on new scales, but after installing those aluminum cobalt blue scales from AWT I couldn't believe how beautiful it looks now.

[@Archetype_EDC]

Hey, cool glad to hear that regarding the sparkle on the Spy27, first person to confirm that. I had a third para 3 lw (fully serrated) arrive in recently and was thinking about going AWT on it but after so many bad experiences I decided to just not touch it and leave it be. I did however get some scales for the bugout from AWT so quite excited for those to arrive in

[@lencycler1]

I'm sure they will be great. My challenge now is resisting the temptation to buy the aftermarket cage and spring and all that stuff 💵💵😫

[@dougwinchester4963]

I have noticed a near rainbow coloration on my 14C28N blades , with a deeper belt satin . Is the Spy 21 steel similar ? I do enjoy the informative ramblings , btw .

[@Archetype_EDC]

hey, glad to hear it as always. I just turned my notifications back on so if you see this, reply when you can so I can see if they will actually show up on my homepage lol (turned them off because I was getting bored of the influx of bizarre comments). Spy27 just has a very subtle different hue or lustre to it, I was wondering if the higher addition of cobalt in it had anything to do with it. As someone else said, they did notice that on their manix in Spy27. Cant say I noticed the same for any of the 14C blades however 🤔 *edit: just got the notifications back on and it’s working properly. Will be able to get back to any comments you leave on older videos now, much appreciated though!

[@nazgulnarsil1336]

surprised to hear you have rust issues with 8cr13. I've had issues with d2 but never any spots on 8cr.

[@Archetype_EDC]

yea technically it should be a stainless steel with its chromium levels, but both knives I carried way back got pretty rusty, espescially the first one which im now putting it down to having a terrible heat treat. Had rust spots appear on it from taking it out of the store I bought it from (5'11), putting it in my pocket and then walking home. To be fair the levels of sweat that got onto it were way higher than normal because of where I live, but still. Maybe it will redeem itself for me in the future