Spyderco Captain C111 Knife
Designed by Jason Breeden, the Spyderco Captain is designed to function as a multi-purpose utility and outdoors knife born from his experience in the Appalachian Mountains, where he resides. The Captain definately comes across as a unique function-follows-form design typical of Spyderco’s offerings, and partly the reason that I am attracted so much to it!
While the Captain did not survive too long in the urban consumer jungle, it should fair much better in actually use. The knife was introduced in 2006 and discontinued in 2009, though its easy to pick them up on eBay or secondary markets for a relative bargain at the moment.
The first thing I noticed when I picked up the Spyderco Captain for the first time was that it was a lot smaller than I had envisioned when I saw photos of it. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does feel like its designed for smaller hands. I have small hands so it fits me well. Usually with knives like the Spyderco Endura and Military, I find the handles have room for larger hands. The Captain fits snug in my hands.
The Spyderco Captain’s blade is hollow ground on the main edge, and sabre ground on the tip edge. The sabre grind on the tip is meant to strengthen it. The VG-10 Stainless Steel blade very sharp out of the box, like most Spydies and is made in Seki-City Japan. The level of finish is typical of most Seki-made Spyderco’s, which is pretty average. Though on the Captain, the blade grinds do not seem as crisp as they usually are on Seki made Spydies.
The odd blade shape presents difficulties for EDC as the lack of a pointy tip makes opening packages and envelopes a bit challenging, making this a poor choice for my personal EDC, though YMMV.
G-10 slabbed handles, and Stainless Steel liners give the knife some decent heft for its size. The uniquely contoured handles make it very comfortable in my handles, filling my palm perfectly. The liner lock is a bit hard to release on the Captain, but this might be a good thing. A lined lanyard hole and all-screw construction completes the package.
Overall I still dig this little blade. It reminds me of many of the other Spydies that have come along throughout the years, relegated to collector-only status since regular people looking for a user knife will likely not be interesting in this kind of thing. But this is partly where the charm lies. I’m sure the knife is very functional and great for certain types of uses, but the lack of a pointy tip and awkward blade shape keeps this one in my display cabinet.
Specs:
Overall Length: 7 3/16″
Blade Length: 3 1/16″
Blade Steel: VG-10
Handle Material: G-10