If you're considering a Spyderco folder proceed with extreme caution. The following are the serious issues I've recently had.
Strike One: I bought a NIB Para Military 2 from them late last year and one of the screws had fallen out of the knife in transit. They wanted me to pay for shipping to them AND enclose a check for $6 for return shipping in case they determined it wasn't a warranty issue. I had to call them on the phone, leave a message with the receptionist, and wait for Jack Botbyl, a supervisor, to call me back. He did call me back the same day, and I gave him the same explanation I'd emailed to them, which "Mary" in customer support responded to and told there were no exceptions on shipping. At first he tried to jerk me around by telling me they had no control of the knife after they sent it to the retailer. I told him that the retailer, Knife Center of the Internet, had already offered me a refund (they couldn't replace it because Spyderco hasn't figured out how to ramp up production on a knife retailers sell out of within hours of offering for sale each small batch they get from Spyderco). I also told him that I didn'y think KCOI would be happy t have Spyderco accusing them of messing with product before sending it to customers. They did fix it free of charge, but with a turn around time of just over a month. That's totally unacceptable for a knife that price.
The PM2 noted above came back from Spyderco bone dry. I took it apart and dry film lubed everything with paraffin wax, and it was fine. While I was at I figured it would be a good time take down all my knives to check and lube the internals. My Spyderco Superleaf was perfect, and I noticed that the liners were highly polished just like on the PM2. However,
Strike Two: The Spyderco Chaparral that I've owned for a year and a half, and the Spyderco Cat I've had for 10 months were not so kind to me. There was corrosion on handle scale side of the liners on both knives. The scales on both knives were finished in a matte bead blast, which is a horrible choice of finish in terms of countering corrosion. The more expensive Chaparral had worse corrosion than the Cat, but that's probably because the Cat is about six months newer. Thankfully I could (and did) fix this myself by scrubbing the corrosion off, polishing the liners, and then coating them in a film of paraffin for good measure. I was only slightly annoyed by this on the Cat since that knife sells for $40 - $50 online (and I got mine on a weekly deal for $30). However, the Chaparral sells for over $100 even from online discount houses. Poorly finished liners with no corrosion inhibiting coating is once again unacceptable for knife that cost this much.
Strike Three: I traded fellow THR moderator John Shirley some things I no longer use for a current production Native 5 that he'd carried for a few days before going back to his preferred Manix 2 Lightweight. I've had that knife for a few weeks now. Earlier this week I noticed that clip was starting to wobble, so I tried to tighten it with my Benchmade Blue Box tool kit, which is the same tool kit I use on every other folding knife I own. No dice. All three clip screws are spinning now. I know John didn't do anything to it, so this one is going back to Spyderco. I'm paying the shipping to them since I'm not the original owner. We shall see how long this repair takes, and see if they charge me for return shipping. Regardless of shipping charges and repair turnaround time, this is (once again), absolutely, totally, unacceptable.
The trend I've noticed is that I've not had a single problem with any Spyderco that was made in Japan. The first two US Made and Taiwan made Spyderco folders I've owned have failed miserably. Spyderco would be wise to find out what G. Sakai (their contract manufacturer in Seki City, Japan) does and implement everything Sakai does Spyderco's contract plant in Taichung, Taiwain; and in their own plant in Golden, Colorado.
However, given the problems I've listed above I'm not buying another Spyderco product until after I have a serious conversation with Sal Glesser. He'll either respond to the email I'm going send him with the text of this thread copied into it, or he'll see me at Blade in Atlanta in June.