I got the Squeak mainly because of one of my friends who was ecstatic about it. The price was more than reasonable, so I figured “let’s see what the fuss is about.” That was back in August. At the very least this little pocketknife would be a nice companion while traveling through Germany (which has laws against folders that lock open and can be opened with one hand).

Ergos
The first thing I liked about the little folder was the ergos. The Squeak really fits my hands well. That’s a good thing because it means I want to work with it and carry it a lot. Closer inspection reveals why this little black folder fits my hand so well. The Squeak must have been designed off the Caly III or UKPK pattern that Spyderco has developed over the years – my favorite pattern of utility folder.

Caly III/UKPK roots
When I put my G10 UKPK or FRN UKPK under the Squeak and line them up, the two ‘cockpits’ overlap exactly. The Spydercrew found an ergonomic sweet spot with the size and location of the pivot area, the opening hole and the choil on the UKPK/Caly III/Calypso jr. pattern. This cockpit is transferred to the Squeak. You could say that the Squeak is basically an FRN UKPK with the tip and butt of the handle lopped off.

Thankfully the Spydercrew didn’t just cut off a piece of handle, they designed it to be comfortable to use with a three finger hold. The blade is another example of thinking a little further then just ‘making it shorter’. The tip isn’t the sharpest in my collection but it’s still very useful for my cutting tasks.

Handle
The FRN texture really does feel like the sharp G10 that all of the US made Spydies come with. One downside is that the grip only applies to ‘horizontal friction’. If you were to thrust the Squeak in a tree for example, you would definitely feel the resistance of the G10-like pattern. Cutting down, and sliding ‘vertically’ on the handle surface, it’s pretty slick. Still, the overall pattern of the Squeak, the shape of the handle and the hump in the blade, make for a very controllable little pocketknife.

Backspring
The backspring is noticeably stiffer than my other FRN UKPK slipits. However, The Squeak doesn’t feature the forked spring that was announced for all new slipits back in March at the Amsterdam Meet. The spring in this subcompact slipit is easily on par with my G10 slipits.

Cutting
The N690 steel blade performed well. It resisted rust from lemons and vinegar and water very well. Edgeholding was just fine in my book; it didn’t need much sharpening after the first month of use. It seemed a bit like VG-10 when I sharpened it on my Sharpmaker. The little 2 inch blade is not the greatest all-round utility or MBC folder. What it does do quite well, maybe even better than a lot of its bigger brothers, is taking care of many of life’s daily little nuisances. Opening a package, seeing how bad the phone bill is this time, making sure your daughter looks great in the dress that grandma made – by cutting off that loose string, digging in that bag of chips etc… Basically, with a Squeak in your pocket you can say ‘yes’, 99% of the time someone asks: “Does anyone have a knife or scissors?”

Carry

The little Squeak carries as easy as pocket lint. It’s virtually weightless. And the slipit action makes it fast to bring into action and fast to fold and put away again. I had no qualms about using the knife in public, cutting with a slipit usually means you’re done before anyone notices you just pulled a fast-opening one-hand ‘tactical’ folder.

I wouldn’t mind this little folder being a bit thinner overall. The overall package is just as thick as a regular UKPK. Since this is intended to be a smaller folder than its 3 inch brethren, I wouldn’t mind seeing it a little thinner. Cosmetically, it would ‘fit’ the stubby little design better in my book.

Fit and finish
The fit and finish were a nice surprise. The Italians that Spyderco found for this project really know how to make a knife. The fit and finish were flawless, absolutely on par with the Kopa series – if there was an FRN version. The grinds are even, the spine on the handle mates seamlessly with the FRN scales, the wireclip can be screwed down tight without any hint of the usual (for wireclips) side-to-side play. I like it a lot.

Overall
If it wasn’t clear already, I love this knife. The Squeak is pretty much a perfect folder for travel or other vacation trips where you’re not sure what the knife laws are. Brighter colors could be nice, but the black color makes for a low-profile carry knife. Make on in H-1 and it would be perfect for travel. Perhaps the Squeak is the Co-Pilot for the 21st century?

The Delica
This knife started as a regular Delica 4 with a stainless steel handle and serrated blade. The good folks at Santa Fe Stoneworks (SFSW) added a spectacular onlay to the handle. I gather it is Abalone and the web pattern is likely Sugilite (purple) and Malachite (green), finished with a sterling silver bug. I received the knife as a gift from a dear friend in a very sad time.  The edge was a little dull, the blade had some scratches on it and the bug in the handle was kind of dirty. Sharpening and cleaning the knife up, proved to be a very therapeutic exercise. The handle is very comfortable. It doesn’t feel or carry like an unusually thick handle at all. The clip (the other side of the handle is not embellished) is set up for my preferred tip-up carry. The jimping behind the hole is nice and sharp. I’ve seen a few Delica 4 models with stainless steel handles that feature rather ‘slippery’ jimping. This Delica always gets nods of approval from my non-knife enthusiast family. The serrated blade sailed through a few blisterpacks for the kids’ toys that Sinterklaas brought.

The Kopa
In the same week I got the SFSW Delica, my pre-ordered Abalone Kopa came in. I tend to carry them in tandem. This Kopa features an inlay of Abalone and black & white Pearl stripes.  The small size and embellished handle always makes the Kopa a ‘crowd pleaser’. In addition, the knife just plain works. The grip is great, the blade is thick and stands up to light prying, but the full flat grind makes it a wonderful slicer. The right-hand-only and tip-down clip is not ideal, but I can use it quite well as a left-handed carry folder. This Kopa cut tape from packages and helped cut up some fruit for the kids; it’s not all ‘pepernoten’ en ‘speculaas’ in our house.

The Ladybug
I always carry a Ladybug or Jester, linked to a Victorinox Classic of some sort. It´s a back-up blade for me, and sometimes the only teeth in my gear selection. It didn´t see any use this weekend.

The Classic
The Victorinox Classic does a couple of things for me, it helps grip the Ladybug or Jester it´s linked to and it provides some really useful tools. Many years ago I carried a multitool, but I concluded I only really use a few tools that are all found in the Classic: scissors, screwdriver, tweezers, toothpick and file. This weekend the scissors helped trim a loose string on my wife’s dress. The screwdriver helped open up the battery compartment of my nephew’s new remote controlled Lamborghini.

The Zippo
I don’t smoke often but I when I do, I like to light up a cigar. I know it’s a crime against the laws of cigar smoking, but I just prefer to use my Zippos. I have a few from a time long ago when I smoked cigarettes. 15 years later, they still work just as smoothly as they did back then.

The Sunwayman
I used to be a Surefire-only man, but I will admit I was disappointed with the 2011 catalog. My favorite carry light is a single cell CR123 light. Surefire did not offer any new single cell lights this year. Sunwayman offers pretty much all I want in a single cell light; amazing brightness and very useful low levels. The selector ring offers infinitely adjustable levels. A feature I simply ‘must’ have in any EDC light I carry these days. I added an elastic glow-in-the-dark ring to the light’s body. This titanium light is a favorite of my 2 year old daughter, she loves finding our car in the dark with it. And it helps us keeping an eye on her when we walked to the car after a wonderful Sinterklaas evening at my sister’s house.

I also have the XL G10 version, but I´m not sure it´s a ´fit´ with these beauties. I´m still testing the G10 behemoth. For now, these are the updated Chinese Folder pics.

The Delica’s shade of orange is -to me- slightly lighter or a shade less bright than the orange on the FRN Ladybug sprint. Other accessories in this pic are the Spyderco logo USB drive and a Victorinox Classic.

A slight blemish can be seen in this pic, the polisher of the Delica’s blade left some barely noticeable streaks along the length of the blade. I hardly notice it, perhaps I’ll polish it out myself with some compound later on.

This pic illustrates the color difference between both orange FRN Spydies, the Ladybug being a tad darker and brighter. This photo series is also the first one I made using my new photo ‘studio’. Instead of having to go outside I can now retire in my attic and shoot knifepics beneath a window in the roof that faces south giving me the most light-hours; blinds help direct the light. So I’m no longer dependent on a dry overcast day for knifepics, I can set things up and leave it there for days if necessary.

I’ve been a fan of the Spyderco Perrin collaborations since the Streetbowie came out. I’ll admit I’ve had issues with the sheath, but the knife still is something special. The Streetbowie and Streetbeat (and IMO even the Boker Perrin Neckbowie) kind of look like kitchen knives, but they’re capable of much more than that. I like to think of the PPT as a folding Streetbeat. Another reason for me to consider the PPT is that lately I find myself wanting to carry just one folder. I usually carry two folders; one plain edged and one serrated or one larger and one smaller folder. However, over a year ago I became a father and I find myself carrying a lot more stuff with me than I used to. Carrying just one folder would be more comfortable. I thought this Perrin collaboration could be a good single do-all folder.

Heft
The PPT is different from most Spydies, since Spyderco rarely puts out such a thick and hefty folder. My old large Wegner is reminiscent of the PPT, but still way too heavy for my tastes. The PPT also reminds me of the Stretch 2, but the Perrin collaboration is much a more solid and possibly stronger design. The PPT maybe heavier than an FRN folder, but it’s definitely not too heavy.

Blade
The blade stock seems to stay a little thicker all the way to the tip than most spydies. If I´m going to carry just one folder, I´d like one with a sturdy tip. I´m not a member of the so-called hard-use mafia, but knives get dropped and tips can get bent or broken. That doesn’t seem likely with this knife. The choil is a bit different than the average Spyderco choil. It’s less refined as on a Stretch 2 for example, but it does allow you to choke up on the PPT’s blade. The lock is fine by me. It engages just where I want it to, and it hasn’t moved a millimeter over the past few months.

Jimping
The Streetbowie’s familiar jimping along the spine is present on the PPT, but I must admit it’s a bit disappointing. It works, but barely. It’s just not as sharp and grippy as I would like. The straight layout of the jimping on the flat spine helps in this respect. My thumb just rests on the spine. If this was a ramp, like on a Caly 3.5, where you’re likely to exert more pressure on the jimping, I’d be very unhappy with the PPT.

Handle
The scalloped G10 handle is very nice and different. One advantage of a thick handle is that it gives you something solid to hang on to. The PPT is definitely a fistful of knife. The pattern on the handle is comfortable and grippy and doesn’t cause any hotspots on my hands. Looking inside the handle I found that the liners were actually skeletonized. The combination of titanium and the holes in the liners account for the knife’s reasonable weight.

Clip
The clip is another part of the knife I’m not too crazy about. The flared pointy end is kind of sharp. And it makes it harder to carry the knife under a belt. The flared clip gives too much resistance for a smooth draw in this carry position. The lanyard that comes with the knife, which I took off, definitely had a purpose. You tug on the lanyard and then proceed to grip the handle and draw the knife. The clip does work great in the right front pocket, and that’s how I carry it. The grey deep carry clip is pretty low profile; it never gets any looks or remarks.

Gripping the clip on the jimped part doesn’t squeeze the clip tight to your pocket, like all other Spyderco wireclips tend to do. The draw is smooth and positive. For me, again, the jimping on the clip could be much sharper.

Use
The thing I like best about this Perrin design is the dropped edge. If you hold the knife point forward edge out, you´ll notice that the edge is somewhat below your knuckles. Like a good kitchen knife, this enables you to use the edge for cutting on a board. But I appreciate this feature in all cutting tasks. Being the only folder I carry, the PPT gets used for pretty much everything: food prep, opening boxes, opening wrappers, cutting cords and … entertainment. When I got bored one afternoon I took out my PPT and started cutting up soda cans and chopping plastic water bottles in two. The PPT handled all these cutting tasks with the proverbial aplomb.

Using the PPT in public among non-knife people presented no problems either. I cut up some fruit for my daughter in a shopping mall and helped open a few packages in public and cut some strings etc… for her. Nobody seemed to bat an eye. Passing the knife to some of my NKP relatives garnered comments like ‘it’s solid and hefty’ and ‘kind of looks like a small kitchen knife but heavier’. The PPT does look like a plain working type knife.

I’m very happy with the knife’s performance. S30V is a fine steel with good edge retention. It can go two months -with my uses- before it needs sharpening. It is a bit handle-heavy on some finer chores, but I appreciate that heft when hacking through some vines in my yard. That’s the crux of a single do-all folder. Sooner or later you’ll have to compromise.

Overall
Two things could make the PPT a perfect folder for me; use the hourglass clip seen on many other Spydies and make the jimping sharper. As it is, the PPT is a very nice folder. The knife’s design, heft and blade inspire confidence. It’s a solid hard use folder with plain kitchen-knife type looks.