I have a lot of great knives in my collection and one more still to come. However, the best part to all of it is that any one of them could be your EDC and you would have no need for anything further if you wanted to just stop there. If you wanted to stop at the Benchmade 940-1, easily one of the best knives ever made. If you wanted to stop with the Manix 2, easily one of the best knives ever made, If you wanted to stop with the Delica 4, easily the best knife ever made. And today, finally....you wanted to stop with the PARA 3 ...Easily one of the best Knives ever made....
Introducing the latest to my collection of knives, The Para 3 lightweight blacked-out edition(*latest edition with all black compression skeleton...not the silver crap). I have bypassed the Para 3 for years. Even when I had the Para 2 full-size knife, which is again...one of the best knives ever made, I knew that this knife was a beast. But because it was just a clone of what I had with the Para 2 I didn't bother getting it. But once I sold my Para 2, this left me open to possible consideration of the Para 3 one day and that day has come. And just like all my knives...a nickname had to be given. I'd like you to meet "Angelus". For the initiated, Angelus was the dark side of Angel, the Vampire with a soul from the hit series Angel. I thought it was fitting for this knife as it is the Dark Side of the regular Para 3 lightweight. Adding a red lanyard just further drives the Blood look that Angelus is known for. And being that knives draw blood...what better name than this?
Now as far as where this knife sits in the order of things, this part has yet to be determined. All I can safe right now is that the knife fits in my hands very well, maybe not better than the Delica or Manix 2..but better than the Benchmade 940. Spyderco's just have always had better fitting dynamics over Benchmade. And of course, being that it is a Spyderco, it also has the better slicing design over Benchmade. But against its own brothers...well that's another story. So far nothing on earth is sharper than this v8 steel on the Delica 4 for me. It's like cutting with a steel piece of paper. God help whatever flesh this thing meets, especially if it's mine by accident:). But as far as the Para 3 Bd1N..it's sharp still. And yes still cuts. I'm just worried about how sharp I can keep it and for how long. I've heard it's better than V8 but as far as I'm concerned the V8 is sharper. Another thing that Delica 4 has over it is the density of weight and feel. The Para is called the lightweight, I get it. But I think a steel liner would have drastically helped the feel of strength and quality in the knife. When you open and close the Delica ( with as small as it is)...it still feels strong and sturdy. The Para is missing this in its feel. However, it was still well balanced so this was the purpose of the design so I can't really be too mad at it.
Overall, I have to say I'm very excited about the carrying of this knife. The compression lock fidget factor ... its looks ( red and black)...it's lightweight feel and yet still very strong in the locking up factors means I can trust the knife while being proud of carrying it at the same time. And all of these are very good recipes for EDC. But more tests will need to be run soon and then we will do a final conclusion then.
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