Ludwig Wittgenstein is one of the most interesting humans to have ever lived. He was not once, but twice a philosophical revolutionary, upending, in the first pass, the calcified world of logic and math, and then in the second pass, upending is own previous position, moving Analytic philosophy from Fregian obsession with numbers to a fixation on language that still lingers today. In between those two phases he fought in a war and then retreated from academia and taught elementary school in a village high in the Alps. Wittgenstein is a multiverse unto himself.

The most compelling of Wittgenstein’s ideas, for me, are his notion of games and his expression on language being the limit of thought. As a lawyer, his most famous saying, rings true (at least the first part): “…[W]hat can be said at all can be said clearly, and what we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence.” It was, at one in the same time, an exhortation to clarity in expression and a quasi-mystical statement about the limits of our reality. One reading of Wittgenstein, especially the younger version, suggests that this is a caution about the unreality and silliness of anything beyond reason and language. A reading of the older Wittgenstein suggests that this is a statement of humility and an acknowledgement of something beyond reason.But Wittgenstein was careful to distinguish between the complex (such as the “family resemblance” of games) and the indescribable.

What the heck does this have to do with gear? Well, I have always believed that if there was a piece of kit out there, I could describe it, analyze it, and review it according to my scoring system. I have done that a lot. But one item has vexed me since I got it—the Spyderco Brouwer. I gave it a pretty negative review, but over the months since that review I have come to like the knife in a way that utterly defies a reasoned approach to the design. Is it good? I think so. Why? That, I am afraid, may be beyond my capacity to explain. Despite that and Wittgenstein’s warning above, I am going to try. Think of this as a brief rereview of the Spyderco Brouwer.

Clearing the ground first—the clip is atrocious. Remove it. If you have to pull it off by force do so, as it is just a design abortion. Second, its not the best steel. I get that. In this Age of Sprints where S90V doesn’t raise too many eyebrows S30V is a bit underwhelming given the price. Those two points aside though, the Brouwer has worked itself into a position as one of my favorite Spyderco’s ever. It prompted the sale of both the Techno and the Techno 2 and it has made me less anxious to by a whole myriad of other knives. The Bugout seems less of an instabuy as does the Spyderco Rhino, the Sharp by Design Void, the Micro Typhoon, and the WE Knives Anodyne. There were a lot of knives I was interested in this fall that just, well, didn’t see urgent given how much I like the Brouwer.

Why? Simple—its great in the pocket and it in the hand. Its slim profile and snappy deployment make it an ideal everyday carry blade and once the Lynch clip was installed it has been a regular pocket companion. The blade shape is also pretty nice, as basic as it is. By delivering a ton of steel just behind the tip, the knife makes sure that there is nothing thin or flimsy here.

My original review was right, but with a score of 14/20, it was pretty harsh. The clip and how it impacted the rest of the knife is not great, but I probably double counted the clip’s impact. With a replacement clip the score is, as I mentioned, a 19/20.

But after using the knife for most of the year, even that score, I feel, is not representative. My scoring system has a few points that are just adding or subtracting things and the steel, while not great and worth a point off in my system, just doesn’t matter that much compared to how good the rest of the knife is. S30V is distinctly meh, but the in-hand and in-pocket feel of the Brouwer is better than almost any other knife on the market. There are no protuberances, no snag points, nothing to abraid your skin or your clothes. The knife slides in and out of the pocket with grace and works equally gracefully in hand. It also strikes a perfect balance between being robust and being slicey. That is a hard thing to do.

The pantheon of beloved Spyderos is pretty chocked full, mostly with evergreen designs. The collab or out of production list is smaller—the Caly3, the Caly Jr., and a few others. But after a nearly a year, after a clip swap, and chilling out about the steel, I think the Brouwer is definitely worthy of inclusion in the Spyderco pantheon. A sprint of this with a wire clip and a better steel would be a permanent member of my knife collection. As it is, this knife will remain unless and until a better version of it is made. This is an all time great Spyderco and despite the difficulty in explaining why I am happy I got this knife wrong. Its work a bit of effort and extra cash to swap out the clip. This is a great one.

Now if they would just make the Southard we all are waiting for, that would be great. Its called the Downing. Its basically a Dragonfly that Brad made a bit curvier. And, unlike the three previous collabs, this design is unfuckupable (unless they go with a hawkbill blade, please do not do that).

Score: 19 out of 20; note that the score is not representative of the knife’s overall quality.

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Ludwig Wittgenstein: A Duty of Genius by Ray Monk (my favorte Wittgenstein biography)