This review is dedicated to Nick Shabazz, friend of audiophiles everywhere.

REAL EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a tongue in cheek review of one of my favorite knives. In recent months I have been checking back in on the world of high end music reproduction. Prior to my EDC hobby, I was a lover of hi fi. I worked at a high end store, I installed and set up systems for people, and I loved getting into the details. But we were not an audiophile store and my boss would rountinely throw out the snake oil salesmen that came in peddling the latest bit of voodoo. There is a crossover between audiophile bullshit and gear bullshit, which I discuss here. To carry on that theme, this review will be done in the mode of an audiophile reviewer reviewing the Dragonfly. As this is an audiophile review, there are no pictures to distract you. Enjoy.

Set and Setting

We all know that where you cut matters. For the first slice with the Dragonfly, I wanted things to be perfect. I found a cool room in my house and purchased an Eames Chair with ottoman to sit in. I also bought a new, custom made cutting board made from end cut maple to provide sufficient hardness without the blade-dulling effects of something other than end grain. (Reference here: https://audiophilereview.com/audiophile-news/how-the-listening-chair-is-more-important-than-you-think.html)

As any self-respecting knife nut would, I ceremonialized the opening and first cut of this knife. It is not a kilobuck cutter, but the Spyderco Dragonfly in ZDP-189 is a supernal pocket companion. To celebrate its performance, I went into the cutting room (my study) well after the rest of the house and its associated chaos had fallen silent. I do review work to music and here I chose drum circle music by the Mickey Hart Gathering of Drummers. I also lit some Colorado incense to tie to the knife’s design home. Finally, I donned a comfortable pair of pants, a Spyderco-branded bathrobe, and my favorite t-shirt. I surrounded myself with my favorite cutting media—a single sheet of 70 pound stock paper, a fresh MacIntosh apple, a stick of salami, a half dozen grapes, and a perfect square of corrugated cardboard. I also poured myself a glass of very nice bourbon. (Reference here: https://www.stereophile.com/content/listening-wilson-wamm-master-chronosonic This dude even changed the drywall in his listening room!)

Thus prepared I opened the box the Dragonfly came in. It was a standard fare box from Spyderco, but even it seemed to be imbued with superior traits—extra rigidity, less friction to allow the inner box to slide out, and brighter colors. This box, like the knife inside, was the essence of Spyderco.

In-Hand

Like a Keats Ode, the form of the Dragonfly is lyrical and light. There is an ineffable feel of swiftness, the Dragonfly almost hums in the hand, anxious to do work. Of course FRN isn’t carbon fiber or mokuti, but like with tubes vs. transistors debate newer is not necessarily better. And this FRN is Spyderco’s best, a dark green—a call back to the British racers of old. See, this knife is fast.

Cutting

Peeling, glorious, curls of paper and ribbons the size and texture of angel’s locks—these are the things that result from using the Dragonfly. And the cutting itself is blessedly textural. In normal copy paper stock, the appropriate testing medium, the Dragonfly is toothy out of the box and generates a powerful synesthesia, balletic visuals of looped paper and that ASMR-triggering hard “CH” sound as the knife travels is divine path. The Dragonfly is nimble through paper, processes veggies with aplomb, and parses pepperoni like a deli counter device. Its not just the thin grind, though, of course, its the steel here. Japan’s finest, ZDP-189, is otherworldly in the hardness category and it holds an edge through any material short of a cinder block.

In-Pocket

Ephemera in the pocket. It is as if the Dragonfly is supported by the staff of the transporter room on Star Trek (TOS only…computer generated effects rob one of imagination…), when you need it they covertly beam it into your pocket and when you don’t they beam it out. That is only explanation for a knife that carries this well. At less than 2 ounces, it would only be better as a carry item if it were made of vapor, but the cutting edge retention would, assumedly, be less lengthy.

Conclusion

In the end, this is the apotheosis of pocket knife, the zenith of the form, and a splendid “ready-at-hand” object to borrow the Heideggerian vernacular. Scores are beneath reviewers of a certain ilk and insulting to readers of such reviews and so you will never see numbers attached to letters here. Suffice to say, God gave Prometheus fire and the rest of us this pocket knife.

FAKE EDITOR’S NOTE: Spyderco provided the review sample for this missive, as well as the bathrobe, drum circle music, and mix of Colorado wildflower incense used in the unboxing. They also advertise heavily in this magazine, take all of us on press junkets, and fix our cars for free. None of this bears on our disposition towards the brand, of course.