Easter goodies from Golden

The Easter Bunny, in the form of Joyce Laituri of Spyderco, has delivered a couple of lovely little UK-legal Spyderco pocket knives for me to try out.

These are the C127 'Urban' knives, designed to be 100% street legal in the UK (ie sub-3" blade, and no lock - although I seriously doubt that the 'non-locking' requirement will stand up in court when it eventually comes to a test case, I just don't want all the bother and expense of being that test case).

These are good looking, practical and rugged little knives. The orange one has a Wharncliffe blade (straight edge), while the drab green is a leaf shape blade, both flat-ground. Both knives click open very positively, and they're designed so your index finger blocks them from folding in use. Still not as safe in use as a proper lock knife, but the folks who make our laws weren't worrying about our safety when they dreamt up that one.

I particularly like the orange colour scales, which should show up well when I drop the knife in the woods.

One tiny disappointment: my Spyderco C94 UK Penknife has the words 'Golden, Colorado, U.S.A. Earth' engraved on the ricasso, which I've always thought is rather cool in an understated way, suggesting that I might do a spot of moonlighting as an astronaut. On the C127s this is replaced with the words 'Seki-City, Japan', which don't have the same adventurous ring to them. This does mean, though, that the blade steel is first class, and will hold a superb edge.

I'll give these knives a thorough testing (tough work, this outdoors journalism, you know) and report back.