Hardcore knife knuts have loved Spyderco as a brand for decades. Its quirky yet effective designs, embrace of high-end steels, and relentless iteration on its most popular models have been catnip to knife lovers. Over the years, its best knives have always been among the best production knives available.
From the Caly3 through until the Sage 6, these knives have a few common traits: great ergonomics, high-end steel, and great carry. But even in this rarified air, the Sage 6 stands out. It is the best of the best and one of the finest production knives on the market. Note that the review sample was a Sage 6 in S90V, but much of what makes the design compelling applies to the S30V model as well.
In short: The Sage 6 is the very pinnacle of the production knife market, doing everything you want in a folding knife with grace and ease. Its grip and carry are as elite as its blade steel and lock design. There is truly no flaw in this Golden Masterpiece. The only downside is that it’s difficult to find in my preferred S90V steel. It’s as perfect a knife as I’ve tested out of hundreds.
Specifications
Pros & Cons
Pros
- An iterative improvement on a series of great Spydercos
- Excellent in-hand feel
- Thin slicey grind
- Best lock design on the market
- Perfect Goldilocks size that works for lots of different folks
Cons
- Price (although fair compared with the market)
- Difficult to find in S90V
Spyderco Sage 6 Review
The Sage 6 isn’t going to shock you when you slide it out of its box. It looks a lot like many different Spydercos. The Sage line itself is an homage to lock designs, and so this knife borrowed the button-activated compression lock from the Spyderco Smock.
It also has a passing resemblance to the Native 5, the Dragonfly II, and the much-beloved Caly3. That familiarity betrays a series of improvements and refinements that, when totaled together, push the Sage 6 well beyond every other production folder on the market save one: the TRM N2. These two slug it out for king of the hill.
Use and Carry
I have carried and used this knife extensively, but not exclusively, since I got it in March. It is very clearly part of a lineage of designs that include the very best Spydercos ever made. The Sage 6 is deft in the hand and broadly useful. It handles everyday tasks well and flexes into more demanding chores with ease.
There were three things I did that helped me best assess the Sage 6: building a headboard for my bedroom, hanging a few old axe handles, and general cutting chores.
In the general chores bucket, I was consistent and pleasantly surprised at the Sage 6’s cutting performance. It does not have the thinnest blade stock out there, but the tall blade and flat grind rendered a potent edge.
Testing in Food Processing and Hard Chores
In food prep, it handled meat and cheese well. It handled fruits and veggies too, and sticky, stain-prone items like beets or strawberries caused no problems for the S90V blade steel.
It blew through packages with aplomb, mincing sticky tape, water-activated adhesive strips (the brown craft paper tape), and cardboard boxes nicely. Processing boxes for recycling was more Zen Garden than Rage Center activity.
On the headboard, the Sage 6 served as a marking knife, and it did so well. It also cleaned up some edges after blowout and scraped some stray glue drops in different places. The headboard was cherry and cherry ply, so none of these tasks were particularly tough, but it is nice to have the S90V. I have used the knife quite a bit, and it is still hair-popping sharp with just a pass or two on the strop.
In addition to the headboard, I also had the Sage 6 on hand for some axes. Hanging an axe is not a surgical process, but I do like getting a very tight fit between the handle and the head. I don’t want to see any gaps or light in the eye of the axe (the hole through the axe head that the handle passes through).
This does require an enormous amount of fine-tuning, and for that, I used the Sage 6 when the spokeshave or grinder was too much. It was tedious work in very hard wood (ash), but again, the Sage 6 handled it quite well.
I will note that the lock did not slip in the least; there was no blade play, and the edge could still be restored with stropping. This is a hard task for a pocket knife, and the Sage 6 was great.
Conclusion
I will also note that the knife is great to hand to non-knife folks. The button lock makes the entire open, use, and close operation easy, obvious, and intuitive. You can’t say that for a lot of the knives out there right now, but the button-activated compression lock is one of my very favorite designs.
Last note — S90V is worth it. It is a world-class steel with stellar edge retention that still responds well to stropping. Don’t get the S30V version if you care a lick about steels or hate edge maintenance.
The Sage 6 in S90V is the best Spyderco so far. That’s a stellar accolade given just how good Spyderco is at making knives. You can look high and wide, and you won’t find a production knife that bests this one. There are a few peers, but no superiors.
