Any knife can be used in self defense… but some knives are a lot better at it than others…
Just think about it, a longer blade with the right curvature can really be devastating to someone who’s trying to attack you…
Right now Spyderco is one of the major knife brands making high-quality knives with these kinds of features, and two of their most popular defensive knife designs are:
| Image | Products |
 | Spyderco Civilian (Check Price And Reviews On Amazon!) |
 | Spyderco Matriarch (Check Price And Reviews On Amazon!) |
And in this Spyderco Civilian Vs Matriarch comparison, we’re going to see how these two great fighting knives stack up against each other in the following six categories…
- Blade Steel And Materials
- Blade Shape And Handle Design
- Locking Mechanism
- Size And Dimensions
- Pocket Clip And Carry Position
- Price Comparison
In the end, I’ll let you know which knife I prefer, and you should have all the information you need to determine which knife is right for you…
Let’s jump into it!
Blade Steel And Materials…
Spyderco Civilian
At this point the Spyderco Civilian is considered one of their classic knives. Spyderco has sold a ton of them over the years, and the Civilian remains one of their most popular designs…
It was released way back in 1990, and Spyderco came up with the design after being approached by the DEA to develop a knife for their agents who were undercover…
So from the get-go this was meant to be a fighting/ self-defense knife. Now the blade steel on the Civilian is VG-10…
VG-10 originated in Japan, and at first, it was marketed as a blade steel for the knives of Japanese Chefs. Eventually, folding knife manufacturers saw its potential and started incorporating it in to some of their designs…
VG-10 is considered a high end knife steel, and I like it because it does a good job at resisting rust, it’s strong, and it maintains a fine edge…
I also like that it’s fairly easy to sharpen, so you can keep your knife razor sharp without a whole lot of effort…
Now the handle on the Civilian is made from G-10. I like G-10 because it’s strong and feels substantial in your hand…
At the same time, it’s very comfortable, and it gives you a good purchase on the knife, which will come in handy if you ever have to use it in self defense.
All in all, I think the materials Spyderco uses on the Civilian are impressive and pretty high quality.
Spyderco Matriarch 2
The Spyderco Matriarch is kind of a slightly smaller version of the Civilian. It’s also intended as a fighting/defensive knife, but it does have some key differences from the Civilian…
Before we get to the differences, one of the major similarities is the blade steel, which just like with the Civilian, is VG-10…
Like I mentioned earlier, VG-10 is a high end blade steel, and I like it because it’s strong, it resists rust well, and it does a good job of holding an edge…
Now the handle on the Matriarch is fiberglass reinforced nylon (or FRN) with skeletonized stainless steel liners…
It’s very different from the G-10 that the Civilian uses, but FRN is also a good handle material because it’s impact resistant and super lightweight. It’s also comfortable in the hand and gives you a good grip on the knife when you’re holding it…
In addition to that, the FRN handle on the Matriarch is actually the same handle that you’ll find on another super popular Spyderco design, the Endura 4 (which is more of a utility knife than a fighting knife)…
Like I said, the Endura is a very popular knife design, and it really speaks well for the Matriarch that they share the exact same handle.
Blade Shape And Handle Design…
Spyderco Civilian
The Civilian has a very unique blade shape (although it is becoming more common these days). It’s called the Reverse “S” Blade shape, and the reason why is because it resembles a backwards letter “S”…
The tip of the blade curves forward a little bit, and at its widest portion, the blade kind of arcs backward slightly…
In a way, it’s kind of a Karambit style blade and it’s definitely something that would be devastating in a knife fighting scenario…
The Civilian also includes a hollow grind, which allows it to get very sharp (its razor sharp right out of the box), and it features the Spyder Edge which is basically Spyderco’s version of a serrated edge…
The Spyder Edge really makes it a pretty mean cutter, and the serrations increase the cutting edge you get by around 24%…
Now keep in mind that this blade is not designed for everyday use. In fact, Spyderco warns against using it as a utility blade because the tip comes to a very fine point and could snap off if used in a scenario it’s not designed for (like opening boxes or cutting rope)…
That being said, it’s a wicked fighting blade, and as long as you use it for its intended purpose, it will perform to a very high level…
In addition to that, the Civilian also features the traditional Spyderco deployment hole, which allows you to easily open the blade with one hand, and overall, it opens up pretty smooth…
Lastly, like I mentioned earlier, the handle on the Civilian is made from G-10. It’s black in color (along with the pocket clip), and it’s a very ergonomic shape…
It’s a very comfortable grip in your hand, and it allows you to really lock onto the handle, which is especially important in a self-defense knife.
Spyderco Matriarch
The Matriarch also has a Reverse “S” Blade shape, and it’s very similar to what you get with the Spyderco Civilian. But even though it’s generally the same design, there are a few notable differences…
First of all, the blade on the Matriarch is a little bit shorter than the blade on the Civilian (we’ll get into the exact numbers in the Size and Dimensions category below)…
Second, the tip of the blade on the Matriarch (even though it’s still very sharp right out of the box) is a little bit beefier than the tip on the Civilian.
Now this does not mean that you should use the Matriarch as a utility knife because, again, that’s something that Spyderco warns you against doing…
But it is interesting to me that they chose to beef up the tip of the blade just a little bit when designing the Matriarch.
In addition to that, the Matriarch also has a hollow grind, and it features the SpyderEdge, which again is Spyderco’s version of a serrated blade.
It’s also a very mean cutter and would definitely be devastating if used in a knife fighting scenario. Now the most common version of the Matriarch features something called the “Emerson Opener”.
This is a blade shape that was developed by Ernest Emerson in the 1990s, and it’s also sometimes called a “pocket opener” (or the Emerson wave) because it allows you to open the knife instantly as you pull it from your pocket…
Emerson opening blades are pretty popular in the folding knife world, and I really like that Spyderco includes this feature…
Last, as I mentioned before, the handle on the Matriarch is made from fiberglass reinforced nylon (or FRN). Like the Civilian’s handle, it’s very comfortable in your hand, and it allows you to get a very solid grip on the knife.
Locking Mechanism…
Both the Civilian and the Matriarch utilize the Back Lock locking Mechanism. This is a locking system that incorporates a rocker arm that pivots…
The arm has a lug on it that engages with a notch in the tang of the blade (which locks the blade out). It’s a fairly common locking mechanism on folding knives and it locks the blade out pretty securely…
In addition to that, Spyderco includes a Boye Dent on the Back Lock button of both knives. This is an important little feature, especially on a self defense knife…
… because it helps prevent you from accidentally unlocking the blade by squeezing the handle too tightly. All in all, the Back Lock system on both of these knives is easy to use, and it secures the blade pretty well when it’s deployed.
Size And Dimensions…
Spyderco Civilian
Like I mentioned before, the Civilian is designed as a self-defense weapon, and because of that, it’s a very large knife…
The blade on the Civilian is 4.09 inches long, and the handle is 5.2 inches long. That brings the overall length of the Civilian to 9.29 inches long when the blade is fully deployed…
So like I said, it’s a pretty big folding knife.
Spyderco Matriarch
The Matriarch is also a pretty large-sized self-defense knife, but it is, in a way, a smaller version of the Civilian…
The Matriarch’s blade is 3.57 inches long, and the handle is 4.98 inches long. That brings the overall length of the Matriarch to 8.55 inches long when the blade is fully locked out…
So for comparison, the Civilian has a longer blade and a longer handle, and its round 0.74 inches longer than the Matriarch when both of their blades are fully deployed.
Pocket Clip And Carry Position…
Spyderco Civilian
The Civilian comes with a 2 position adjustable clip. You can set the knife up for tip up carry or for tip down carry, but you won’t be able to swap the clip over to the other side (for left-handed carry)…
Personally, I prefer tip down carry, but I know that there are a lot of people out there who like tip up carry, and I like that Spyderco gives you a little bit of flexibility to decide how you’d like to carry this knife…
Now the clip on the Civilian is black in color, so it blends in with the black G-10 handle, and it sits the knife fairly low when you’re carrying it around in your pocket…
The knife doesn’t completely disappear, the way some knife designs do, but it’s still fairly discrete and pretty comfortable for being such a large knife.
Spyderco Matriarch
The Matriarch has a 4 position clip design. You can set the clip up for tip up carry or tip down carry and you can swap the clip to either side of the knife to optimize it for left-handed or right-handed carry…
Like I said earlier, I personally prefer tip down carry (and I’m right-handed), but I like the amount of flexibility that Spyderco has included in the clip design of the Matriarch…
It is superior to the Civilian’s clip design because instead of having just 2 clip position options, you have 4 clip positions to choose from, and you can set it up for more optimal carry if you’re left handed…
Now just like with the Civilian, the clip on the Matriarch is blade in color (which matches the handle color), and it sits the knife fairly low in your pocket…
Again, the knife isn’t completely hidden in you pocket with just the clip showing, but it is pretty discrete, and it’s comfortable to carry around.
Price Comparison…
Unfortunately I won’t be able to give exact numbers in this category because the prices on these knives are changing all the time…
That being said, in general, you can usually find the Matriarch for around 112 bucks less expensive than the Civilian…
That makes the Matriarch about half the price of the Civilian, which is a significant price difference, and it’s definitely a factor to consider when deciding which knife you should go with.
Spyderco Civilian Vs Matriarch – Final Thoughts…
So to summarize everything, in the Blade Steel And Materials category, both knives have the same VG-10 blade steel…
However, the Civilian has a G-10 handle and the Matriarch has a Fiberglass Reinforced Nylon handle…
In the Blade Shape And Handle Design category, both knives have the Reverse “S” Blade shape, and both handles are comfortable and give you a solid grip…
In the Locking Mechanism category, both knives have the Back Lock locking mechanism, which does a good job of locking out the blade securely and is easy to use…
In the Size And Dimensions category, the Civilian is 0.74 inches longer than the Matriarch when both of their blades are fully locked out…
In the Pocket Clip And Carry Position category, the Civilian has a 2 position adjustable clip that you can set up for tip up or tip down carry…
And the Matriarch has a 4 position adjustable clip you can set up for tip up or tip down carry AND swap to either side of the knife…
And last, in the Price Comparison, the Matriarch is around 112 dollars less expensive than the Civilian (about half the price)…
So which of these knives do I prefer? I prefer the Civilian…
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I prefer the Civilian for a few reasons. First of all, it has a longer blade, which gives you a little bit more reach and a little bit more cutting surface if you’re ever forced to use your knife in self-defense…
In addition to that, I personally prefer the G-10 handle on the Civilian because it feels a little more substantial (a little weightier), and its extremely comfortable in your hand…
Last, the Civilian is one of Spyderco’s classic knife designs and it was originally created for undercover DEA agents… For me, that just gives it a little extra cool factor, and it makes me want the knife as a collectible.
Now if you want the Emerson opener (which is an awesome feature), and you want to save over 100 bucks, then feel free to go with the Matriarch because it’s still an awesome knife…
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You won’t go wrong going with either of these amazing knives because both are built to a high quality and both will offer you high performance if you ever need to use them in self-defense.