Spyderco Manix 2 Salt Lightweight Ball Bearing Lock Folding Knife, Satin CPM-MagnaCut , Yellow FRN Handles

In 2003, Spyderco set a new standard in ultra-corrosion-resistant cutting tools with the introduction of their first Salt Series knife. As that series steadily grew, most of its members shared common characteristics. Specifically, they were based on time-tested Japanese-made folder designs featuring back lock mechanisms.

This remained the standard until 2017, when Spyderco’s Caribbean Salt models joined the series. They expanded the family’s scope to include the user friendliness and open-backed construction of their popular Compression Lock mechanism. Recently announced additions to the Salt line, including the Paramilitary 2 and Para 3 Lightweight Salt models, also showcase Compression Locks. However, for fans of Spyderco’s other innovative lock mechanisms, Salt versions were not an option… until now.

The Manix 2 Lightweight Salt is the first Spyderco folding knife to combine their innovative Ball Bearing Lock mechanism with ultra-corrosion-resistant materials and construction. For end users who prefer the high strength, ambidextrous operation, and ultra-smooth action of the Ball Bearing Lock, this knife now provides all these qualities in a platform that is purpose designed for use in and around the water.

Design Origins

Based on the Manix 2 with G10 scales and full stainless steel liners, the original Manix 2 Lightweight was specifically designed to showcase the Ball Bearing Lock in a handle that was extremely lightweight and as transparent as possible. After extensive research into high-tech materials, Spyderco chose fiberglass-reinforced co-polymer (FRCP)—a strong, lightweight polymer ideal for injection molding. With that material a base for the handle, we developed a special steel insert to support the lock mechanism and refined the structure of the knife to achieve their targeted strength criteria. The result was the translucent blue Manix 2 Lightweight, a revolutionary design that won Blade magazine’s prestigious Most Innovative American Design award at the 2010 BLADE Show.

An immediate hit, the translucent Manix 2 Lightweight quickly spawned several variations featuring different handle colors, blade finishes, and blade steels. In addition to the original CTS BD1 and CTS BD1N blades, this design platform currently showcases blades crafted from Crucible CPM S110V, Carpenter steel’s Micro-Melt Maxamet, and Spyderco’s own proprietary steel, CPM SPY27. To further highlight the uniqueness of these elite steels, each knife featuring them also boasts a distinctive FRCP handle color.

Initially, all Manix 2 Lightweights were assembled using rivets; however, in 2022, they were upgraded to a screw-together construction style that offers even more precise assembly tolerances and easier user maintenance.

Regardless of its exact configuration, every expression of the Manix 2 Lightweight offers the same performance advantages. Its 3.37-inch (86mm) blade is large enough for demanding cutting chores, yet compact enough for easy carry. It also includes a textured index-finger choil and thumb ramp that allow the precise control of a forward, “choked-up” grip during detailed tasks. The blade’s full-flat grind provides an outstanding balance of strength and low-friction edge geometry, and its fully accessible Trademark Round Hole makes one-handed opening with either hand swift and positive.

The linerless, injection-molded FRCP handle trims the knife’s overall weight to less than three ounces and features a deep Bi-Directional Texture pattern for a non-slip grip in even the most demanding conditions. Spyderco’s Ball Bearing Lock locks the blade securely in the open position, while ensuring an exceptionally smooth action, a secure detent, and fully ambidextrous operation. To ensure ease of carry and immediate access, the handle also includes a wire clip that is reversible for left or right-side tip-up carry and a generous lanyard hole for the easy attachment of safety lines and fobs.

Collectively, these features not only make the Manix 2 Lightweight an exceptional cutting tool; they also make it an ideal platform for a Salt Series knife.

Getting Salty

The primary requirement for a Salt knife is, of course, an ultra-corrosion-resistant blade. In the case of the Manix 2 Lightweight Salt, we opted for one of the hottest steels in the knife market today—CPM MagnaCut. The brainchild of Dr. Larrin Thomas, a PhD in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering and the son of renowned custom bladesmith Devin Thomas, MagnaCut offers a superior combination of toughness, edge retention, and corrosion resistance. It does this by achieving a precise balance of carbon and chromium, while adding significant volumes of vanadium and niobium. The latter elements combine with the carbon to create small, extremely hard carbides for toughness and wear resistance, while leaving the chromium “in solution” to provide exceptional corrosion resistance.

The Manix 2 Lighweight Salt’s full-flat-ground blade takes full advantage of MagnaCut’s remarkable properties, but its uniqueness doesn’t stop there. Unlike fixed blade knives, folding knives include a number of other metal parts. Blade steels that, by themselves, are extremely corrosion resistant can become vulnerable to corrosion when placed in close proximity to other metal components. This phenomenon, known as “galvanic corrosion,” involves the electrical interaction of at least two dissimilar metals in contact with a conductive electrolyte.

Due to the complexities of galvanic corrosion, all the other metal parts of Spyderco’s Salt Series knives—including springs, lock bars, backspacers, screws, ball bearings, clips, etc.—must be very carefully chosen. Every part must not only possess the necessary qualities to perform its individual function; it must also be completely compatible with the metal parts around it. To achieve this perfect compatibility, Spyderco invests hundreds of hours of research, development, and testing into every Salt Series folding knife. Understandably, that is also why they do not share the exact details of the other materials and processes used in their Salt knives.

On the surface, the Manix 2 Lightweight Salt takes a time-tested, best-selling design and renders it with a high-performance, ultra-corrosion-resistant blade steel and a bright, high-visibility handle. At a deeper level, however, it reflects more than 20 years of experience and thousands of hours of painstaking research and development. It, like Spyderco’s other Salt Series knives, proves that the whole can indeed be greater than the sum of its parts—especially when all those parts are fearlessly corrosion resistant.