Spyderco
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Spyderco is a company, founded in 1978 by Sal Glesser and based in Golden, Colorado, U.S.A., that produces knives and knife sharpeners.
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[edit] Products
Spyderco began by producing knife sharpeners in 1978, and produced their first folding knife, the C01 Worker, in 1981[1]. This knife was the first to feature a round hole in the blade designed for fast, one-handed opening, which is now the company's identifying symbol and trademark[2]. Additionally, the company claims that this was the first knife to feature a clothing clip on the right side of the handle.[3].
Most knives produced by Spyderco are folding knives, with highly varying designs, blade steels, handle materials, and locking mechanisms (including two patented proprietary locks); however, they have also produced many fixed-blade knives for various purposes.
Most of Spyderco's knives are made with a plain edge, a part serrated, part plain edge combination, or a serrated "Spyder Edge" configuration. Spyderco is one of the only company that produce a FULLY serrated blade.
[edit] Blade Steels
Spyderco has often experimented with new blade steels[4]. As of 2006, their blades may be made from one or more of the following steels[5];
- 440C
- 8Cr13MoV
- ATS-55
- AUS-6
- AUS-8
- CPM-S30V
- H-1
- N690Co
- VG-10
- In 1994, Spyderco was the first company to use Crucible's S60V tool steel in a production knife.
- In 1995, Japanese VG-10 stainless steel was used on their Bill Moran collaboration model.
- From 2005, Spyderco has produced several limited edition models using new ZDP189 steel provided by Hitachi.
- Spyderco were the first to use H1, a very-low carbon, nitrogen precipitation-hardened steel touted as impervious to salt water.
[edit] Collaborations
Through the years, Spyderco has collaborated with numerous custom knife makers in the design of various models.
[edit] List of Collaborators
- Tim Wegner
- Peter Herbst
- Tim Zowada
- D'Alton Holder
- JD Smith
- Eduard Bradichansky
- Massad Ayoob
- James A. Keating
- Bram Frank
- Ed Scott
- Warren Thomas
- Bob Lum
- Ed Schempp
- Bob Terzuola
- Wayne Goddard
- Michael Walker
- Frank Centofante
- Jess Horn
- Michael Walker
- Jot Singh Khalsa
- Howard Viele
- Fred Perrin
- R.J. Martin
- Laci Szabo
- Alexandru Diaconescu
- Chad Los Banos
[edit] Sprint Runs
Spyderco often produces limited edition models, referred to as sprint runs. These limited runs are generally versions of discontinued models with different blade and handle materials, though some are completely new models, such as the Kopa; a "dress knife" with several variants, each with a different handle material such as micarta, evrina, and tiger coral.
Sprint runs are generally no more than 1500 pieces and become highly sought-after collector's items.
[edit] Byrd Brand
Spyderco design and produce knives under the Byrd brand. These knives use slightly lower quality materials than the Spyderco branded knives and are manufactured in China, allowing much lower prices while retaining most of Spyderco's quality. To differentiate the brands, Byrd knives have a "comet" shaped opening hole in the blade, rather than the trademark round hole found on Spyderco models.
To date, Byrd knives have featured 8Cr13MoV exclusively as their blade steel. Early Byrd knives were marked 440C, but tests found that the steel was something entirely different from American 440C. This steel was closer to AUS-8 than American 440C, and also went by the name 8Cr13MoV.
The first Byrd models, the Cara Cara, Meadowlark, Flight, Pelican, and Crossbill, initially featured stainless steel handles. This is likely because company owner Sal Glesser believes that "'basic stainless' is ... the best way to test a 'pattern design'. Function and ergonomics are easily determined without the 'influence' of material." Newer Byrds have featured aluminum and G10 handles.
[edit] References
- ^ Spyderco History Page. Retrieved on 2006-11-05.
- ^ Spyderco 'Round Hole' explanation. Retrieved on 2006-11-05.
- ^ Spyderco 'Clipit' explanation. Retrieved on 2006-11-05.
- ^ Spyderco steel information. Retrieved on 2006-11-05.
- ^ Spyderco Catalog 'Blade Steel' dropdown list of steels. Retrieved on 2006-11-05.