Origin of tip-up

[Joel McNamara]

Sal:



Quite some time ago I recall a discussion on the origin of tip-up models. The story went that up until the Delica/Endura, all Spydies had the clip mounted on the pivot end of the handle (tip-down). Because of the lower price point, compared to the previous all steel models, a decision was made to change the position of the clip to decrease the one-hand opening speed. The rationale was because of the price, the new models would be more available to less than civil folks.



Is there any truth to this, or was tip-up simply a required function of design with the molded handles?



Joel



(The story came from a rec.knives post ages ago. Unfortunately Deja is no longer carrying message threads over a year old, and I can't precisely reference the source.)

[sal]

Hi Joel. Actually your memory is good. There were two reasons for the tip up choice.

1) as you mentioned, we knew that the lower price would make the knife more popular.

Our concern was having a bunch of kids doing quick draw drop openings, either in public (giving perhaps a less than desirable image). or...

2) the tip up draw is more easily executed. A drop opening requires some practice. We didn't want kids throwing them down into their foot. Also the lighter models require considerably more force to snap the lighter handle down. More than I felt was safe for beginners.

sal

[knivesandbooks]

Resurrecting this becuase it gives me so much joy.

[blueblur]

I love hearing the reasonings behind stuff like this. It’s really cool Sal responds to these types of threads.

[Evil D]

It is surprising that there was really that much thought put into tip up vs down when these days it seems like mostly just a preference. That might also answer some more recent questions, like why Para 2's ship with the clip mounted for tip down.

[Woodpuppy]

My original worker was tip down, and then all my thumb stud knives since have been tip up. When I got the Salt 2 recently, I immediately switched the clip to carry tip down, and that thing is so light I agree with Sal’s assessment; too light to drop open for inexperienced users. Then I also suffered from pocket confusion, so back the clip went...

Also, lol at quick draw! My college buddies and I have a tradition from ‘94 on... SPYDERCO CHECK! Everybody whips out their spydie as fast as possible :rolleyes: Now we do it by messaging pics to each other since we all live in different states.

Good times, good times!! :cool:

[sal]

Thanx much for the memory trip.

Hey Evil,

FYI, we put an extreme amount of thought into everything we do from design to company culture to ELU (our customers) to Vendors, etc.

sal

[Evil D]

Thanx much for the memory trip.

Hey Evil,

FYI, we put an extreme amount of thought into everything we do from design to company culture to ELU (our customers) to Vendors, etc.

sal

Not that I really doubted it, but it is surprising that something as seemingly simple as clip orientation has been analyzed so much. It would be really cool to get some insider information like this about other features (if they're things you'd be willing to share). I know the hole placement is looked at pretty closely too.

[mattman]

Cool info.
Thanks for the find, and bringing it up to the top again!

[Knife Knut]

Google has some extensive usenet archives, so the thread might still be around somewhere: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searc ... :relevance

Sal:
Quite some time ago I recall a discussion on the origin of tip-up models. The story went that up until the Delica/Endura, all Spydies had the clip mounted on the pivot end of the handle (tip-down). Because of the lower price point, compared to the previous all steel models, a decision was made to change the position of the clip to decrease the one-hand opening speed. The rationale was because of the price, the new models would be more available to less than civil folks.

Is there any truth to this, or was tip-up simply a required function of design with the molded handles?

Joel

(The story came from a rec.knives post ages ago. Unfortunately Deja is no longer carrying message threads over a year old, and I can't precisely reference the source.)