C06 Spyderco Yachtsman ... Help please?

bohica1998 · #1

Were ANY of these EVER made? Prototypes? Samples? Limited run?

I guess really only someone from Spyderco could answer this question for sure, but I would like to find out.

While on another forum, someone stated that he had

...recently sent a friend a very rare Spyderco Yachtsman.

and that

This one happened to be a partially serrated model but he had just sold a plain edge...

I responded with the links to both the Spydiewiki page on the C06 and the link for Ted's informative site, which shows absolutely NOTHING for this knife. No photos, no text, etc.

NOW, there is another different individual who also claims to have seen one of these.

...I have a friend in Portland, OR who Sails all the time, and he had one. Had the spike on the back end for knots/splicing, etc. The blade was serrated for cutting rope.

To the best of my knowledge so far, this is one of two knives that contend for the title of "The Spyderco That Never Was." (The other being the C31 Europa.)

Can anyone confirm or deny if ANY version of this knife ever existed?

Peter1960 · #2

Prototypes ... maybe, who knows what Sal has in his desk drawers.
Samples ... see above.
Limited run or pieces for public sales ... to the best of my knowledge - NO.

rycen · #3

The first one you are refering to, wasn't the knife really a Walker?

bohica1998 · #4

rycen wrote:The first one you are refering to, wasn't the knife really a Walker?

???? He said it was a Yachtsman. My quote was from his statement.

The Deacon · #5

AFAIK, the Yachtsman never went beyond the concept stage. If that's true there SHOULD not be any of them "in the wild". While I've reached the point where I would not totally discount something like that happening, I will continue to consider it highly improbable unless and until the person making the claim provides photographs to back it up. My best guess would be that what they're saying is a Yachtsman is, in reality, either one ofDavid Boye's rigging knives, one of the many Myerchin's offshore rigging knives or an AG Russell Seamaster.

bohica1998 · #6

Well, the second poster edited/added to his statement with this:

I emailed him, and he confirmed it. He is going to send me a pic of his "Unicorn".

So hopefully, he will post pics. I'm still waiting.

Creepo · #7

I'm just gonna quote what the Spyderco Story has to say:

MODELS THAT WERE NEVER INTRODUCED
C06 - Yachtsman
This model was to be a Yachtsman type with sheepfoot blade and marlinspike. It was to feature a new undefeatable lock. (First designed in the 1980s, this lock was eventually refined and renamed the "stop lock" because the lock and stop pin were all one piece.)
The knife itself was put on hold in view of a yachting market perceived to be declining, but the undefeatable lock is still under research.

demtek9 · #8

There were some that made it out. I had one at one time. Looked just like the blue sprint run of the Walker except it was black.

The Deacon · #9

demtek9 wrote:There were some that made it out. I had one at one time. Looked just like the blue sprint run of the Walker except it was black.

Sorry, but you are incorrect, although you're not the first person to be confused by Spyderco's rather confusing numbering system. The confusion arises because the numbering of the Experimental models bears no relationship to the numbering of the "ClipIt" versions of those which reached production.

The CX01 Experimental, for example, was the experimental version of the C61 Pegasus rather than a version of the C01 Worker. The CX02 Experimental became the C62 Navigator. The CX03 and CX04 Experimentals became the micarta and all stainless versions of the C52 Calypso Jr, respectively. The CX05 Experimental became the C28 all stainless Dragonfly.

What you had was a CX06 Experimental, not a C06 Yachtsman. It is the black Almite version of what later became the blue Almite and, more recently the CF/ZDP Michael Walker.

EDITED TO ADD: What leads to, or at least contributes to the confusion in this case is that while the Yachtsman was given what is normally be considered a production SKU#, it never reached production. Same happened with the C31 Europa, except in the Europa's case there's no similarly numbered Experimental model to muddy the waters.

demtek9 · #10

The Deacon wrote:Sorry, but you are incorrect, although you're not the first person to be confused by Spyderco's rather confusing numbering system. The confusion arises because the numbering of the Experimental models bears no relationship to the numbering of the "ClipIt" versions of those which reached production.

The CX01 Experimental, for example, was the experimental version of the C61 Pegasus rather than a version of the C01 Worker. The CX02 Experimental became the C62 Navigator. The CX03 and CX04 Experimentals became the micarta and all stainless versions of the C52 Calypso Jr, respectively. The CX05 Experimental became the C28 all stainless Dragonfly.

What you had was a CX06 Experimental, not a C06 Yachtsman. It is the black Almite version of what later became the blue Almite and, more recently the CF/ZDP Michael Walker.

EDITED TO ADD: What leads to, or at least contributes to the confusion in this case is that while the Yachtsman was given what is normally be considered a production SKU#, it never reached production. Same happened with the C31 Europa, except in the Europa's case there's no similarly numbered Experimental model to muddy the waters.

Thanks for the clarification. I always called it a black almite Walker model, but the guy I sold it to re-posted it was a Rare Yachtsman. I figured he knew what he was talking about. :rolleyes:

Pete1977 · #11

wasn't there a rigging knife with spike in the works for a while called the 'tusk'? I vaguely remember it being a derivative of the never produced 'yachtsman'.

#12

We do have prototypes for the C06 ("Yachtsman" or "Tusk"). Eric did a couple of very nice designs a couple of years ago. Making the model is proving to be challenging.

We had hoped to make the model in H1, but we couldn't make the marlin spike in H1. The maker tht works work H1, wasn't interested in making it. A maker that can make it cannot work with H1.

We're still considering a way to make them at this time.

sal

jzmtl · #13

Any reason you would need to make the spike in H1, instead of something almost as rust resistant, like whatever the handle is on mariner salt?

Pete1977 · #14

420J2 would work for the spike I would think.

boxer93 · #15

This may sound weird. What if the spike is made from FRN.
Chris

#16

jzmtl wrote:Any reason you would need to make the spike in H1, instead of something almost as rust resistant, like whatever the handle is on mariner salt?

That's our current thought.

We just got back from the Annapolis sailboat show and there were many requests for one.

sal

bohica1998 · #17

My point is that this knife apparently hasn't been made, at least, not yet.

However, I've had two different individuals claiming that it had been made, and that they had owned or knew someone who had owned one.

I was pretty sure that this wasn't possible and was looking for verification of that.

demtek9 · #18

How about titanium for the spike? Is that more expensive than H1 would be?

The Deacon · #19

Given that marling spikes don't need to hold an edge, there do seem to be some highly rust resistant, if not totally non-rusting, alternatives to H-1 which could be used for them. AG Russell uses 330 for the one on the titanium Seamaster.

Pete1977 · #20

why use titanium and make it more expensive than it needs to be? Any high chromium stainless steel should suffice for the spike and be rust resistant.

Now, if the spike IS done in H-1 it doesn't necessarily need to be round. An oblong cross section would work just fine. Even a rectangular cross section. The tip does not need to be sharp either, just tapered enough to work between the strands of rope or into a knot. With the flattened spike a shackle key could be integrated into it.