Original Spyderco Knife: questions about it.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

If you will look at the Spyderco main page and click on the "About Us" you will find this picture of the original Spyderco knife:

http://www.spyderco.com/edge-u-cation/about-us/

That is actually a beautiful and well-designed knife, even with all the newer ones up until now.

I have some questions for Sal or anyone on here about it:

1 What was the original blade steel used on that model, and was the handle stainless steel or aluminum?
2 Is it possible to have one of these made, to those original specifications, at some point? Like, would there ever be a sprint run like some knife companies have done, a sort-of "Spyderco Anniversary Knife", similar to what was done some years back with the Spyderco Worker?

3 I really like how the blade shape and structure is both straight at the top and somewhat of a drop point, and had both the nail nick (if I am looking at it correctly) and the original opening-hole feature. The best of both worlds.
Do the rest of you consider that a very good blade shape for your uses, if Spyderco were ever to produce/reproduce an exact duplicate of these for a sprint run? The blade also appears to blend a flat grind and a saber grind, perhaps a flat saber grind?

VERY cool knife! :)

[awa54]

Looks to me like the hump on the spine where the proto-Spyderhole was drilled is a chunk of sheet stock welded to the top of an existing conventional blade.

It would be interesting to hear the history of that knife from Sal!

[Stuart Ackerman]

The knife is a Basic Tools made in Japan using 440C...
Sal can confirm or deny...

I have a few models from the 70s and 80s ... :)

[Stuart Ackerman]

The handle was stainless as well.
But I doubt it was 440C...

[Babalu32]

Cool. Looks like a screw in the steel they used up by the hole. Im waiting on the hap40 version :)

[The CoPilot]

In the Spyderco Factory Tour Blade HQ video on YouTube, Eric Glesser shows that knife and says it was the first prototype for what would become the C01 Worker in 1981. He says that Sal took parts from a Spyderco Portable Hand and welded the on top of the blade to make the hump then drilled out the round hole. So I've always considered that knife to be a Worker prototype.

[camporama]

IIRC, it was featured on Blade HQ's spyderco shop tour and was shown off by Eric. Definitely a very cool piece of spyderco history.

[Stuart Ackerman]

Hopefully Sal or Eric will respond to the origins? :)

[JD Spydo]

It seems like I vaguely remember many years ago Spyderco had a short collaboration with Timberline. And if my memory serves me well that knife looks vaguely like one of those collaborations. Also if I remember correctly those Spyderco/Timberline units had a diamond shaped Spyder-Hole??

[sal]

In the summer of 1980, I was working about 12 hours per day. We had very few crew. Building sharpeners and running a business by day (when not travelling) and doing office work at night (accounts payable, payroll, receivables, etc.) Gail was pregnant with Eric, she only worked 8 hours per day.

I had learned to open knives one handed when young and felt it was a valuable skill. I thought it was be an interesting feature to build into a folder. I began by adding appendages to the blade (discs, studs, bumps, etc.) but decided they were in the way of cutting and sharpening so I thought to try removing from the blade. I tried roughing up the blade and finally decided that a dent in the blade with an edge that could "catch" the fleshy part of the thumb might work. I took an inexpensive production folder that we had in the store at the time. I didn't think there was enough of the blade sticking out from the handle to use as is, so I cut a piece of drill rod into a small piece, welded it on to the spine (silver solder), ground it flat with a grinder and drilled it with a hand drill to test out the theory. It was rough, but worked well enough to prove out the concept. Then we went to designing and making custom prototypes. We applied for patents The first model was the Worker model which was introduced in October of 1981 at the Texas State Fair.

Hope that helps.

sal

[MacLaren]

And on to be the best knives in the world.
You just cannot beat a Spyderco. Opening with the thumb or the Spydie flick. So easy, so awesome!

[murphjd25]

What an awesome story. Thank you Sal!

[bob7]

Thanks for the story, Sal.