Premium blade steel in premium knife?

[JRinFL]

I would really hate to see Spyderco become a boutique blade maker instead of who they are, a maker of great blades with excellent value for the money spent. That ratio is already changing, and in my personal opinion, for the worse.

[Skywalker]

"Advocate...M4 isn't stainless, what about a Maxamelt version?"

Maxamet isnt stainless either, actually can rust very easily (more so than even M4).

As far as premium steels go, I would like to see Spyderco use Vanax. Also how about some CPM 10V or CPM 15V? Would be cool to make a smaller size Nirvana or K2 (which I think is the only Spyderco that uses 10V?). Vandis 4 Extra for some smaller fixed blade survival knives would be cool. Has Spyderco used CPM-20V in a knife before? I know there is a mule in that steel but dont recall seeing it in any other Spyderco knives?

Sustain is CPM-20CV. Also surprisingly priced; it's the same as the Junction and $70 cheaper than the Bradley Bowie.

[MacLaren]

A little off topic, but I was in Smokey Mountain Knifeworks today. Got to see a lot of Spydies that otherwise I would never see unless I bought them.
The 2 that really got my attention and impressed me the most (just my tastes) were the Sage 5 and especially the Pattadda! I was really impressed with the Breeden Rescue too. A very nice rescue knife. Very stout imo.
At any rate, I will be sending off for a Pattada.

[Bodog]

I hate to think of what some of these dream knives would MSRP at.

Probably no more than what ZT is pushing and selling out of.

Yeah people do spend $600+ for Henderer, which I'm sure are amazing knives but that's a lot of dough.

Some people can afford what's being offered, some can't. There are a lot of knives I can't afford but others can. A lot of these I could afford even if they hit the $600 Mark on the really special ones. Since a lot of people buy a lot of production knives at that price no reason spyderco shouldn't offer something truly nice just because some people think they're too expensive. If that was the case most anything over $20 is too expensive because that's what most people want to buy a knife for.

Unbelievable how similar this argument is to the one I made about wanting a high end US made Tenacious. Once you reach a certain price point the options start opening up. You run into the problem of a brand fitting into those price points or not. People are happy with a $50 Tenacious but won't buy one for $100 no matter what it's made of because they see it as inferior. I love Spyderco but at some point cost will reach a point where the brand doesn't seem to justify the cost in the same way a Tenacious doesn't justify $100 to some people. You or I may buy some crazy Damascus bolstered Spyderco with alien bone scales for $700 but others may see a ~$150 average costing brand trying to market a knife for several times that and wonder if it's as nice as the other offerings in that price range.

But, we do live in a country where you can spend $100k for a pickup truck so maybe I have no idea.

Fair enough. I guess I thought with spyderco producing knives like the nirvana, Rubicon, slysz bowie, etc. that they don't see themselves as only a low to mid range knife maker. But you may be right, maybe the market see spyderco as you do and I'm looking at the exceptions that spyderco had produced rather than the rule and I'm wrong for thinking that spyderco can carve out a bigger niche not by doing random and crazy folders that barely function but by making high class knives that push function and materials to new limits and produce something other than what's already being done by others. Some businesses are going off the deep end and making really crazy and rather ridiculous knives, I just kind of though spyderco could stay in the game by outdoing them not by creating stupid pieces, but by taking production knives to midtech and custom levels with materials other manufacturers are usually scared to touch. Kind of like what spyderco already does with steel.

[ejcr98]

Dragonfly 2 plain edge in LC200N with FRN scales the same blue of the Delica 4 or bright red.

Mini Sage 5 with M390 steel and a blade length just under 2.5", say between 2.45 and 2.48", so that it is legal to carry in federal facilities.

[Bodog]

A little off topic, but I was in Smokey Mountain Knifeworks today. Got to see a lot of Spydies that otherwise I would never see unless I bought them.
The 2 that really got my attention and impressed me the most (just my tastes) were the Sage 5 and especially the Pattadda! I was really impressed with the Breeden Rescue too. A very nice rescue knife. Very stout imo.
At any rate, I will be sending off for a Pattada.

Yeah man, I'm really kind of surprised the Pattada hasn't been a bigger hit. The design seems really solid. I need to curb what I buy so I have basically cut it off at steels more interesting than S30V, N690, or VG10 or else I'd have already bought one myself.

[MacLaren]

A little off topic, but I was in Smokey Mountain Knifeworks today. Got to see a lot of Spydies that otherwise I would never see unless I bought them.
The 2 that really got my attention and impressed me the most (just my tastes) were the Sage 5 and especially the Pattadda! I was really impressed with the Breeden Rescue too. A very nice rescue knife. Very stout imo.
At any rate, I will be sending off for a Pattada.

Yeah man, I'm really kind of surprised the Pattada hasn't been a bigger hit. The design seems really solid. I need to curb what I buy so I have basically cut it off at steels more interesting than S30V, N690, or VG10 or else I'd have already bought one myself.

I've never tried N690.
But, man, was that Pattada a nice Spydie.
And heck, I knew it was beforehand as a good friend here on the forum has one and told me how nice it is.
It was just really nice to get to play with a lot of the newer models today. Very nice to be within driving distance of a brick and mortar like SMKW.
Man, between SMKW, and Buds next door, I could spend hours between the two quite easily lol...