Reinhold Rhino Update

[attila]

Those look really nice!

Well done, Michael and Spyderco!

[Mr Blonde]

They look great, congrats Michael!

[PStone]

Great looking knives SpyderNut! Congratulations!

I’m really looking forward to this release :spyder:

[mrtodd777]

This has been on my “need” list for a very long time. Can’t wait to finally pick one up. Congrats Michael! Your work is excellent, as proven in the awesome scales you designed and manufactured for my now custom large lum. You have some serious skills dude.

[Gsg9]

Interesting little folder with compression lock CF and XHP

I don't understand those finger grooves, especially the first one with the cutout on the other side looks a bit silly

I would prefer a more neutral handle, it's a small knife, despite its name you will not use it to cut rhinos so you might not need that heavy grip...

And then it's the eternal lanyard-hole that Spyderco can't figure out where to place it

I don't understand why it favours lanyard-hole placement instead of pocket clip so the pocket clip ends up ten inches below the lanyard-hole ...

They say Spyderco listens to its customers, well, here's a poll for you Spyderco, maybe you should start listening

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=77530&hilit=lanyard

Most do not use a lanyard so favoring the lanyard-hole placement doesn't make any sense...

I modified the picture, why couldn't use some placement like on the third modified piece below



Spyderco did something like that for Szabo



Or just thru the clip like on the Caribbean




Or a lanyard pin, is a pin that much more expensive to put in there than a hole?

Lanyard hole/pocket clip placement is just annoying so I'll probably hold-off buying, the same for Techno 2

Waiting for Redback, that seems to get it right, it's probably Alistair Phillips's merit

[TomAiello]

I have to say that those Rhino photos are making me break out my credit card and look for a pre-order.

When the Rhino got upgraded to XHP, it went from "maybe" to "certainly" for me.

[Halfneck]

They say Spyderco listens to its customers, well, here's a poll for you Spyderco, maybe you should start listening

Spyderco did listen to the forum member who designed the knife. If you start reading more of the earlier posts you will better understand some of the Rhino's design aspects. As an example: the name Rhino comes from the blade shape being similar to the original Lil'Temperance with the trailing point blade - nicknamed "The Rhino".

[elena86]

Hi All,
Thank you for the kind words. I have a proper “Thank you” in-the-works.

Hi Sal,
Amen to that! :D

Hey Michael, you did a great job in designing this little sucker :) . Please be so kind and provide some specs; I'm mostly interested in cutting edge lenght and behind the edge thickness.Thanx

[bouhunter]

They say Spyderco listens to its customers, well, here's a poll for you Spyderco, maybe you should start listening

Spyderco did listen to the forum member who designed the knife. If you start reading more of the earlier posts you will better understand some of the Rhino's design aspects. As an example: the name Rhino comes from the blade shape being similar to the original Lil'Temperance with the trailing point blade - nicknamed "The Rhino".

I assumed Rhino came from the designers name.

[Halfneck]

bouhunter - if I recall correctly, the Rhino Lil'Temp is a favorite Spyderco of the designer.

[ZrowsN1s]

The wait is over :D Finally got my hands on a Rhino! Well done Michael. Going to take it to work this afternoon. I had been wondering if it would be easy to middle finger flick it open left handed. It is :D

[gundamaniac]

Wow that looks fantastic in hand!

[ZrowsN1s]

Wow that looks fantastic in hand!

I'm digging it so far. My hands are small enough I can easily get four fingers on there, but it seems intended to be a very roomy three finger grip.
This would work well for the XL hands crowd who are looking for a public friendly smaller knife. I bet I could wear gloves and still have a comfy three finger grip. I love the size of this thing :D I like how I can grip the handle with my pinky, ring, and middle finger and rest my index finger along the spine of the blade, great control.

[SG89]

It's finally here! And it's awesome!!

[sal]

Great pic Spydergirl.

thanx.

sal

[Surfingringo]

I bought one for my Dad at Blade but I won't be able to send it to him for another month or so. So....I've been enjoying it until then. No kayak use or anything but there's been plenty of fondling. I'm really impressed with the design. I'm not really a fan of most three finger handles (and though I can squeeze 4 fingers on the grip I would consider this a 3 finger handle), but this one works very well for my hand. My pinkie finger rides very comfortably on the butt and it feels almost like I've got a full grip on the knife. I like the negative blade angle and how it offers good pull cut leverage at the heel but still allow the tip to be used on a flat surface even with all that belly. Overall it seems like a very well thought out and executed design. I'll probably get one for myself eventually.

[SpyderNut]

Interesting little folder with compression lock CF and XHP

I don't understand those finger grooves, especially the first one with the cutout on the other side looks a bit silly
I would prefer a more neutral handle, it's a small knife, despite its name you will not use it to cut rhinos so you might not need that heavy grip...
And then it's the eternal lanyard-hole that Spyderco can't figure out where to place it
I don't understand why it favours lanyard-hole placement instead of pocket clip so the pocket clip ends up ten inches below the lanyard-hole ...
They say Spyderco listens to its customers, well, here's a poll for you Spyderco, maybe you should start listening

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=77530&hilit=lanyard
Most do not use a lanyard so favoring the lanyard-hole placement doesn't make any sense...
Or a lanyard pin, is a pin that much more expensive to put in there than a hole?
Lanyard hole/pocket clip placement is just annoying so I'll probably hold-off buying, the same for Techno 2
Waiting for Redback, that seems to get it right, it's probably Alistair Phillips's merit

I apologize for the delay in answering your question, Gsg9. I appreciate your feedback. The finger grooves on the Rhino's handle may appear unusual-looking at first glance, but they are actually an integral part of the design. I believe that the finger grooves will make more sense after you've had a chance to hold the knife. Below, I've copied a segment from the original Rhino thread that describes the reason behind the finger grooves. I hope this helps.

***From the original Rhino thread*** (viewtopic.php?t=70250):

Doc Dan wrote -- On the left side of the scale is raised and has one of those finger choils. Why did you not simply lower that area to match more closely the right side and thus give access to the hole for lefties? (I am not left handed). It would seem that the pile side scale lowered and smoothed as the CAT and some other Spydies would be a helpful feature. But I have not handled the knife so I can only wonder.

Hi Doc Dan, you make a good point. I had actually contemplated that issue prior to making the Rhino because I knew it would likely affect left-handed users. However, as I mentioned in a previous post:

Speedholes wrote: Any chance you tried any protos without the little middle ridge covering the Spyderhole? I could see how it might allow your index finger to slide back though... But just wondering for those lefties out there, or right-hand middle finger openers who may want to mod it...

As for the middle "ridge" (or hump) on the handle, I originally considered making it without the hump. In the end, however, the lack of the hump essentially disturbed the ergonomics--because, as you mentioned, the lack of the hump allowed the index finger to slide back into the recessed area. Although the Round Hole is fairly occluded from the left side, I am still able to open the blade using my left thumb with a little practice. The Rhino is a compact design that actually feels pretty comfortable in-hand. One of the more challenging aspects in creating the Rhino was figuring out the placement for the finger grooves--thanks in part to its smaller size and also due to its upswept blade profile. As Wouter noted in the Amsterdam thread, the left scale (featuring the "sub-hilt" or "hump") actually helps to lock the handle into the users' hand, which is exactly what I discovered as well:

Mr. Blonde wrote: The Reinhold Rhino is a compact little folder with a wicked cool bowie-style blade. I could (just) get a full four-finger grip on the compact handle. The ergos were great though. The G-10 grip was finished rather smooth, it appeared sanded down but the surface still offered some grip. The handle scale that also holds the clip, features a type of ‘subhilt’ feature. It really helps to lock the knife in your hand but at the same time I kept reaching for a linerlock that wasn’t there when I wanted to close this knife. Still, I liked the Reinhold Rhino a lot.

In the end, I decided to keep the "hump" on the left side of the scale on my final Rhino prototype because I felt that it greatly improved the overall ergonomic function of the design. I think one would really need to hold the Rhino in hand in order to fully appreciate the grip design. Even with large hands (I wear a size XL in men's gloves), the Rhino fits very well in my hand.

My original Rhino featured a lanyard hole because I anticipated that some people would want to remove the pocket clip and carry the knife loosely in their pocket with a lanyard. I obviously can’t speak for Spyderco, but I assume they chose to stay close to the specs from my original Rhino design when they determined the lanyard hole placement on the Spyderco version, because the location of the hole on both my and their designs were nearly identical.

Having said all that, I do see your point regarding the relationship between the placement of the lanyard hole and pocket clip. Perhaps this would be something Spyderco would eventually change down the road (assuming that the design does well enough over time to merit the change).

I believe Spyderco listens to their customers--and their collaborators too, for that matter. I think this Forum bears evidence of that quite well.

-Michael

[SpyderNut]

Wow! Nice pictures, ZrowsN1s and Spydergirl88! Seeing Rhinos in the wild really made my day. :)

[SpyderNut]

Thank you all for the kind words!

[SpyderNut]

Hi All,
Thank you for the kind words. I have a proper “Thank you” in-the-works.

Hi Sal,
Amen to that! :D

Hey Michael, you did a great job in designing this little sucker :) . Please be so kind and provide some specs; I'm mostly interested in cutting edge lenght and behind the edge thickness.Thanx

Thank you, Marius. Appreciate that! :) The cutting edge on the Rhino is 2.29" (58 mm) and my calipers show approximately .0015" behind the edge.