Spyderco Forums

For me, the "Sliverax" is on of the most unique and beautiful designs I've seen in the Spyderco lineup for some years. Checks all the boxes. In the pic above it really seems to have the yin and yang balance and flow going on. I will call mine Yinyang rather than Sliverax. Just seems to fit the knife. Looking forward to it becoming available. Thanks Paul and Spyderco for making this happen.

I love the look of the design. And ever since I got a Mantra, I've been enjoying the whole "flipper" action thing.
I'm mostly worried about size. How does it feel in smaller hands? I'm one of those people who find a PM2 to be slightly too large and unwieldy. I find my Caly 3 and Mantra to be just about perfect. How does the Sliverax compare?

pftbahaa wrote:Held it again. It may have gotten even better from people flipping it. I think I'm in love.

I'm getting excited!!!!!!

Nate wrote:...I'm curious how similar or different the Taichung cf look and texture will be compared to the Golden solid peel-ply cf?...

^^Anyone???

Nate wrote:

Nate wrote:...I'm curious how similar or different the Taichung cf look and texture will be compared to the Golden solid peel-ply cf?...

^^Anyone???

Similar to the Sage 5, I'm guessing?

mattman wrote:
Similar to the Sage 5, I'm guessing?

Thanks Mattman, totally spaced on the Sage 5, but I assume you're right. Haven't handled the 5, but it gives me a lot more to look at in terms of pics, etc...

For everyone interested in the price, check this out from Blade HQ! I tried copying and pasting the link, but it didn't come through. So Search for Spyderco Sliverax, and the price comes up on Blade HQ for $149.97! So slightly more expensive than what the Sage 5 is, with getting a flipper that is running on bearings!

Goi g to the previous question, I would think it would be similar to the texture of the Sage 5 CF. it will have a little texture to it!

Also, going to the question about the texture of the Carbon Fiber, below is a quote from the forum of "Anyone handles a Hanan or Sliverax?":

"Sliverax in the Amsterdam meet in february. Very nice knife, sleek and clever design foldeld but a natural feeling in the hand. Sophisticated design combining the flipper with the compression lock. I am not a flipperguy but this one opens naturally in your hand. I am picky before deciding to buy a new knife because I can not afford all I would like to have but this is on my wishlist. Also liked the rougher (peelply) CF scales."

So probably similar to the Sage 5 like we have guessed.

Hamilton

RocketBen wrote:I love the look of the design. And ever since I got a Mantra, I've been enjoying the whole "flipper" action thing.
I'm mostly worried about size. How does it feel in smaller hands? I'm one of those people who find a PM2 to be slightly too large and unwieldy. I find my Caly 3 and Mantra to be just about perfect. How does the Sliverax compare?

The pm2 in my hands is just on the verge of being to big and the sliverax fit nicely with some wiggle room. I think you will be just fine.
Also as far as texture goes it feels just like a pm2 or any other rough g10 knife from spyderco. I assume some may be able to tell the differences between he g10 textures of their models but I find them to be close enough to call the same. It's that texture but with the elegant look of carbon fiber.

I suppose it's about time I finally got around to talking compression lock flippers like I mentioned early in the thread, and you all have my sincerest apologies for making you wait so long with what I'm sure was bated breath... plus this could use a bump.

So, the compression lock is by far my favorite locking mechanism, and once I felt I had a good handle on how to implement the lock in a sound manner, I pretty quickly started to consider incorporating a flipper mechanism. As an aside, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with flippers. On the love side, I do really enjoy the almost instantaneous deployment you get with a good flipping mechanism; and somehow, incessant flipping never gets old... at least not for me, the wife and kids get understandably annoyed after a while. On the hate side, I'm not a fan of the protrusion flipper tabs usually entail. They can be cumbersome in pocket (I really do spend a lot of time considering the closed form of my designs, and while actual use is paramount, my personal knives probably spend a fair bit more time in my pocket than in my hand... sigh, office life). Plus, the tab can almost ruin the knife aesthetic if you're going for really clean, svelte lines for a particular design.

The Sliverax mechanism was the first workable version of a compression lock flipper I came up with, and it's pretty straight forward. The flipper tab is just an extension on the tang, wrapping around the stop pin to get the tab into a location that gives it the right amount of leverage and generates a big enough moment to open reliably. This ends up creating a detail that looks a lot like a portion of an internal stop pin track just inboard of the flipper tab, but the cut out is further away from the pivot than a full internal stop configuration, to keep the blade as robust as possible. And that's about it. I've got 2 or 3 other flipper incarnations I'm trying to work into newer designs, but really at their heart they are all fairly similar, you have to have certain features and components to make it functional, and then you come up with design inversions that better integrate into your target package.

I also believe in simplicity and elegance in a design whenever possible, so I try and not get overly intricate or complex, and start forcing extra elements or components into a knife. We're already putting bearings in these things, and that's probably on the upper end of what I consider reasonable for what is supposed to be a 'basic' hand tool. In the end, bearings are still a far sight better than most opening assist mechanisms out there, and they do provide consistent, smooth flipping action in a pretty cost efficient manner.

And I guess that's my flipper/bearing manifesto, hope you found it at least interesting if not educational,
- Paul

paulwa wrote:On the hate side, I'm not a fan of the protrusion flipper tabs usually entail. They can be cumbersome in pocket (I really do spend a lot of time considering the closed form of my designs, and while actual use is paramount, my personal knives probably spend a fair bit more time in my pocket than in my hand... sigh, office life). Plus, the tab can almost ruin the knife aesthetic if you're going for really clean, svelte lines for a particular design.

Have you thought about using a front flipper instead? Many makers will say the reason they use them is to keep their lines clean when the knife is closed. Most are pretty much basic protrusions with no extra shape to help with the overall look, but if you take the Boker Exskelibur for example the shape of the flipper is nicely rounded. If done right, the flipper could instead add to the closed look nicely! Not to mention that they are almost always hidden when the knife is in the open position, so no worries there!
Obviously just a friendly suggestion.

pftbahaa wrote:Have you thought about using a front flipper instead?

Front flippers are an option, but they are not near as easy to integrate in a compression lock design as they are in a liner lock design. But it is definitely possible.

- Paul

paulwa wrote:

pftbahaa wrote:Have you thought about using a front flipper instead?

Front flippers are an option, but they are not near as easy to integrate in a compression lock design as they are in a liner lock design. But it is definitely possible.

- Paul

I would love to see a front flipper compression lock spydie!

You know it's bad when you're on every email notification you can get on but you still have all your preferred vendors pages bookmarked on the Sliverax page just so you can obsessively check to see if they're in stock.

Evil D wrote:You know it's bad when you're on every email notification you can get on but you still have all your preferred vendors pages bookmarked on the Sliverax page just so you can obsessively check to see if they're in stock.

I'll be expecting a head's up then, or maybe just go ahead and buy two?

Nate wrote:

Evil D wrote:You know it's bad when you're on every email notification you can get on but you still have all your preferred vendors pages bookmarked on the Sliverax page just so you can obsessively check to see if they're in stock.

I'll be expecting a head's up then, or maybe just go ahead and buy two?

Man my phone better be blown up with texts if you see it before I do lol.

^Deal!

Made an account just to say how excited I am too see this finally popping up on dealer pages. I've been stoked ever since I originally saw it many months ago; moreso than any knife in years. I wasn't too hot on the Ouroboros for a few reasons (price point/steel/washer issue), and never ended up pulling the trigger on one, but I'm so glad they got Mr Alexander back on again for what is in my opinion the best designed knife they've picked up to date. I've signed up for six or seven emailing lists and I'm just hoping that I manage to hop on one before they're all gone.

Well done Mr Alexander, and well done Spyderco! I feel like a kid waiting in front of Gamestop for a midnight release!

Welcome to the forum!

ProbablyMalcolm wrote:Made an account just to say how excited I am too see this finally popping up on dealer pages. I've been stoked ever since I originally saw it many months ago; moreso than any knife in years. I wasn't too hot on the Ouroboros for a few reasons (price point/steel/washer issue), and never ended up pulling the trigger on one, but I'm so glad they got Mr Alexander back on again for what is in my opinion the best designed knife they've picked up to date. I've signed up for six or seven emailing lists and I'm just hoping that I manage to hop on one before they're all gone.

Well done Mr Alexander, and well done Spyderco! I feel like a kid waiting in front of Gamestop for a midnight release!

Same. Just after Shot Show I had to get into the community. I felt the need to support this design.