Postby dplafoll » Thu Mar 01, 2018 10:23 am
I would love to be able to get parts, but I also know it's difficult for a company the size of Spyderco, with multiple manufacturing locations, so many models with so many changes, to be able to do that. I would be excited to see some parts be stocked at retailers; I can see how that could eliminate some of the work for Spyderco if they're not selling the parts directly to customers, or selling to customers at a premium over the retailers. It's unfortunate that overseas users can't easily avail themselves of the warranty service, so I think wholesale parts sales to overseas retailers would help ease this issue.
Another benefit of the availability of parts would be not just so that a user can work on their knife, but that a professional(ish) knife service can do so. Obviously that would, without question or exception, void the warranty entirely, and Spyderco would still rather do it themselves, but (especially overseas) perhaps there are users who'd love to send their knives to someone who does various services already (sharpening, repairs, mods, etc.), some of which aren't really provided by Spyderco even for warranty service.
As for a list of part specs for various models, that sounds difficult to create and maintain for all models. But, for a subset of models it may not be too bad. Honestly, I could see how someone in this community would be willing to maintain the list as long as someone at Spyderco shoots them the occasional email with an addition or change (after the initial big data dump). You could limit the list and the stock of available parts to mostly just the evergreen models from Golden, Japan, Taiwan, and maybe China (plus perhaps the bearings/washers for Taiwan models that aren't evergreen, which is really just the Sage and Chaparral models anyways).
No matter what happens, not everyone will be happy. Spyderco is trying harder than most companies to do just that, however, and I think it's important for us as a community to keep that in mind in this discussion. They don't have to engage with us and they don't have to make any changes. But they are engaging, and listening, and maybe some positive changes will come from it.
Patrick LaFollette
Current: Dragonfly 2 ZDP-189, Chaparral 1, Techno 1, Delica 4 HAP-40, Dragonfly 2 HAP-40, Mantra 1, Ladybug Salt Hawkbill, Nirvana CPM, Endura 4 HAP-40, Sage 4, Para Military 2 CPM Cru-Wear, Sage 5, Caly3 HAP40, Sliverax, Lil' Nilakka, Chaparral Raffir Noble, Zulu, Manbug HAP40, Meerkat HAP40, Sage 1/Sage 2/Sage 3 CF, Introvert, Techno 2