Spyderco Forums

Hey guys, after watching the latest video on the Spyderco YouTube channel where they show how pocket clips came to be (which was a Spyderco invention) it made me think this exact question... what would folding knives be today if Sal never got into making knives?

Bit of a speculative question because we'll never know but its interesting to think of. Would we all be stuck with Buck 110's? Would someone else have came along and tried everything Sal did? Can't say for sure, I think some stuff was a given like pocket clips would have eventually came to light but other things advanced by Spyderco weren't so clear.

Now I'm also not an expert on Spyderco history so if you know of a feature first introduced by them please share! Also leave your opinion on the topic, I think the knife industry would have advanced but we would be a couple years back right now in terms of all around knife features like materials used,locks and tolerances. Plus the amazing round hole opener might have gotten overshadowed by thumbstuds, how terrible!

I think the pocket clip would have eventually been added to knives. Old tape measures for example have clips on them. Opening holes? Perhaps. It works so well it seems like someone would have just had to think of it, but I’m looking through the hindsight lens of someone who’s had a Spyderco since 1993 and drooled on them in knife catalogs long before I ever had one.

Dumb stuff without holes prob

That video was really interesting- I had no idea that spyderco invented the pocket clip. In fact I had no idea they were such a relatively recent addition to pocket knives. I guess that explains why my dad never owned a knife with a clip!

All liner locks. No clips. Thumb studs. Also the 'knife community' probably wouldn't be as big or connected as it is now. And 'super steel' would only be something you found on sushi knives.

Nah, we’d still have the axis lock! I don’t miss thin studs though...

Boring

I may be wrong but I don't think Spyderco invented the idea of a using a cutout in the blade to open a knife.
I think round holes and pocket clips would've come eventually without Spyderco. What I think is more unique (and fundamental) to Spyderco's contribution to the knife industry is their focus on user-oriented knife design and steel.

I could look at this from another angle and ask, "What would set Spyderco apart without the hole?". I love the hole -- I hate studs. It is almost a fanatical obsession with me. There may be one or two knives with a stud that seem "natural" to open out of thousands, but even those are playing catchup to the hole.

But there is more to Spyderco certainly. The company is fun and goes far beyond just making money and turning out a quality product.

There would be a heck of a lot of brass/stainless steel bolsters with wood/jig bone scales. E.g. Buck 110.

Google images of "Pocket Knives 1981" and see for yourself. I can attest as I was there.

Then note, amongst the sea of bolsters and jig bone/wood scales, there's the original Spyderco C01 Worker, gleaming like a beacon signaling the things that are about to come.

The Meat man wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 27, 2019 8:50 pm

I may be wrong but

I think we’d have a lot of standard lock backs from Buck and Gerber. There would be a lot of cheesy liner locks. Benchmade, kershaw, and other most other companies would not exist. We’d be stuck with 440c as our high end steel. Boker still pushes it.

Ditto...

Also we’d have knives that were designed and released and never tested or improved after that. And a lot less knives and features that respond to user feedback.

That is, the process Spyderco uses has a huge impact on delivering great knives:
- design a knife based on own experience and user input
- carry and use a prototype to test and improve it, sometimes for a year or more
- figure out how to manufacture
- release knife
- ask for and listen to feedback from users
- make small improvements and from time to time release new generations
- offer alternate steels and handles
- repeat

We'd all be using 2-3 different steels instead of dozens, Haha.

I would have a lot more spare $$s in my pocket.

Mine would look like a Buck 110.

Out of curiosity, when did flipper tabs become a thing? Does anyone know who first debuted them?

It's highly likely that I wouldn't be into knives nearly as much, and we'd never have the compression lock, which makes me sad to think about.