Pocket clip decisions and preferences

Discuss Spyderco's products and history.
samdasnake
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Pocket clip decisions and preferences

#1

Post by samdasnake »

I’m really curious how the company decides which type of clip to use on a given design. Personally I almost always prefer a wire clip, but I think it’s because I tend to the LW format and smaller knives. That said some smaller LW knives stick with the regular solid clip - like the Native LW and Delica - while other larger knives have the wire clip - like the Caly35. Is this simply a design choice? What goes into making the decision?

On a related note: deep carry clips are super popular as evidenced by all the after market ones available online. But the wire clip seems to be the only deep carry Spyderco uses. Given the popularity of deep carry clips why not put wire clips on more knives?

What are y'all's preferences?
BobABQ
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Re: Pocket clip decisions and preferences

#2

Post by BobABQ »

I am a heretic but personally I do not like clips. They tend to eat up my pants pocket, if I brush up against something like a car it gets scratched and I feel that it ruins the feel of the handle in my hand. I actually scratched a car's paint with a pocket clip by accident. No pocket clips for me thank you.
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kennethsime
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Re: Pocket clip decisions and preferences

#3

Post by kennethsime »

BobABQ wrote:
Sat May 16, 2020 8:58 pm
I am a heretic but personally I do not like clips. They tend to eat up my pants pocket, if I brush up against something like a car it gets scratched and I feel that it ruins the feel of the handle in my hand. I actually scratched a car's paint with a pocket clip by accident. No pocket clips for me thank you.
Have you tried a wire clip?

I find they're much kinder to pants and cars a like.

My Native 5 has perhaps the harshest clip of all my knives, but it's also very secure. I basically only carry it if I'm wearing Carhartt because the clip is so stiff.
I'm happiest with Micarta and Tool Steel.

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kennethsime
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Re: Pocket clip decisions and preferences

#4

Post by kennethsime »

samdasnake wrote:
Sat May 16, 2020 8:23 pm
I’m really curious how the company decides which type of clip to use on a given design. Personally I almost always prefer a wire clip, but I think it’s because I tend to the LW format and smaller knives. That said some smaller LW knives stick with the regular solid clip - like the Native LW and Delica - while other larger knives have the wire clip - like the Caly35. Is this simply a design choice? What goes into making the decision?

On a related note: deep carry clips are super popular as evidenced by all the after market ones available online. But the wire clip seems to be the only deep carry Spyderco uses. Given the popularity of deep carry clips why not put wire clips on more knives?

What are y'all's preferences?
I too am curious. I do enjoy having different clips for different use cases. For example, my "work knives" usually have solid clips (wear with jeans), and my "weekenders" usually have wire clips (wear with shorts).

I imagine that the designers at Spyderco think about the intended use case, or most common use case for the knife, and then choose the most appropriate clip. Sometimes it just goes to the crowd - the Para 3 LW has a deep-carry clip situated at the very butt end, which is no doubt a result of the widespread opinion that the G-10 Para 3 is "unusable" with the stock clip.

For the record, I love the stock clip on my Para 3, and think it works just fine. But I do appreciate the deep-carry clip on the LW model, as I prefer the LW for shorts that don't have jean-style pockets.
I'm happiest with Micarta and Tool Steel.

Top four in rotation: K390 + GCM PM2, ZCarta Shaman, Crucarta PM2, K390 + GCM Straight Spine Stretch.
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Re: Pocket clip decisions and preferences

#5

Post by Bill1170 »

I believe knife weight is a key aspect of the decision process for what clip to mount on Spyderco folders. I love the wire clip on my Manix LW, but the spoon clip on the heavier knives feels better suited to retaining their mass. A wire clip on a FFG Delica would be great, in my opinion.
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Re: Pocket clip decisions and preferences

#6

Post by samdasnake »

Just curious - are there any aftermarket wire clips available that can be mounted in place of the regular clip? I don't quite know how this would be engineered without modifying the scales but who knows. I did once see a pic of a para3 g10 (I think) which had been modified to accept a wire clip. It looked pretty amazing.
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Evil D
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Re: Pocket clip decisions and preferences

#7

Post by Evil D »

On work knives I really prefer to have a little bit of handle sticking out of my pocket because I often have gloves on when I use my knife and sometimes it's in a hectic situation where I don't want to struggle with getting my knife drawn. On knives I'd carry casually outside of work I really don't have much preference but I do prefer hourglass clips on heavier knives and wire clips on lighter knives. Hourglass clips are more secure and seem to handle weight better.

All that aside, I do kinda dislike some of the clips that collaboration knives get, especially ones that are really wide and overly fancy.
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Re: Pocket clip decisions and preferences

#8

Post by bearfacedkiller »

I am the odd man out when it comes to clips. I carry in my right rear pocket and prefer tip down spoon clips with some of the knife sticking out for easier access. I tend to avoid deep carry as well as tip up configurations. I don’t really have anything against wire clips except that they are almost all tip up and deep carry. The Des Horn was tip down with a wire clip and I would like to see that happen again.
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Re: Pocket clip decisions and preferences

#9

Post by Notsurewhy »

I generally prefer the sold clip. Especially for larger knives and knives with smooth scales. I'm usually okay with the wire clip, bit I actively dislike the one on the kapara to the point I'm thinking of selling the knife. It's jumped out of my pocket several times and it moves around on the smooth carbon fiber scales when gripped tightly. I don't like it when part of a knife shifts in my hand in use.

On smaller knives like the dragonfly or chaparral I have no major complaints with the wire clip, but anything bigger than 3 inches, it becomes a liability in my mind.

Side note: does anyone else think a countersunk screw might work better than a button head for the wire clip? I don't care much about depth of carry, but I wonder if part of my retention issue is that the button head keeps the knife from sliding down far enough.
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Re: Pocket clip decisions and preferences

#10

Post by zuludelta »

Same as a couple of people who posted earlier in this thread, I prefer the spoon clip on heavier knives and knives I actually use for work. Having a little bit of handle poking out of the pocket makes a discernible difference in how quickly I can get a knife out while wearing work gloves. At the same time, the stronger retention (relative to the wire clip) means I don't have to worry too much about the knife inadvertently falling out when actively moving about (this is especially a concern on the occasions when I carry a knife in my back pocket). There are "non-deep carry" wire clips that work almost as well as the spoon clip in these two regards, though, such as the wire clip on the Manix 2 LW and the Introvert.

All that said, I don't mind the deep-carry wire clip. I think it's a fine option for lighter knives (it's perfect on the Dragonfly 2 and Chaparral FRN).

Ultimately though, the clip-type isn't generally a "make or break" criteria for me, unless it just totally messes up a knife's ergonomics so bad so as to make it unusable (and I've yet to encounter that in a Spyderco folder).
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Re: Pocket clip decisions and preferences

#11

Post by GJMcD »

I’m with Darby on this one. I only actually carry pointy end down ever since I had a tip up Yojimbo 2 partially open in my pocket at work. I don’t know if I’d like wire clips or not since almost all are tip up only, they just aren’t compatible with my needs.
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Re: Pocket clip decisions and preferences

#12

Post by JMM »

I like the wire clip, and wish it was on more models that the 5% or so I own -- when it comes to the other 95% of my Spydies I replace the 'standard' pocket clip. I don't care for them aesthetically & I don't like having the end of my knife showing, and I'm completely used to removing them from my pockets when they are carried 'deep'. It's mildly annoying and requires budgeting an additional ~$25 bucks for 'clip-tax' for most all my knives but it's worthwhile to me... and if Lynch NW releases the wire clip model that will fit the standard 3-hole clip I will likely start buying those for the majority of new knives I purchase going forward... but hey, to each their own right :) ;)
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Re: Pocket clip decisions and preferences

#13

Post by samdasnake »

JMM wrote:
Sun May 17, 2020 10:09 am
I like the wire clip, and wish it was on more models that the 5% or so I own -- when it comes to the other 95% of my Spydies I replace the 'standard' pocket clip. I don't care for them aesthetically & I don't like having the end of my knife showing, and I'm completely used to removing them from my pockets when they are carried 'deep'. It's mildly annoying and requires budgeting an additional ~$25 bucks for 'clip-tax' for most all my knives but it's worthwhile to me... and if Lynch NW releases the wire clip model that will fit the standard 3-hole clip I will likely start buying those for the majority of new knives I purchase going forward... but hey, to each their own right :) ;)
yeah I've seen regular clips which can replace the wire clip (I think Lynch makes one) but not the other way around. It would be an interesting thing to design though if you could make it work well.
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Re: Pocket clip decisions and preferences

#14

Post by JMM »

samdasnake wrote:
Sun May 17, 2020 10:26 am
JMM wrote:
Sun May 17, 2020 10:09 am
I like the wire clip, and wish it was on more models that the 5% or so I own -- when it comes to the other 95% of my Spydies I replace the 'standard' pocket clip. I don't care for them aesthetically & I don't like having the end of my knife showing, and I'm completely used to removing them from my pockets when they are carried 'deep'. It's mildly annoying and requires budgeting an additional ~$25 bucks for 'clip-tax' for most all my knives but it's worthwhile to me... and if Lynch NW releases the wire clip model that will fit the standard 3-hole clip I will likely start buying those for the majority of new knives I purchase going forward... but hey, to each their own right :) ;)
yeah I've seen regular clips which can replace the wire clip (I think Lynch makes one) but not the other way around. It would be an interesting thing to design though if you could make it work well.
Yeah, it's Lynch NW that makes clips that look like a 'standard' deep carry clip, that fit into the spot that wire clips go... and supposedly there is a model being developed to do the exact opposite...I imagine those will sell faster than they could ever imagine -- they already have a hard time keeping up with demand as it is.
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Re: Pocket clip decisions and preferences

#15

Post by Ez556 »

I personally like “standard clips” over the deep carry variety. Much like people worried about possibility of printing when carrying a gun, the vast majority of people are too concerned with whatever they are doing to notice the little bit of a pocket knife sticking out of your pocket even though it may seem very noticeable to you. And when it comes to “spoon” versus wire clips, I think I prefer the spoon clips. The wire clips always seem to get bent and lose their tension, but I’ve had no such issue with spoon clips. I’ve had that problem with my Dragonfly and my Lil’ Native and I’m always having to bend my brother-in-laws Sage 5 clip back into tension. Ironically, the only wire clip I really like so far is on my Manix LW, which isn’t a deep carry style. I can understand why people like deep carry clips, but so far for me I don’t particularly need them.
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Re: Pocket clip decisions and preferences

#16

Post by ThomC »

I like tip-down right-hand clip position. The PM1 and Millie are great for me, because I don't mind a bit of handle sticking out of the pocket.
As said before, most people don't notice because they're too busy with anything else.
That's why I put off buying a Manix for a while, because I can draw the PM and Millie straight from my pocket and open the blade in a single motion.
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Re: Pocket clip decisions and preferences

#17

Post by Wartstein »

Said it before: I have a real dislike for deep carry clips in knives bigger than lets say a Chaparral (but of course: More power to all the people who like deep carry! It´s just not for me. :) )

If Spydercos came with deep carry clips (some do, I know) I´d switch them all to after market NON deep carry clips. The deep carry clip on my Kapara was the one thing I almost "hated" on this knife: Such a compact package for the cutting edge it offers, but in pocket it felt longer than an Endura due to the deep carry, plus was clearly harder to grab and access than an Endura.

I don´t feel strongly about spoon vs wire, but given a choice, I´ll take a spoon clip over a wire clip.
Though I am fine with the wires on my Chap and Manix LW (fits this models well admittedly)
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