Spyderco Forums

I’m curious what y’all think about scale color. With all the different sprints/exclusives out and so many different steel and scale colors, does the color really mater?

For me it’s yes. I ,for one, hate aftermarket scales, no matter how good they are they are not the same fit and finish as factory. So changing the scales out on a steel I love isn’t an option for me. Unless I have a donor knife, but then I usually end up with a knife I don’t care for that much. I typically only do knives in Black, Grey, Olive Green, and Burgundy. Knives in the Rex45 sprints, Purple Cruwear and Jade G10 are a hard no for me. With one exception, the M4 Dodo, because it’s a Dodo. I would dye the scales, but that doesn’t truly make me happy with the knife.

In the end this is why I gravitate to Carbon Fiber. It’s not a color and no two knives look the same because they are all contoured differently. Peel-ply, smooth, marbled and shredded all look amazing, giving so much variety without adding polarizing colors. I know many of you are sick of Carbon Fiber but I still find it to be the nicest scale material to date.

I buy based on needs, designs, and wants. But, I do appreciate deviating from standard black.

Where things get weird is walking the line between not wanting something too flashy, vs not wanting something too boring. But what if I need something bright for outdoor use, salt series use, rescue use, etc? There are a lot of parts to this question.

Actually not really important to me, but still enough so that there are colors I like more than others: Burnt orange, the "Endura blue", brown. Also the Ivory on the SS Stretch.

I almost exclusivly have FRN Spydies.
One Endura has Micarta scales in I guess OD green, quite nice, but I´d prefer them in brown or denim blue.
I think my translucent blue FRCP Manix LW looks pretty cool, but I would not want all my knives in that color (but certainly one).

Scale color could never be a deal breaker on a knife I generally like, though I´d be not too happy with pink or bright purple...

I like variety in most everything. That being said, other than hi-vis colors for work/outdoors knives I prefer subtlety. Darker shades of almost any color will get my interest (I’m looking at you Purple Cruwear, you sexy thing!), though most of the time I’ll gravitate toward earth tones and blues.

Design>steel>scale material>scale color...at least in my warped mind

i kind of care, but not as much as i care about the steel and knife design. i bought the manix 2 lw xhp exclusive from knife center even though i wasn’t crazy about the brown color (i like brown, but the hershey bar brown is weird for a knife), but it’s grown on me. i want to say color is the least important, but there are probably some deal breaking colors for me.

I’m more dissuaded that persuaded by color. Black is fine by me, but I think colored liners (Siren) and spacers (Kapara), when not gaudy, are a nice touch.

Spydie handles in orange, red, blurple, purple and smurf blue certainly have not repelled me.

When push comes to shove, I think scale-color is the least of my concerns.

I prefer everything to be black or green, generally. If it isn't that color I'll still try the knife out if I like evrything else about it, since I can dye it.

Not a fan of brighter, flashier colors like yellow, orange, white, etc., even for outdoors work.

dlc cruwear with purple is the closest i’ve come to being persuaded by a color combo to buy a knife. actually, i felt the same about the brown blade/od green scales that came out a year or two ago. i’m not a huge fan of the para line though. if either of these were in the manix platform, i wouldn’t be able to say no.

I’m a sucker for bright blues and greens, but only on knives I like for function. Black is fine, but boring.

The blue and green in the FFG Endura/Delica line are just right, in my opinion.

Dazen wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 02, 2020 11:46 am

In the end this is why I gravitate to Carbon Fiber. It’s not a color and no two knives look the same because they are all contoured differently. Peel-ply, smooth, marbled and shredded all look amazing, giving so much variety without adding polarizing colors. I know many of you are sick of Carbon Fiber but I still find it to be the nicest scale material to date.

I'm with you on this! I know many feel carbon fiber has been played out, but for me it's normally a tough decision to pass on a knife that has it. I'm trying to be more picky about my decisions now though, but as you said...if Spyderco put something out in shredded or marbled carbon, it would be an instabuy! I've bought a few knives from other companies because I wanted to see how I liked their scales, not so much the knife itself haha. (Civivi has tons of options if you didn't know, and normally for less than $100 per knife)

I do like a variety of colors as well though, but at this point I've got a wide spectrum of colors, models and steels that I'm trying not basically have duplicates (be it any of those 3 criteria mixed/matched with another knife I already own) it's really cut down on my spending the past couple months.

As much as I hate to admit it, color can be important to me. A color I don't really like could be a deal breaker depending on the model, steel, etc. Nothing against pink knives but I probably wouldn't buy one. If there's a sprint run or exclusive in some color (and steel) I really like it might get me to buy one even though I already have several of that model. It all just depends on what it is. Black doesn't necessarily bother me. I won't pass on a knife I really like because the handle is black. Same with grey. I have a lot of grey knives now. So It's kind of overdone in my pile-o-knives but I'd buy another if it's a model I like.

Massive deal for me, it’s a deal breaker on most knives when it comes to colour and material.

I buy knives for their designs, blade shapes, lines and curves. I’m not creepy - I’m just into form.

A classic case is the Pacific Salt 2. I love that blade, I wish I could put it on all of my knives as it’s so perfect! And that italicised H1 logo, oh my!!....but I don’t own the knife as the scales aren’t my cup of tea. I’d buy the all black version at a push but I’d still be less than happy with the scales (I understand the function of the knife, don’t worry).

I’d like Spyderco to go down the route Benchmade have with the custom shop, then hopefully I could get the blade I want with the handle I want too!

Anything in yellow / orange / red / blue is just a massive no for me

pdixon wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 02, 2020 2:20 pm

Massive deal for me, it’s a deal breaker on most knives when it comes to colour and material.

I buy knives for their designs, blade shapes, lines and curves. I’m not creepy - I’m just into form.

A classic case is the Pacific Salt 2. I love that blade, I wish I could put it on all of my knives as it’s so perfect! And that italicised H1 logo, oh my!!....but I don’t own the knife as the scales aren’t my cup of tea. I’d buy the all black version at a push but I’d still be less than happy with the scales (I understand the function of the knife, don’t worry).

I’d like Spyderco to go down the route Benchmade have with the custom shop, then hopefully I could get the blade I want with the handle I want too!

Anything in yellow / orange / red / blue is just a massive no for me

Well, that´s imho one of the few downsides of linerless (FRN and other) folders... pretty hard to get custom scales...

Least important aspect for me. Scale material and texture are WAY more important. The only scale "color" I won't buy is Zome. I passed on the Zome GITD knives even though I would have bought them all in plain GITD (I do have the plain GITD Delica).

I also passed on all of the smooth G10 Cruwear exclusives even though I probably would have bought 2 each in black peel ply G10. I just can't do smooth G10. I've passed on all of the G10 Shamans and Manix Backlocks as well due to smooth G10.

For me it is FRN, peel ply G10, or matte micarta in any non-Zome solid color, even black, pink, purple, whatever.

Don't get me wrong, I love different colors and would have VERY strong opinions on color choice if I was in charge of specs for exclusives at a dealer, but a color like pink or purple or yellow or green or whatever won't dissuade me from purchasing a model that I like with a steel I like.

I'd still like to see some white FRN as well, especially with DLC.

No cap, scale color is extremely important to me. Knives are tools to me, but aesthetics still play a large role in my purchasing decisions. I want my tool to look good. Again, I know this isn't "manly", but I do tend to pick my carry for the day somewhat based on what I'm wearing. If I am wearing an orange shirt, I am drawn to my REX45 Para 3. If I am wearing navy, I want my SPY27 sprint. I am not ashamed!

I suspect it's nearly as important as steel choice, and to people who aren't knife AFI's it's probably even more important since they likely judge a knife as much by looks as an AFI does by components.



Caribbean for example, I believe would sell significantly better in something like this:


But, it's designed for a pretty specific market and the color reflects that, so perhaps it's a situation where they don't necessarily expect the Caribbean to compete with Para 2 sales so maybe they know going in that it's a lower production model. On the other hand I think it's also a good argument for color variations so you at least maximize your market reach. I bet there are people who see it as a salt water only model and they figure they don't need salt proof steel and that's as far into it as they look. I wonder if a knife like this would sell better if it were marketed as a "super low maintenance EDC" that just happens to be rust proof instead of a salt water offshore fisherman's knife, but that's a whole other topic.


Anyway yes color absolutely matters. Just pay attention when people request sprints, they almost always mention a color. Look back on how many people didn't buy the jade/M4 exclusives because they didn't like jade G10.

Dazen wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 02, 2020 11:46 am

For me it’s yes. I ,for one, hate aftermarket scales, no matter how good they are they are not the same fit and finish as factory. So changing the scales out on a steel I love isn’t an option for me.

I'm glad you said that. I wasn't going to be the one to bring it up. I see a LOT of pictures of aftermarket scales. Sometimes they're too small, sometimes they're too big. Sometimes the screws sit too high, sometimes they're buried below the surface. There's NO WAY I could live with something like that. I would eventually come to loathe the knife and be forced to give it away.

As for colors, I've come to enjoy different colors. Now plain black is just boring. I frequently carry a gray scaled knife with a gray patina'ed blade that looks way cool. In my pocket now is Burnt Orange. Last week I was rockin' one that perfectly matched the Poppy Seed Red from Ford's 1965 line-up. Next week I might carry the Jade Blade.

I like a splash of color. Don't judge me.

Yep, scales are pretty important to me: color, material, and texture. I want color, and while I definitely love unique colors, I'm not super picky about color in general. Even gray makes me happier than boring ol' black, and I genuinely like brown. I will occasionally buy a knife with black g10/frn or carbon fiber if I really love the design (the upcoming Astute, for example), or if I really want to try the steel/blade (combo edge 52100 pm2, for example), but I'm way more likely to do that if aftermarket scales are available. With that said, everyone needs to go buy an Astute asap so people will start making new scales for it!

JuPaul wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 02, 2020 4:29 pm

Yep, scales are pretty important to me: color, material, and texture. I want color, and while I definitely love unique colors, I'm not super picky about color in general. Even gray makes me happier than boring ol' black, and I genuinely like brown. I will occasionally buy a knife with black g10/frn or carbon fiber if I really love the design (the upcoming Astute, for example), or if I really want to try the steel/blade (combo edge 52100 pm2, for example), but I'm way more likely to do that if aftermarket scales are available. With that said, everyone needs to go buy an Astute asap so people will start making new scales for it!

Reading your post automatically brings to my mind all the beautiful terotuf scales you've shown us here and that makes me wonder:
How much does material/texture actually influence how a color is perceived?
I mean by that for example that a color on a terotuf scale might look great, but the exact same color just ok-ish on FRN... or vice versa

If a Para 3 knife I could order get just by ordering at Knifecenter , came out tomorrow with M4 but it was pink with yellow polka dots
Then pink with yellow polka dots would be my new favourite colour

Couldn’t care what colour a knife is.

Toxic green would be good on all Salts as easy to find on the boat, life jackets and all other safety gear is yellow and orange so toxic green would be easier to find.