Any interest in a Spyderco utility knife (box cutter)

[dj moonbat]

Depending on how the round hole was integrated with the blade advancement, it could be really cool. I have no interest in a folder that deploys a razor clamp, but a really compact slider with a thumb ring? That I could see.

[aicolainen]

Not really a product category I pay much attention to. I like quality in all my tools, but I hardly ever need need a utility blade, so price will probably be more important than ergonomics.

Wasn't aware of that Gerber Prybrid mentioned above, it's actually pretty compelling. Have been kind of looking for a suitable pry tool to go in my EDC bag, getting a utility blade in the same package is probably quite useful now that I think about it. Both are in a way tools whose primary function is to save your main blade.

For what it's worth, I remember Nutn go through some of the available options some time back.

[Hopweaver]

My thoughts exactly (from January 2018)

https://forum.spyderco.com/viewtopic.ph ... x#p1204290

[infinkc]

I’ve been using the Milwaukee Fastback for about 10 years now, and it’s awesome and super fidgety! I don’t think Spyderco could make one any cheaper with the same features.

Wire clip
Push button lock
Instant blade changes
Great ergos

yep same here, agree that i doubt spyderco can make one as cheap to be competitive, it would just be for diehards. I do however am waiting for someone to make an automatic version. I have been trying to figure a way to modify my milwaukee.

[rangefinder]

I don't consider "box cutter" and "utility knife" to be synonymous.

Something like the Rexford RUT or Gerber Prybrid are box cutters. But they are not utility knives. No one is going to use a tool like those all day (and day after day) on a jobsite working on a roofing or drywall (or flooring or plumbing or whatever) job.

I think the small Spyderco models like the Cricket/Equilibrium, Squarehead, Dogtag and McBee already fill the "box cutter" role. But (as already mentioned) any of the wharncliffe models work really well as a box cutter.

Utility knives are a different matter. Spyderco doesn't make anything (not even the wharncliffe models) I'd use instead of a utility knife on a roofing or drywall job. Spend a hot day on a roof switching back and forth between your hammer and utility knife to trim shingles, and you'll appreciate both the ergonomics of a utility knife as well as the intuitive and easy way the standard slide in/out mechanism works.

The original Stanley knife was introduced in 1936, so utility knives already have a long design evolution behind them. And at this point you can find some very nice utility knives for very little money. Partially because most are made in China, partially because they're made in huge quantities which gets the per-unit price lower, and partially because there is a lot of competition in this product category.

So while it would be a hard market to break into, I think if Spyderco came out with something that was truly innovative and made professionals more productive, it would still sell. Even if it was a lot more expensive than other utility knives. Professionals will spend a lot of money on a tool that works better. Look at the prices of titanium framing hammers, for example.

But I don't think taking an existing knife design and adapting it to use replacement blades would sell. It would have to be something totally new.

A possibly harder problem to solve would be actually getting the knives to the target customers. People "in the trades" do not generally shop for their tools at KnifeCenter or BladeHQ or other specialty knife stores. And getting shelf space in a store like Home Depot or Lowes is not easy. Spyderco would have to offer better sales and better profit margin than what those stores get on the products they already sell for them to justify dropping another product to carry the Spyderco model instead.

[GarageBoy]

I'll take a blade in k390

I wish there was a box cutter with more blade exposure

[yablanowitz]

I’ve been using the Milwaukee Fastback for about 10 years now, and it’s awesome and super fidgety! I don’t think Spyderco could make one any cheaper with the same features.

Wire clip
Push button lock
Instant blade changes
Great ergos

yep same here, agree that i doubt spyderco can make one as cheap to be competitive, it would just be for diehards. I do however am waiting for someone to make an automatic version. I have been trying to figure a way to modify my milwaukee.

I have two automatic folding utility knives, one by Stanley (or possibly DeWalt, hard to tell them apart and I don't have it handy) and one Craftsman. I get a kick out of them - I call them the world's slowest switchblades.

Somehow I don't believe there is a huge market for hundred dollar holders for five cent blades.

[Thunderpants]

If I was Spyderco, selling tons of knives in the $70 - $500 range, I wouldn't be in much of a hurry to gatecrash the $3.99 end of the knife business.

[bdblue]

I think the spot for Spyderco in the market would be to make a utility knife in their own design. I wouldn't expect it to be cheap, I wouldn't expect it to sell a lot to people who work up on roofs and worry about dropping or losing tools, but I would expect Spyderco fans to buy them.

[yablanowitz]

For the "Pictures or it didn't happen" crowd, behold! Switchblade utility knives.

[z4vdBt]

$0.98 at Lowe's gets you 5 blades as well.

[297isontop]

YES. Spyderco. Make this. I think it could sell, a lot of us in the trades hate beating on a good knife. I would love something well made but that I'm not afraid to abuse. For instance, I would use such a knife much differently than an s90v yojimbo. Like another poster said, destructive cutting is sometimes necessary. I truly think it would have a place in the pocket for those of us that require a blade to beat on, but don't want a budget beater. My two pennies anyway!