Spyderco Forums

First Spyderco Production Sheaths for Fixed Blades?

Circa 1985, Spyderco released product #: 1106-SH, which was a synthetic sheath for the Kitchen Sharps 6" Filet Knife (#: 1106), which was listed in the catalog. At that time, the company also made and sold such a sheath for the Kitchen Sharps 6.5" Utility Knife (#: 1104); however, I have not been able to locate any evidence of it in any dealer order forms or catalogs. I presume it would have been designated as #: 1104-SH. I also do not know whether they produced a sheath for the 6" Boning Knife (#: 1107), which I presume would have been designated as #: 1107-SH. Note: Upon comparison, the 1104-SH is NOT compatible with either the Filet Knife or the Boning Knife. I doubt the 1106-SH would have been a perfect fit for the 1107 due to the close tolerances of the 1104-SH and the different blade geometry between the 1106 and 1107. (To illustrate how close the tolerance was in the 1104-SH, I purposely placed the sheath on the first 1104 correctly, and incorrectly on the lower 1104 -- note the sizeable gap between handle and sheath!)

Here are a few photos.









Will post more things as time permits.

H2

That's awesome, I was unaware of these sheaths! I'd love to see more. I might have something to contribute later this month.

Thanks, Mr. Blonde. I am eager to see what things you might have to post! I will definitely post more artifacts when I can find time to spare.

Cheers,

H2

Amazing and excellent pictures and posts!

Thanks, SEF. I will be posting something new in a day or two.

Awesome thread! Really enjoy reading this. Please keep it coming! :)

SpyderNut wrote:Awesome thread! Really enjoy reading this. Please keep it coming! :)

I presume you have been "good" this year, SpyderNut, as Santa said to post something cool for you as a Christmas present. Haha. Here you go...

First Spyderco Kitchen Knife Block!

Circa 1985, Spyderco sold, in addition to their Kitchen Sharps line of kitchen knives, a beautiful "Hardwood Butcher Block" (#: 1110-6) that was custom-made for the company by a cabinet maker in Colorado. In addition to the butcher block, you could also buy a Kitchen Sharps knife set that was custom tailored to fit each slot in the butcher block (#: 1111).

As to the butcher block, it has no markings on it whatsoever (no logo, writing, or markings of any kind). However, it has a bulletproof provenance by virtue of a tiny photo of it in an old catalog. (N.B., Sal also made a circular knife block at that time, which stood on edge, and resembled a sun of sorts, with the knives radiating around the circumference like rays. Regrettably, I never got one, as it seemed a bit too avant-garde for me. [I imagine the Germans would have eagerly embraced its fast, forward design.])

As to the Kitchen Sharps set with the butcher block (#: 1111), it consisted of the following knives, to wit:
1. #: 1101 - 10.5" Bread Knife;
2. #: 1102 - 9.5" Cook's Knife;
3. #: 1103 - 8" Carving Knife;
4. #: 1104 - 6.5" Utility Knife;
5. #: 1105 - 4.5" Paring Knife; and
6. #: 1106 - 6" Fillet Knife.

(Although, for one of my sets I swapped out the Filet for the Boning [#: 1107] instead.)

Here are a few photos:











Hope everyone enjoyed this post. Now you know what to be on the lookout for at garage sales and such.

Happy Holidays all,

H2

These are pretty amazing artifacts.

I think this qualifies as part of 'all things Spyderco that have become obscure over the passage of time and/or have been all but forgotten, save for an elect few...'

https://youtu.be/fSAXXjDxUgo

The Mosquito was never officially offered. It appears to have been an experiment made from a small batch of Ladybugs and shared with employees/friends. A little forum digging will garner more info, I've also added my notes here.

Mr Blonde wrote:These are pretty amazing artifacts.

I think this qualifies as part of 'all things Spyderco that have become obscure over the passage of time and/or have been all but forgotten, save for an elect few...'

https://youtu.be/fSAXXjDxUgo

The Mosquito was never officially offered. It appears to have been an experiment made from a small batch of Ladybugs and shared with employees/friends. A little forum digging will garner more info, I've also added my notes here.

Greetings Mr. Blonde,

Yes, "The Mosquito" absolutely belongs in this thread! Wow! That is an amazing acquisition! Thank you very much for sharing it! I have only seen one of them prior, and did not even know it had a name. I thought it was a one-off. I appreciate the education.

BTW, incidentally, over the course of a decade, I have slowly hand-ground a Victorinox butcher knife into a giant proboscis, which bears some similarities with The Mosquito, except every edge is sharp. Accordingly, I named it, "The Heart Attacker". Here's a photo of it with a Ladybug for scale. Haha.



I am very much looking forward to your next contribution to this thread!

Cheers,

H2

Hattori Hanzo wrote: I am very much looking forward to your next contribution to this thread!

Cheers,

H2

Thank you, but I'm afraid I don't have much truly 'old and obscure' stuff, especially not contributions that could match your caliber!

Mr Blonde wrote:

Hattori Hanzo wrote: I am very much looking forward to your next contribution to this thread!

Cheers,

H2

Thank you, but I'm afraid I don't have much truly 'old and obscure' stuff, especially not contributions that could match your caliber!

Greetings Mr. Blonde,

You are far too modest. We both know you always have your ears and eyes open for obscure, rare, and collectible Spyderco items. It is simply a matter of time before you acquire another treasure to add to your trove.

As for me, I will be posting in a week or so an interesting piece of what I believe to be ancient Spyderco company history...

Cheers,

H2

I really wish that I would have seen this thread while the pictures were still displaying properly. Hattori, if you happen to be lurking at all these days and could repost that would be fantastic. I am a big fan of obscure :spyder: and would love to see this one come back to life