History on the Spyderco Civilian

[Txflyfish]

When the civilian was designed what the predominant style of knives on the market? Who designed the civilian?

[Robbob]

Sal designed the Civilian for use by undercover police who could not carry a firearm in certain situations.

[Txflyfish]

I see, thanks. I usually see who it was designed for but not who actually designed it. We’re there any spyderco at the time in the catalog that had similar designs?

[jabba359]

Has it ever been confirmed that Sal designed this knife? It may have and I just missed it.

A few other things I noticed is that:

• The CF Civilian shipped in pouches and boxes. When did this changeover take place?
• It also came numbered and unnumbered (though all pouched versions seem to be numbered while the boxed versions seem to be both numbered and unnumbered). I know some of the numbers were for collector's club members, but I've seen numbers that exceed the collector's club numbering (numbers over 200). Why were some numbered beyond the collector's club and some unnumbered?
• It also came with full screw construction as well as partially pinned construction (with a pivot screw and a screw in the lockbar). When did this change happen?

As for quantities, Sal said that they were ordering 1200, with half PE and half SE. And of those, 10% would be left handed (see his posts in this thread viewtopic.php?f=2&t=539). That seems to break down to:
540 PE right hand
60 PE left hand
540 SE right hand
60 SE left hand

I've also heard 150 left handed (of each edge configuration), but couldn't find any sources more official than Sal's statement I mention above. That said, is it possible that there were more than just the singe batch of 1200 produced? It seems odd that a change from all screw construction to a screw/pinned construction would occur during the very short run of the 1200 piece order.

[Robbob]

I see, thanks. I usually see who it was designed for but not who actually designed it. We’re there any spyderco at the time in the catalog that had similar designs?

Are you asking specifically about the reverse-S blade? If so, I'm not sure, but the Cricket may have been around at that time (2000).

[Robbob]

Has it ever been confirmed that Sal designed this knife? It may have and I just missed it.

I want to say there was a post here where Sal said he designed the Civilian. It's not really a collaboration so it would probably be him or Eric.

Edit: Sal did design the Civilian...

viewtopic.php?t=70827

[jabba359]

Has it ever been confirmed that Sal designed this knife? It may have and I just missed it.

I want to say there was a post here where Sal said he designed the Civilian. It's not really a collaboration so it would probably be him or Eric.

Edit: Sal did design the Civilian...

viewtopic.php?t=70827

Thanks for locating that.

I see, thanks. I usually see who it was designed for but not who actually designed it. We’re there any spyderco at the time in the catalog that had similar designs?

Are you asking specifically about the reverse-S blade? If so, I'm not sure, but the Cricket may have been around at that time (2000).

Correct. The Cricket came out in 1994, so was around well before the CF Civilian arrived in 2001.

[jabba359]

The CF Civilian shipped in pouches and boxes. When did this changeover take place?

I think I've found the answer to this. It seems the early CF ones shipped in boxes, even though previous Civilians came in pouches. When people asked about it, apparently Spyderco changed to pouches and offered pouch replacements to anybody that had a boxed CF Civilian and asked for one.

[Bryansc]

Just a note on the Age of the Civilian. I purchased mine in the summer of 1992 from a sporting goods store. The manager in the store had one. I believed at the time that this was the first edition. Still operates perfectly with superb action after 30 years.

[Michael Janich]

If you're interested in the history of the Civilian and Matriarch, here's an article I wrote a while back for Small Arms Review magazine:

https://www.smallarmsreview.com/display ... icles=3091

Stay safe,

Mike

[sal]

Thanx Mike.

Hi Bryan,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

[N. Brian Huegel]

https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=D04 ... first+page

https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=D03 ... first+page

Relevant patents.

[N. Brian Huegel]

GREAT article Mike!

brian

[yablanowitz]

Sal mentioned somewhere that the Civilian didn't appear in the catalog for the first 10 years of production, keeping it on the quiet.