Hori Hori

[Joshuaroyce]

I’m wondering if there has ever been a discussion/idea or prototype for a Spyderco version of the Hori Hori? I’m a farmer/gardener myself so it’s something ive thought about that would be super cool

[Evil D]

What did you just call me????




Ok seriously we just had a gardening thread so this seems even more relevant now. I've been wanting a double edge SE/PE fixed blade for some time, I'm not sure if this is exactly what I had in mind but depending on how it turned out it may fill that need.

[Notsurewhy]

I don't do much gardening and I'd never heard of a hori hori, but it's interesting. Looks kind of like a trowel/dagger hybrid that's serrated on one side. Probably great for flower beds, planting bulbs and the like.

I'm sure Spyderco could make an amazing hori hori, but I don't know if the Venn diagram of knife enthusiast and gardening enthusiasts has a big enough overlap that it would make money. A quick Google tells me that a hori hori costs $20-40ish. At that range, most people probably look at them as disposable tools. A Spyderco at that size would probably cost at least double even with Chinese manufacturing and steel, and more if they made it anywhere else. Might be too pricey.

[Evil D]

I don't do much gardening and I'd never heard of a hori hori, but it's interesting. Looks kind of like a trowel/dagger hybrid that's serrated on one side. Probably great for flower beds, planting bulbs and the like.

I'm sure Spyderco could make an amazing hori hori, but I don't know if the Venn diagram of knife enthusiast and gardening enthusiasts has a big enough overlap that it would make money. A quick Google tells me that a hori hori costs $20-40ish. At that range, most people probably look at them as disposable tools. A Spyderco at that size would probably cost at least double even with Chinese manufacturing and steel, and more if they made it anywhere else. Might be too pricey.

I don't think you're wrong at all, Spyderco would need to leverage knife enthusiasts knowledge and preference for better toughness and edge retention to sell something like this at the potential price it would ask for. Most regular people who use one of these probably have no idea how much they're missing out on in edge retention and how much more useful the tool could be.

[Cowboyfromhell]

My mother asked for a hori hori for xmas a few years ago. She loves it and uses it all the time! I never heard of one either, had to Google it.

[yablanowitz]

I don't know what the soil is like where you live, but around here it is a mix of sand and clay. Edge retention is a myth in it. It would chew up Maxamet in no time at all. A hundred dollar Spyderco Hori Hori wouldn't outlast five twenty dollar Fiskars tools. It might not outlast two. They are viewed as disposable tools for a reason and that reason isn't the price.

[Evil D]

I don't know what the soil is like where you live, but around here it is a mix of sand and clay. Edge retention is a myth in it. It would chew up Maxamet in no time at all. A hundred dollar Spyderco Hori Hori wouldn't outlast five twenty dollar Fiskars tools. It might not outlast two. They are viewed as disposable tools for a reason and that reason isn't the price.

Do you even do much successful gardening in that sand/clay soil? Sounds like you're not growing much there but weeds anyway.

[wrdwrght]

I’ve stabbed a PE Pacific Salt into the soil of my New England gardens a time or two. H1 is a glutton for abuse (take a look at the Enuff Salt!).

But you have to pay for it, not only out of the wallet but also out on the hones.

I’m thinking a Hori Hori is a use-case outside Spyderco’s cost-benefit targets.

[Mushroom]

I don't do much gardening and I'd never heard of a hori hori, but it's interesting. Looks kind of like a trowel/dagger hybrid that's serrated on one side. Probably great for flower beds, planting bulbs and the like.

I'm sure Spyderco could make an amazing hori hori, but I don't know if the Venn diagram of knife enthusiast and gardening enthusiasts has a big enough overlap that it would make money. A quick Google tells me that a hori hori costs $20-40ish. At that range, most people probably look at them as disposable tools. A Spyderco at that size would probably cost at least double even with Chinese manufacturing and steel, and more if they made it anywhere else. Might be too pricey.

Very well said and I was thinking the same thing. It is a small market to begin with and Spyderco would have to make it in China to be even close to competitive in price. To me it doesn’t seem like the right market for Spyderco.

[Notsurewhy]

I don't know what the soil is like where you live, but around here it is a mix of sand and clay. Edge retention is a myth in it. It would chew up Maxamet in no time at all. A hundred dollar Spyderco Hori Hori wouldn't outlast five twenty dollar Fiskars tools. It might not outlast two. They are viewed as disposable tools for a reason and that reason isn't the price.

I assumed this would be the kind of thing used in cultivated flower beds with loose soil and without a lot of rocks or sand. Not for tilling a new garden in sandy clay. Your right, nothing is keeping an edge in that.

[yablanowitz]

I don't know what the soil is like where you live, but around here it is a mix of sand and clay. Edge retention is a myth in it. It would chew up Maxamet in no time at all. A hundred dollar Spyderco Hori Hori wouldn't outlast five twenty dollar Fiskars tools. It might not outlast two. They are viewed as disposable tools for a reason and that reason isn't the price.

Do you even do much successful gardening in that sand/clay soil? Sounds like you're not growing much there but weeds anyway.

You just need to add some organic compost, water and stir. That sand is still there, though, and it eats up steel tools pretty fast.

[Abyss_Fish]

I’ll agree with others that we need more garden oriented tools in the lineup. Personally I’d love to see an lc200n hawkbill of one kind or another first.

[Scandi Grind]

Oh yeah, I know what a Hori Hori is. I just moved to a new house with a lot of flower beds and I bet that one of those would be really handy. I can't say I think there is any practical reason for Spyderco to make one though. Because these tools take regular abuse, it is usually better that they are made out of inexpensive steels that are soft enough to resharpen very easily, and quite frankly, other companies are making that already. Unless they could do just that only with some sort of spin on it to make it more Spyderco-ish? Still don't know if Spyderco can make profit with it, but I guess if the price was competitive, I would buy the Spyderco...

[Toucan]

Hori horis are great, but I don't know that Spyderco could bring much to the table with improving the design. Spyderedge maybe? A Salt steel? I know there are constraints to how H1 can be machined, and the other Salt steels would cost way too much for a tool that is generally $40 bucks tops.

Don't get me wrong, an FRN handled Hori Hori with a spyder edge made out of some sort of rust-resistant steel would be very cool.

[RustyIron]

I’m wondering if there has ever been a discussion/idea or prototype for a Spyderco version of the Hori Hori?

This was discussed back in July. I know because I ordered one shortly thereafter.

Long before that, I had a $5 weed-digging tool, and the handle broke. Rather than squander five bucks on a replacement, I spent a chunk of exotic hardwood and a day's labor to create a new handle. Eventually the metal broke and I repaired that. About the time the tool was needing another repair, the thread about the hori hori popped up.

I did a lot of shopping around, not wanting to get stuck with a product from that country that makes tools out of pot metal and handles out of rotten wood. I ended up with Nisaku hori hori, made in Japan. It hasn't even been a year yet, but so far the metal and wood all look great. As you know, the tool is very handy.

[Joshuaroyce]

True. Any edge would get eaten up quick with lots of ground/soil digging. Serrated hawkbill scythe type of blade could be closer to something practical like weeding & harvesting

[Naperville]

Just some basic Amazon research reveals at least 75% are priced $20 to $30, and the rest are $30 to $50. If Spyderco made it in Japan out of a decent stainless, included a sharpening tool, FRN handle like the Jumpmaster 2, a boltoron sheath, and made it HRC58+ they might have a hit.

Build quality is the major difference. I've read complaints regarding the lack of a hand guard. Spyderco knows how to make knives, I don't see any issues...I might even buy one for my mom.

$50
https://www.amazon.com/M-Leonard-Deluxe ... 00DEKR9MA/

$48, HRC of 58!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MQDQKMY/re ... k_detail_2

$35
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6TRG3M/

[Accutron]

Nisaku probably makes the best commonly available hori-hori. The 800 series has a polymer handle that's much better than 600 series with wood handles. Model numbers ending in '1' are made of Daido DSR1K6, which is an AUS-6 equivalent. Models ending in '0' are made of some anonymous stainless butter steel. There's the NJP801 yamakatana, NJP811 rikukatana, NJP821 mizukatana, etc. The DSR1K6 versions are often more difficult to find.

http://www.nisaku.co.jp/njc/garden/knife/801/0801.html
http://www.nisaku.co.jp/njc/garden/knife/811/0811.html
http://www.nisaku.co.jp/njc/garden/knife/821/0821.html

[bjz]

I was about to pick up the Fiskars version a few years back and remembered that I had retired a couple of Gerber fixed blade river knives (they were replaced by a Byrd rescue). The blunt tipped “river shorty” is a fantastic tool in the garden, albeit short. I don’t know what stainless they use but corrosion is a non-issue and the serrated edge is shockingly tough, not to mention it’s thick enough that I’ve not been able to bend the thing.

As others have mentioned, and as cool as it would be if Spyderco brought a garden/yard series to the market, I just don’t see them being able to do so at a price that is sustainable. Really, these are “sharp” digging/prying tools, not cutting tools.