Not criticizing, just curious

[Zipper]

When I see things like in the Shaman Spy27 tip protruding thread viewtopic.php?t=97530 , I often wonder if the smallest and even least obvious of error margins at the start of a job, end up throwing out the final product in the most obvious places. Bit like the old tradesman line of, ‘measure twice, cut once’.
Unrelated knife, but I have a Native 5 MagnaCut Salt (it now wears AWT scales). It was bought new from a Spyderco authorized dealer. I love the steel and use the knife daily at work.
When I got the knife, I gave it the usual Spyderco enthusiast look over. I noticed the swedge on the logo (show) side is @ 16mm from the plunge grind. On the opposite side it is @ 8mm from the plunge grind. The top of the Spyder-hole on the logo side is at a different angle and less pronounced than the other side.
I am not sure how Spyderco cut their knife blanks. I can only assume the blade was cut by plasma, laser, robot, or whatever magic they do in Spyder-land. If this is the case I suspect the blade is ever so slightly warped. If there is a warp, it is too small for me to tell.
If the blade is shaped by hand, then possibly human error like I have seen on some BRKs.
Either way it doesn’t affect function. I am not worried enough that I would return it. I am confident customer service at the retailer and Spyderco would have looked after me.
I suspect it probably should have made the factory seconds bin.
I have maybe 50-60 Spyderco knives of varying models bought over the last 15-20 years. Most are good to exceptional in overall quality, so I am not criticizing the manufacturer.
I am curious on the thoughts of others. If they have similar. What error margins they will accept? Their thoughts on why it occurred? Again, not criticizing, just curious.

[Zipper]

I’ll add the opposite side photo when I can ..

[Scandi Grind]

For me I wouldn't think much about it. I tend expect things to be inconsistent when it comes out of any place dealing with large scale production. Unless it is like horribly off putting, like apparent scratches running horizontally across the whole blade face or something like that, then I just shrug and start cutting things. It is worth noting that I am not much of an exotic knife guy, I like a good, basic user of high quality design, because I use all of my knives and they are not intended to stay pristine. If I was getting a fancier knife that was being bought for the sake of being fancy, I would probably care more, especially because I probably paid more for it to be fancy. But that just isn't my thing, so typically I'm not too concerned with non-functional issues.

[RazorSharp86]

Meh… I used to be really picky about these type of things.
Nowadays, I only care about flaws that impact usability. Of which there’re plenty, in the Spyderco world and knife market as a whole.

I suppose that it is why you pay almost double for a CRK.

[kennethsime]

At the end of the day, QA is not an infinite resource - it is an expense that you ultimately pass down to the consumer. You pay for x number of inspectors on the line, x amount of training hours for the production team, x amount of downtime recalibrating machines, etc.

If we were willing to pay two, three, or ten times the current price for Spyderco knives, I’m sure we’d see fewer inconsistencies. They’re already pretty expensive for my wallet though, and I’m pretty happy with my knives overall. I think Spyderco offers some of the best value in the industry.

Not even every Sebenza is perfect, but as Sal likes to say, they usually cut pretty darn well.

[Clay H]

As someone who grew up buying knives in the 1980's and early 90's, I can say that the quality of stuff today, even the cheap stuff, is far better in my experience. I've purchased a lot of Spyderco knives over the last 6 months, along with a few Emerson's and Pro-Techs. I've been blown away by the fit and finish and level of quality. They are the nicest, sharpest knives I've ever owned. We are very lucky indeed.

[sal]

Hi Zipper,

Thanx for the comments. Most do not realize how difficult it might be to produce production knives in general and higher quality knives in particular. Prioritizing and still delivering. :Cut" vs ??? "Ergo's" vs ??? "Cost" vs ??? Most of the processes are performed by machines although there are a large number of hand processes.

sal

[Michal O]

When I see things like in the Shaman Spy27 tip protruding thread viewtopic.php?t=97530 , I often wonder if the smallest and even least obvious of error margins at the start of a job, end up throwing out the final product in the most obvious places. Bit like the old tradesman line of, ‘measure twice, cut once’.
Unrelated knife, but I have a Native 5 MagnaCut Salt (it now wears AWT scales). It was bought new from a Spyderco authorized dealer. I love the steel and use the knife daily at work.
When I got the knife, I gave it the usual Spyderco enthusiast look over. I noticed the swedge on the logo (show) side is @ 16mm from the plunge grind. On the opposite side it is @ 8mm from the plunge grind. The top of the Spyder-hole on the logo side is at a different angle and less pronounced than the other side.
I am not sure how Spyderco cut their knife blanks. I can only assume the blade was cut by plasma, laser, robot, or whatever magic they do in Spyder-land. If this is the case I suspect the blade is ever so slightly warped. If there is a warp, it is too small for me to tell.
If the blade is shaped by hand, then possibly human error like I have seen on some BRKs.
Either way it doesn’t affect function. I am not worried enough that I would return it. I am confident customer service at the retailer and Spyderco would have looked after me.
I suspect it probably should have made the factory seconds bin.
I have maybe 50-60 Spyderco knives of varying models bought over the last 15-20 years. Most are good to exceptional in overall quality, so I am not criticizing the manufacturer.
I am curious on the thoughts of others. If they have similar. What error margins they will accept? Their thoughts on why it occurred? Again, not criticizing, just curious.

viewtopic.php?t=88045

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Like some here I used to be more particular. It also depends on cost. The line for me is an actual chip or nick or dent or serious warp in the blade. Handle scratches are okay as long as there is no missing pieces. I have used knives with non functional pin covers missing with no problem. Spyderco has superb quality control. A guy once tried to sell me a second generation Endura serrated edge with a broken tip for 70 dollars. He said I can use it like a Rescue model. No sale. No thanks. Some here may have accepted and used grinder to put a new point on it.