Byrd Gooney

[Cletus]

I just got a Gooney, and what a neat design! This knife cuts cardboard amazingly well. I just got done cutting a bunch, and it dulled slightly, but it stropped right back quite easily. Any more curve to the blade and I wouldn't have been able to strop it. It is well made, especially for the price! Great knife!

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Great to know!

Would it be a good food knife, like cutting meat, bread, tomatoes?

[ChrisinHove]

Great to know!

Would it be a good food knife, like cutting meat, bread, tomatoes?

It’s not ideal for food prep in my opinion, but waaay better than a spoon, or nothing at all.

[Mark!]

A funny story about how I met Gooney.

An Endura knife fell to the floor, and the tip broke off. I started thinking about what to do with it. Of the roughly two hundred knives in my collection, perhaps only a couple dozen hadn't been completely disassembled. All the mechanisms and blades had been removed, sharp edges and serrations had been filed down or modified. So, completely modifying and remaking knives is commonplace.

After buying the Matriarch, I started thinking about how to make something similar, but more utilitarian. Something that wouldn't look so bloodthirsty. And something that would be easier to pierce and stab. And then Endura fell just in time... And there is still a lot left of the blade - 87 mm.

First, I made the beak on a semicircular diamond sharpener. Then I tried cutting everything, including food. The beak cuts well when pulled toward you. It grabs the food and bites into it. But when you push the blade away from you, you need a blade with a convex belly. I wanted this belly to be closer to the handle, like the Spanish Navaja Solsona. So I slightly refined the new profile. Each time I ground the profile and tried it again. And I did this many times. I experimented like this for about two weeks, perfecting the curve and shape.

Each time I cut the food and assessed how the new profile started to work. Eventually, I arrived at a result that was fairly close to satisfactory. Then I decided to check if there was anything similar in profile among the knives currently in production. I photographed my version of the redesigned Endura. I converted it to a high-contrast black-and-white version so that search engines would only see the blade profile.

And...
That's how I learned that my beloved Spyderco brand had just released the Gooney.

[sal]

Hi Mark!,

Welcome to our forum and thanx for sharing your story.

sal

[Mark!]

Hi Mark!,

Welcome to our forum and thanx for sharing your story.

sal

Thank you, Sal!
And I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for inventing the Spyderco. It's the most sophisticated folding knife in the world. In the entire history of knife civilization. In the world of knives, you are as great a creator and engineer as Stradivari was in the world of violins. It's thanks to you that we all have these amazing knives.

[sal]

Hi Mark!

Thanx much for your kind words. I may have been the spark that started Spyderco, but the crew is the fire that is Spyderco.

sal