soon to be discontinued???

[GarageBoy]

Which kitchen knives are those being axed?

[zenheretic]

Ok, since I don't have a pulse on the :spyder: sales or the knife industry in general, I was hesitant to throw up some thoughts...hopefully none will get on anyone's shoes. :rolleyes:
Method: I looked in the online catalog under each category and looked for redundancy. Of course I have no idea how popular many of these are.

Gent Folders: well to my eyes the dragonfly and cricket seem redundant so they could drop a dragonfly easily. The Jester, kopa, kiwi, ladybug are all similar use wise. The kopa is limited anyway so doesn't really count. I could see the jester going. Although it is hard to see any of the cheaper models going as people are often willing to spend 20 bucks on a little knife.

Customs: well FB never sell well so the Bill Moran would be my guess. The Yojimbo also because as I said earlier it is only a better ergo'd folding Ronin, and we know what happened to the Ronin.

EDC: A native seems like a good candidate: there are 3 models...I would guess a FRN would go as there are two...but since each fits either a small hand or a large hand better the Deacon's guess of the steel seems logical.
The salts and the rescues have a lot in common. I could also see all the Rescues going away...or all the Salts with likely an even further blending of the two into a new do all SaltyRescue. The salts seem to be an experiment in the new steel...of course they are probably selling well considering the price and the rust proof. Since the D'Allara is really similar to the rescues...I could see it going...and after the new blade batch sells...DC'ing altogther...unless it sells real well (unlikely).
The saw is another one I don't imagine sells well as there are so many cheapo China camp saws for sale as competition.

Little Big Knives: we already know the Dodo is likely going...maybe some evolution/cross with what they have learned from the Poliwog experiment.

MBC: I predict the Spyderfly...is a novelty item...
We know the Temperance is going...another FB...
Yojimbo I already talked about. Karambit...I just read somewhere it was a limited batch novelty item... :eek:

Ok there are my thoughts...forgive any mispellings/grammar/ramblings...I typed it at work between...erm work... :D

[JD Spydo]

The Problem with DEACON is that he happens to end up being right about a whole lot of things that he speculates on :) . But I still disagree with him a lot :D . I sometimes wonder if he is not an undercover agent for the Great Spyder Factory :rolleyes: ( just to see how the rest of us live) . You just can't be right as much as he is and not somehow be connected with the "inner circles". There are 3 major, unmovable laws of physics: The sun comes up in the east, water flows downhill and DEACON I disagree ( A LOT) :D :D :D

[Hannibal Lecter]

Hi Hannibal, hope you understand that my list did not reflect knives I want to see dropped (otherwise the SS Kiwi would certainly NOT have been on it), but rather knives I think are "in danger" of being dropped for lack of sales. It also was based on "almost" pure guesswork, not on direct input from anyone who might really know what sells and what does not. Your industry contacts, and thus your "intell" on this, could very easily be better than mine.

As likely not. Like you, my thoughts reflect only those whose sales might be lagging behind. Were it entirely my call, the discontinued list would look VERY different... :rolleyes:

So, my question to you then becomes, if, for example, the Harpy is to be retained, what model or variant, not already on my list, takes its place on the chopping block? I would be interested in hearing your ideas on that.

Possibly the Kiwi? It seems the one most out of line with the "normal" Spyderco philosophy of Clipits and such. My personal love of the Harpy might also sway my opinion a bit... :eek:

Finally, while I agree there are a lot of Native fans here, how many of them favor the all stainless version? I will admit a degree of personal negative bias here, but my observation has been that it gets "almost" as little favorable commentary on the forums as the infamous BRK Native. I'm not convinced many here would mourn its passage, and even less sure how many "real world" users are even aware it exists.

I personally consider the Native (especially the SS version) to be my least favorite Spyderco knife of all time, so I am basing my thoughts on forum chatter, which I admit is not necessarily indicative of the real world of knife buying.

I appreciate your thoughts tremendously, my friend. As always, you are thoughtful and insightful in your assessment.

--------
Hannibal

[Hannibal Lecter]

My Dear Zenheretic,

This was in regards to the Yojimbo...are you saying there is a trainer in the works?...

I believe seeing over on bladeforums something to that effect, red G-10 handles and all. Very limited run, I expect.

Hey Hannibal good to see you step in and offer your thoughts...

Like I ever shut up... ]Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to see the new stuff coming too, just trying to see around the corner, eat the apple, look in the looking glass, read the tea leaves, follow the cat throught the wall...
and of course figure out what to buy before it is gone. [/QUOTE]

All of them! :eek:

Actually, it isn't like the supply will dry up immediately as a rule, but I certainly won't be fooling around making purchases once the list of those to be axed is finalized.

--------
Hannibal

[sal]

Discontinueing models is more complicated than it might seem, especially for Spyderco.

Naturally the first reason to disco any model would be to make room for the many new designs that we are always coming up with. Between our "in-house" designs and collaborations, there are usually 50 or so designs in the "R&D works" at any given time.

We also like to experiment with new concepts and new designers.

Sales are usually the primary consideration, but not the only consideration.

We might keep a slower moving design in the "line-up" for a number of reasons;

We might feel that the design is good, but the combination of materials, or size, or price or lock or ? might be the problem. So we'll kep it about and make changes.

We might need the design to fill a niche for some groups.

We might have a lot of inventory and need another year to deplete stock before disco.

We believe that variety of design is important.

sal

[The Deacon]

Possibly the Kiwi? It seems the one most out of line with the "normal" Spyderco philosophy of Clipits and such. My personal love of the Harpy might also sway my opinion a bit... :eek:

As mine for the Kiwi may sway mine. BUT, my feeling that the jigged bone version at least will remain is about the only one based on "factual" (albeit annecdotal) information. I purchase them "occasionally" to have as blanks for SFSW customization, and every time I buy one, the date code on the box shows it was made (or at least packaged) less than 60 days before. I take recent date code as an indicator of recent production and that in turn as an indicator of sales. On the other hand, the SS one I just bought has a HD date code, which caused me to add it to the "endangered species" list.

[Irish Lager]

Thats good to hear Sal, but none the less I pray the Dodo doesnt get 86'd. What i see as being discontinued this year are Vegabond, Delica 3, Endura 4, Scorpius , and im not sure what else. I dont know how catcherman sales are, but i suspect that it will remain. And as far as the SS Kiwi, i hope not because it is one that i have not aquired. I know im taking my time, there are just too many models to choose from.
J

[ghostrider]

I wonder what effect the byrd line has to do with this, or visa versa. It doesn’t seem to me that it would, but I have been wrong in the past.

[zenheretic]

Wow, no one wants to step up and say I'm silly for saying the Spyderfly is in danger of getting swatted? :eek:

[smcfalls13]

Wow, no one wants to step up and say I'm silly for saying the Spyderfly is in danger of getting swatted? :eek:

I'll step up I was refraining from doing so, I assumed someone else would.

As a recent Bali enthusiast(meaning less than a month) I've started haunting the other Bali forums, and I've noticed a few things.

First- It's perfectly acceptable to go to the hospital

Two- Bali's are expensive, theres no middle ground in that market. There's cheap Balis that fall apart mid air, and theres several hundred dollar custom jobs. Theres nothing in between. Until the Spyderfly. With a street price around $70-$80 you can get a quality Bali without breaking the bank. The Spyderfly fills the need for a "mid priced" Bali

Three- Even hardcore BM fans respect the Spyderfly. Heck most of them recommend it as a starter Balisong, due to it's high quality, and low price. It may not be the best, but it flips just as well, if not better, than most custom jobs.

Four- The buzz surrounding the upcoming Szabofly should more than fuel current Spyderfly sales.

I don't think the Spyderfly is going just yet, if it was, the Szabofly wouldn't still be an option(I'm assuming it still is in the plan) There was also talk of a Minifly, haven't heard much about it recently though.

You asked for it zenheretic But I've been wrong in the past(a lot :o ) so I could be wrong again here.

[zenheretic]

Ah cool Scott, I'm glad you did...I suffer from a rather myopic view of the knife world as I rarely stray far from the Spyder forums for knife info...silly I know. Funny thing is, whenever I go to bladeforums I see all the same people...often posting the same requests, questions, etc. as they do over here. Granted, I know Sal sometimes drops info over there and not here so I should look at both but so far...nada.

I own three of the "fly" and I find it well constructed as we would expect from a :spyder: . No one seems to talk about it here as of late... so that, the strange no show of the Szabo, and that it doesn't seem to fit into the general :spyder: philosopy of a purpose knife led me to my assumption. I guess its purpose is fun? :p Of course if it sells well, I would expect it to stay.

Although it swings well, I still don't like the way the handles "encourage" your hand to slide towards the blade, due to their triangular shape...hard to explain that...if their is any interest I'll post some pics...

Plenty of people say the Scorpius is doomed...wonder why?

[Irish Lager]

D'Allara Rescue - replaced by Drop Point

Im not so sure they will do in the rescue that quick, but in truth i cant wait for the DP so if it is the sacrifice that they require, i am alright with that.
J

[saracen]

Dont know about what is going to get discontinued but having 50 or so design's in the "R&D works" at any given time sound's exciting enough to satisfy most enthusiast's and hard core user's I would have thought.

You only have to look at the Stretch' which is relatively new and is fast becoming popular and could be on it's way to being a classic design of form and function.

[zenheretic]

Dont know about what is going to get discontinued but having 50 or so design's in the "R&D works" at any given time sound's exciting enough to satisfy most enthusiast's and hard core user's I would have thought.

You only have to look at the Stretch' which is relatively new and is fast becoming popular and could be on it's way to being a classic design of form and function.

Yes, and it seems to have support from the "Boss" so I expect it will be with us for awhile with some new changes coming... :D

I guess no one really likes to talk about possible doomed to the cutting block knives... :p