Spyderco Bushcraft UK - announcement

[Sequimite]

I bet the Bushcraft would make a great PB&J knife.

YES! NOW it's worth $200 to me. I didn't get it before.

[sal]

Sequimite,

Thank you.

Hector,

I guess that's what I thought we were getting. "live & learn".

Huugh,

Perhaps you should compare our Bushcraft to one of Ray Mears customs at higher prices?

I'd prefer not to get into a discussion on the value or price of the model. At this time, the value is less for all.

I'd like to thank all of you for the kind words, suggestions and support.

sal

[Hookpunch]

This made me chuckle. I used to play a 1958 Gibson 335. Now I play an Ibanez Roadstar II.

edit - If you'd like to see my old guitar watch G. E. Smith in old Saturday Night Live reruns. The tobacco sunburst 335 he uses is the one he got from me.

That is so cool! Nothing wrong with Ibanez, they make quality guitars at a great price (well maybe the Jems are over priced :D ).

Glad it made you laugh instead of sad.

[flipe8]

Sal and Co.,
I'm really sorry to hear this. Let's hope you're able to salvage the knives to the point of being able to sell them.
And, hopefully, they'll be up to Huugh's satisfaction when it's all done.

[graham_s]

Can we have the NASA version now?
I prefer my Bushcraft knives with Micarta anyway.
:D

[Ted]

I wish the Spyderco crew the best in finding a solution. It would be such a waist of effort, money & time when there is no solution.

[sarguy]

Sal,

I'm sorry to hear that the venture didn't turn out as planned. I'd hate to see any further enter circulation with cracked handles for fear of making people think it's indicative of Spyderco quality, but I really like the idea of being able to purchase the blades "mule style" if it will help recoup the cost.

Above all else, I respect your candor in announcing when something doesn't go as planned, rather than attempting to downplay or hide it. Not surprising, given the ethos of your company. :)

[Joshua J.]

Oh man this is a bummer.

My opinion is that the knife is a very classy design and very reasonably priced.
If you look at other natural handled knives of similar design, they often cost more.

[Manix Guy 2]

I am so sorry sal that this project has been stopped , I was looking forward to this knife . I personally feel the blade and steel was a major jump for Spyderco regardless of the wood . Regards and great respect MG2

[nathan310]

I hate to hear it when this kind of stuff happens. Everyong gives 100% but things still come out short. Sorry again to hear about this.

[Blue72]

I be open to buying a blank, I think I rather have Micarta or g-10 handle anyway!

[supermatch38sa]

The answer of course is that you shouldn't. The reason Spyderco manufactures in the hundreds or thousands instead of the millions is because most people share your point of view. Buy a cheaper knife with good functionality, there's nothing wrong with that. Some of us are glad to have the choice of paying a higher price for higher functionality and beauty. You make your choice; I make mine. Why complain about the price of something you don't even want or need, since you are perfectly happy with the cheaper alternatives? Your opinion is neither right nor wrong, but expressing it in the context and manner that you and 4077th have chosen is rude and offensive.

+10,000 Way to go Greg!!!!!

[Simple Man]

I'd probably be in for one either as a blank, or a re-handled version, micarta etc.

[sal]

We really can't do blanks put of these knives. The wood was carefuly glued with a special glue, clamped and tried before beginning machining. It would be very difficult (and expensive) to try to remove the handles and resurface the tangs.

sal

[supmonkeyface]

SELL THEM!!! I will buy 2 or three for 80$ each...

[Sequimite]

We really can't do blanks put of these knives. The wood was carefuly glued with a special glue, clamped and tried before beginning machining. It would be very difficult (and expensive) to try to remove the handles and resurface the tangs.

sal

If many of these end up as seconds, I'd grab at least a couple and work on them. I'm retired so I work cheap. There are obvious reasons why seconds have always been sold in person. In this case though, since they all have the same problem it seems to me that Spyderco could post pictures of a sampling of the worst and close then out at SFO instead of waiting 'til Nov. 2010.

[The Mastiff]

To be honest the shrunken slabs are very little of a problem to me. I will figure out a way to deal with it that best suits me and my situation. Overall I have always and still feel this is an excellently engineered and produced knife ground, and heat treated to extremely high standards.

It's truly one of my favorite knives of all of them, and I have what most would call a large knife collection. It hasn't made it out camping in my case due to my surgery/rehab cycle I am in but it has done some testing around the house on various pieces of wood, both hard and soft, wet and kiln dried.

It really eats up stuff. Even hard stuff like Oak, walnut, softer woods like cherry etc, it just performs like the high quality tool that it is. I wouldn't consider getting rid of it, nor even sending it back for a repair.

Once I got the coating of hardened oil off the blade I realized it was much sharper than I had first thought.

The grinders did an excellent job on this knife. Other than the slight shrinkage in the handles causing the steel to stand proud on top, it's performance isn't hindered whatsoever. I wouldn't even go so far as to call it a hot spot. I have perfectly finished knives that are much less comfortable in use than this so called imperfect knife. One, by another manufacturer is so bad it requires gloves. It was more expensive and had a more modern "super steel" than Spyderco's. Even in perfect condition it isn't as comfortable.

My only real problem with this is the feeling that it might cause Sal and Spyderco to become less adventurous in the future, and stop going out of the way to make us users that ask for untypical knives happy.

In my case maybe a battle lost, but the war is still being won. Spyderco made a tool steel knife and I love it! I hope there will be more. In fact I'd still love a PD#1 ( powdered steel vascowear) or 3V 3.5" plus folder. ( vascowear at 61-62 Rc is both tougher and more wear resistant than D2 at RC62. It takes much better edges too. It's below CPM M4 though in both categories, as well as less corrosion resistance to be honest about it). Super Blue at RC 60-61 would serve as well too, taking even finer edges than most anything aside from M4 and maybe ZDP.

Sorry, I had to lobby sal as I haven't done it in a few months.

[The Deacon]

Sal, might it be possible to offer them as an "SFO exclusive", at a price perhaps just slightly above wholesale, with a strongly worded disclaimer on the webpage noting that the scales have a higher than normal potential for cracking and shrinking and that such issues will not be covered under warranty?

I do think the supplier misrepresented his product, or simply did not understand what stabilized wood is. The fact they recommended using linseed oil on it bears that out. Properly stabilized wood has more in common with G-10 and micarta than with untreated wood. It should neither need, or be able to absorb, oil. Stabilization is not a surface treatment, but rather a process where the wood is impregnated with a polymer resin. It should, if anything, work better with poor quality, but extremely attractive, spalted woods because the cracks and soft spots insure deep penetration of the resin. Dense oily woods like Lignum Vitae and Desert Ironwood are rarely stabilized.

[freeman7]

Yes, Sal, sell these off as seconds. Even selling below wholesale you would recoup some of your investment.
BTW Mastiff, how did you remove the oil from the blade? I tried nail polish remover and it did not take it all off.

[The Mastiff]

BTW Mastiff, how did you remove the oil from the blade? I tried nail polish remover and it did not take it all of

f.

Just a solvent. I'm not sure which chemical it is. It's a mixture of stuff including solvents and penetrating oils. It took a bunch, along with rubbing. I had to go over areas three times in some places, getting more off each time. I finally got it down to clean, bare metal and used silicone for corrosion resistance as I do with all my carbon/alloy steels.