Just landed: Spyderco C160 Foundry!

jabba359 · #21

GoldenSpydie wrote:No--I meant the real BioBlu material; variant meaning the early prototypes of the C160.

Just wishful thinking, I'm sure, as there was probably only one BioBlu prototype made, and it is probably in a safe at Spyderco. :)

Ah, I see now. I'm not usually a fan of stainless steel handles, but I'm liking the finish on this. My biggest complaint about SS handles is how slick they are. How does the surface finish on this feel as far as grip is concerned?

StuntZombie · #22

GoldenSpydie wrote:I took it apart for cleaning and inspection, so you all get two more pictures. Birthday (or rather month) is August 2013, so one year ago. The second picture shows the hidden over travel stop and the mess of red loctite that Spyderco put on it. There is a tiny dent right above the over travel stop; I have no clue what it is for.

It looks like a Rockwell hardness test mark.

GoldenSpydie · #23

jackthedog wrote:That's pretty cool. I hope they make it to production. For whatever reason, I really like Ti Framelocks.

Thanks. I know that it would be a popular knife with people. It would be even nicer in Ti instead of SS.

jabba359 wrote:Ah, I see now. I'm not usually a fan of stainless steel handles, but I'm liking the finish on this. My biggest complaint about SS handles is how slick they are. How does the surface finish on this feel as far as grip is concerned?

It is pretty slick to be honest. Not quite as bad as my other SS Spydies, but close. It seems to be bead blasted for a slight increase in traction, or at least not as polished as most SS handles.

StuntZombie wrote:It looks like a Rockwell hardness test mark.

Good point, but I wonder why someone would test the handle? :confused:

salmonkiller · #24

That's the first one that I ever seen.Thanks for sharing....

RadioactiveSpyder · #25

Very, very nice GS --- now I'm sad I didn't go through all that hassle with the big R. You did talk him down $25 from where I had him! Plus, the next knife you get from him should only take a month to get to you

. Beautiful pics as usual. Cheers, Radioactive :)

GoldenSpydie · #26

salmonkiller wrote:That's the first one that I ever seen.Thanks for sharing....

You're welcome! It is a very interesting knife.

RadioactiveSpyder wrote:Very, very nice GS --- now I'm sad I didn't go through all that hassle with the big R. You did talk him down $25 from where I had him! Plus, the next knife you get from him should only take a month to get to you . Beautiful pics as usual. Cheers, Radioactive :)

Thanks! It all got very "interesting" at the end... :eek:
When questioned, Ruben said that he got it from a pawn shop. Interesting change of story... :confused:

Anyway, there will be a passaround.

Donut · #27

I don't think that's a rockwell test mark. I've read that people use a punch to create reference points when working with metal. That's what it looks like to me. They typically use it for a center point when drilling. I'm not sure why one would be there unless the punch spring bounced and put one there when marking for the over travel screw.

Studey · #28

And that, my friends, is how CRK should have done their over travel stops. Kudos to Spyderco for design excellence.

GoldenSpydie · #29

Donut wrote:I don't think that's a rockwell test mark. I've read that people use a punch to create reference points when working with metal. That's what it looks like to me. They typically use it for a center point when drilling. I'm not sure why one would be there unless the punch spring bounced and put one there when marking for the over travel screw.

Interesting. As I said above, I don't know why anyone would care about the hardness of the handle, so this makes more sense.

Studey wrote:And that, my friends, is how CRK should have done their over travel stops. Kudos to Spyderco for design excellence.

Not to mention Hinderer--the Spyderco version is so much classier, at least IMO. :)

Pinetreebbs · #30

Great find, thanks for posting and shearing your treasure.

GoldenSpydie · #31

Pinetreebbs wrote:Great find, thanks for posting and shearing your treasure.

Thanks!
______

Pass around!

http://www.spyderco.com/forums/showthre ... 60-Foundry!

Bags14 · #32

Below is a list of the materials and the intended part we shipped to Spyderco for the Foundry
It is all Carpenter except for the screws which were going to be very expensive if we had them produced in a small volume for this project (but don't think we didn't think about it!)
The scales were originally going to be BioBlu 27, but the material was found to be too much of a challenge to grind and flatten (look hard at it and it will work harden)
BioBlu 27 chemistry includes 63% Co, 28% Cr, and 6% Mo

Part Description Material
Blade CTS -XHP
Back spacer BioDur 316LS
Deep Pocket Wire Clip Custom 465 Stainless Wire
Scale - Back Custom 465 Stainless Sheet
Scale - Front Custom 465 Stainless Sheet
Stop Pin 440C Stainless Rod

rodloos · #33

I think that is a pretty cool thing for Carpenter to do for their employees. Sounds like a pretty decent place to work :) .

GoldenSpydie · #34

Bags14 wrote:Below is a list of the materials and the intended part we shipped to Spyderco for the Foundry
It is all Carpenter except for the screws which were going to be very expensive if we had them produced in a small volume for this project (but don't think we didn't think about it!)
The scales were originally going to be BioBlu 27, but the material was found to be too much of a challenge to grind and flatten (look hard at it and it will work harden)
BioBlu 27 chemistry includes 63% Co, 28% Cr, and 6% Mo

Part Description Material
Blade CTS -XHP
Back spacer BioDur 316LS
Deep Pocket Wire Clip Custom 465 Stainless Wire
Scale - Back Custom 465 Stainless Sheet
Scale - Front Custom 465 Stainless Sheet
Stop Pin 440C Stainless Rod

Very interesting--thank you! I assume that you are associated with Carpenter Technology?

So I don't get any BioBlu, but at least I can say that I have BioDur.

rodloos wrote:I think that is a pretty cool thing for Carpenter to do for their employees. Sounds like a pretty decent place to work :) .

Indeed. And they make some great steels!

PayneTrain · #35

I really liked this project from when I first heard about it, and now that we have an employee among us it seems even cooler. The handle looks good, the blade shape even better, and the philosophy behind it just fantastic.

Bags14, what do you think about the project from your perspective? I imagine it has to be different than most of us who are end users of steels, most of which we have no idea where they come from unless it's a blade with a tang stamp. I'm interested to see how the steel industry sees the knife nut market. Is it as exciting to you guys as it is to us?

Bags14 · #36

Actually I am a Commercial Manager for Carpenter. I was hired in initially just for the Knife Market, I now have a couple of other markets to manage.

Bags14 · #37

PayneTrain wrote:I really liked this project from when I first heard about it, and now that we have an employee among us it seems even cooler. The handle looks good, the blade shape even better, and the philosophy behind it just fantastic.

Bags14, what do you think about the project from your perspective? I imagine it has to be different than most of us who are end users of steels, most of which we have no idea where they come from unless it's a blade with a tang stamp. I'm interested to see how the steel industry sees the knife nut market. Is it as exciting to you guys as it is to us?

As an employee, it is a great deal. We can buy up to 2, I got my two and one from non-knife nut. One is in my pocket and the other two will got unopened to grand kids as an investment. It is rather interesting in the response from the employees and retirees. Employees who are interested in knives want to buy more (high enthusiasm) and the balance are not (no interest or think folks are nuts). The retirees will buy anything made with Carpenter steel just to stir memories. This was not the first event like this as we sell into the golf market and we are the largest domestic supplier to the firearms industry. We have sold drivers with our material as a club face plate, biggest seller. We also sold a custom Colt .44, wish I had been here then.

As a company we saw the Foundry as a way of showing where all of our products could go in a knife. It also was a good experience for us to understand the markets needs beyond a chemistry. The market is actually quite demanding in terms of product requirements and supply chain needs. The loss of the BioBLu was disappointing and it had some interesting history to it. The material in used in the medical industry, implant material, and is also used in jewelry. In order to get down to the size strip for the scales we had to process the material in our hand mill, circa 1925 and probably the last in production in North America. But it is all American Made.

GoldenSpydie · #38

Bags14 wrote:Actually I am a Commercial Manager for Carpenter. I was hired in initially just for the Knife Market, I now have a couple of other markets to manage.

Bags14 wrote:As an employee, it is a great deal. We can buy up to 2, I got my two and one from non-knife nut. One is in my pocket and the other two will got unopened to grand kids as an investment. It is rather interesting in the response from the employees and retirees. Employees who are interested in knives want to buy more (high enthusiasm) and the balance are not (no interest or think folks are nuts). The retirees will buy anything made with Carpenter steel just to stir memories. This was not the first event like this as we sell into the golf market and we are the largest domestic supplier to the firearms industry. We have sold drivers with our material as a club face plate, biggest seller. We also sold a custom Colt .44, wish I had been here then.

As a company we saw the Foundry as a way of showing where all of our products could go in a knife. It also was a good experience for us to understand the markets needs beyond a chemistry. The market is actually quite demanding in terms of product requirements and supply chain needs. The loss of the BioBLu was disappointing and it had some interesting history to it. The material in used in the medical industry, implant material, and is also used in jewelry. In order to get down to the size strip for the scales we had to process the material in our hand mill, circa 1925 and probably the last in production in North America. But it is all American Made.

Awesome! It's great to have you here with us.

Just curious--what do these sell for to Carpenter employees?