Spyderco Forums

Darby, Sailhand, what do y’all think of this shape? This is about 1/4” longer than the Swick 5.

Apologies Sal, I’m not trying to redesign your knife...we’re just having fun. :)

sal wrote:OK, for the sake of discussion, what would be the ideal blade shape and steel/material for a "Swick" capable of going mainstream distribution? EDC carry and what type of carry system? Plain and serrated?

Like I said in my earlier post the SWICK model would be a really cool one for offering it in a wide variety of blade steels and a great model to introduce newer/better blade steels like you all do with my beloved C-36 Military model.

I think more variants like they have done with the ENUFF model and I would go for Hawkbill, Reverse S and even a fixed blade Dodo like version would be super cool and very functional.

I would love to have a standard version and a Dodo-like version both in M390.

OH yeah to have a sheath similar to the ones on the old TEMPERANCE 1 models. I really love the SWICK model and wish I would never ever traded them.

Looks good Lance! I am definitely not opposed to adding a little bit of length. I would just like to be able to get a little bit of edge on a flat surface when I need to. I agree about keeping the tip acute though. I wouldn't want to achieve my goal with a drastically upswept tip.

I like the idea of this blade shape and my pic was just a quick sketch to conceptualize it. I am pretty open in regards to how it actually gets done. I am also curious if people think this could have mass appeal?

I also want to hear what blade shapes others want. I like my Swicks and just want to see this thread generate some good ideas.

The real time in development was in the handle/hole/ergos. I believe the last Swick had that right. We can use any blade shape with the refined handle/finger hole.

sal

Hawkbill Salt Swick would be awesome!

Sal, if you guys were to make an Lc200n Swick, I would buy it with whatever blade shape you chose to use. For my uses, this would be a neck knife that I would use as a working blade on the kayak. The most versatile shape (for me) would be something like a PM3 blade...kind of like the drawings that Darby and I were playing with. That would still provide some negative blade angle and leverage back by the heel for pull cuts but would have enough upsweep at the tip for cutting on a flat surface.

I would still buy a wharncliffe or whatever shape y’all made, but it would see a lot less use due to only being able to get the tip in contact with a flat surface. That blade shape like on the pm2/pm3 seems to be as popular as any y’all make and it hasn’t been used on the swick yet. Just sayin. :)

I'd prefer a wharncliffe but I think the shape Lance is describing would have wider market appeal.

I think the ideal situation, from a customer standpoint, would be a standardized line of offerings similar to the Enuff. Say a Hawkbill, Wharncliffe and Para 2 blade shape version of the swick, all featuring the same handle/sheath/scales (Should any be used).

Surfingringo wrote:Hi Sal, I think Lc200n or H1 would be a logical choice for a knife like this. ... As far as blade shapes, this design (imho) is all about the pull cut so I would go wharncliffe, HB or Reverse “s”.

This is what I would like. What would the mainstream consumer buy? I have no clue.

Gordon

sal wrote:OK, for the sake of discussion, what would be the ideal blade shape and steel/material for a "Swick" capable of going mainstream distribution? EDC carry and what type of carry system? Plain and serrated?

sal

Wow, it seems most of us agree.
6th vote here for LC200N/H1 and Wharncliffe, Hawkbill or Reverse S blade shape. Any combination of those and I'm in for at least one!!!
Sheath for belt carry too, preferably flat and close to the body

I have a Swick 4 and really like it, but would love it with a slightly longer blade and a blade shape more like the Para 3. As for steel, I am not picky, but s35vn or 20cv would be great. I feel that both of these steels are well rounded and have good to excellent corrosion resistance (but obviously not in the same class as lc200n).

I'd like to add that I'd be fine with up to 1/2" more cutting edge, or keeping the dimensions identical to a Swick 3. Longer than that and I think it would lose it's incredibly easy to carry nature.

Bring back the Caspian Salt?

So if a lot of people would want to buy one, is there any way that Spyderco might take a look at this thread or some others and decide to do another limited run?

Sal, the gentleman with his name in green who commented on page one is the owner of Spyderco in case you didn't know. He is pretty good about listening to customers and to the forum. Only time will tell what comes of this thread and the Swick. :) We got his attention and that is often a good thing.

Hi Alex,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

Thank you "REJECT" :) I never even gave thought to the fact that the Caspian Salt model has the same overall contour and basic design as the SWICk model but they do look like "cousins" if not "brothers" for sure.

Those Caspian Salt models would be great for a Sprint Run in LC200N.

With the right blade steels the SWICK would also make an excellent dive knife. Also to make the SWICK into a fixed blade HAWKBILL in full Spyderedge would also make a superb dive knife IMO.

As someone who owns a few neck knives (and that's not even all of them), allow me to offer a few thoughts based on my own experience.

If we're talking mainstream, rather than aficionado, I think we need to start with the question, "what type of blade sells well?" Reverse s-curves might be useful, but I'm willing to bet Spyderco sells a lot more Dragonflies than Crickets. We've already seen leaf shaped blades on Swicks (I have numbers 2 & 4), so how about the extremely popular Paramilitary blade shape?

Next, let's consider blade steel. IMHO, price and corrosion resistance favor something like LC200N/PE and H1/SE, or perhaps something like S30V or S35VN for both. High end steels might be good for selling sprint runs, but the increased price would work against mainstream sales.

Finally, size. I understand the desire to add a bit more length to the blade but, as someone who wears a neck knife every day, let me say (again, IMHO) that 6" overall is the maximum you want and 5 1/2" is better. There are a couple of knives over 6" in that photo and they rarely get carried because they're too long to ride above my stomach.

I've refined the design on Swicks over the years to nail down shape (Pattern) of the handle. designing a handle attached to a Perrin finger hole is more challenging than it might appear. Getting the ergos right for "most" hands for serious use without "hot spots". I've designed them with 3mm thickness and 4mm thickness. The argument for 4mm is handle comfort, especially when your thumb is on top of the blade. Also provides a thicker (stronger) blade when full flat ground.

The downside is obvious extra weight.

Thoughts?

sal

this thread makes me wish I lived in a state where concealed fixed blades were ok. I really like these.