Spyderco Forums

Very cool insight into your design mindset, Sal. You made my day. Thank you for sharing!

Stay safe,

Mike

Great insights, Sal, thanks for the write-up.

How about "1-knife" collaborations, like Hungarian, Chinook, Szabo, etc. ?

Very cool!

I consider myself a pragmatist in life but it is interesting to note that pragmatism is a modern concept dating back a little over 100 years. It is a form of philosophy but it was also widely adopted in design, particularly architecture.

"Consider the practical effects of the objects of your conception. Then, your conception of those effects is the whole of your conception of the object."
-Charles Sanders Pierce

Some of us find utilitarian designs aesthetically pleasing. :)

Posts like this, Sal, make me even more grateful to work for you. Priceless insight.

Kristi

sal wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 20, 2019 2:13 pm

Like carving an elephant; take a piece of material and cut away everything that isn't elephant.

Ahh, an artist’s way of saying “everything you need and nothing you don’t”.

I’m here for the elephants, but especially for the guy who’s envisioned all the ones I have.

For the record, the Military, Stretch, Chaparral, Caribbean, and Shaman are my favorite “Sals” (in order of model #), followed by the Police, Calypso, Pacific Salt, Sage, and Urban (again in order of model #). I’d recommend any of them without hesitation.

ladybug93 wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 20, 2019 6:26 pm

sal wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 20, 2019 2:13 pm

I'll refine the materials based on the original idea and run with it.

sal, i’m curious why k390 for the p4. i guess maybe a duty knife deserves a good tool steel, but it should also be always ready and relatively worry free. why not a stainless?

i’m not trying to knock the design (or even the materials)... just trying to learn from the designer. i was really drawn to the p4, but decided not to pull the trigger because of the steel. i hope to see some other steels in the p4 with g10 and liners and not just a lw model instead.

i should add that hearing these insights from a designer always make a knife seem like more of a piece of art to me. i never looked at the yojimbo until finding mj’s video on it and then i had to have it. these kinds of insights on the designs really help me appreciate models i might have otherwise overlooked.

Hi Ladybug,

Thanx for your comments. On the p4 K390, I wanted to get the steel out in a knife. The P4 was kinda designed for me ( large knife but easily carried and used ). I knew that we'd be following up with a Lt Wt VG-10 version.

I wanted to get the maker familiar with a difficult steel to grind. It took him a long time. He wanted to coat it to cover up grinding difficulties, but I didn't wanted a coating so we just plugged along until he could get it right. He's really a good maker.
I wanted to get the steel out in the field.
I like the steel and figured it would be good way to test it in the "real world".

Now we have the lite weight in the field in VG-10, most can appreciate the design despite the original steel.

Designs like the Yojimbo have years in the making and refining and they make much more sense when the designer can offer his reasons. Especially designers like Mike Janich.

sal

ferider wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 21, 2019 7:01 am

Great insights, Sal, thanks for the write-up.

How about "1-knife" collaborations, like Hungarian, Chinook, Szabo, etc. ?

Hi Ferider,

Every knife we make has a story.

sal

Porsche, LAMY, Spyderco, Great Eastern Cutlery, Lotus 25, Apple, Lum, all currents in the stream of form follows function, function driven by the vision.

Life is good!

Wow incredible to have such interaction with Sal! Just another thing that makes Spyderco a cut above the rest.

Being a amateur artist in both painting and photography. I often find it weird how sometimes it's the picture I made I felt like was mediocre that people rave about or I have even won an award on. Yet the pic I that I thought was breathtaking people ignore. Sal, has anything like that ever happened to you in your designs in the past? And do you feel any of your designs were in the words of Bob Ross "Happy little accidents?"

Hi Cbrstar,

I agree with everything in your post and I've experienced what you describe. But I have found that the more I refine a design with focus on the goal, the better the design gets, in my opinion. That does not mean that most people will like it. :confused:

sal

sal wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 22, 2019 7:43 am

Hi Cbrstar,

I agree with everything in your post and I've experienced what you describe. But I have found that the more I refine a design with focus on the goal, the better the design gets, in my opinion. That does not mean that most people will like it. :confused:

sal

I know you show some prototypes at knife conventions but have you considered showing them here? You've got a large audience you can solicit for opinions. I'm sure it would also start a lot of "when is _______ model coming out" threads but maybe if there was a sub forum of just prototypes being offered up for opinions it might be easier to make it clear that they are only ideas.

sal wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 21, 2019 9:08 am

Designs like the Yojimbo have years in the making and refining and they make much more sense when the designer can offer his reasons. Especially designers like Mike Janich.

sal

That is so true! I wrote off both the Gunting and Ayoob as dog ugly knives i didn't get at all. - Until i got them in my hand, and saw videos where the designer explained the thought behind it, then it kinda clicked for me too :)
Still curious about the JaniSong blade - is there a reason why it looks like it does?
Being a guy concerned very much about aesthetics i find it very ..plain, which is fine of course but i think i'd like it better with a "Rookie/old Native-ish" grind, if nothing else just for the looks.

Hi David.

I think it would be too public. It's the design that carries the product in almost all products. A poor design well made will not be as successful as a good design poorly made. Naturally, the good design well made is best. We try to get feedback on our new designs from knife afi's which is very valuable, but we also have to be aware of competitors "studying" or "copying" our ideas. The "Meets" are best because it is a controlled setting and no photos are permitted to avoid public showing. We've found Chinese Copy companies taking pictures of our prototypes at shows. we even found one US competitor studying our prototypes at a show with Google glasses.

In today's knife industry, there are more companies than ever trying to "borrow" ideas from other companies. Honor is not a common behavior these days, especially in the knife industry. Since we are an innovative company, we are watched closely.

sal

Hi Larry,

I don't want to speak for Mike, and I'm sure he can offer more concept, but Mike is a function first and foremost kind of guy, especially where life and limb might be in question. The blade shape as is, is very functional. If and when we are able to make the Janisong in the US, other blade shapes might be offered as exclusives.

sal

Having had the chance to play with a Janisong, I'd definitely be down for a USA-made version. It's truly an evolution in safety compared to traditional balisongs.

Fingers crossed!

sal wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 22, 2019 8:47 am

If and when we are able to make the Janisong in the US...

I can only wish!

sal wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 21, 2019 9:08 am

ladybug93 wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 20, 2019 6:26 pm

sal wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 20, 2019 2:13 pm

I'll refine the materials based on the original idea and run with it.

sal, i’m curious why k390 for the p4. i guess maybe a duty knife deserves a good tool steel, but it should also be always ready and relatively worry free. why not a stainless?

i’m not trying to knock the design (or even the materials)... just trying to learn from the designer. i was really drawn to the p4, but decided not to pull the trigger because of the steel. i hope to see some other steels in the p4 with g10 and liners and not just a lw model instead.

i should add that hearing these insights from a designer always make a knife seem like more of a piece of art to me. i never looked at the yojimbo until finding mj’s video on it and then i had to have it. these kinds of insights on the designs really help me appreciate models i might have otherwise overlooked.

Hi Ladybug,

Thanx for your comments. On the p4 K390, I wanted to get the steel out in a knife. The P4 was kinda designed for me ( large knife but easily carried and used ). I knew that we'd be following up with a Lt Wt VG-10 version.

I wanted to get the maker familiar with a difficult steel to grind. It took him a long time. He wanted to coat it to cover up grinding difficulties, but I didn't wanted a coating so we just plugged along until he could get it right. He's really a good maker.
I wanted to get the steel out in the field.
I like the steel and figured it would be good way to test it in the "real world".

Now we have the lite weight in the field in VG-10, most can appreciate the design despite the original steel.

Designs like the Yojimbo have years in the making and refining and they make much more sense when the designer can offer his reasons. Especially designers like Mike Janich.

sal

thank you for answering, sal. i still hope to see some other steel variations in the g10/liner version, but it would also be cool to possibly see a salt version in lc200n now that it's gone lw.

Hi Ladybug,

At this time, I can't promise LC, but I will say that the P4 will be part of the Endura "family" sprints when we play with new steels. That would include:

Police 4
Endura 4
Endela
Stretch 2
Delica 4
Dragonfly 2
Manbug
Ladybug

and possible blade variations.

sal

Oh boy! Looking forward to the K390 run even more now!