Spyderco Forums

Wow, a Balance reissue, that's great news.

That is exciting. Love to see the Balance sprint run! Exactly what I've been hoping for - More Ed Schempp designs!

I am extremely excited for a Schempp design.

Thank you Wouter, for all your efforts. I really enjoy these reports.
A good couple of years ago, I was in Amsterdam usually once a month or so, but knew nothing about this meet. Now that I’m aware, it seems almost impossible to get there in person when this goes down. All the more reason to appreciate your photos and what info you’re able to share.

Love the looks of the Cobol. But I also know from experience that blade angle/positioning doesn’t work for me for cutting stuff. Still cool.

I'll have to get a Balance. I remember a friend many years back had one, it's an odd but fun little knife.

I'm intrigued by the front flipper on the WolfMouse, might have to try it out

Always a pleasure to see and read a meeting report , great pictures Mr Blonde

Really liked the Wolfmouse. I wonder if you can "reverse" the lanyard thing so that it goes flush with the scales ! Would be useless, but a fun Transformers move

Wolfmouse looks like a beast!

The Wolfmouse has now assumed the top of my list of known unreleased models. It looks like a fun design!

Eric did mention it last year and he showed a few samples, but this time we got to see a full presentation of the new Zirconium Based PVD coatings Spyderco is working on for blades and other parts. Mind you, as I understand it, these coatings are in various stages of development and this is truly a sneak peek into these new coatings Spyderco is working on. Remember, nothing is 100% final until you see an announcement in the next Reveal catalog .

R&D engineer Morton gave us a full presentation, complete with reference to scientific studies and models, to show how Spyderco went about to create not only the best and most durable functional coatings possible, but also how to achieve the most consistent colors. I am positive I cannot do justice to Morton’s presentation, but my takeaway was that Spyderco didn’t just get a couple of cans of paint and started to coat blades in-house. No, far from it. We are talking attention to details; down to the atomic scale and dealing with processes that are quite literally out of this world.

It seems Spyderco started with a clean slate and asked 3 basic questions: “How can we create the most durable functional coatings for production, without sacrificing properties expected from currently offered DLC or FDE?” , “How can we make sure the colors are the most consistent?” and “Can we make coatings cheaper for the customer?”

Drawing from the latest insights from scientific literature, and after procuring a machine that I’m sure could create a hole in time and space – judging from the short videoclip we saw of the process - , Spyderco is planning to release a few interesting new options for Zirconium Based PVD coatings, and still has many more to explore. These new PVD coatings will not only bring a collage of colors not before possible, but will also bring new possibilities to what can be coated.

Spyderco is known for being the exotic steel experts of the knife industry, and these coatings are an expansion of their expertise. It turns out that coatings are just as complicated as steels and the small details make big differences, just like a good knife design. Important to note is that the perceived color does not just come from the coating particles composition itself, but also the surface finish of the blade, or part, itself. We were shown various samples, from dull to shiny, and how it affected the perceived color of the coatings.

Morton, also brought along a few blades with coatings that were tested against salt water corrosion. As per the Spyderco Salt Series Standard, this salt water corrosion test is not your standard Salt Fog Spray and pushes the limits of Spyderco’s corrosion expectations. Safe to say is that not every coating is created equally when it comes to protecting the blade steel. All this innovation and research sounds expensive, but due to the increased control over the coating process Spyderco will be able to optimize their coated products like never before. This will open up new opportunities for cost savings without the risk of sacrificing quality.

The samples we were shown, included black, grey, flat dark earth, rose gold, gold and blue. I thought it was very impressive, especially with the elaborate planning, research and development that went into it.




Black













Grey













Flat Dark Earth















Rose Gold













Gold













Blue













Parts with different finishes

















I have no information on pricing or release dates.

Very interesting glad to see what we have been hearing about for some time . MG2

These were the last of the photos I can share, I still have some videos I took of the 4 production sample knives. Hopefully, I can share those tomorrow. Thanks for watching!

WolfMouse looks awesome. Already hoping we see a longer bladed version lol

Those Zirconim coatings are interesting. It really opens the door for OEM customization. It's not entirely my style but I think the writing is on the wall for a sprinkle donut PM2 now that they can do a blue blade coatings. Either way, I'm very excited to see how creative Spyderco will be with the new coating.

Thank you for sharing these images and your impressions.

Thanks Mr Blonde for bringing these to us.

I have to say out this lot only the Charisma would have me parting with my hard earned.

I am glad to see the Balance again.
Thanks.

Did not say "thank you" @Mr Blonde for all you´re doing in my first posts here, so let me catch up on that now!

- The new coatings look really interesting.. and are one of those things I´d have to see in "real", not just pics, in order to decide how much I actually like such colors on a blade.
I assume though I would/will a lot, especially when the lockbar and spacer are done in the same color like it is the case in the knives you show.
That flat dark earth ("brown") is probably my favorite here

- The Wolf Mouse is nice too: Looks to have a lot of actual edge for the closed size, the wire clip is fold over but NOT actually deep carry (a real plus to me), and I always appreciate when there is a good variety of linerlock Spydies to choose from to balance out the many comp.locks.
Not a fan of CF though and for my taste the tip could be a bit "lower"

- And I just can reiterate: The Charisma is a "must have" for me (and I personally am perfectly fine with BD1N)
(And yes @elena86 : This thing in SE must be a monster cutter, hope they´ll do a version with teeth!!!)