Spyderco Forums

Heard a rumor on bladeforums that the SE Millie is goin on the chopping block? Anyone know if there's any truth to this? I can't seem to find confirmation anywhere.

I just read that thread too.. Sal, Please don't let this be true!

Jez

I wouldn;t be surprised.
SE is pretty unpopular with most people, which translates into low sales on the retail end, which later translates in too no re-orders by retailers.

If this is really true I cannot say how truly sorry i am to see one of of the most iconic representatives of the brand go down in flames. I hereby summon a strike! But seriously, how can we let this go down without a complaint? I see no reason why this most iconic of Spydercos can be abandoned. Ordering two pair soon as the paycheck comes in.

I think there wouldn't be anything wrong if say 20-30% of the military's made would be SE. The truth is manny prefer PE for there tasks.

FuSchniken wrote:If this is really true I cannot say how truly sorry i am to see one of of the most iconic representatives of the brand go down in flames. I hereby summon a strike! But seriously, how can we let this go down without a complaint? I see no reason why this most iconic of Spydercos can be abandoned. Ordering two pair soon as the paycheck comes in.

I have no information regarding the SE Military, aside from the obvious observation that, so far, we have one unconfirmed statement by an individual who offered no explanation of where he got his information. The "counter observation" would be that several dealers visit and post both here and on BF regularly, none have yet seen fit to chime in here and, at least up to the last time I looked, none had done so there either. So this whole thing may just be a tempest in a teapot, like the rumors eight months ago that the CF Caly 3, Sage I, and Stretch II were being discontinued when Spyderco put them on special pricing to reduce inventory.

But, if it is true, then you need to keep in mind that, with only a handful of exceptions where QC or material availability was the culprit, there are only two basic reasons why any Spyderco model or version gets discontinued. Poor sales, or a new and improved version. In cases where an edge type gets dropped, but the model remains in the lineup unchanged, poor sales are always the culprit. So if, and I emphasize the word if, the SE Military is dropped, it will be because very few knife buyers shared your opinion that it is "iconic".

True enough, though I must admit a little bit of alcohol was involved in that last posting :rolleyes: Does Spyderco offer an option where we can pay to have a blade serrated? I doubt it, but you never know unless you ask

FuSchniken wrote:True enough, though I must admit a little bit of alcohol was involved in that last posting :rolleyes: Does Spyderco offer an option where we can pay to have a blade serrated? I doubt it, but you never know unless you ask

I'm not 100% sure, but if you send a knife in for re-sharpening, they could put serrations on if you ask. Its just a matter of using the grooved-grinding wheel, THOUGH the problem may lie in the fact that a PE is already ground on both sides, whereas SE blades are only ground on one side.

Ive seen the se Millie on the bay for $98-120. Ive had good dealings

with Poor Fish.

well when itz rip,the sales will soar and the price...

I don't understand why they would ever discontinue a SE variant without discontinuing the entire model, no matter what its level of popularity. It's not like they're making an entirely separate model and having to invest in separate parts that might not sell. They keep making the Military as they're doing, they hang on to the Military serration wheel that they already have, they keep printing out SE labels when necessary, and then whenever someone runs out of SEs and wants more they toss a few on the wheel. The only problem there is if the serration wheel wears out and they don't want to go to even the expense of replacing it to maintain the option, which seems like a silly reason for the disco of a useful variant of a core model. My guess is that it will stick around.

Didn't they do so with the Paramilitary SE?

SaturnNyne wrote:I don't understand why they would ever discontinue a SE variant without discontinuing the entire model, no matter what its level of popularity. It's not like they're making an entirely separate model and having to invest in separate parts that might not sell. They keep making the Military as they're doing, they hang on to the Military serration wheel that they already have, they keep printing out SE labels when necessary, and then whenever someone runs out of SEs and wants more they toss a few on the wheel. The only problem there is if the serration wheel wears out and they don't want to go to even the expense of replacing it to maintain the option, which seems like a silly reason for the disco of a useful variant of a core model. My guess is that it will stick around.

What if they have more and more stocks of SE on hand and maybe sells just one or two compared to a sellout of the PE? I would think they would discontinue the SE based on demand.

SaturnNyne wrote:I don't understand why they would ever discontinue a SE variant without discontinuing the entire model, no matter what its level of popularity. It's not like they're making an entirely separate model and having to invest in separate parts that might not sell. They keep making the Military as they're doing, they hang on to the Military serration wheel that they already have, they keep printing out SE labels when necessary, and then whenever someone runs out of SEs and wants more they toss a few on the wheel. The only problem there is if the serration wheel wears out and they don't want to go to even the expense of replacing it to maintain the option, which seems like a silly reason for the disco of a useful variant of a core model. My guess is that it will stick around.

I'll admit that, on a US made model it's less easy to understand than it use to be back in the day when Spyderco felt dealers might object to there being too many models/variants in the lineup. However, even now, there may be a certain amount of "setup" necessary for a run of SE, which potentially could mean wasting a few blades in the process. Trashing a couple getting the equipment "dialed in" might be a lot harder to justify if you're making half a dozen than if you're making three hundred.