Spyderco Forums

Just curious to see, due to some posts complaining about spyderco's quality. How many people actually got a bad spyderco? Bad as in the quality was off, and you weren't satisfied.

This poll should of been what percentage, not how many. Someone can say I had 10 bad quality ones, yet they owned 400.

Oh dangit... I guess this one might work.. but not as well as percentage...

And what is a "bad" knife? To someone that is going to really get down and dirty with a knife (see the moose thread heh heh) a few cosmetic blemishes like dents in the G10 or uneven bevel grinds aren't going to mean much of anything, but someone that is going to very lightly use the knife or maybe just collect it, those same cosmetic blemishes are the difference between a keeper and a returned knife.

I haven't yet had a Spyderco that I've been unhappy with.

yep, just 1.

I was not at all happy with my Chicago G10.
The build quality seemed poor, the G10 texture felt very plasticy. No Jimping at all, there was a rattle from the lanyard spacer and to top it off the blade came blunt, and the bevel was significantly wrong on one side.

No biggy though, It's not that it is a 'Bad knife' just bad compared to what I have come to love about spyderco's.
I fixed the bevel sharpened it up and sold the knife to someone else who would appreciate it.

I agree with a percentage. Ive gotten about 5 but out of well over 100. Really bad ones? i've returned 2.

Drkknight614 wrote:This poll should of been what percentage, not how many. Someone can say I had 10 bad quality ones, yet they owned 400.

Since the poll is already established the bar graph can be simi-thorough. When someone votes he/she could put in a post the number bad and the number purchased. Approximate numbers on purchases will probably be needed. I've bought less than 20 but don't know the exact number and have had none bad that I can remember. Definately none bad enough to send to Spyderco. The only thing I've done to a new Spyderco is adjust a pivot or sharpen it. Sharpening is an iffy thing when considering "bad or ok or good". If I bought a $100+ knife from a company that claims sharpness as one of it's main benefits and received a knife as dull as a couple of Spyderco knives I've seen brand new I would think it should be sharpened under warranty. Especially if I didn't know how to sharpen a knife. I know you can send it in for sharpening anytime with $5 for shipping but I'd still be upset. A dull knife is not a result of manufacturing defects. It is a result of poor performance by a person IMO. That's going by the video I saw of a Native being made and the sharpening method used in that video. One reason how sharp a knife is is an iffy subject is it depends on a person's knowledge of what a sharp knife is.

For me though I'll say I've bought 18 Spyderco's and 0 bad ones. The quality has been 100% perfect if you leave out the sharpness thing, which I do.

Jack

I got one bad one:and two bad G-Clips... purchased 424......The bad one given away to the first person who liked it...the G-clips replaced by Spyderco....Doc :D

just one.......an older model Delica that is a shade too tight on the blade, as in hard to open with one finger. Yes tried all the remedies, no soap. Yes i do still own it.

I've been buying them since about 2004 or whenever the CF D3s came out... they were my first two. I've probably bought between 60 and 90 altogether, currently have about 15. None of them has had what I consider a QC issue.

Off center blades and uneven bevels don't count as issues AFAIC. That's just what you get with items produced in quantity by machines as opposed to small numbers that are hand made or hand assembled/finished. I've never had an issue that has affected function or safety.

Drkknight614 wrote:This poll should of been what percentage, not how many. Someone can say I had 10 bad quality ones, yet they owned 400.

Percentage would be more misleading, since you don't know the total number of knives purchased and the overall sales. If you only received one bad spyderco, and only bought one, it would be 100%, or 20% if you had one bad knife out of five. I think the actual number returned is more accurate and helpful, at least to me. Remember, if you go by percentage, then it appears that this is representative of the entire amount of spydercos sold. If, for example, the poll showed an average 5% return rate on Spydercos, that is a terrible number when you look at overall sales. I'm sure Spyderco returns overall are much lower than that.

BTW, I own more than 50 new in box spydercos, and the only problem I ever had was that I stripped the pocket clip screw on my resilience (which was immediately replaced free of charge).

You could get the total number purchased by each person and the number of defective ones for each person. Then someone could add them up and get a correct percentage.

I've bought 3 and they were all good.

Onionman wrote:Percentage would be more misleading, since you don't know the total number of knives purchased and the overall sales. If you only received one bad spyderco, and only bought one, it would be 100%, or 20% if you had one bad knife out of five. I think the actual number returned is more accurate and helpful, at least to me. Remember, if you go by percentage, then it appears that this is representative of the entire amount of spydercos sold. If, for example, the poll showed an average 5% return rate on Spydercos, that is a terrible number when you look at overall sales. I'm sure Spyderco returns overall are much lower than that.

BTW, I own more than 50 new in box spydercos, and the only problem I ever had was that I stripped the pocket clip screw on my resilience (which was immediately replaced free of charge).

At first I agreed with drknight. Now I agree with you. I guess I'm just very agreeable. :rolleyes: With large numbers purchased a percentage would be ok but like you said if I get one Spydie and it is perfect my answer would indicate 100% perfection and no company makes any product with 100% perfection. So, I think the number purchased and the number bad is a better way to talk about this. Either way I believe the number of "bad" instances will be low.

Jack

I have yet to receive a flawed knife. I know it could happen and if it really bothers me I will call CS and get their opinion. Sorry but I won't be coming to the forum to get any ones opinion. Not cause I am afraid of being stoned either. I just know life isn't perfect and $h!t happens.

I will just say this. Out of over 300 Spydercos I've purchased new from dealers I've had two I felt the need to return to W&R for problems. One was a stacked wood Kopa with one seriously warped scale, the other a SpyderFly with one extremely stiff pivot. Were the others all "perfect"? Heck no. But neither was my brand new Toyota truck or my house and both cost a whole lot more than any Spyderco.

I don't know if I would call it "bad", but I did buy a new Lava that had a lock that was difficult to disengage. Sent it back to Spyderco and they replaced it.

All good!

I'm at well over a hundred. I have no Spydercos that I've had to send back, none I was dissatisfied with. All perform/ed as advertised.

I can't say that with a few other brands

Since 1992

Dr. Snubnose wrote:I got one bad one:and two bad G-Clips... purchased 424......The bad one given away to the first person who liked it...the G-clips replaced by Spyderco....Doc :D

Hey Doc, for future reference, the next time you get a "bad" Spyderco - I like it ... :p

I have approximately 25 Spydies, and none have been flawed or unacceptable, and I am pretty particular about my knives.

~ Edge

I voted 1, but really 0 would have been a better answer. The problem is that i'm an OCD perfectionist. My Para 2 wasn't as smooth as i wanted it, but from what i've seen it was within tolerance. These are production knives...if you want perfection from every piece that comes out of the factory you better look into paying a premium for custom knives.

When you have a place like this forum where everyone can come and point out the flaws in something, the "problem" gets put under a spotlight and made to look bigger than it is. How many thousands of knives are sold to people who aren't as particular as the knife nuts on this forum, who wouldn't know the difference between a blade that falls shut by gravity or doesn't? Would that person think their knife is "bad" because of that? Not likely.

Another thing is, say what you will about quality, but you can't say a single negative thing about Spyderco's customer service. If you have a problem with a knife, send it in and they make it right.

Am i a fanboy? Absolutely, but i call it how i see it. I haven't bought 100s of them like some of these guys, only about a dozen or so, but i've handled 100s that come and go at my local knife shop....including every other production brand you can think of (this place has thousands of knifes in stock) and my observation is that dollar for dollar nobody matches what you get with Spyderco. You might find another knife with similar steel or handle materials, but the ergos suck and it's made in China and fit and finish suck, and then you can never be sure if the heat treat on that similar steel is up to par.