Spyderco Forums

Hi forum,

besides steeljunkie and Spyderco-user I am an avid leathermaker. It once started with making a knife sheath but grew out in a large well equipped workshop where I make belts, holsters, portfolio's, wallets, bags and more.
'Doing' knives and sharpeningstuff as well comes in handy because I can keep my leathercuttingtools in optimal condition.

Which brings me to the following. The most used leathercuttingknife is the head or roundknife. There are just a few good versions (from C.S. Osborne and Vergez Blanchard from France) around and many more bad ones. Bad steel or bladegeometry, too thick, bad chosen grind or more. An head knife looks a bit like the Ulu (maddox?) developed years ago by Spyderco.

Is it possible that Spyderco develops such a head knife special for cutting and skiving heavy leather? I am open to give more input when needed.....

I also play with leather , and so I'm sure you are aware of how small the Round Knife demand is around the world .
What demand there is , is catered for by a number of companies and more importantly custom makers who really know what they are doing .
I would be very surprised if there was enough demand to make it worth while for Spyderco to design , tool up , market and distribute a Round knife .
As am example I suspect 90% of the members here ( who would normally be considered knowledgable knife enthuisiasts ) wouldn't know what a Round knife is and how it it actually used . Of the 10 % who do know , how many are actively looking to purchase one , i suspect not many .
Us Leather dudes need to understand we are a very small group , and thats what makes us cool :)

Ken

I don't want to hijack or detail, that is not my intention but I thought I would throw this out there. While they are not designed for leather working I do know that both Benchmade and Tops sell Ulu inspired knives. The Tops is a survival tool and the Benchmade is a game processing tool. I don't think that it would be too far fetched for Spyderco to consider adding some sort of Ulu knife to the ethnic series. I will now contradict myself and point out that Spyderco did also produce a knife called the Maddox that is very much an Ulu style knife and I am not sure if the sales of that knife would inspire enough confidence that Spyderco would try again. I believe the Maddox was a kitchen knife for people with disabilities. You may be able to find one of them? Would that work for your needs? I am not a leather worker, at least not beyond getting a leather working merit badge in Boy Scouts.

The Maddox, while having something of an ulu shaped blade, was a specialty tool for persons with very limited mobility. It was never expected to sell to those outside its very small target market. An ethnic series Ulu or even a specialty round knife are not totally out of the question, but then neither is a meteorite Military.

In addition to the Maddox, Spyderco did produce a strange looking concept model folding (or more precisely retractable blade) Ulu in the late 90's but it never made it to production. Probably would not have been suitable for leather work, but here's a photo of it, along with some that made it top production, and some that didn't.
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For those who can't read the text, it says "Spyderco - Eight 1999 Prototype & Concept Knives (plus Mini-Police, upper right) - Chai Cutlery scan"

As for the market size issue, I'd just ask: How big is the market for Whale Rescue blades?

You also might want to check out the sheaths and such subsection of blade forums as their have been a few threads about making round knives.
As for the matter of spyderco making one... doubt it. Though I would appreciate their expertise being put into such a product. I would certainly try to get one.

I am aware that a round knife for leather is a specialists tool and there might be a limited demand for. Sal told us more than once that before a knife is brought in production there might be spent more than $ 100.000 in research and development.
The shape of a round knife is a 180 degrees or more arced thin blade with a handgrip. Typically around 5 inches wide blade, from point to point. I am not able to upload a picture so fast, but I, or maybe someone else, will, thanks :)

Design could be kept simple; after all it is a fixed blade tool so we can skip issue's like pivots, locks, bearings and mechanics. Keep the knife simple, just add Spyderco specialities that makes it stand out over the available brands on the market. I am thinking of a modern steel, perfectly suited for a roundknife and cutting leather, maybe M4 or Hap40 and well thought blade geometry in a full tang construction with, when possible, a modern ergonomic handgrip. Forget about a sheath (save money on that) because we make them ourselves of course :rolleyes: Last but not least the Spyderco trademark hole and :spyder: added in the blade. Keep it simple but make it a special tool.

What I would like to see in a roundknife for leather would be;
-Flexible and easy to sharpen steel with a long edge retention (M4 might do well)
-Rust resistence is not an issue, so bye bye chromium, cutting leather is most of the time being done dry.
-Thin blade, subtle tapering towards the edge, full flat ground would work......
-Must be suited to steer freehand through thick or thin leather by cutting with the points as well making straight cuts by chopping with the entire edgeline.
-Must be suited to thin out thick leather (skiving or splitting leather)
-Therefore the edge must be kept low angle, 20-25 degrees tops I think?
-180+ degrees arced blade like Vergez Blanchard does.
-modern ergonomic grip, material is not that important, whether wood or synthetics.
-Steelname in the blade, hole and Spyderco trademarks.

I can not think of any more features, but jump in anytime, add or correct info if you can, thanks and cheers,

Tom