Spyderco UTILITY Knife...

[Bolster]

This is a knife I would love to own. At least half my cutting jobs are done with a folding utility knife. Most folding utility knives "waste" a lot of blade by hiding it within the retention mechanism. The rough sketch (long ago deleted, substituted a dodo composite) above attempts to illustrate a ute knife that uses more of the middle of the replaceable blade, not just the tip.

Most folding utes have unpleasant or non-intuitive locks, such as the widely used Milwaukee, which makes you push a button just to get the blade open, making it either a two-handed affair, or a series of gravity assisted maneuvers if with one hand. It has no closing bias, just swings freely.

Most folding utes have sloppy, rattle-y blade retention mechanisms. There must be a way to clamp the replaceable blade securely, but the folks who make folding utes are NOT the major knife companies, they apparently don't have experience with what informed knife users want (maximum available edge, comfy choil, blade that doesn't wiggle).

Spyderco could dominate this market with a well-designed folding Ute. Contractors are competitive sorts and they value their knives, but most use folding utes of modest quality because, I think, that's just what's available. I can easily imagine the contractors I work with, buying an upscale ute.

(Another wish is for decent utility knife blades. The blades I've been able to find are either made of SK-2 or SK-5, and neither is a steel to write home about.)

[MSG]

I would be the first in line to buy several of these. I brought up this topic not to long ago and it didn't seem like there was much interest. I'm a contractor and I use a utility knife dozens of times a day and would love a Spyderco version. I like to use my Spydies as much as I can but if I'm scoring aluminum while using a metal brake or cutting caulking off of brick around windows etc., I'm always going to be using something with a replaceable blade. I hope that Sal hears the working mans call for a Spyderco utility knife!

[Bolster]

I would be the first in line to buy several of these.

Damm-nit, I'm already second in line.

MSG, do all your folding utes have rattle-y blades? Mine do...

[Chopping Broccoli]

I would love to see this as well but I have to say, the Utility knife Milwaukee makes is pretty hard to beat. I do not know how Spyderco could top that and be priced as reasonably as the Milwaukee one.

[JMM]

.

[+1]

Yes, 100% yes, I am in for a two-pack out of the gate. It's not that I don't have way more than enough knives to commit a random folder or something to the hall closet with all the cardboard and what not, it's just dedicating one to that function makes my OCD twitchy. Seriously though, great drawing, I like the design, well done!

:D

[VooDooChild]

I would like one too.

With that said this subject has come up a lot.

[Bill1170]

What I’d much rather see is a Spyderco OTF utility knife with a pocket clip (tip down only). There’s a lot of good competition in the retractable utility knife realm, but still plenty of room for innovation. Onboard storage for extra blades is a must, as is tool-free blade changes. After 40+ years a carpenter, I have many ideas and preferences.

The folding patterns are slower to deploy/stow than an OTF retractable knife and the handles are poorly suited to vigorous cutting, plus they lack storage for spare blades. Their only advantage I can see is how compact they are when folded.

[Bolster]

They're all useful as heck, but they all could use a lot of improvements IMHO. The Outdoor Edge is my fave, you can open it one handed...not smoothly, but you can. Compact and light. I've modified both my Milwaukees to suit (added a choil to the Fastback, *big* improvement) but they still have that button-to-open issue, free-swing with no bias toward closing. The Excel is a fine and precise piece of toolage but has the same button problem. All of mine have blades that rattle around obscenely, and none of them expose the edge that's available toward the center.

[Bemo]

Funny this came up now. I bought a new Milwaukie Fastback with the hex driver and really like it. But no option to move the clip and no Spydie hole. It drives me a little crazy and while it's loads better than an old old old one I have, I couldn't help but think WWSD? (What Would Sal Do?)

[zhyla]

Most folding utility knives "waste" a lot of blade by hiding it within the retention mechanism.

The one I have you just flip around when one end is dull. There’s no waste involved. Are you trying to get more useful cutting length? It doesn’t seem like that’s the design intent behind the blades. They’re pretty thin.

As for the sloppy fit, that annoys our OCD, but I haven’t noticed it affecting use.

The ergos on mine however are awful. Spyderco could obviously make an improvement there. Would it be cheap enough for people to buy though? Seems like it would be at least $50 if made in China, and be competing against $5 knives at big box stores. That’s a rough market to enter.

[yablanowitz]

Something to consider regarding that sloppy, rattley fit. Not all utility knife blades are the same thickness. Crafting a holding mechanism that can deal with that isn't going to be easy.

[wridziwn]

I would absolutely buy this immediately, just:

• Don't make it super expensive (over $55) or else it would immediately rule it out for anyone except Spydie diehards who just want to support the company (us on these forums :)).

• Let it use standard blades or make sure you keep the blades well stocked, cuz having the blades run out of stock will also immediately turn people off.

• Make it in the USA.

• Have multiple clip positions cuz I bet people would dual-carry this with their EDC Spydie and need to be able to put it in their other pocket.

[Bolster]

This is what I meant by "not wasting" the middle of the blade. Maybe I should have said "revealing more of" the blade. Yes, I'd find more blade exposed useful, for sure. The Spectrum Energetics ute below exposes a lot more blade. (The one pictured not available and therefore highly sought after, natch.) I thought I read that the S.E. ute had solved the rattle problem, but don't quote me on that, I can't find my source now that I'm looking for it.

Quote from an owner: "What takes this tool beyond 'utility knife' and makes it a viable option for EDC is the length of exposed blade edge. Every other utility knife I've used exposes just the tip of the blade, which is useful for cutting down boxes, but not for much else. This knife exposes almost the entire blade edge, which allows it to work like a real EDC folder."

But still, lousy at cutting an apple for lunch...clearly not a do-all blade...would still want to carry a 'standard' Spyderco folder...

[SRT392HEMI]

The ergos on mine however are awful. Spyderco could obviously make an improvement there. Would it be cheap enough for people to buy though? Seems like it would be at least $50 if made in China, and be competing against $5 knives at big box stores. That’s a rough market to enter.

I was wondering about price as well. Some folks will be willing to pay a little more for improved ergos, or just the Spydie name. Considering the FRN Tenacious hovers around $45, I would think that Spyderco could keep the price on this reasonable enough to be competitive.
I could see carrying this as a full-time secondary folder. For tasks I don't want to subject my primary to.

[ladybug93]

if spyderco could put a utility blade holder in a manix 2 lw handle, it would be a dream. that's the most comfortable handle i can think of that would allow for ambidextrous use, one hand opening and closing, and comfortable use all day. it would be a really great platform to use for a utility knife design. i agree that cost would be a factor here, but i might be willing to pay more for a manix utility knife.

[pantagana23]

Why do you buy folding utility knives?

I have the Stanley in the picture below for 12 years, and the sliding opening is very convenient.

Locks in open, locks in closed position.

Changed more than 50 inserts, but the housing itself is almost as good as new

[GarageBoy]

Yeah, I like more blade exposure, even when cutting boxes. None of the ones besides the utilizer and the Banzelcroft have nice exposed edges.

[cycleguy]

I like it!

CG

[Sumdumguy]

This is what I meant by "not wasting" the middle of the blade. Maybe I should have said "revealing more of" the blade. Yes, I'd find more blade exposed useful, for sure. The Spectrum Energetics ute below exposes a lot more blade. (The one pictured not available and therefore highly sought after, natch.) I thought I read that the S.E. ute had solved the rattle problem, but don't quote me on that, I can't find my source now that I'm looking for it.

Quote from an owner: "What takes this tool beyond 'utility knife' and makes it a viable option for EDC is the length of exposed blade edge. Every other utility knife I've used exposes just the tip of the blade, which is useful for cutting down boxes, but not for much else. This knife exposes almost the entire blade edge, which allows it to work like a real EDC folder."

But still, lousy at cutting an apple for lunch...clearly not a do-all blade...would still want to carry a 'standard' Spyderco folder...

I love this idea. But, the one pictured has a big flaw in my book(most share it). The blade holder goes too far over the blade, limiting how deep of a thin, clean cut you can make[(or how far you can reach into a thin gap to cut something)(or, or how deep of a cut you can make while flexing the blade against something at a funky angle.)]

In this picture of mine, you can see that the blade sticks out about an 1/8th inch further, than the blade ramp.
This one is fairly new, in a short while, the slide "detent" will break and the blade will come out another 1/8th inch.(I'll see if I can dig an old one out)



After it is "broken in", that extra 1/4" of depth is massive. It could mean the difference between having to make 2 passes with the blade, or 3. The difference between having to do drywall/trim repair to remove a window frame and just removing the window frame cleanly.

Doesn't seem like much. But, all of these little efficiency boosts, add up at the end of the day. After all, time is money.

[yablanowitz]

I do have a serious question here. Why spend hundreds of dollars on a well-designed knife with great ergonomics, made from premium materials with a blade of carefully selected high-performance steel honed to a razor edge when you do all the real work with a 5 cent utility knife blade?

I know a lot of you cringe when I use a Sprint Run S90V/CF Military for drywall work. You get the heebie-jeebies when I scrape an old wax ring off a cast iron floor flange with a Maxamet Manix. You'd have had a heart attack seeing me cut steel bands off a bundle of gas pipe with my trusty Cold Steel Tanto. But thats why I spend that much on a knife, so I don't have to baby it. I paid for that performance, and I'm darned well going to use it.