Spyderco Forums

Who is ready for new Byrd models? With the price creep of Spydies at a higher rate each year, it seems like the market for more affordable knives grows. I'd like to see Spyderco take Byrd up a notch and make them competitive with some other budget lines. They have a solid lineup of standard models, but there is a lot of room to grow here IMO.

Why not a Byrd flipper or button lock? What might a $50 or $75 Byrd with a fresh design and upgraded materials look like?

I wouldn’t mind seeing a Raven 2 XL.

That would be cool to see. The new releases shown in the reveal for the Byrd series look pretty good though! I gotta say, for budget knives these days...Civivi is absolutely killing it! The variety of designs and materials is unreal.

I'd like to see more variations in the handles colours, e.g. red, green, yellow... the Robin 2 would be perfect for this.

I agree there’s a lot from Byrd I’d like to see!
I was won over the instant I learned the designs are great (way better than most anything Civivi and the like put out imo) and the history of the Byrd name/prehistoric marketing.
The old Byrd dinosaur marketing is more significant than most might realize. The feathered dinosaur artwork was ahead of its time in terms of a popular portrayal of dinosaurs outside the paleontological community.
Anyway, I think that’s a really cool bit of history I’d like to see continued somehow.

With the Wharncliffes in Reveal 9 looking great, I’m excited to see what comes next.
Maybe that large Reverse S folder I suggested in another thread? The “Terror Byrd”.
I may or not have spent a good bit of time conceptualizing a unique design that fully embraces the inspiration for that name.
It’s just a sketch now, but there’s an awfully cool image in my head of a “Terror Byrd” knife beside the skull of a real Terror Bird for Byrd’s catalogue section cover page.

Alright I got a little carried away there, but yeah, new models sound good for sure!

Hi Cl1ff,

It's an interesting concept, but I don't think we would ever name a model the "Terror byrd". But I am always open to design suggestions.

sal

sal wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 13, 2022 11:35 pm

Hi Cl1ff,

It's an interesting concept, but I don't think we would ever name a model the "Terror byrd". But I am always open to design suggestions.

sal

Haha, thanks! I’m sure it’s been said many times, but I can’t help but feel flattered and grateful that you’re so open and engaging.

I can definitely see how a name like that might not be the best fit, even if it is just some silly word play on my end. Simply using the bird’s real name “Titanis” would probably be more in line with other model names and less troublesome. It’d also fit the knife well since Titanis implies something big, just like the knife I have in my head.

I’ll have to figure out again how to post my little sketches because that’s more efficient than me trying to articulate things with only words! The idea is just that a 3.5+ inch Reverse S Byrd would surely be the best budget knife out there for its intended purpose.

Cl1ff, you can upload your pictures on Imgur.com and then post them here using the tags.

Maybe a collab with Arcteryx :) - named after the Archaeopteryx - the Byrd Archaeopteryx.

According to the brand description "It made an evolutionary leap forward to escape the horizontal world of dinosaurs and developed the feathers for flight."

So what evolutionary leap forward will Bryd make?

All this Byrd talk makes me want to buy another Byrd Hawkbill!

Another name suggestion.
The Hoatzin is a South American bird whose chicks have two claws on each wing that enable them to move around and grip branches. There’s speculation that they are a descendant of the Archaeopteryx.
Could be the name of a double bladed hawksbill, one PE one SE, for example.

Ngati Pom wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 21, 2022 4:40 pm

Another name suggestion.
The Hoatzin is a South American bird whose chicks have two claws on each wing that enable them to move around and grip branches. There’s speculation that they are a descendant of the Archaeopteryx.
Could be the name of a double bladed hawksbill, one PE one SE, for example.

I totally think that’s a cool name and knife idea for a Byrd, but I’m gonna have to let my Paleontology nerd urges out to pull an “AcTUalLY ” on you here.
I just can’t pass up the opportunity to talk dinosaurs.

Modern Avians (birds) are all equally closely related to, but not quite direct descendants of, Archaeopteryx. There is some minor uncertainty in the exact relationships of early avian dinosaurs and their relatives, but Archaeopteryx is indeed commonly found to be one of the earliest known true birds or, to put it in scientific terms, the most basal Avialan.
This means that it and all true birds would share a common ancestor forming a group to the exclusion of other bird-like dinosaurs.
Archaeopteryx’s anatomy probably closely resembles that common ancestor, living up to its German name “Urvogel” which means “first bird” (and might be easier for some to say).

There is another likely scenario where Archaeopteryx and some other very birdy dinosaurs, like Anchiornis, form a group just outside of Avialae, the true birds.

Because, the early members of these groups are all rather similar, and yet were rapidly evolving and diversifying, it can be difficult to pin down precise relationships in a phylogeny without the discovery and study of more specimens.
Flight evidently evolved independently several times in the dinosaur family tree.
It’s all very fascinating once you get past the easy answer that Archaeopteryx was the first bird.

If you want to learn a little yourself, I actually do suggest Archaeopteryx’s Wikipedia page as a good starting point. It is well regulated and provides the reader with most of the relevant sources. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeopteryx I’m also open to giving a more detailed explanation myself (including visuals), should anyone be interested, but I don’t want to further derail yet another thread with my prehistoric ramblings lol

Cl1ff, from one nerd to another thanks for your reply.
I can always appreciate an educational “AcTUaLY”.
I read your Wiki recommendation and I have now fallen into a rabbit hole of your making.
As an aside, have you read, Thor Hanson’s: Feathers : The Evolution of a Natural Miracle?
It’s been a few years since I read it but I remember it as being a lovely book. And it encompasses palaeontology, engineering and, obviously, ornithology. As a layman I found it fascinating.
Also I’d be interested in a more detailed explanation.

I like this idea. Maybe with 14c28n?

TkoK83Spy wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 12, 2022 8:24 am

That would be cool to see. The new releases shown in the reveal for the Byrd series look pretty good though! I gotta say, for budget knives these days...Civivi is absolutely killing it! The variety of designs and materials is unreal.

Civivi astonishes me. I think they're gonna be the next greatest thing in the knife world if they aren't already. Budget spydis are good but they just can't keep up with Civivi or QSP. I think if Spyderco needs to improve anywhere it would be in the budget department. If they just upgraded the 8cr for d2 I would take a tenacious over an Elemenum any day.

I will say they did do a fantastic job with the s35vn tenacious though

What about a large Byrd with a leaf-shaped blade called "Moa"? I feel like the byrds are missing a longer knife, like how the value folders has the Resilience. I have a Cara Cara 2 but still want a little bit longer (I mean, I also have a Resilience and am waiting for the Stretch 2 XL drop lol). Maybe a 3.3"-3.5" edge length would be good (so it'll probably be like 4"-4.2" blade length, just looking at the Cara Cara 2's specs for comparison).

Edit: I may have described the Raven 2 XL as PocketShredder said earlier:

PocketShredder wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 12, 2022 8:19 am

I wouldn’t mind seeing a Raven 2 XL.

Xayaza wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 12, 2022 1:29 pm

What about a large Byrd with a leaf-shaped blade called "Moa"? I feel like the byrds are missing a longer knife, like how the value folders has the Resilience. I have a Cara Cara 2 but still want a little bit longer (I mean, I also have a Resilience and am waiting for the Stretch 2 XL drop lol). Maybe a 3.3"-3.5" edge length would be good (so it'll probably be like 4"-4.2" blade length, just looking at the Cara Cara 2's specs for comparison).

Edit: I may have described the Raven 2 XL as PocketShredder said earlier:

PocketShredder wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 12, 2022 8:19 am

I wouldn’t mind seeing a Raven 2 XL.

Resilience with a choil was basically what I was thinking when I imagined the Raven 2 XL. Maybe they could name it the Byrd Rook.

PocketShredder wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 12, 2022 6:33 pm

Resilience with a choil was basically what I was thinking when I imagined the Raven 2 XL. Maybe they could name it the Byrd Rook.

I like your thinking

Hi PocketShredder,

While I agree with you that the new Raven would be a nice XL, which would make it very similar to the Military. The Raven was designed to be a smaller Military for the byrd line. The design is sound, it performs well and it's very well made, unfortunately, it does not sell well. I don't know why? So I don't think investing in tooling for a larger one would be practical.

sal