Spyderco hardware origin.

[VashHash]

Is the hardware used in US knives made in the US? I tried to search but it's hard to really narrow it down. If anyone can point me to a thread or anyone from spyderco can comment I'd appreciate it.

[RustyIron]

Spyderco's fasteners are very strange. The company makes great knives. Their blades are great, their locks are great, their handles are great. Their fasteners are... not so great. Look no further than the clip screws on the Dragonfly. Even the screws on my 15V Manix are deformed. We talk about how important it is to have good tools, like your fancy Wiha drivers. Precision tools mean nothing when the fasteners are already buggered up when you take the knife out of the box. Deformed fasteners will quickly wear out your expensive tools. When I buy a box of tiny screws from McMaster-Carr, they're not that expensive and they always look GREAT. I don't know why the screws on my knives can't be as nice.

[Buddafucco]

Just a piece for your puzzle... Eric mentioned in a recent video that a lot of the hardware parts come from Taiwan. He doesn't elaborate on which parts for which knives though.

[Coastal]

I wish black knives came with black hardware. I know it's possible, because some of them do.

[Superflex]

I would agree with Rusty Iron.
Except for the premium knives (Swayback, SpyOpera, Kapara, etc.), the consistency and quality of the torx screws used for clips, scales and pivots are all over the place.
We take care to break out our loupes to check our edge apex.
You would be horrified to see the sloppy quality of some of the torx heads in your screws if you put them under a 20-30x loupe.
It's a race to the bottom so profits can be maximized, pockets lined and second island homes furnished.

[abbazaba]

Agreed about the quality of the torx screws. I genuinely enjoy my Spyderco fanboy life, but I think this is a criticism they should take note of as it is quite possibly the weakest link in their otherwise amazing product.

[sal]

Noted.

sal

[Fireman]

[WyoJon]

I wish black knives came with black hardware. I know it's possible, because some of them do.

My black spydercos get shiny hardware. My yellow spydercos get black hardware. And my bright handled enduras get black clips. Meanwhile my dark handled enduras have shiny clips, my black dragon fly has shiny clips, and my bright yellow salt has black clip.

Thats a head scratcher.

[WyoJon]

Glad im not the only one. I had a clip screw on a dragonfly salt tonight, neither my bondhus or my matco, or my snap on drivers would fit it. It was almost oval.

[WyoJon]

Spyderco's fasteners are very strange. The company makes great knives. Their blades are great, their locks are great, their handles are great. Their fasteners are... not so great. Look no further than the clip screws on the Dragonfly. Even the screws on my 15V Manix are deformed. We talk about how important it is to have good tools, like your fancy Wiha drivers. Precision tools mean nothing when the fasteners are already buggered up when you take the knife out of the box. Deformed fasteners will quickly wear out your expensive tools. When I buy a box of tiny screws from McMaster-Carr, they're not that expensive and they always look GREAT. I don't know why the screws on my knives can't be as nice.

Do you have part numbers for spyderco screw sizes? How about the pins the screws thread into?

[WyoJon]

I wish black knives came with black hardware. I know it's possible, because some of them do.

My black spydercos get shiny hardware. My yellow spydercos get black hardware. And my bright handled enduras get black clips. Meanwhile my dark handled enduras have shiny clips, my black dragon fly has shiny clips, and my bright yellow salt has black clip.

Thats a head scratcher.

If one buys the model they want, and the salt model, then all the hardware can be switched to get the right colors. Its pretty messed up. How does a bright green delica with all silver hardware and blade get a black clip? Who dreamed that up?

[WyoJon]

Agreed about the quality of the torx screws. I genuinely enjoy my Spyderco fanboy life, but I think this is a criticism they should take note of as it is quite possibly the weakest link in their otherwise amazing product.

One other link. Spyderco charges for clips, and clip screws like we tried to break them.

Benchmade, has quality screws. Benchmade kershaw zt and buck all send me clips and any screw i want free, anytime i ask, no questions. Benchmade has sent me dozens of clips for knives, just because i wanted deep carry clips for some. Even asking for the deep carry clip for one model for a different model, they will confirm it fits and send it, free. Been that way for years. Zt will send you half a knife for free. No questions asked. When i pay $200 for a native 5, i think spyderco could do this too.

[Evil D]

Agreed about the quality of the torx screws. I genuinely enjoy my Spyderco fanboy life, but I think this is a criticism they should take note of as it is quite possibly the weakest link in their otherwise amazing product.

One other link. Spyderco charges for clips, and clip screws like we tried to break them.

Benchmade, has quality screws. Benchmade kershaw zt and buck all send me clips and any screw i want free, anytime i ask, no questions. Benchmade has sent me dozens of clips for knives, just because i wanted deep carry clips for some. Even asking for the deep carry clip for one model for a different model, they will confirm it fits and send it, free. Been that way for years. Zt will send you half a knife for free. No questions asked. When i pay $200 for a native 5, i think spyderco could do this too.

Guaranteed, there is a 100% chance that the cost of all those "free parts" is factored into the sale price you pay when you buy the knife.

[VashHash]

Maybe someone should start a hardware complaint thread. I just want to know where the hardware comes from.

[TomAiello]

Are you sure that all the hardware comes from the same source?

I've noticed a variance in hardware quality over time, which might be because Spyderco is trying to source the correct size fasteners despite disrupted supply chains. I'm not at all convinced that the hardware all comes from the same source--not even all the hardware used by the same Spyderco factory. I've had different Golden made knives that had very different hardware quality.

And I doubt very much that Spyderco has any real control over the specific parts used by the contract manufacturers outside the USA. I'd guess that Spyderco just provides a specification and the factory sources the parts as part of their larger order process.

I think that complaints about the quality of the hardware are likely to be limited to serious knife people. No normal end line user will every take the screws out at all (let alone the 10 times in a row that some of us have done as we tinker with the knives). Maybe a good solution would be to upgrade screws on higher end models that are more likely to be sold to aficionados?

FWIW, if anyone wants to replace screws that have worn out or gotten stripped through use, the ti parts sold by BladesWeLove on eBay are solid replacements.

[WyoJon]

Agreed about the quality of the torx screws. I genuinely enjoy my Spyderco fanboy life, but I think this is a criticism they should take note of as it is quite possibly the weakest link in their otherwise amazing product.

One other link. Spyderco charges for clips, and clip screws like we tried to break them.

Benchmade, has quality screws. Benchmade kershaw zt and buck all send me clips and any screw i want free, anytime i ask, no questions. Benchmade has sent me dozens of clips for knives, just because i wanted deep carry clips for some. Even asking for the deep carry clip for one model for a different model, they will confirm it fits and send it, free. Been that way for years. Zt will send you half a knife for free. No questions asked. When i pay $200 for a native 5, i think spyderco could do this too.

Guaranteed, there is a 100% chance that the cost of all those "free parts" is factored into the sale price you pay when you buy the knife.

You are right. And quite a few ben hmades are less than spydercos in price.

[Danke]

Maybe someone should start a hardware complaint thread. I just want to know where the hardware comes from.

Hardware is from Mars. Knives are from Venus.

[gunmike1]

Agreed about the quality of the torx screws. I genuinely enjoy my Spyderco fanboy life, but I think this is a criticism they should take note of as it is quite possibly the weakest link in their otherwise amazing product.

One other link. Spyderco charges for clips, and clip screws like we tried to break them.

Benchmade, has quality screws. Benchmade kershaw zt and buck all send me clips and any screw i want free, anytime i ask, no questions. Benchmade has sent me dozens of clips for knives, just because i wanted deep carry clips for some. Even asking for the deep carry clip for one model for a different model, they will confirm it fits and send it, free. Been that way for years. Zt will send you half a knife for free. No questions asked. When i pay $200 for a native 5, i think spyderco could do this too.

Benchmade no longer sends out free clips, they charge you for them these days. Thus it cost me $10-$11 to get a low ride clip for my Super Freek. Their blade replacements all now cost dramatically more than the $35 they used to. Many are $80 plus now.

[aicolainen]

Benchmade no longer sends out free clips, they charge you for them these days. Thus it cost me $10-$11 to get a low ride clip for my Super Freek. Their blade replacements all now cost dramatically more than the $35 they used to. Many are $80 plus now.

Even though their knives come with a price tag, that arrangement was too good to last.
Beyond the actual cost of the clip, each request was handled manually by an actual person (that's presumably compensated fairly for his/her time), packed and shipped to whomever, wherever. I had a couple sent to me here in Norway and the shipping cost alone was probably more than the production cost of the clip(s).
It was also trust based. No need to prove you have whatever knife you want a new clip for, so the whole thing could easily be gamed.

Impressive policy while it lasted, but I don't blame them for going back on it.