Spyderco Forums

What do you all say?

Crucible operated on a much larger scale than could be filled by the cutlery industry.

Now, if Spyderco were to buy some of the IP and invest in much smaller scale equipment to build their own PM foundry, that would be something.

Well reviewing recent history, Crucible was purchased in 2009(?) as it was going bankrupt. Crucible made PM metals used in the auto industry and aerospace and they made PM steel used in knives, but couldn't stay afloat due to competition. Fast forward to 2024 and they were doing the same thing and are now filing for bankruptcy again.

If one were to purchase Crucible there'd have to be a lot of changes made to remain competitive that would cost $$$. (Whether in New York, or Colorado.) This would take not only the purchase price, but a massive amount of cash to modernize and renovate the whole operation. Other companies are already set up to produce PM steel and are competing for market share and trying to stay in business.

It would all depend on whether Spyderco has bags of money on hand and wanted to branch out into steel manufacturing, and what their return on investment would be. I'm sure Sal and the other financial wizards at Spyderco have spent at least a couple of minutes thinking about that.

Sounds easy, but even with enough money it's far from it.

Doesn't sound feasible to me. As David said, it sounds like it would be simple, but it wouldn't be. And I could be mistaken, but I highly doubt that Spyderco has that much money to just throw around. I remember Sal once said something like Spyderco isn't as large scale of a company like Kershaw, Benchmade, etc. And I highly doubt THEY could afford to buy a steel company, either.

Jim

Branching out into an industry that gets most of it's income from non-knife related sources would be very risky for Spyderco, even if they could do it. It wouldn't be hard to imagine Spyderco going out of business trying to keep Crucible afloat while not having any prior experience running a steel company.

Scandi Grind wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 30, 2025 1:51 pm

It wouldn't be hard to imagine Spyderco going out of business trying to keep Crucible afloat while not having any prior experience running a steel company.

The management at Crucible had tons of experience running a steel company, and look what happened to them.

I think Sal's likely looking forward to retiring some day, not sinking millions of dollars into a company that's already in a shaky position as it is.

My guess is that's a non-starter.

While I’m sure Spyderco has a lot of knowledge about steel, that’s a very different thing from running a foundry business. If anyone is asking for my advice, Spyderco should focus on their core competencies.

I don’t know why people are so spun up about Crucible. There will be more steel. And that steel will have different letters and numbers. All the people who are super excited about new letters and numbers and are super bored with the old letters and numbers will have a good couple of years while Spyderco substitutes other steels over the next couple years.

I'm quite certain that if Sal had enough cash laying around to buy Crucible, he'd be better off burning it in his fireplace to heat his home. All the cutlery manufacturing in the world doesn't amount to enough volume to support a foundry, much less Spyderco alone.

Here was the response from the man himself when asked a few weeks ago or so.

yablanowitz wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 30, 2025 8:21 pm

I'm quite certain that if Sal had enough cash laying around to buy Crucible, he'd be better off burning it in his fireplace to heat his home.

I'd buy a bunch of gas when it's cheap and then sell it when the price goes up in a few days.

I could see Sal, standing inside of Crucible, wondering to himself, "what did I get myself into" if he bought them.

The thought of what it would cost, to bring them up to date, must be mind numbing. Poor management is what got them there, isn't gonna get them out of it either.

I still think the forum should start a collection… “No hunny I did not buy another knife, but we are now .01% owners of Crucible.”

WilliamMunny wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 31, 2025 3:26 am

I still think the forum should start a collection… “No hunny I did not buy another knife, but we are now .01% owners of Crucible.”

We don't NEED a to start a collection to own Crucible. Eramet is the parent company of Erasteel, and is publicly traded. Not only can you own a piece of Crucible, but this is probably a better way to earn a return on your investment. Eramet closed today at €55.40, not far off its 52 week low. Now might be a good time to break open your piggy bank and put that spare change to work for you.

There could be a knife makers cabal where they add a 10% tax on knives with premium powdered steel to go towards keeping these steels available. I’d pay a premium to ensure access to the premium steels.

Today at Niagara, member from BF was there, took some pics.

Steel is from Crucible.

Mk-211 wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 31, 2025 1:18 pm

Steel is from Crucible.

XHP is from Carpenter, but yeah regardless, cool photos, thanks for bringing them over for us to check out! Looks like lumber yard at a first glance