Post your seconds sale pickups!

[GoldenSpydie]

GS,

I know you said don't ask but I gotta know the details on that necklace. I've seen someone wearing one before...just one man.

As Jabba pointed out, it's a Titanium Value Totem. Sal was wearing one today, and Gail was wearing a gold one. Sal said today that he majored in philosophy, and the value totem was one of his early ideas. It's a pretty cool little thing. (And no, it's not a second.)

[timlara]

Unfortunately, I was broke today since we've had a lot of home improvement/repair bills lately, but my wife wavered and allowed me to pick up a CF S90v Yojimbo2 for $85!

The best part of the day for me was getting the opportunity to chat for a long time with Sal and see his awesome parlor trick where he demonstrates the silliness of the standard "slicing paper" test as a gauge of a knife's cutting ability:

• First, he sliced a brochure in half with a Szabo.
  Next, he sliced another brochure in half with the SPINE of the Szabo.
  Finally, he sliced the third brochure in half with ANOTHER BROCHURE! :eek:

Just goes to show that sometimes cutting tests tell you more about the skill of the person doing the cutting than the performance of the "knife".

Edit: Almost forgot to mention that I also got to handle the Lil Temp 2 prototype that Sal was carrying and it is definitely a MUST BUY. Very true to the original, yet fixes the biggest issues the original had for me, which were the "chunkiness" in the pocket and the bulky clip. The proto I saw was much sleeker (though it still had that nice "dagger" feel to it) and was sporting a fairly standard hourglass type clip, though I assume maybe that could change. If it was for sale today as is, I'd have happily bought one!

[adancingmonkey]

I wonder if Sal sharpened the brochure on the sharpmaker first?

[ChrisinHove]

The best part of the day for me was getting the opportunity to chat for a long time with Sal and see his awesome parlor trick where he demonstrates the silliness of the standard "slicing paper" test as a gauge of a knife's cutting ability:

• First, he sliced a brochure in half with a Szabo.
  Next, he sliced another brochure in half with the SPINE of the Szabo.
  Finally, he sliced the third brochure in half with ANOTHER BROCHURE! :eek:

Just goes to show that sometimes cutting tests tell you more about the skill of the person doing the cutting than the performance of the "knife"!

This just MUST be posted on YouTube, please!

Almost unbelievable bargains, otherwise. Just great for users.

[i am travvy]

Wow those prices are amazing. I really wish I lived closer so I could of went. I still can't believe that Damascus caly for that price.. wow.

[jabba359]

Kyle, were you the one with the $40 Caly 3 Damascus? Either way, awesome find!

I think that was bearfacedkiller that got the $40 one. Mine was $110. Not a crazy bargain, but not terrible. The pattern on it is really nice, it locks up great, the edge is even, it's nice and centered, and the bolsters don't have any scratches. I don't know what made it a second. Maybe it was returned and just couldn't be sold as new?

The super bargain Caly 3 may have eluded me, however I did manage to get a lightly used Sage 4 for $20. The original owner had switched the clip for lefty and obviously carried it a bit, as the bolsters have some light scratches and the clip shows a little wear, but it locks up solid and the edge looks factory. At that price, however, I don't mind that it's a little used or that the wood pattern wasn't the best I've seen.

[ABX2011]

Wow, wish I had been there! Maybe one of these years. Long trip from NH.
How does the sale work? Is there a limit to what you can buy?

[bearfacedkiller]

Kyle, were you the one with the $40 Caly 3 Damascus? Either way, awesome find!

I think that was bearfacedkiller that got the $40 one. Mine was $110. Not a crazy bargain, but not terrible. The pattern on it is really nice, it locks up great, the edge is even, it's nice and centered, and the bolsters don't have any scratches. I don't know what made it a second. Maybe it was returned and just couldn't be sold as new?

The super bargain Caly 3 may have eluded me, however I did manage to get a lightly used Sage 4 for $20. The original owner had switched the clip for lefty and obviously carried it a bit, as the bolsters have some light scratches and the clip shows a little wear, but it locks up solid and the edge looks factory. At that price, however, I don't mind that it's a little used or that the wood pattern wasn't the best I've seen.

That is the key I believe. The factory seconds were not as deeply discounted like the returns. I got four crazy deals and I believe they were all used as opposed to factory seconds. Doesn't matter to me as I will be using them as well and they seem just fine. There were very few returns there compared to factory rejects so they crazy deals were few. I feel good about my $40 damascus Caly3 and your $20 Sage4 was sweet (I paid $55 for mine and saw a $10 one missing some wood on one side) but keen1 got a Chokwee for $10 dollars and that must be the best deal that I saw.

[GoldenSpydie]

Kyle, were you the one with the $40 Caly 3 Damascus? Either way, awesome find!

I think that was bearfacedkiller that got the $40 one. Mine was $110. Not a crazy bargain, but not terrible. The pattern on it is really nice, it locks up great, the edge is even, it's nice and centered, and the bolsters don't have any scratches. I don't know what made it a second. Maybe it was returned and just couldn't be sold as new?

The super bargain Caly 3 may have eluded me, however I did manage to get a lightly used Sage 4 for $20. The original owner had switched the clip for lefty and obviously carried it a bit, as the bolsters have some light scratches and the clip shows a little wear, but it locks up solid and the edge looks factory. At that price, however, I don't mind that it's a little used or that the wood pattern wasn't the best I've seen.

Nice finds! I was wondering if returned knives were automatically sold as seconds.

Wow, wish I had been there! Maybe one of these years. Long trip from NH.
How does the sale work? Is there a limit to what you can buy?

This year, people started lining up at about 8:00 a.m. the day before. I arrived at 5:00 p.m. and I was 15th in line. By morning, the line was around two corners.

Gail let us in to the atrium at 7:00 a.m., and at 7:45 or so, they let the first 50 people in. (They originally planned to let 20 in at a time, but they decided to let 50 in at once.)

The seconds are in cardboard trays with the knives (no boxes) spine-up in the slots. People tried to grab as many as possible and then later sort out their basket. Any purchasing individual may only buy 25 knives per time through the line, but sharpening equipment and full-price knives do not count toward the 25 limit.

I hope that helps. :)

[Holland]

Was it a riot in there or fairly relaxed? :D

[GoldenSpydie]

Was it a riot in there or fairly relaxed? :D

Both, oddly enough. Everyone wanted to get the best knives for the best deals, and no one knew where the best ones were, so in that sense, it was pretty chaotic. But everyone was friendly, and we looked out for the knives that others wanted. (For example, I found a Battlestation for a fireman that was in line near us.)

[jabba359]

Agreed with GoldenSpydie. It was well run, people were very friendly and well behaved, and I thought that letting 50 people in kept the area full, but not to the point you couldn't navigate through the crowd and the trays were easily accessible.

Since the knives were more or less randomly distributed throughout the tables, the first people in really had no advantage over anyone else in the first group of 50. I think GoldenSpydie got a better batch of knives than the first guy in line. Also, Spyderco replenished supply during the day so people later were also able to pick up some of the more desirable knives, as the replenishment trays were also randomized.

Super big shout out to the Spyderco crew. I know the sale is kind of a pain in the butt, but they were all extremely friendly and helpful, often finding specific knives amongst the piles for customers. They also had hot coffee, pastries, and water for all the freezing people who had waited outside.

[HarleyXJGuy]

I can not contain how jealous I am right now.

Congrats to all of the people who were able to attend, some incredible deals had all around.

So umm yeah, anyone looking to you know uh maybe kinda cough sell?

[razorsharp]

S90v Paramilitary 2 coming my way for $80 ...

[Johnnie1801]

S90v Paramilitary 2 coming my way for $80 ...

I hope your mailman doesn't get mugged (where did I leave my hoodie :p )

[Bradley]

Wow, the pick ups are amazing. Beyond jealous with most of them, Mainly the moon glow haha. Awesome scores everyone!

[HarleyXJGuy]

S90v Paramilitary 2 coming my way for $80 ...

I hope your mailman doesn't get mugged (where did I leave my hoodie :p )

I will be your wing man, got plenty of guns over here.

Course we would have to roshambo ( I got first ) for it once we are done.

[timlara]

The best part of the day for me was getting the opportunity to chat for a long time with Sal and see his awesome parlor trick where he demonstrates the silliness of the standard "slicing paper" test as a gauge of a knife's cutting ability:

• First, he sliced a brochure in half with a Szabo.
  Next, he sliced another brochure in half with the SPINE of the Szabo.
  Finally, he sliced the third brochure in half with ANOTHER BROCHURE! :eek:

Just goes to show that sometimes cutting tests tell you more about the skill of the person doing the cutting than the performance of the "knife"!

This just MUST be posted on YouTube, please!

Ha...trust me, I was kicking myself pretty hard for not having my phone ready to record! Sal can also do a pretty mean P'kal demo. When you see his enthusiasm, it's not hard to understand why the products turn out so great.

[timlara]

Super big shout out to the Spyderco crew. I know the sale is kind of a pain in the butt, but they were all extremely friendly and helpful, often finding specific knives amongst the piles for customers. They also had hot coffee, pastries, and water for all the freezing people who had waited outside.

Yep, I second this. You could tell that a lot of thought went into making sale run as smoothly and fairly as possible. I couldn't get there until almost 2pm and still had to wait in line at that point, and even so, by the time I got in there were PLENTY of great knives left. If I had the budget for it, I could have easily filled up a whole basket full of stuff I wanted.

[Stuart Ackerman]

Looking at those pics makes me ponder why I live the other end of the Universe sometimes...