Spyderco Forums

Excuse the dramatic subject title!

However, the 2024 discontinued list has indeed announced that quite a large number of Byrds are on their way out.

I’m really curious about the future of the Byrd brand and what direction will be taken with the remaining knives and any potential new models.

Mass Extinctions are notorious for marking transitions towards new kinds of life. When there have been declines in species, others have managed to persist and diversify.

Are Byrds a relict lineage that have already seen their peak diversity and full potential, actually going extinct, or will new forms find even greater success?

Dinosaurs are historically famous for being wiped out in a mass extinction, but with the scientific revelation that modern birds are living dinosaurs, those in the know see it differently.

In reality, Dinosaurs underwent an incredible transformation. While some dinosaurs were flying long before the impact ~66 million years ago, the big explosion which likely happened in Spring put the branch now called birds on their eventual trajectory to massive diversification.

In some ways, Birds are one of Earth’s greatest success stories.

I have always been fond of the way Byrd Knives has acknowledged this amazing part of life’s history, so you can see why I might be interested in this development.

I think Byrd knives are very solid and have lots of potential!

So sad to see. I am especially shocked to see the relatively new Wharnies on the list.

I wouldn't panic just yet. It appears that they are eliminating SKUs to streamline production. Most of the non-SE and Wharncliffe blades are additional colors being discontinued. Black plain edge non-wharncliffe blades appear to be sticking around. So they are probably trying to free up production capacity.

Now on the SE and the Wharncliffe models, (as good as they are) I'm guessing they just don't sell as well. Probably the reason we are seeing so many across the company go the way of the Dodo.

I forgot to mention that I did pick up a Flight as a gift for a family member.

I’m less worried and more curious.
I have many thoughts about Byrd knives that I’ll get to eventually, but I want to hear what other people and Spyderco themselves are thinking right now.

I am still pretty new to the game, so there is the potential for me to gather some new insights.

Eliminating SKUs to streamline production and free up production capacity makes sense to me.
I’m sure that’s part of it, so we’ll see where this takes us, I guess.

I think it would be cool to get a Spyderbyte that goes into more detail about the byrd knives.

I'm stunned at the loss of the wharnies. And puzzled. But as stated on the main forum, the time of the Byrds may be gone with all the high quality, inexpensive knives that have flooded the market.

Bemo wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 16, 2023 6:48 pm

I'm stunned at the loss of the wharnies. And puzzled. But as stated on the main forum, the time of the Byrds may be gone with all the high quality, inexpensive knives that have flooded the market.

I think it might be possible to characterize a broad trend in the knife manufacturing, as well as community praise or focus, away from simple functionality and towards a “perceptual satisfaction”.

The way to go, at least in theory, is to serve the trending perceptions of quality as much as possible while maintaining the dominion I think Byrd knives and Spyderco’s Value Line have over functional design and cutting performance.

I think the Byrds are perfectly functional, but to compete in aesthetic quality and perceived value (what I’m calling “perceptual satisfaction”), some change might help.

Cl1ff wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 16, 2023 10:45 pm

Bemo wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 16, 2023 6:48 pm

I'm stunned at the loss of the wharnies. And puzzled. But as stated on the main forum, the time of the Byrds may be gone with all the high quality, inexpensive knives that have flooded the market.

I think it might be possible to characterize a broad trend in the knife manufacturing, as well as community praise or focus, away from simple functionality and towards a “perceptual satisfaction”.

The way to go, at least in theory, is to serve the trending perceptions of quality as much as possible while maintaining the dominion I think Byrd knives and Spyderco’s Value Line have over functional design and cutting performance.

I think the Byrds are perfectly functional, but to compete in aesthetic quality and perceived value (what I’m calling “perceptual satisfaction”), some change might help.

I think the Raven and Crow were the “perceptual satisfaction” prototypes in the byrd range. I’m hoping we will see a merging of the byrd and value line as time goes on. The “DNA” of the byrd incorporated into the Value line allowing choils and backlocks a place at the table, think Tern and Up-Tern.
I’m disappointed at the Wharncliffe cull too.

If the byrd designs change into value line spydies like the uptern.
That would be fine by me. I have a few byrds i use them as knives for places i risk losing one.
Or cutting jobs that are very dirty.
But the crow and the raven where really above and beyond the rest.
I hope they do something with it and make them spydies. Then again they would be serious competition against models like the polestar and tenacious,… and i do not know spyderco will do that.

This week I got my hands on my first Byrd knife (Cara Cara 2); I was pleasantly surprised by the feeling of quality. Possible extinction may force my hand: I may buy another in the future.

They're worth stocking up on.