Sal, what are the chances for a AEB-L spydie ?

[sal]

Hi Some1.

You are really misinformed. Bean counters make no decisions about product at at Spyderco. You have a lot to learn. And we got no bee-u-row-craps here!

sal

[fanglekai]

Lefty friendly knives please!!!!!!!!

[Some1]

"The problems are always more complex than it might appear. I appreciate that some of you like the design and would like to see it in other variations. I like the design, and I'm the guy that designed it. But in reality, the Pattada is not a fast mover and with a minimum of 1200 pcs per run, we will sit on inventory of slower designs for a long time. Sometimes years. The alternative is to close the design out at a very low price and lose money over the entire run.

We discussed this design in a product meeting recently because of your requests. It was decided that the model is not popular enough to risk the production of another 1200 pc run, especially in an exotic material(s) that will probably make it more expensive and thus even slower to sell. Some designs are attractive to larger markets, some are not. That doesn't mean we won't try it in production, but often those are short runs.

We try very hard to serve our customers (ELU) as best we can, but we also have to pay staff and electricity. We do have a few models that we maintain in the line, despite slower sales because they serve particular markets that we honor (eg: Whale Blades, P'Kal, etc.). Should we decide to make a Pattada Sprint sometime in the future after all of the inventory has reached customers (ELU), we will consider K390 or whatever material you, the customer, would like.

sal"

Bladeforums

[vivi]

I'd rather make a knife than a Mule. Mules are slowing down. If you could pick just one knife, what would it be?

sal

Police 4. I'd buy two or three.

If it's possible, a Cara Cara would also interest me.

[tvenuto]

@some1 I take it you also don’t own a company. When you own a company you have to wear many hats. Sal can be a knife Knut and still wear an accountant’s hat from time to time. Serving this community 100% of the time might not make business sense.

[wrdwrght]

I'd rather make a knife than a Mule. Mules are slowing down. If you could pick just one knife, what would it be?

sal

Police 4. I'd buy two or three.

The Police4 is divine. If AEB-L wants to be thin, here's a model I'd buy it in.

[wrdwrght]

their bureaucrats

This phrasing puzzles me. How big do you suppose Spyderco to be? Sal and Eric aren't in charge?

When bureaucrats and bean counters are involved only they are in charge regardless of who says they have the final decision.

Your trolling is familiar. Have you been here under other names?.

[sal]

Hi Some1,

I thought that I carefully explained why it was an impractical direction to go. We do not have unlimited funds and to bring another run of a slower moving product into the market with limited appeal will take the funds that could bring a different model to the market, such as the Kapara. I guess that you think that any decision involving funds makes us bean counters? Then you are right, we're all bean counter. :rolleyes:

sal

[Nate]

Yeah, I feel free to make casual suggestions and comments about things that I'd like to see, but at the same time I respect that I know far less about Spyderco's business and market than Spyderco does. Sometimes I even worry that they listen to us too much.

Say you have 100 people here clamoring for a k390 Pattada, does that really mean you've got demand to sell 1,200? Would you be robbing demand from the Police 4? Maybe there is a fair amount of demand now, what about 12-18 months from now? Will prople have moved on to the next big thing by the time you can commission the run and bring it to market? I'm sure there's a lot more that goes into it than we have to consider when spitballing ideas.

I remember when there was a lot of talk about releasing mules more often and in larger quantities. It happened and now demand appears to have waned. Then there was a lot of interest and talk about offering the value line in upgraded steels, Spyderco did it and again the actual demand doesn't appear to be that strong.

Spyderco does an awful lot for us and caters to their enthusaists more than any other brand I've seen, but not every idea can be acted upon, even if they look good on paper.

[zhyla]

They can do it, it's whether their bureaucrats tell them it's unwise to do so.

...

Bean counters made those decisions. Not knife afis.

They sell knives. Selling knives is a hard business to be in. I would hope they are counting every bean rather than listening to whatever whim forum geeks try to push. If they listened to us every model would come in a dozen different steels.

And except in limited cases (Salt in particular) the steel barely matters at all. The Pattada didn’t sell well? Don’t blame the steel, look at the knife.

I hear what you’re saying on grinds. I’d like to see something that pushes the slicing boundaries a bit as well. But would it sell? What are the business trade offs? Only the evil, self serving bean counters can know that.

[Nate]

Coyote brown Urban with AEB-L.

sal

[steelcity16]

I'd rather make a knife than a Mule. Mules are slowing down. If you could pick just one knife, what would it be?

sal

Where would an AEB-L knife likely be made? If Golden, then Native LW. If Seki, then Dragonfly 2 or G10 Delica.

[Nate]

Where would an AEB-L knife likely be made? If Golden, then Native LW. If Seki, then Dragonfly 2 or G10 Delica.

See Sal's quote I posted directly above yours.

AEB-L is a European steel made by BU, so Maniago is probably the best/least expensive option for doing a run in this steel. Looks like an Urban is either a possibility or already in-the-works.

[Liquid Cobra]

Coyote brown Urban with AEB-L.

sal

[tvenuto]

Hope it comes in the wharnie as well.

[dj moonbat]

Hope it comes in the wharnie as well.

Dittoes. I miss my old orange Urban wharncliffe so much.

[Doc Dan]

Well, AEB-L is an odd choice for a desired steel when you can get 14C28N, assuming everyone wants to stick with Sandvik or something. Still, a 13C27 Urban LW in Coyote Brown? I'd buy one.

[tvenuto]

Well, AEB-L is an odd choice for a desired steel when you can get 14C28N, assuming everyone wants to stick with Sandvik or something. Still, a 13C27 Urban LW in Coyote Brown? I'd buy one.

The same could be said of 52100, but that doesn’t stop people from snapping it up like piranhas.

[Nate]

Honestly, 13C26, AEB-L, or 14C28N would all be pretty much interchangeable to me. 14C should have more corrosion resistance, but it isn't an attribute I worry about much (they're all going to do a **** of a lot better than 1095, 52100, super blue, etc...)

I do think it's cool they stuck with Bohler-Uddeholm (Sal confirmed they ordered the steel). All of my Urbans: N690 Co, K390, and eventually AEB-L, will be from BU steels. :)

[Doc Dan]

I hope the blade length remains the current 2.6" and not 2.5" as was originally planned. Right now it hits the sweet spot of 2.6 to 2.8 of my preferred slipjoint pocket knife blade length, just barely.