non-knife people with great knives

Discuss Spyderco's products and history.
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ladybug93
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non-knife people with great knives

#1

Post by ladybug93 »

i was at a work function recently and i saw a wire pocket clip that i instantly recognized. closer inspection showed me that it was connected to a dark blue handle. here was a dude at this party with a manix 2 lw in s110v! i was going to have someone to talk to at this awkward, forced social event.

i know it's a little creepy to approach a stranger and tell them you noticed what was in their pocket, but i figured a knife guy would understand and be happy to talk about knives for a bit. however, when i started talking to him about his knife, he had no idea what i was talking about. i asked how he liked s110v and it was like i was speaking another language.

it's not a sprint run or anything, but it's not like you can just go into any random sporting goods store and pick up the knife that was in his pocket and most people don't spend that much on a knife. i assumed that anyone that had a knife like that would know something about it.

anyway, it was the weirdest thing. have any of you run into people carrying nice knives they knew nothing about?
keep your knife sharp and your focus sharper.
current collection:
C253GBBK, C258GFBL, C101GBBK2, C11GYW, C11FWNB20CV, C101GBN15V2, C101GODFDE2, C60GGY, C149G, C189, C101GBN2, MT35, C211TI, C242CF, C217GSSF, C101BN2, C85G2, C91BBK, C142G, C122GBBK, LBK, LYL3HB, C193, C28YL2, C11ZPGYD, C41YL5, C252G, C130G, PLKIT1
spyderco steels:
CPM 20CV, CPM 15V, CTS 204P, CPM CRUWEAR, CPM S30V, N690Co, M390, CPM MagnaCut, LC200N, CTS XHP, H1, 8Cr13MoV, GIN-1, CTS BD1, VG-10, VG-10/Damascus, 440C
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ZrowsN1s
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Re: non-knife people with great knives

#2

Post by ZrowsN1s »

No, that's weird. I do know some people with dull cheap knives who really love them though.
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Re: non-knife people with great knives

#3

Post by Evil D »

I bet this is probably the largest part of Spyderco's customer base. He probably bought it for the color off Amazon, or it was given to him. We AFI's make up a pretty small portion of most knife company's buyers, and to the rest it's just a tool no more or less special than a hammer. You could have a really in depth conversation with a carpenter/roofer about hammers too but the details would be lost on most of us just like knife details were lost on that guy.
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gundamaniac
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Re: non-knife people with great knives

#4

Post by gundamaniac »

It is still a bit odd though, given that a plastic handled variant of a Spyderco with premium blade steel is not something I'd have thought a nonAfi would have unless it was a gift. If he was a nonAfi and bought it himself surely he'd have questioned why he had to pay extra for the color blue and why plastic handles cost so much (I would expect the S110v wouldn't even register in his mind as anything special). I mean, I enjoy my Manix2 LW immensely, but regular people tend to think the knife is cheap feeling due to the "plastic" FRCP handles.
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PanChango
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Re: non-knife people with great knives

#5

Post by PanChango »

Could he have feigned ignorance to avoid conversation? Maybe he just didn't want to talk about it?

Not everyone has the same level of enthusiasm about things.
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Re: non-knife people with great knives

#6

Post by abbazaba »

I gave one of those to a non knife guy for his 40th birthday.
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Re: non-knife people with great knives

#7

Post by The Meat man »

That seems very odd. I can't imagine anyone paying $150 for a pocket knife without being a knife enthusiast.

My guess is that somebody gave it to him.
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Re: non-knife people with great knives

#8

Post by JD Spydo »

ZrowsN1s wrote:
Sat Jul 28, 2018 2:19 am
No, that's weird. I do know some people with dull cheap knives who really love them though.
Yeah what "Zrow" said is mostly what I run into. I can't tell you how many people I run into that have an obvious pocket clip which indicates that the person either has a folding knife or maybe some type of multi-tool. But most people I see with a pocket clip and they have a folding knife that I talk to I soon discover that they have an "el-cheapo" folder made in some 3rd World **** Hole with a blade steel that couldn't keep an edge cutting cheese or warm butter much less perform a hard task. And it's almost hilarious to hear how they brag about that $5 knife like it's a family heirloom or something that they bought off of a "Snap-On" tool truck :rolleyes: .

And it really blows me away how many really intelligent people I work around or meet at different gatherings that have these "dime-store" grade folders that they believe are premium cutting tools :rolleyes: . I told one guy what I paid for one of the Spyders I had on me that day and I truly thought this guy was going into a state of shock :rolleyes: And it's so sad that when you consider that there was a time in this great country when "quality" really meant something to people who use tools>> but not anymore it seems :(

I can count on one hand how many people I encounter that carry a high quality knife with them during the course of a year.
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Re: non-knife people with great knives

#9

Post by guywithopinion »

I can see deciding that one wants to have a nice pocket knife, picking a budget that seems like it will guarantee niceness, and then picking something from that budget that you like the look/idea of. Perhaps he went to a local knife shop, they told him the benefits, he found them appealing, but doesn't remember what they were with any specificity going forward.

Plenty of people own expensive watches without being watch enthusiasts or even knowing much about their watch. Plenty of people own expensive cars without being car enthusiasts or even knowing much about their car. I don't see why a pocket knife couldn't be the same. It's not as common, in my experience (few people carry any pocket knife), but not crazy either.

Edit: in terms of a story, a co-worker has an FRN Delica 4 he uses to cut up fruit and such. He's somewhat into cars and guns so I asked him about it. He was aware it was a Spyderco, and he had done some research to determine it was a good knife. But when I asked if it was a Delica he had no idea what that meant, it was a Spyderco. He was interested to see the knife I was carrying at the time by comparison, but was just like "oh, that's nice". Steel or handle material or other differences weren't really noticed. But I suspect it would be the same with cars. If I had a 911 he'd be pretty impressed, but something like a Camaro V6 1LE would probably just get a polite level of faked interest. It's actual track manners, etc, not really being understood or appreciated.
Last edited by guywithopinion on Sat Jul 28, 2018 9:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: non-knife people with great knives

#10

Post by bearfacedkiller »

I have seen it quite a few times. Ten years of living in Denver and working in Golden it wasn’t too uncommon to see folks with Spydercos. They are a local company.

I had a manager who carried a waved Endura and LOVED the wave feature. He was however previously a cop in small town in western Colorado so he may have also had exposure to Spyderco through being in law enforcement. He said that Spyderco was all he ever carried. I tried to have a geeky knife conversation with him and while he was a proud Spyderco owner he was far from a knife geek like us.

I was doing some cross training one time in another department and the guy training me pulled out a stainless combo edge Endura. I said, “ Nice Spyderco, you like the Endura?” He had no idea what I was talking about. I told him that was the model name. He basically said something like, “Oh, yeah, I don’t know what it is but Spyderco is all I will carry.” He then just put it away and we went about our work.

I had few other experiences like this around that area but again, I did live and work very close to Spyderco. I am with D, these are some of the people who make up a lot of the customer base. We are geeks and are a drop in the bucket. We Spyderco geeks are a small percentage of the knife buying public.

There are other things in my life where I seek quality but do not geek out 110%. I do a little research, often from forums, and make an educated purchase and move on and enjoy my product. I bought a nice camera, a nice flashlight, a nice set of pots and pans as well as other things here and there and was just happy with knowing I bought a quality product. They are not my hobby though. If people who are geeking out on that product think highly of it then it is likely good enough for me is my theory. Keeping that in mind it is also important to realize how much our chatter on here reaches out to the knife buying public at large.
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Re: non-knife people with great knives

#11

Post by anteck7 »

I think a lot of it has to do with the different mentalities between a few different groups.

1. collectors, This is the limited edition 2018 forum knife which was only released on July 30th and only sold between 10am and 11am MST!

2. gear heads, did you know that that knife has Maxamet!

3. people who want the top quality tool they can afford. These folks may recognize a brand or 2, and look for the high side of the display case

4. people who just want a tool. This is where the quality medium priced items come in, they are going to pick a knife that feels good to them and is ~$50

5. people who bargain shop. This is the disposable tool crowd, they want a knife for less than $10, they don't mind buying a knew one every month or so.

I think there are a lot more of Group 3,4 and 5 than there are 1 and 2. I would guess that all the people in groups 1 and 2 combined are less than the amount of people in group 4.
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Re: non-knife people with great knives

#12

Post by Woodpuppy »

I would guess few of the sprints and exclusives make it to non-knife-nerd customers. I’d bet they generally get soaked up quickly by the collectors and aficionado-users. The ones that do are likely gifts, an attempt at giving a “gateway drug” if you will, or the odd rare different item on the shelf.

I mostly see folks with quality user knives who are mostly unconcerned about the details. Most folks are adequately served with a box cutter and a small SAK, Case or Buck. The gaudy gas station knives are just awful, and beyond my utterly tasteless brother-in-law, I don’t see many of those.

I’d actually like to see Spyderco offer a folding replaceable razor blade knife. Something with a minimum 3-finger handle and the spydie hole that would take either trapezoidal or rectangular razor blades. Opening bags of Portland cement and bentonite grout/quik-gel etc. is really rough on any knife, and constitutes abuse in my mind. After having to work pretty hard to fix a Benchmade I’d done that with for a week, I quit doing it with my good knives. I still have a combo edge Gerber I’ll use for that occasionally, but a good old Stanley razor knife is what I use primarily. A spydie edc razor would be awesome.
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Re: non-knife people with great knives

#13

Post by SG89 »

I decided a long time ago not to discuss knives, guns, and sports beyond simpleton terms with people that don't share the same level of obsession I do. I serve up a simple observation and based on their answer I continue the conversation in depth or switch subjects. I guess that's why forums exist for just about everything so we can all talk to each other :)
Last edited by SG89 on Sat Jul 28, 2018 11:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: non-knife people with great knives

#14

Post by PStone »

There’s a vendor I use at my job whose delivery driver noticed a spyderco clip on my pocket one day some months back. We got to chatting, and showing off our knives to each other. His was another brand, made on benches. Now once a month, when the delivery comes,we get to chat knives.
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Re: non-knife people with great knives

#15

Post by RadioactiveSpyder »

I had a similar situation recently when a colleague of mine (a very high-level scientist originally from the U.K.) noticed my knife clip and asked me what kind of knife it was (a Techno that day). I was shocked when he knew right away it was a Spyderco and then went on to mention he had a few older ones in a box he’d bring in from home. A few days later at lunchtime, he calls me into his office and asks me to shut the door (yikes, remember he’s a very senior/influential person in my department) and pulls out a shoebox (phew! ;)) FULL of amazing old models!! :D He had a few of the Q’s, old gen Delicas, etc. nothing too big but we chatted for half an hour about Spyderco and where they had headed since he had looked into them last (which seemed to be the early 90s). From then on, I’d often show him the fancier ones I was carrying that day and he always seemed to really appreciate the advancements and improvements the new models had. Still a shocker to me that this refined ivory tower type was into knives at all, and then knew all about Spyderco! I should add he had no other brands in his shoebox! :) Cheers, Radioactive
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Re: non-knife people with great knives

#16

Post by ZrowsN1s »

JD Spydo wrote:
Sat Jul 28, 2018 9:00 am
......
Yeah what "Zrow" said is mostly what I run into. I can't tell you how many people I run into that have an obvious pocket clip which indicates that the person either has a folding knife or maybe some type of multi-tool. But most people I see with a pocket clip and they have a folding knife that I talk to I soon discover that they have an "el-cheapo" folder made in some 3rd World **** Hole with a blade steel that couldn't keep an edge cutting cheese or warm butter much less perform a hard task. And it's almost hilarious to hear how they brag about that $5 knife like it's a family heirloom or something that they bought off of a "Snap-On" tool truck :rolleyes: .
.......
I can count on one hand how many people I encounter that carry a high quality knife with them during the course of a year.
I don't meet many quality knife enthusiasts in the wild either. Everyone starts somewhere though. I carried a little gas station se hawkbill for years and absolutely cherished that cheap little thing. Back then I considered myself a 'knife guy' because I always carried one. No one is born an AFI, there's hope for every guy carrying a $5 gas station knife. Consider it a step in the right direction. You have to appreciate carrying 'a knife' before you can appreciate a 'nice knife' :D
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ladybug93
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Re: non-knife people with great knives

#17

Post by ladybug93 »

PanChango wrote:
Sat Jul 28, 2018 6:44 am
Could he have feigned ignorance to avoid conversation? Maybe he just didn't want to talk about it?

Not everyone has the same level of enthusiasm about things.
this is highly possible. i work wit really awkward people and i can come off as a little creepy, so...
keep your knife sharp and your focus sharper.
current collection:
C253GBBK, C258GFBL, C101GBBK2, C11GYW, C11FWNB20CV, C101GBN15V2, C101GODFDE2, C60GGY, C149G, C189, C101GBN2, MT35, C211TI, C242CF, C217GSSF, C101BN2, C85G2, C91BBK, C142G, C122GBBK, LBK, LYL3HB, C193, C28YL2, C11ZPGYD, C41YL5, C252G, C130G, PLKIT1
spyderco steels:
CPM 20CV, CPM 15V, CTS 204P, CPM CRUWEAR, CPM S30V, N690Co, M390, CPM MagnaCut, LC200N, CTS XHP, H1, 8Cr13MoV, GIN-1, CTS BD1, VG-10, VG-10/Damascus, 440C
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ladybug93
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Re: non-knife people with great knives

#18

Post by ladybug93 »

gundamaniac wrote:
Sat Jul 28, 2018 6:00 am
It is still a bit odd though, given that a plastic handled variant of a Spyderco with premium blade steel is not something I'd have thought a nonAfi would have unless it was a gift. If he was a nonAfi and bought it himself surely he'd have questioned why he had to pay extra for the color blue and why plastic handles cost so much (I would expect the S110v wouldn't even register in his mind as anything special). I mean, I enjoy my Manix2 LW immensely, but regular people tend to think the knife is cheap feeling due to the "plastic" FRCP handles.
this is basically what i was thinking too. it’s just weird. also, the manix 2 lw is not the obvious choice for a spyderco. it gets pretty mixed reviews. it’s my favorite, but it’s not for everyone. anyway, it wouldn’t be as weird to see a delica or a paramilitary 2 with someone that doesn’t know any better because they are very popular knives. a manix 2 lw in an upgraded steel seems like a deliberate choice made by someone that wants that specific knife.
keep your knife sharp and your focus sharper.
current collection:
C253GBBK, C258GFBL, C101GBBK2, C11GYW, C11FWNB20CV, C101GBN15V2, C101GODFDE2, C60GGY, C149G, C189, C101GBN2, MT35, C211TI, C242CF, C217GSSF, C101BN2, C85G2, C91BBK, C142G, C122GBBK, LBK, LYL3HB, C193, C28YL2, C11ZPGYD, C41YL5, C252G, C130G, PLKIT1
spyderco steels:
CPM 20CV, CPM 15V, CTS 204P, CPM CRUWEAR, CPM S30V, N690Co, M390, CPM MagnaCut, LC200N, CTS XHP, H1, 8Cr13MoV, GIN-1, CTS BD1, VG-10, VG-10/Damascus, 440C
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Re: non-knife people with great knives

#19

Post by Doc Dan »

If you think about it, if the only people who bought regular production Spydercos were AFI's then Spyderco would not be in business. A lot of people just want a good knife and someone tells them Spyderco is good, so they buy Spyderco. They like the looks, the color, how it feels, etc. However, they do not know all of the intricate details that those of us with our affliction know by heart. These are the bread and butter customers. I have found that instead of acting like it is odd that they do not know anything about their knives, it is often appreciated when I enthusiastically praise them for their choice and mention one or two good features. They beam with pride and more often than not, they go on to learn a bit more and buy yet more Spydercos.
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Re: non-knife people with great knives

#20

Post by Crux »

There is no such thing as "non-knife" people. Only "I've never seen a real knife" people. Prove I'm wrong and I'll cut off my little toe. Well, maybe not "actually" my toe, but I'll find one.
Can you find it and can it cut? :eek:
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