Amsterdam Meet 2012 Report

[yablanowitz]

Man it sucks that it is made in Taiwan...

What really sucks is the scales don't cover the liners. The maker in Taichung puts out excellent knives, using American steel. I'd rather see it made in Taiwan than have the Paramilitary discontinued to free up the production capacity to make it in Golden.

[Mr Blonde]

Thanks for the pics Mr. Blonde.

Any chance of seeing pics of the Ulize? I recall Sal saying, that the finished version would be ready for the Amsterdam meet.

I'm far from finished, it's in the pipeline

[Mr Blonde]

Spyderco 2012 Prototype 2012 – Foundry (Carpenter)


This knife was introduced as a prototype last year; back then it was known as the ‘Carpenter’. It still is being developed for the Carpenter Company. The intention is to have a folding knife made using 100% materials made by Carpenter, with the first run going to its employees.

[Mr Blonde]

The knife looks and feels like a solid working folder. The blade is around 3,5 inches long and made from Carpenter’s CTS-XHP steel. According to Spyderco’s testing, the steel’s performance is similar to powdered stainless D2. The handle on this proto is made from Bio-Blu which probably won’t be used in regular production. To me, the material felt a lot like a titanium alloy. It’s reasonably lightweight and the scales were finished like a fine polish. All the edges on the handle were nicely rounded for that ‘melted’ look and feel.

[Mr Blonde]

The elongated milling marks at the base of the integral locking liner are the shapes that Spyderco R&D came up with as being the best way to make the locking liner of this handle material.

[Mr Blonde]

The tip wasn’t yet perfectly finished on this prototype, you’ll notice that mostly in the spine shot, but I’m sure this will be fixed in final production. I think the Foundry would make a great working folder for a wide variety of utility chores.

[Steel130]

Wow. Great looking blades.

[AF]

I wish it had a pocket clip...

Yep, it needs a clip to appeal to me.

[RevDevil]

Man it sucks that it is made in Taiwan...

Why? The build quality is going to be top notch, as seen by the other knives made there.

[Dr Heelhook]

Wow, love the rounded edges on the Foundry.

[jacksterp]

So far, the Foundry is by far my favorite.

Thanks for all the terrific pictures from this show.

[5.56]

Make the Foundry with Ti handles and a solid pocket clip and you will have a home run.

That would be the perfect folder IMO.

[neverdie36]

Make the Foundry with Ti handles and a solid pocket clip and you will have a home run.

That would be the perfect folder IMO.

Your grail?

[5.56]

Your grail?

Yep, Sal is getting warm.

[Soulrack223]

Nice pictures. Thanks for posting these again. I love the Air.

[Dr Heelhook]

I'd love to see the current state of the Pygmy Warrior..

[Mr Blonde]

Spyderco 2012 Prototype – Native 5 Fluted Titanium


Another familiar model was the Native 5 with the fluted titanium handle. I still think it looks and handles like a champ. The handle scales also ´replace´ the liners in the G10 model. Although visually it makes the ti scales look thicker, to me at least, I pretty sure the overall thickness is the same as the G10 model. I really like this Native variant and hope it gets made soon.

[Mr Blonde]

I'd love to see the current state of the Pygmy Warrior..

I'm sorry but I didn't see that one at the Amsterdam Meet. Perhaps it got shipped straight to the IWA show in Germany that starts later this week.

[icybluesmile]

I can't wait for those fluted natives!

[Mr Blonde]

Spyderco 2012 Prototype – Pekka Tuominen Puukko

The Puukko was also shown as a production prototype for 2012. It looked the same to me as it did last year, but this time the proto came with a sheath. It’s been a while since I handled a leather sheath for a fixed blade, but this ‘dangler’ design seemed very well made to me. When handling the knife I was struck by the relative thickness of the spine. The zero ground edge was sharp and, in fact, tough for me to capture ‘head on’ on camera.























The Puukko came along with a nice surprise…….a high tech folding Puukko, the Nilakka – also by Pekka Tuominen!