anyone do the zip tie WAVE trick?

M

Manji

Joined
Feb 21, 2002
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read from another post about the zip tie trick, the trick wasn't part of the main topic so i dunno if anyone remember it. basically you tie a zip tie onto the opening hole of a knife that has tip up carry and you get the wave feature. did it to a few of my knives and it' works great, after you file down the part where you cut the zip tie it's pretty pocket friendly
 
yea, as a matter of fact I do, I did it to a griptillian and it couldn't have worked better....
 
If I were you, i'd be a little hesitant to advertise that you're emulating the Wave for your friends, I'm not sure if Ernest Emerson is the suing type, but I wouldn't enjoying finding out.
 
umm... i'm merely asking a question here and i believe once you buy a knife you can do whatever you want with it, so what if i put a zip tie on it? so if someone installs a thumbsud on their knife with a nail nick is that illegal? please, i doubt an established company would care what a couple of knifeusers are doing, like they can do anything about it in the first place.
 
YoungCutter, I see your point but honestly...I could etch "Emerson" into every knife I own and Ernie couldn't do a thing about it.

Now...if I take a dremel curring wheel to my Spyder-hole and turn it into a wave-like feature (I think I'll calL it the "Surf"!), and market that enhancement as an aftermarket modification, I might run into trouble with Ernie and Sal from Spyderco.
 
I believe the fair use doctrine applies in this situation. Its your knife, do what you want to it (just not with it, an important distinction :) )

BTW I have nver heard of the zip tie trick, anyone got some pics?
 
Originally posted by YoungCutter
I'm not trying to be a jerk, just being cautious... :)

Ah well, hope ya enjoy your zip tie stuff.
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i'm not trying to be a dick either, im just saying that what you do to YOUR knife is your business but obviously if you try to copy someones idea for financial gain i.e. selling something similar then thats when your in trouble, i'll post some pics later of this "mod"
 
Once you own a knife, you can modify it any way you want with no problem. It's only if you decide to go into production with it, or commercialize it that you might run into problems.
 
I believe the fair use doctrine applies in this situation. Its your knife, do what you want to it
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Well, "fair use doctrine" is the right phrase, but the reasoning is a bit off target.


If I were you, i'd be a little hesitant to advertise that you're emulating the Wave for your friends, I'm not sure if Ernest Emerson is the suing type, but I wouldn't enjoying finding out.
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It doesn't if Mr. Emerson is the suing type or not. You may use a patented idea freely as long as your not selling it or incorporating it into a product that you'll then sell. Certainly using it for your own personal use is no problem at all.

That's one of the reasons for patents. When you file a patent, you have to write a document called a "disclosure" in which you completely disclose your idea. With very few exotic exceptions, your disclosure becomes a public document. They used to be filed in just two federal offices and a few libraries tried to keep parallel copies too. But, now you can download them off the internet for free. Every patent begins with the phrase "This patent teaches..."

That's what patents are all about -- teaching. Mr. Emerson has taught us all a new way to open a folding knife. In exchange for teaching us that lesson, we have given him the exlusive right to profit from that invention for 17 years. But, we can all start using it right now.

In fact, maybe experimenting with Mr. Emerson's idea on your own personal knives will inspire one of you to come up with some new, even better method. In this way, patents encourage innovation.
 
That is correct! You can copy, imitate, or whatever as long as you aren't trying to market it.

Posted this before I saw Gollnicks post. Gollnick, well put!
 
Manji: Not to fear. You can do whatever you want to, to your own knife. As a matter of fact, you can take a dremel tool and carve a wave in it for your own personal use.

Just don't try to market or sell the idea or item. I firmly believe, from what I have read, that Emerson will go to proper lengths to protect his patent.

I believe chad234 said it best in his response.
 
Gollnick,
That is an excellent summation. In a single post, you encapsulated what a patent law treatise needs thousands of pages to do.



Well, "fair use doctrine" is the right phrase, but the reasoning is a bit off target
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I was trying to keep things, very, very simple. As I'm sure you are aware a patent law case book spends hundreds of pages of cases and commentary explaining the fair-use-doctorine.

Take care,
Chad
 
Wow, thanks, Chuck. It seems I didn't have a complete understanding of what a patent really was, my gratitude for the enlightment.
 
After I saw this post my spydie rescue got turbo charged. The trick works great and It's nice because you don't have to make any mods that you can't take off later. All you do is put the zip tye through the opening hole and tighten it so the square part of the tye is on the spine of the blade. Then you trim the excess so all you have is a block of plastic on the spine and a little ring around the outer part of the opening hole. Great Trick! Thanks! :) :D :)
 
Chuck,

I agree with everything that you said in your post, except:

Originally posted by Gollnick


Every patent begins with the phrase "This patent teaches..."

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The patent that I hold begins with the phrase:

"Having thus defined the invention, it is claimed: "

This is in the Claims section, after the Abstract, which defines the invention.

I know this is a minor point, and I'm sure many do begin with phrase "This patent teaches...", but not every one.

Ken
 
RH,

Funny you should mention the Spydie hole trick. Eric Stumph (from United Cutlery) told me about a guy in NC at a flea market who was doing that very same thing. He and I did this in my shop LONG before Ernie's Wave was patented. If the issue was pressed, Ernie's patent would be worthless. Also anyone rember the Talon from Kershaw with the bottleopener looking thing on the blade? That was long before the Wave too. Even though it was not sold as a feature, I sure as hell was selling it that way. The only problem was the clip was on the wrong end to make it function as well as it could have.

Just food for thought :D
 
I used a pretty large wire tie on my 806D2 because that is what I had. I looped the tie throught the thumb hole with the "block" on the spine, tightened it up and cut the excess off with my Wave. Maybe the size of the tie was the problem and maybe not, but for whatever reason the blade of my 806D2 was opening somewhat every time I pulled it out of my pocket. That's definitely not appropriate for my purposes, which are much more utilitarian than defensive. I don't think the "real" wave would snag so much.
 
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