Are Spyder Holes Liabilities?

Status
Not open for further replies.
RockCowles

RockCowles

Joined
Nov 22, 2009
Messages
37
I had a discussion at the Blade Show a few years ago with a very well known knifemaker about testing factory knives to the point of failure. He said Spydercos did horrible due to the Spyder Holes taking a big chunk out of the blade right by the spine and weakening them. I think the Spyder Hole was pretty revolutionary when first used, but would seem obsolete when we have flippers (Thanks, Kit Carson, RIP) and thumbstuds. It looks like a trademarked liability to me now. I have owned and liked many Spydercos, but I never EDC them as my sole knife. I do not abuse my knives and can tell the difference between them, hammers, and prybars, but we do not always choose our circumstances and life threatening events. I do my best to remain knowledgable about brittle steels, bad design, and faulty locks. I was wondering what others think about the Spyder Hole and does it exclude Spyderco from their line ups.

http://spyderco.com
 
Spydercos universally have the spydie hole, thin blade stock and full flat grinds. They are designed to do one thing very very well and that is cut. If you want a pocket fixed blade buy one or pony up the cash for a Medford folding knife. Also dont believe everything Cold Steel tells you there is a reason most knife people hate that company.
 
The Spyder hole works as advertised.

Stupidity is a personal liability. Not having the right tool at hand is unfortunate. Unless stupidity was the reason for not having said tool at hand.
 
I've been a regular user of Spyderco knives since the late 80's. Never broken one blade on a one of them. Still have a Military I bought in the mid 90's, CPM440V blade. Great knife. Of course, I don't pry on things with pocket knives. So I don't expect I'll ever break one.
 
I think the spyder hole is great. I would NEVER pry with a spyderco, so it is actually irrelevant that it weakens the blade.

As stated, thin stock, flat grinds, they are not meant for prying. And if you are in some ridiculously imaginary situation where you must pry with your knife at any cost, then when you survive you can buy another knife at the end.
Good day.
 
Go tell that to the guy that saved his son from a cougar attack with a Caly 3.5
What life threatening circumstances are you really referring to?????
I think that's about as real as it gets.
So, no, they're not a liability at all.
 
I have seen a picture of one that broke at the hole, so it can happen. Don't recall why it broke. I've abused Spyderco knives and the most I could do, other than ruin the edge, was break off the tip of two. My fault.

If it was even close to being a liability you'd find lots of internet posts on the topic and pictures of broken blades. There's a lot of things that sound possible but are not real at all.
 
The Spyder hole is one of the greatest contributions to the knife world,,
Nuff said!
 
Nope. Right tool right job. If this problem existed don't you think it would come up more often? You asked someon who is competing with spyderco. What did you expect?
 
Dean Crail said:
Spydercos universally have the spydie hole, thin blade stock and full flat grinds. They are designed to do one thing very very well and that is cut. If you want a pocket fixed blade buy one or pony up the cash for a Medford folding knife. Also dont believe everything Cold Steel tells you there is a reason most knife people hate that company.
Click to expand...

+25 on what he said.
 
If they were liabilities, then Spyderco would have gone out of business a long time ago. What I consider a liability is a knife manufacturer that refuses to repair a broken item in a reasonable time frame. Another liability is buying a knife for several hundred dollars only to discover the grail has lock rock and you can't get it fixed without it being aesthetically mutilated in some way. Another liability is buying any knife that does not come with a solid lifetime guarantee when there are defects in materials and workmanship.
I do think the opening hole on some Spyderco knives is huge compared to the rest of the knife, it does impact the flow and aesthetics so to speak. I prefer some of the older Spyderco knives that have a smaller hole than what has become the standard 1/2" hole, but hey it is what it is and we have a ton of choices.

Danke42 said:
Who would that be?
Click to expand...

The world may never know.
 
even with all the other deployment methods, the spyderhole is very relevant still, at least to me. i prefer the spyderhole over anything else. i dont like flippers very much. the spyderhole is simple and easy to use.
 
Yes, it weakens the blade. That's a fact. But, does it matter? There is something called engineering. It's where smart people use applied physics and math to design objects, test them, and then produce them according to a specific set of instructions. Spyderco knives don't fail under normal use. I've only seen a few broken ones in years on the forum. If they aren't breaking often then there isn't a problem.

If you need a very strong knife for prying then buy a pry bar.
 
Pretty much everyone sells a skeletonized blade, or something with a hole in it. Most knives are fine for my uses. Get something stronger if you think you need to.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top