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
Wow, this sure turned ugly quickly! What ever happened to civil discourse? Anyway, I find your topic interesting, RockCowles, and will address it from my perspective. Onion is correct that the hole weakens the lateral strength of the blade. It probably contributes a small degree of degradation to in-line force resistance, as well, but that is demonstrably negligible in that few examples of such occurrences exist, even in testing.
I disagree with your contention that this weakness makes the Round Hole obsolete, however. Obviously it's served well in the decades since Sal Glesser revolutionized the folding knife world with it. As others have mentioned, it is one of the fastest, most positive indexing/opening methods available. And it's superior for use with gloved hands.
Personally, I don't like flippers because they tend to open inadvertently in my pocket and offer an inconsistent opening configuration in which I have a less-than-solid purchase on the handle. When not wearing gloves, I prefer thumb studs and thumb plates.
Many years ago now, I pondered the very question that you're bringing up. I concluded that I wanted as much strength as possible in my everyday carry folder for the emergency situations that I could envision, as well as those that I couldn't. I retired my Spydercos and began carrying other models. (Also contributing to this decision was the fact that I carry my keychain in the same pocket and my keys occasionally worked their way into the hole, creating a potential "bad day" scenario when I went to pull them out of my pocket.)
I still love my Spydercos and carry them regularly in certain situations. And in the last decade or so Spyderco has come up with some very rugged designs. But for EDC folders, I've moved on to what I believe to be stronger options.
-Steve
