BobTerzuola Starmate - variants?

J

Jeff/1911

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ALSO POSTED ON THE SPYDERSITE FORUM

Folks,

I am planning to buy a Bob Terzuola Starmate fairly soon. Fortunately, there are a couple available to me "somewhat" locally. What I mean by this is that they are easily attainable but not close enough for me to go and look at in person.

So, I ask for your advice regarding various revisions of this knife, assuming there are any. I am looking for a plain edge version, and I have found a numbered knife and a non-numbered one. Are the numbered knives worth more than the regular ones, and are they perhaps an earlier version?

Further, I am wondering if there were any design changes made to these knives during their production lifetime; such as lock improvements, etc that I should know about? For instance, I notice that some pictures of the Starmate I've seen show a silver pocket clip and some display a black one in place. I wondered if this may correspond to any other changes in the design or manufacture of the knife.

Thanks for any information you may have about the history of the Starmate.

Jeff/1911.
 
I don't know the answer to your question, but thought I'd bring this up. I discovered it during a search a few days ago:
http://www.knifecenter.com/knifecenter/spyderc/exper.html
It's an old page from the Knifecenter that shows upcoming Spydies. It's cool to see what they used to look like and what they actually became when they were produced.

The Terzuola went through some pretty radical changes:
<img src="http://www.knifecenter.com/knifecenter/spyderc/images/spbob1.jpg">
"The Duplex - with Tanto shaped blade- with double ground. The front part is flat ground and the rear area is hollow ground for the serrated section (serrations were not yet put on this prototype) - still in planning stage"
 
TOTC,

Thank you for link...that's fascinating! Doesn't this just prove unequivocally what a progressive, adventurous and self assured company Spyderco is? Not many manufacturers (if any others) would allow there prototype and concept designs to be photographed and displyed like that. Very cool indeed.

Thanks again, Jeff.

ps - Do you understand much about the "numbering" process for Spydies? What does this really mean? I assume it indicates the first few units of a given model produced but I'm not sure.
 
Apparently, the store I have been in touch with has a couple of collector numbers, so they get these numbered knives shippied to them. I am just wondering whether I should buy one or not. Mr. Indecision, huh? I can get a plain edge with #847, I believe it is.

Jeff/1911.
 
The first 200 of any new knife are numbered for collectors.
The first 1000 of any new collaboration model are numbered with the first 200 going to collectors.
So technically, #847 isn't a collector's number, but still a numbered piece nonetheless.

No problem on the pic.
What you're saying about photos of protos, however, is an iffy situation with Spyderco. They only want photos taken of knives that will see production within 6 months. In the past, the KnifeCenter took photos of pieces without permission from Spyderco and posted them publicly. Spyderco didn't want them out in the open as they were just concept pieces and people started saying "When are we going to see the ___?"

I hope the pic I posted above is one that received proper permission. I figure it's ok since the Terzuola made it into production, despite design changes.
 
TOTC,

It says underneath that picture that Knifecenter had received permission to post it; I hope so too.

Thank you for the clarification about the numberred pieces. I'm not sure if I want anything else on the blade besides the Terzuola logo and Spyderco's name. The numbered knives will cost me the same as the non numbered ones, so I guess I should. Hmmmmmmmmm. What to do...?

Jeff/1911.
 
if the nuimbered are the same price, get the numbered. the number will bring a small premium usually, along w/proto's/pre-pro's i would think. a shop in austin was selling BM 806SD2 and TSEK pre-pro's and proto types at about 20% off retail ($129 or so for the 806,the same for 710's and dont remeber the TSEK, didnt buy one) the same as std models, i bought a 710 proto and a 806 pre-pro, and think it was a good deal for me. i would always rasther have a proto or pre-pro than a std knife, if the price is the same - and proto's and pre-pro's often have neat little things like aluminum vs G10 handles (BM 710) and G10 spacer vs lexan or whatever they use on the 806.

greg
 
Greg,

That makes sense to me. If the knife is numbered it makes it special, and unique. I realize that this is the reason it's done, but I was just wondering whether I should start collecting numbers...in case I can't stop. Grin.

Thanks, Jeff/1911.
 
Hi,

During a recent google search for stuff about the Terzuola Starmate I ran across what appears to be a review of this knife done by Sergiuz Mitin but it was in Russian; I believe.

Is there an English version of this review around somewhere...if so I'd sure like to see it.

Thanks for any help you can offer - Jeff/1911.
 
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