honey badger knives cloned the spyderco tasman

[JeremiahWeaver09]

honey badger knives has a model that is basically a flea market version of the spyderco tasman with a flipper, isnt this blatant theft

 

[bikerector]

For comparison. Handle is pretty different. Does look like they attempted the spyderco serrations. Blade shape is just a standard hawkbill, like the tasman. The thumbhole is suspicious since it has a flipper.

 

[Skar]

honey badger knives has a model that is basically a flea market version of the spyderco tasman with a flipper, isnt this blatant theft

Looks very similar.
The tasman also has a back lock and h1 steel with 4 way clip positioning.

 

[DrRollinstein]

Does Spyderco own serrations now? Because they dont own the hawkbill blade shape either. Which leaves nothing similar. So no, this isnt theft.

Minor Edit to second poster: The thumb hole might be suspicious if all the other honey badger blades didnt also have a weird shaped hole.

 

[Anderdale]

I kind of want that honey badger… looks pretty sweet with a flipper and all

 

[Hackenslash]

The Honey Badger Hawkbill is a morph of other knives made under the same name. The Drop Point, Tanto, Wharncliff, Wharncleaver and Leaf blades all use the same handle, in three different sizes.

The Spyderco Tasman has no patent on the blade shape nor serrations, only the round hole. Given that the Honey Badger blade shape is iconic, with different lock, handle shape and opening mechanism/lock, I don’t see any foul here.

And…I’m usually quick to call foul…

 

[Yo Mama]

I definitely do not see it as a copy, and Honey Badger knives are not flea market to me.

 

[kreole]

Clearly not a copy

 

[Chronovore]

There are a few similarities. There might even be a little bit of inspiration on a couple of the design choices. However, this doesn't count as a "clone" or "copy" for me.

A lot of people seem to love these knives and the company seems to be doing well. The only reason I haven't tried them yet is because of the steel choices. A negative they share with Spyderco's budget line is high prices for 8Cr13Mov. That's a steel that has felt increasingly obsolete to me. I was already starting to feel that way back in 2018 when Civivi burst onto the scene using 9Cr18Mov at this price level. Now, too many companies are offering much better steel choices in that $40-60 window.

Like a few other companies, Honey Badger seem to be addressing that issue with Chinese D2. Sure, it's a step up on edge retention but it's also a step down on corrosion resistance. It's also not enough of a step up in edge retention for me to care. For whatever reasons, Chinese D2 almost never lives up to the reputation forged by D2 in more expensive American knives. Other Chinese steels like 9Cr18Mov and 10Cr15CoMov shouldn't be competitive on edge retention but they often are (and they sometimes win).

 

[HP2114B]

The standard drop point Honey Badger is a straight ripoff of the Maxace Balance. The Honey Badger has a differently shaped opening hole, a slightly enlarged lock release cutout and adds jimping in a couple places, but the pattern itself is identical. Chan Adan complained about it a couple years ago and tried to warn people, but it fell on deaf ears.

The hawkbill Honey Badger blade is a near-duplicate of the Tasman blade, right down to the serration pattern and number/arrangement of teeth. Given their previous cloning of the Balance design, I would certainly consider it another act of design duplication. They aren't breaking any laws, but it's not the sort of behavior that's usually encouraged around here.

Maxace recently released the Balance-K, a budget version which deletes the opening hole entirely and has some slight profile tweaks. It's intended to compete directly with the Honey Badger, but with better materials and a slightly lower price. The Balance-K uses Bohler K110 instead of Chinese mystery D2 or 8Cr, and has G-10 scales instead of FRN.

 

[JBC6650]

That is not a copy, the OP either knows that and was just trying to stir the pot, or he's truly dumb as a brick.

 

[EngrSorenson]

That is not a copy, the OP either knows that and was just trying to stir the pot, or he's truly dumb as a brick.

And you’re pretty dense if you don’t see that the similarity is striking. Consider another possibility; OP doesn’t know what constitutes a clone, or even more broadly, intellectual property infringement.

We see this stuff hit courts all the time when similarity is sufficient to cause long, drawn out legal battles. Give OP a break.

 

[shane45-1911]

And you’re pretty dense if you don’t see that the similarity is striking.

Yeah, it has a serrated hawkbill blade and handle. OMG, it must be a copy/forgery/knockoff/patent infringement.

Sorry, I don't see it either - all knives are copies of, or influenced by something....

Back to wallowing in my denseness.

 

[EngrSorenson]

Yeah, it has a serrated hawkbill blade and handle. OMG, it must be a copy/forgery/knockoff/patent infringement.

Sorry, I don't see it either - all knives are copies of something....

Back to wallowing in my denseness.

I’m not saying OP is right or wrong, merely that it’s not so unthinkable as to call the op “Dumb as a brick”.

 

[shane45-1911]

I’m not saying OP is right or wrong, merely that it’s not so unthinkable as to call the op “Dumb as a brick”.

Fair enough.

 

[115Italian]

I have the medium honey badger hawkbill fully serrated. It’s well made. The serrations have held up to some serious abuse. For the money it is a pretty good knife.

 

[JBC6650]

I’m not saying OP is right or wrong, merely that it’s not so unthinkable as to call the op “Dumb as a brick”.

Yeah sorry that was a little harsh, I probably owe the brick an apology.

 

[GronK]

Its so much easier act like a jerk than to engage in educational dialogue.

 

[Chronovore]

The standard drop point Honey Badger is a straight ripoff of the Maxace Balance. The Honey Badger has a differently shaped opening hole, a slightly enlarged lock release cutout and adds jimping in a couple places, but the pattern itself is identical. Chan Adan complained about it a couple years ago and tried to warn people, but it fell on deaf ears.

The hawkbill Honey Badger blade is a near-duplicate of the Tasman blade, right down to the serration pattern and number/arrangement of teeth. Given their previous cloning of the Balance design, I would certainly consider it another act of design duplication. They aren't breaking any laws, but it's not the sort of behavior that's usually encouraged around here.

Maxace recently released the Balance-K, a budget version which deletes the opening hole entirely and has some slight profile tweaks. It's intended to compete directly with the Honey Badger, but with better materials and a slightly lower price. The Balance-K uses Bohler K110 instead of Chinese mystery D2 or 8Cr, and has G-10 scales instead of FRN.

Here is the drop point version against a couple of variants of the Maxace Balance that were quick to find on BladeHQ. The "inspiration" is stronger here than with the initial pairing...

 

[JeremiahWeaver09]

I have the medium honey badger hawkbill fully serrated. It’s well made. The serrations have held up to some serious abuse. For the money it is a pretty good knife.

if you like that knife give the spyderco tasman a try