How many have they made?

J.Mattson · Apr 8, 2010

We all know that Spyderco has been making knives for quite some time, but does anyone know approximately how many knives theyve produced?

chipped · Apr 9, 2010

Models or overall numbers?

I'd say not enough of either!

freedoom · Apr 9, 2010

6,345,987,741,741,735,136,147,985,123,489,654,249,374,167,114,659,655,479,387,347

J.Mattson · Apr 9, 2010

chipped said:
Models or overall numbers?

I'd say not enough of either!

freedoom said:
6,345,987,741,741,735,136,147,985,123,489,654,249,374,167,114,659,655,479,387,347

Hmm that may be a touch high.

Ive been wondering about this since the other day, I was reading at the local book store and a guy asked me what knife I had, he must have seen my pocket clip. At the time I was carrying a Spyderco Military however when I said Spyderco all I got was a blank look, which I thought was odd since he was carrying a very high end knife (Fallkniven PXL). It was his lack of recognition that got me wondering just how many knives theyve produced.

riz_aaroni · Apr 9, 2010

I have the feeling it isn't some insanely large number, compared to other companies of similar size/type. Not sure what any other company produces, so I don't even have an idea of what a fair guess would be.

J.Mattson · Apr 10, 2010

riz_aaroni said:
I have the feeling it isn't some insanely large number, compared to other companies of similar size/type. Not sure what any other company produces, so I don't even have an idea of what a fair guess would be.

My thoughts are similar, that the presence of Sal and Company on so many forums, combined with their reputation makes them seem bigger then they are.

Sal himself described Spyderco as:

Sal Glesser said:
"A mouse with a megaphone".

riz_aaroni · Apr 10, 2010

That is true. Not many industries have the top people of a company going onto forums to discuss various topics related to their products/services. I think if you add that to the fact that Spyderco is very well received here, you can understand why you may think the company produces much more than they actually do.

Hard to say what the general knife buyer population thinks. Pretty sure this forum is a drop in the bucket of the knife market. Though judging from what you can buy at retail stores, Gerber/Buck seem to be the biggest. Kershaw/Swiss Army/Leatherman being up their too. Would be interesting info to know.

Should have looked this up last year when I was still in college and had access to some really good resources lol.

Chandler69 · Apr 10, 2010

Just did some quick research--not thorough, so who knows if accurate.
US Knife industry annual sales $1 billion. Spyderco annual sales (wikipedia) $10 million. Buck, 80 million, Kershaw (Kai USA) 60 million, BM, 20 million. Oregon knifemakers--600 million! (Portland newspaper) I'd bet the average unit is a heck of a lot less expensive too for all but BM.

riz_aaroni · Apr 10, 2010

Chandler69 said:
Just did some quick research--not thorough, so who knows if accurate.
US Knife industry annual sales $1 billion. Spyderco annual sales (wikipedia) $10 million. Buck, 80 million, Kershaw (Kai USA) 60 million, BM, 20 million. Oregon knifemakers--600 million! (Portland newspaper) I'd bet the average unit is a heck of a lot less expensive too for all but BM.

What comprises the Oregon knifemakers? I assume that means knifemakers in the state and not a company that is simply called that. This is like the Sam Adams commercial lol, where they ask people how big they think the company is and what share of the US market they have. Turns out to be less than 1%. Which is pretty much Spyderco it seems. Wouldn't want to know the total for chinese made no-name knives.

Bohica1998 · Apr 10, 2010

Probably only Sal or someone else closely related to the company could give a real answer to this question.

When you look at the 100-200(?) models, ALL variants, ALL Sprint Runs, how long some of these models have been in production (I got my first two Delicas back in '97 or '98, I think), it is a tough question to answer.

Chandler69 · Apr 10, 2010

riz_aaroni said:
What comprises the Oregon knifemakers? I assume that means knifemakers in the state and not a company that is simply called that. This is like the Sam Adams commercial lol, where they ask people how big they think the company is and what share of the US market they have. Turns out to be less than 1%. Which is pretty much Spyderco it seems. Wouldn't want to know the total for chinese made no-name knives.

Oregon knifemakers is Kershaw/Kai, Lone Wolf, Al Mar, Benchmade, CRKT and others.
Yes, did remind me of Sam Adams commercial because the market share seems about same, as well as other elements of company philosophy

riz_aaroni · Apr 11, 2010

Bohica1998 said:
Probably only Sal or someone else closely related to the company could give a real answer to this question.

When you look at the 100-200(?) models, ALL variants, ALL Sprint Runs, how long some of these models have been in production (I got my first two Delicas back in '97 or '98, I think), it is a tough question to answer.

Tis true. They have a lot of models and a lot of them have been around for quite a while. Definitely a tough call with all the things you mention(sprint rungs, variants, etc.)

Chandler69 said:
Oregon knifemakers is Kershaw/Kai, Lone Wolf, Al Mar, Benchmade, CRKT and others.
Yes, did remind me of Sam Adams commercial because the market share seems about same, as well as other elements of company philosophy

Seems Oregon is a popular place for knife making lol. Makes sense way Oregon knifemakers have such a large share/production amount, so damn many of them!