As December draws near Spyderco fans are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the company’s 2018 catalog. The new spate of offerings is expected to drop soon, and according to Eric Glesser, it will be their biggest catalog ever.
“These days we’re coming out with more models than we ever did in the past – and we’re getting good at it,” he tells us. The 180-page behemoth will dwarf their previous catalogs.
Glesser is keeping the exact contents of the catalog a secret until the reveal but did hint at one project we’ll see come to fruition. “We’ve perfected production Hamaguri grinds,” he tells us. A Hamaguri grind is a convex grind with radiused bevels down to the edge. Spyderco played around with Hamaguri in limited offerings in the past. But 2018 will see them implement this grind in a full-production bushcraft fixed blade. “We’re going to do it consistently over thousands of pieces,” Glesser explains. And he would like to see this perfected process implemented again. “We might even have a smaller folding Hamaguri knife.”
And Glesser also points out there will be additional 2018 surprises outside of the catalog itself. “The catalog has gotten bigger – but it doesn’t have everything we’re doing.” He also expects strong performances from all Spyderco’s manufacturing partners after a successful 2017. “No manufacturer regressed – they all progressed this year.” The Golden, CO plant in particular has been making massive strides. “They are flexing their muscles a little bit. Their capacity is getting better and they’re getting more efficient,” Glesser says.
2017 saw the debut of the Flash Batch concept: a one-time, limited run of a brand new design. Two Flash Batch knives hit the market this year, the Lil’ Nilakka folder and the Darn Dao fixed blade. According to Glesser, we won’t see new Flash Batches in the catalog just yet. “We haven’t planned any more. We want to see the market reaction.”
We also spoke to Glesser about the surprising discontinued list and what it could mean for the future. Many were surprised at the cuts, but Glesser points out they weren’t all made because of underwhelming sales. “Every single one of those discontinuations has a different reason.” The ambitious Nirvana, for instance, shocked many when it was pulled after just a year on the market. But Glesser hinted that the withdrawal might have happened in anticipation of something else. “We have a new [Peter] Rassenti we’re working on and we’re really excited about it.”
This year seemed to indicate an interest in more user-oriented options, but Glesser doesn’t see it that way. Instead, he hopes to appeal to everyone from the entry-level user to the high-end collector. Spyderco hopes to offer something for everyone in 2018. “We’re trying to be on all of it all of the time.”
