Original Spyderco Bob T

L

Less Than Sharpest

Joined
Mar 22, 2021
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Hey there. Long time reader here. I have a Spyderco Bob Terzuola that I purchased new in 1993, and I was told that Benchmade laser cut and ground the first 1000 or so blades in Oregon before Spyderco had their own laser cutter. I believe this is true as the blade is flat ground instead of hollow ground. Perhaps someone out there can shed some light on the odd mystery of what would be the first US made Spyderco. Thanks in advance!
 
Hi Less Than,

Welcome to our forum.

The Bob T was the first collaboration and it was made in the US. There are many questions regarding who actually made the run. Apparently BM farmed it out to another company which was eventually acquired by Spyderco. So yes, first US made Spyderco.

sal
 
Here's a photo of the knife. I carried it for a while but then it became rather out of date and just got put away. The ATS-34 blade is perfectly heat treated and really took a very fine edge. There's an interesting story that shows the value of a one handed knife, but it's in black & white, from the old days.
 
Hey Sal,

I just wanted to say that you and your wife did more to change the cutlery industry here in America than anyone, period. You were always very kind and intelligent, and there were a handful of other companies that came up in the shadow of Spyderco. We all owe you a thanks for that. I have had the pleasure of resharpening many, many Spyderco knives over the years and have enjoyed spending a little bit of time with them. A great American company. You also bought me breakfast in Eugene, Oregon once and I never forgot that. So thanks again.

When BM was moving to it's new facility in Oregon City I was working for them and I came upon a dusty box that was on a shelf behind some other forgotten things. Inside the box were about 20 Bob T blades, all seconds, in various states, some serrated, some plain edge. I took the box to my boss's office and asked him what the story was. He laughed and told me that Spyderco had asked BM to laser cut the blades as BM had the only working laser cutter at the time. I told him that I actually had the knife that the blades were cut for, and he told me that it would be fine to take as many of the blades as I wanted, but to destroy the rest. So I ended up taking about seven blades home, and that Bob T became one of my user knives that I'd carry occasionally on the weekends. They're all ATS-34, and very well heat-treated, which brings up another point that I'd like to make. The steel is important for advertising purposes but the heat treating is very, very important for the user of that knife. Over the years quite a few companies have sold knives that have had a terrible heat treatment. No one ever wants to admit it but very few companies have the ovens or the space to do the job themselves, and unfortunately bad blades do end up being shipped. I have a William Henry Tom Brown knife (with three blades) and the steel (ZDP-189) on those is just so perfect...so good you wouldn't believe it. I also have a WH fixed blade in the same steel and it's just sad. A very poor heat treat. My point is that I would like to see a little less emphasis on specific steels that come out and more specific talk about how that steel came to be hardened. What does Bob Dozier know that makes his otherwise inexpensive D2 so damn good? And it is! Paul Bos was another guy that really understood what went on in the oven with that otherwise iffy 420HC. I had a knife in M390 and it would just get a little bit sharper than others in CTS 204P, but who's to say one way or another? Unless you're that person who really, really cares and you can tell the difference, it's all just hype.

Well, thanks for your time. And if I ever can repay you, I will.

Cheers,
dt
 
Hi Dt,

Thanx for the story and thanx much for the kind words. There was a lot going on back then. BM, SOG, Spyderco, etc. When Gail and I began, we decided to focus on Reliable high performance. We felt it was a small but loyal market and measurable, where as the "eye" is too subjective to measure. I had done some aerospace manufacturing, holding very close tolerances so we used the same standards. Everything had to be right and constant quality improvement as we learned. We still operate the same way.

Heat treating in a very critical part of making a blade and we were very careful to do it right. We've made a few blunders, but corrected them once learned. The Bob T was my project and I remember it well. Bob is my friend, He taught Lester DeAsis and I how to make linerlocks in his shop in New Mexico. A great guy and a great custom maker. Thanx much for the memory trip.

sal

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"Passion is the spice in the spirit that makes excellence possible"
 
Less Than Sharpest said:
Here's a photo of the knife.
Click to expand...

Great info above!

However, I didn't see a photo and, for the benefit of those who've never seen one and don't know what you're talking about, I've got a C15PS ATS-34 Terzuola that looks like this one:

s-l300.jpg


This is a stock photo off of the Net but, if I have the time, I'll post a couple of better pics of the one I own.

PS: SpydieWiki reports that this knife sold for $149.95 back in the early 90's which was A LOT OF $ back then.

I'll have to check but I don't think I paid much more than that when I bought mine a couple of years ago, which is a heck of a bargain when you factor in the devaluation of the $ due to inflation over the past 30 years.
 
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So that is the C15 right? Picked up one a while back, have to dig it out too.
 
That's exactly what I was talking about. Mine is rather beat up, showing the nice carry & use wear, as it hasn't been hiding in the safe for the last 30 years. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that. I did pay full retail back in '93 and yes it was a lot of money back in those days. But I was happy that there was a company (whoever it was) actually producing a knife that you could take apart and adjust. There was a place in LA where one could ride horses and one evening when I was there one of the lead guys got his right hand caught in a rein, and the horse that it was attached to was pulling the poor guys' hand off, and I was able to get right in there and cut that rein in an instant with that serrated blade. It made a believer out of both of us. I found out later that he had gone to the store and bought one of the Bob T's, and had told the story to everyone who was there.

Before that I have carried a little Puma, and I kept it relatively sharp, but the Spyderco's serrations went through that rein in less than a second.
 
Ok, here are pics of my Bob Terzuola (C15PS).

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And here are pics of my 3 Terzuolas together (from top to bottom): 1) Terzuola Slipit (C131CFP), 2) Bob Terzuola (C15PS) and 3) Terzuola Starmate (C55GP). The Starmate is my favorite of the 3, simply because I like larger/longer blades.

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There is also the Bob Terzuola Jr (C19) which I do not own. The C19 has a 2.75 inch blade vs the 3.5 inch blade in the C15. Lastly, Terzuola also designed the Double Bevel (C174) that I also do not own.
 
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Great knives! The C15PS blade was ground and marked by Benchmade. I think I have five of those blades, two are serrated. Mine has some pocket wear, but other than that, it's nice. I read that Bob T. himself said that the knives had to be made in the US, and Sal didn't have the equipment yet to made that happen. So Les at BM agreed to do it. I would also get a BM 600, the Walter Brend design, but the thumbstud was a little bit short; it wasn't easy to get open. I also had the Bob T Jr (C19), which was made by Spyderco as it was hollow ground and the logo was engraved.

Thank you for sharing.
 
Hey, I was just going through an old box of wood and I realized something that most people don't know, but perhaps you do as you've taken such good care of your knives. That first one, the C15, was most likely sharpened by Jody Sampson, the amazing sword maker who made the original 'Conan the Barbarian' sword. So I have a set of wood that where originally labeled 'coco bolo', but someone crossed that out and wrote 'ironwood'...and I think that it's Jody's writing. So the story goes that Jody was the sharpener for Pacific Cutlery and moved to Oregon when it became BM, and was enjoying himself just fine until the weather changed and it started to rain. At which point he packed up the plantation and moved back to LA. But the upshot is that Jody indeed sharpened many of the early BM knives. It's very sad that he died all alone, a couple of days after Christmas, of pneumonia. He was an amazing sword and knife maker. I never met him, but I wish that I did.
 
Hi Less Than,
Sal Glesser said:
Welcome to our forum.

The Bob T was the first collaboration and it was made in the US. There are many questions regarding who actually made the run. Apparently BM farmed it out to another company which was eventually acquired by Spyderco. So yes, first US made Spyderco.

sal
Click to expand...

Hi Sal,

I just got one. Brand new in the box, partially serrated. Already tried it making dinner. It removed the back to spatchcock a chicken with ease. I like it.

Was wondering a little about it. The handles are smooth G10, the blade etches front and back have no black in them and it has a Golden CO USA for location. Most of the G10 versions you see in pictures are not smooth surfaced, but have a cloth like texture, this is smooth like aluminum. Some have black highlighting in the etch. Anything specific you can say about this run?

Do you remember what type of washers these had. Bob likes nylatron, which doesn't need lube, so I wonder if this model had nylatron washers.

Thanks a lot!
 
Hi Brownshoe,

Thanx for the memory jog. Though you and I have a few historical memory jogs across the years. I still have a few new C15 & C19 pcs. Brought one to Bob's birthday party when he was still in New Mexico. It was our first Collaboration. Bob and I would meet a few times year. One time he said my knives were ugly.... the handle goes one way the blade another, pure ugly. I said OK Bob, you design a pretty one and I'll make it. That's how the collaboration began. We made them with Benchmade, We made them with An Oregon machine shop and we made them in Golden. (We purchased the Machine shop and moved them to Golden which is how we began our US factory. Different handle materials over the years. Engraved with a diamond drag by an employee that's still with us.

I believe we used Nylatron bushings at the time.

sal
 
Thanks Sal.

I've been enjoying the "Retro" feel of this knife.

What is Retro about it? Well nowadays people want lightening fast opening, back then "hydraulic" feel was "cool." The C15 opens like a sebenza used to before you could loosen up the pivot with a driver. The single liner for weight reduction is not seen much anymore. "Not strong enough for tactical use w/o dual liners"...NOT. Made in USA machined into the handle is like Chris Reeve's Idaho mark. Country of origin and made in the USA was a big deal at the end of the 20th century. Comes from the factory tip down for safety. The ATS34 steel was the best of class at the time and with a Rc 58-60 is still a high performer, and takes a polish. The chamfered edge to the handle is superb. The liner cut out on both sides of the blade with the chamfered edge to the hole is certainly retro. The nylatron washers sized to keep out dust/dirt and lower the need for lubrication is a tactical advantage :) People want bearings or phosphorus bronze these days.

One thing though, the blade shape shows where Chris Reeve got the Insingo blade shape :).
 
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