Sal - Clip position question

J

Joel McNamara

Joined
Oct 28, 1998
Messages
119
Sal:

Thanks for your participation. Being a Spydie fan since the original days, it's great to have you onboard.

Anyway, a question on clips. I'm a fan of clips that put the knife in a tip up carry position. (A small minority of us who think the ergonomics are better for front pocket carry.)

In the days of only all steel Clipits, the clips all seemed to be of the tip down variety. Then the Endura/Delica and Zytel family went tip up (I assume for the molding process).

Now your line features a mix of tip up and down clips. What's your criteria for deciding how to mount the clip? Designer preference or some other factor?

Joel
 
Joel - thanx for the support. Re: clip location. Easier to show than to tell, but I'll try. Tip down configuration offers a choice of 2 types of openings. 1) The knife is brought out of the front pocket in a somewhat vertical position, The knife is rotated top of the knife forward about 90 degrees. From this position, the thumb is in position to drop into the hole, then rotate the blade open until locked open. This is the more secure opening and the one that is preferred by most ELU. This is the one that we uswe on most of our lightweight (and usually less expensive) models. 2) The knife is lifted out of the pocket in a somewhat vertical position with the hole between the thumb and the index finger. The knife is then rotated bottom of knife forward until the butt of the knife is up. Grasping the hole between the thumb and index finger firmly, the handle is "thrown" down with a snap, This frees the handle from the blade. inertia will carry the handle down until knife is locked open. Though it takes practice, the "drop" method is quicker to deploy. keeping the thumb and index finger in poition (on both sides of the hole), wrap the three remaining fingers around the handle and the knife is ready for use without re-positioning. Though this opening is common and can be used easily. It is a little intimidating, especfially with a knife over 3" in blade length. Spyderco groupies are the ones that bothers to learn this opening. For the general public, which purchases most of our knives as utility tools, the "drop" opening was really not necessary. Tip up solved some clip fastening problems. The lighter handles were harder to "drop". We didn't feel that the general public needed to be practicing the "drop" opening which in the wrong mindset attracts too much of the wrong attention (I remember when bali-songs were legal). Generally our more expensive knives will have the tip down to afford the aficienado the opportunity to play with the "drop" opening. If someone has the funds or interest to invest in the more expensive pieces, they are probably sharp enough to avoid unecessarily scaring people. Hopes this helps.
sal
 
As another long-time fan of Spyderco's product, it is very gratifying to see Sal Glesser responding to questions like the one that began this thread. Also, the fact that he/they perceive the different levels of customers they have indicates another one of the reasons for their success. In the past, I've had a few e-mail conversations with a VERY customer service oriented woman at Spyderco (whose name escapes me right now, sorry) who showed that she didn't just fall off the turnip truck, y'know. I like them.
 
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