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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Speaking of the SpydeRench....
- Thread starter JCHH
- Start date
- Joined
- Sep 21, 1999
- Messages
- 47
Yes! I really want one of these. Tell us what you think...details,details,details..
- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
- Messages
- 3,264
#135 here. Arrived today. I should find time to upload my scans in the next day or 2.
I saw a "Are you a real man?" survey once, where one of the questions was:
"Friendly space aliens from an advanced civilization land in your yard and give you a very clever mechanical device that will put an end to disease and hunger. Do you . . .
a. Present it to the President?
b. Present it to the Pope?
c. Present it to the Dalai Lama?
d. Present it to the United Nations?
e. Take it apart?
The "right answer," of course, is "e"!
Never mind the Nine Inch Double Barbed Rambotron Ninja Deathmonger! The Spyderench is THE "Real Man's Knife"!
------------------
- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
[This message has been edited by James Mattis (edited 07 October 1999).]
I saw a "Are you a real man?" survey once, where one of the questions was:
"Friendly space aliens from an advanced civilization land in your yard and give you a very clever mechanical device that will put an end to disease and hunger. Do you . . .
a. Present it to the President?
b. Present it to the Pope?
c. Present it to the Dalai Lama?
d. Present it to the United Nations?
e. Take it apart?
The "right answer," of course, is "e"!
Never mind the Nine Inch Double Barbed Rambotron Ninja Deathmonger! The Spyderench is THE "Real Man's Knife"!
------------------
- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
[This message has been edited by James Mattis (edited 07 October 1999).]
- Joined
- Sep 8, 1999
- Messages
- 90
I wish Ewok, but I haven't got collector's status. However, the shop I bought it from does. And they happen to be #153.
Here we go ET and Dan-the-man--
Background:
I'm not a metallurgist nor am I a knife connoisseur so you'll have to bear with my pedestrian descriptions. If you can handle that, please read on.
I've been following any information I could find about the SpydeRench because I liked the way the tool split into two halves for different uses; this reminds me of my bike tool, the Topeak Alien XS. Having found the Alien useful, I thought the SpydeRench would be even better since it has a bigger blade (superfluous, I know). So I waited to get my hands on one.
Size/Weight/Finish:
The tool is about 4 1/2" tall and weighs about 5-6 oz. more or less? It's no heavier than a Leatherman PST II. It seems to be coated such that the outer finish resembles galvanized steel though smoother--a tough, powder gray coating? I have a bunch of scratches in it already, all over the handles. Blade steel is 440C.
As you may know, one half of the tool is the knife which holds the long screwdriver bit at the end of the handle. The other half holds smaller screwdriver bits and is the crescent wrench. Together they form slip joint pliers capable of opening to 9/16".
Reactions:
The design is very creative. The long screwdriver bit acts as a lock to hold the handles in place--the very tip of the phillips end pokes into a little hole on the opposite handle to hold the handles in place. To open the tool, you either yank it apart or you pull down on the phillips end (it's in a spring so you can do this) and then pull the handles apart. The disadvantage to pulling the handles apart is that you'll probably wear down the sharpness of the phillips head; if you do this, your tool might not lock into place that tightly. For me, it is essential that the handles don't open easily otherwise it's hard to get the blade out, even with the spyder hole--opening the blade is best if both handles are stationary.
Incidentally, this is the best way to open the blade. Good luck trying to open the blade with one hand when the tools are separated. There's nothing to support your fingers since the back end on the knife half is completely exposed. But maybe I need more practice.
Also, since the pliers are slip joint, I find that the two halves are easier to separate than I would want. Realize that the half with the crescent wrench is the heavier half, so depending on how you're holding the tool, if the crescent side decides to slip open, it could also easily slip out and separate leaving you holding one half while the other is on the floor.
The head of the slip joint wrench is angled 60-70 degrees such that the crescent half is the half you pivot up and down to adjust the pliers. I find this a bit cumbersome since, again, the crescent half is the heavier half and has a tendency to slip a joint more readily than when I hold the tool upside down and pivot the knife half up and down instead. However, the reason for having it this way may be due to the fact that in certain holding positions, you can feel the blade slicing some of your skin. Thus if you look at the tool, the safest way is to have the crescent half be the pivoting half.
In terms of the surface of the long screwdriver bit, I'll just copy the description verbatim from the manual: "The shaft of the long bit is a 3 sided diamond file with concave, convex, and flat surfaces." The smaller bits are held in the handle by plastic spacers. The two tool halves can open and be locked in a 180 degree position.
In the white box comes the green Spyderco catalog, a "manual" (really a double-sided sheet) which explains the tool's various capabilities, registration card, and an invitation to join the AKTI.
I think that's about it. Hope this has helped in some way.
-j
Here we go ET and Dan-the-man--
Background:
I'm not a metallurgist nor am I a knife connoisseur so you'll have to bear with my pedestrian descriptions. If you can handle that, please read on.
I've been following any information I could find about the SpydeRench because I liked the way the tool split into two halves for different uses; this reminds me of my bike tool, the Topeak Alien XS. Having found the Alien useful, I thought the SpydeRench would be even better since it has a bigger blade (superfluous, I know). So I waited to get my hands on one.
Size/Weight/Finish:
The tool is about 4 1/2" tall and weighs about 5-6 oz. more or less? It's no heavier than a Leatherman PST II. It seems to be coated such that the outer finish resembles galvanized steel though smoother--a tough, powder gray coating? I have a bunch of scratches in it already, all over the handles. Blade steel is 440C.
As you may know, one half of the tool is the knife which holds the long screwdriver bit at the end of the handle. The other half holds smaller screwdriver bits and is the crescent wrench. Together they form slip joint pliers capable of opening to 9/16".
Reactions:
The design is very creative. The long screwdriver bit acts as a lock to hold the handles in place--the very tip of the phillips end pokes into a little hole on the opposite handle to hold the handles in place. To open the tool, you either yank it apart or you pull down on the phillips end (it's in a spring so you can do this) and then pull the handles apart. The disadvantage to pulling the handles apart is that you'll probably wear down the sharpness of the phillips head; if you do this, your tool might not lock into place that tightly. For me, it is essential that the handles don't open easily otherwise it's hard to get the blade out, even with the spyder hole--opening the blade is best if both handles are stationary.
Incidentally, this is the best way to open the blade. Good luck trying to open the blade with one hand when the tools are separated. There's nothing to support your fingers since the back end on the knife half is completely exposed. But maybe I need more practice.
Also, since the pliers are slip joint, I find that the two halves are easier to separate than I would want. Realize that the half with the crescent wrench is the heavier half, so depending on how you're holding the tool, if the crescent side decides to slip open, it could also easily slip out and separate leaving you holding one half while the other is on the floor.
The head of the slip joint wrench is angled 60-70 degrees such that the crescent half is the half you pivot up and down to adjust the pliers. I find this a bit cumbersome since, again, the crescent half is the heavier half and has a tendency to slip a joint more readily than when I hold the tool upside down and pivot the knife half up and down instead. However, the reason for having it this way may be due to the fact that in certain holding positions, you can feel the blade slicing some of your skin. Thus if you look at the tool, the safest way is to have the crescent half be the pivoting half.
In terms of the surface of the long screwdriver bit, I'll just copy the description verbatim from the manual: "The shaft of the long bit is a 3 sided diamond file with concave, convex, and flat surfaces." The smaller bits are held in the handle by plastic spacers. The two tool halves can open and be locked in a 180 degree position.
In the white box comes the green Spyderco catalog, a "manual" (really a double-sided sheet) which explains the tool's various capabilities, registration card, and an invitation to join the AKTI.
I think that's about it. Hope this has helped in some way.
-j
- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
- Messages
- 3,264
Indeed, nothing with that many parts fitting together that cleverly can be without a thing or two to be improved.
The one I have has a serrated blade. There is a "fence" along the edge of the blade in the closed position, but if your fingertips wander around the inside of that handle half, the edge offers to scrape off your fingerprint if you're not careful. I wonder if putting the serration bevel on the right side instead of Spyderco's usual left side grind would move the edge closer to the handle half, and make it safer. I haven't seen the plain edge version yet; maybe the edge on that is closer to the "fence." The CRKT "KISS," which is also an open face sandwich, has a chisel grind with the edge right down on the handle half for finger friendliness.
Overall, however, an incredibly clever little gizmo!
------------------
- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
The one I have has a serrated blade. There is a "fence" along the edge of the blade in the closed position, but if your fingertips wander around the inside of that handle half, the edge offers to scrape off your fingerprint if you're not careful. I wonder if putting the serration bevel on the right side instead of Spyderco's usual left side grind would move the edge closer to the handle half, and make it safer. I haven't seen the plain edge version yet; maybe the edge on that is closer to the "fence." The CRKT "KISS," which is also an open face sandwich, has a chisel grind with the edge right down on the handle half for finger friendliness.
Overall, however, an incredibly clever little gizmo!
------------------
- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001