Spyderco "custom shop"

Popsickle

Popsickle

Joined
Jul 25, 2010
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I know the idea of a custom shop has been brought up time and time again.... but ive been talking to some people in the spyderco chat and i think we're on to something. So please feel free to help this idea take a bit more shape than its already in.

There are people out there who wish they could have certain spyderco knives in that special steel that they want, so myself and another talked over this idea of a spyderco "custom shop". This would be a branch of Spyderco whose sole purpose of which would be to make your favorite spyderco with a special steel of your choosing and maybe more(would be up to the higher ups at spyderco to decide the process and options)

The idea is that you could order your favorite knife in a steel of your choosing currently in use by spyderco. This would be a full retail purchase at a premium due to the "custom" aspect of it. Maybe have the option of a different colored scales and possibly more. It would take more time....but who wouldnt want a yojimbo in s90v, a ppt in m390, or any spyder of your choice in a nice "super steel"?

I believe that this process could have qualifications to order as well. A minimum number of purchases directly from spyderco in order purchase a beauty like this, and whatever else they think needs to be done.

This is just an idea from a spyderco fan that i believe other people would be interested in. Sal and the crew do an amazing job and i will be a customer for as long as they continue to make knives!
 
I think that this is a great idea if the Spyderco team will get around the usual obstacles of trying to please the most number of people in the fan base.
 
yeah its not a fully thought out idea, but i believe the main idea would do wonders for spyderco and its fans alike.
 
I think it would be a nightmare for them. Obviously there's a number of specific combinations people would buy, but they're not Nike. They're not going to want to keep a stock of things just for variety sake. And if they didn't, people would complain they don't offer enough options.
 
Charlie Morris said:
I think it would be a nightmare for them. Obviously there's a number of specific combinations people would buy, but they're not Nike. They're not going to want to keep a stock of things just for variety sake. And if they didn't, people would complain they don't offer enough options.
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People will always complain no matter what you do
 
I'll take a dark blue Para 2 and a dark gray Military both with CPM-S110V.

When can I expect delivery? ;):thumbup:
 
I think it's a great idea, within limits. Benchmade broke the ice on this with their custom Griptilian deal & I could see a similar experiment being feasible with one of Spyderco's more popular models. The Delica/ Endura line already has different steels & scales to mix & match.
 
Great Idea, But I can only Imagine how much they would need to charge to make it profitable. Benchmade has done something very interesting with their Griptillian line that might be more realistic, within that line, the large and small Griptillian, there are tons of options, and you can select from those, and because it's streamlined it relatively affordable.
Spyderco perhaps could do this with some of their classic and more popular models, Like the Military, Paramilitary, Delica, Endura ect...
 
i'd prefer a higher end line ala bench gold class with more refined and larger sprint runs of existing patterns, for exemple a TI lined ppt with carbon fiber scale and premium steel in production for 6 month, then switching to another design with the same treatment. more realistic imho.

i doubt keeping a constant inventory of S90V, ZDP, M4, M390, etc, enough for treating custom orders, would be possible. add the cost of producing blades one by one by request instead of batches ... i have serious doubts.
 
In reality the cost would probably be astronomical. There is a reason Benchmade only does this with the grips.

Look how Emerson produces their knives in batches. They can't predict the demand so they always stay on the safe side. That's why they say they sell every knife they produce.

The logistics would just be ridiculous I think. The knives would probably cost more than CRK to justify the time, labor, inventory, etc.
 
ssblood said:
In reality the cost would probably be astronomical. There is a reason Benchmade only does this with the grips.

Look how Emerson produces their knives in batches. They can't predict the demand so they always stay on the safe side. That's why they say they sell every knife they produce.

The logistics would just be ridiculous I think. The knives would probably cost more than CRK to justify the time, labor, inventory, etc.
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Exacyly right IMO.
 
And this ladies and gentleman is why we post things.... to hear opinions. Btw. Cf, ti line ppt with a super steel would be killer. But that's not what I'm totally after. They could even gauge interest on forums, or hae voting to see what the demand would be and batch accordingly. There are combinations that havent been touched yet that would sell like hot cakes!
 
Sal has posted in the past that the biggest stumbling block is not so much the pricetag of the product (which would admittedly be very high) as the fact that the people who can do it would have to be taken off crafting prototypes to do so. How many years would you like to add to the lead time for new models so you can get just what you want?
 
While that would be amazing, I too believe that the costs/frustration for spyderco would outweigh the benefit to us.

I would love to own a scalloped G10/Titanium framelock Para 2 with Elmax/S90v. But sometimes, some things are better left to your imagination (or a custom maker & deep pockets)
 
yablanowitz said:
Sal has posted in the past that the biggest stumbling block is not so much the pricetag of the product (which would admittedly be very high) as the fact that the people who can do it would have to be taken off crafting prototypes to do so. How many years would you like to add to the lead time for new models so you can get just what you want?
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always room to dream
 
I love the idea. And things that couldn't be done in the past, can be done today on in the future.
Most likely will be easier to customize Golden made models. Just cannot wait for Amber Jigged bone Damascus Native5 :p
 
anyone have a link where sal commented on it before? or maybe even Sal himself could comment on this?
 
Another factor would be at $400+ people are going to want exactly what they want. Some people will vote originally and then not buy because they didn't get exactly what they wanted. M4 instead of CTS-20CP. CF instead of blue G10. Some are going to go ahead and realize they can get customs at the price and do that.
 
It sounds great, and I'd love to see it, but the idea has been shot down by Sal at least three or four times in the past, for the reasons Yablanowitz mentioned, and I doubt anything has happened recently to change his mind.

Aside from tying up resources, there's the whole logistics issue. Spyderco currently markets knives produced in five countries. While the makers in Taiwan seem flexible and open to new ideas, I severely doubt the makers in Japan would go for the idea of selling knives without blades for completion elsewhere or building knives using "inferior foreign steel", and a lot of models come from there. Then there's the question of acquiring the steel. From what I understand, aside from damascus, you can't just order a piece big enough for one blade, so Spyderco would wind up having a fair amount of money tied up in oddball steel inventory.

What I think might be feasible would be if one or more custom makers licensed by Spyderco to use the Spyderhole opener decided to specialize in that kind of work.
 
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