Spyderco Swayback... a week of use

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Qbert_72 said:
Have had the Swayback for 6hrs and I think it's a winner! I'm usually pro USA made only and rarely jump on anything import, but couldn't resist this and the Bombshell. Both are great. Favorite thing about the Swayback is the unique feel in hand and the ergonomics shine for me in the draw cut position. Have yet to cut anything yet, but it's easy to see that this will cut like a laser.
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Awesome! Glad to hear you’re a fan! Thanks for sharing.

Best knife ever!
 
Does anyone know if anyone has started trying to make aftermarket parts for the swayback? Screw, standoffs, contoured pocket clips, etc.?
 
Concluding that a model isn't a good design based on the secondary market is a mistake. Plenty of designs throughout the years had flat sales numbers until the company stopped producing them. From there, many of those discontinued saw ridiculously inflated secondary market prices. Some of the Spyderco Bob Lum designs had that effect. The Lum Chinese folders were super inflated after Spyderco stopped producing them. They were so popular, they brought the model back for more runs, and prices dipped again. None of this is surprising, but the point is the rollercoaster reaction on the secondary had a lot to do with flippers and hype.
 
Kaizen1 said:
Concluding that a model isn't a good design based on the secondary market is a mistake. Plenty of designs throughout the years had flat sales numbers until the company stopped producing them. From there, many of those discontinued saw ridiculously inflated secondary market prices. Some of the Spyderco Bob Lum designs had that effect. The Lum Chinese folders were super inflated after Spyderco stopped producing them. They were so popular, they brought the model back for more runs, and prices dipped again. None of this is surprising, but the point is the rollercoaster reaction on the secondary had a lot to do with flippers and hype.
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True. A great modern day sample of this is the Slysz Bowie. Until Shabazz raved about it, sales were mediocre at best. Couple that review with a stop in production and you have the perfect storm for $500+ prices.
 
I just got my swayback, and I'm not a fan. Since I am a Spyderco collector I'm not going to get rid of it, but in my opinion, this one was a miss.

The blade is excellent--gorgeous to look at and the hollow grind is awesome. However, there's no sharpening choil, and most important, the Spydie hole is way too small. I can still open it, but it's not nearly as positive a flick as other spydercos, even smaller ones. Speaking of flicks, you can't Spydie flick the thing. There is no hole on the other side.

It's also heavier than I was expecting. After comparing it to the Spydiechef, same company, same designer, the Spydiechef is just a superior EDC tool for anything except specific wharncliffe applications, and Spyderco already has a few offerings with a wharny blade shape. Hell, they have more coming out this year.

IMO the Spydiechef has vastly superior ergos too.

The Swayback's plain clip would bother me more if I actually intended to carry it.

Again, I'm going to keep mine, but if I'd been able to handle one first, I would have passed. Maybe after they're inevitably discontinued, I will sell mine and put the money toward something else.
 
cabfrank said:
Yes, even with it. I mean, they do make the Sharpmaker.
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I think he's more concerned with the aesthetics of the sharpening job than the practical application of simply making it sharp again. A lot of their knives make it difficult to sharpen the edge all the way down to where it terminates.

The lack of sharpening choil and the odd way it terminates at the plunge will indeed make an attractive edge more difficult to maintain. I'd probably cut a finger choil into it. Would allow you to choke up and get rid of the heel at the same time.
 
Roy Batty said:
True. A great modern day sample of this is the Slysz Bowie. Until Shabazz raved about it, sales were mediocre at best. Couple that review with a stop in production and you have the perfect storm for $500+ prices.
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Honestly I think the biggest part of that was the Slysz Bowie bring one of the first really expensive Spyderco folders and most people just being hesitant to fork over that much for a Spyderco. Since then they've come out with a lot of knives in that price range and people are more used to it.
 
madcap_magician said:
Honestly I think the biggest part of that was the Slysz Bowie bring one of the first really expensive Spyderco folders and most people just being hesitant to fork over that much for a Spyderco. Since then they've come out with a lot of knives in that price range and people are more used to it.
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So if I’m understanding you correctly, it wasn’t the Shabazz review that made people go spend $500 on a discontinued Bowie, it was what... the nirvana, Paysan, and some sprint run shamans?
Well, agree to disagree. I think the Shabazz review was the biggest part of all of the gouging and forking out of money. Why else would people suddenly buy a discontinued knife for $500? It has to have a cause, it isn’t random... and “people weren’t used to spending a lot of money” isn’t precise enough to explain what occurred in the market.
 
Roy Batty said:
So if I’m understanding you correctly, it wasn’t the Shabazz review that made people go spend $500 on a discontinued Bowie, it was what... the nirvana, Paysan, and some sprint run shamans?
Well, agree to disagree. I think the Shabazz review was the biggest part of all of the gouging and forking out of money. Why else would people suddenly buy a discontinued knife for $500? It has to have a cause, it isn’t random... and “people weren’t used to spending a lot of money” isn’t precise enough to explain what occurred in the market.
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You are conflating several things here in the time line. Shabazz had an impact at the end of the Bowie run and into its retirement not while it was in the beginning or main part of its production. Madcap was commenting about why it didn't initially sell and why it hit the chopping block. Other folks reviewed it as well so it wasn't just Nick. There is a big thread on the subject if you care to look for it. May not want to derail your own thread :D
 
craytab said:
You are conflating several things here in the time line. Shabazz had an impact at the end of the Bowie run and into its retirement not while it was in the beginning or main part of its production. Madcap was commenting about why it didn't initially sell and why it hit the chopping block. Other folks reviewed it as well so it wasn't just Nick. There is a big thread on the subject if you care to look for it. May not want to derail your own thread :D
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It was Nick.
Also, saying there’s a thread on something somewhere doesn’t mean the matter is settled. Any topic can be discussed at any time, and if the repetition annoys you, posting here is voluntary. ;)
 
Roy Batty said:
It was Nick.
Also, saying there’s a thread on something somewhere doesn’t mean the matter is settled. Any topic can be discussed at any time, and if the repetition annoys you, posting here is voluntary. ;)
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Hey, slow down there bud. I'm just saying that you are trying to address two different things said by madcap when you say "it was nick", and that if you cared to learn a little more about the subject you could search for the thread where it was discussed. You are sort of new to the knife discussion areas of the forum so you might have missed it.

Anyway, I won't derail the thread further as the topic is your swayback!
 
Roy Batty said:
So if I’m understanding you correctly, it wasn’t the Shabazz review that made people go spend $500 on a discontinued Bowie, it was what... the nirvana, Paysan, and some sprint run shamans?
Well, agree to disagree. I think the Shabazz review was the biggest part of all of the gouging and forking out of money. Why else would people suddenly buy a discontinued knife for $500? It has to have a cause, it isn’t random... and “people weren’t used to spending a lot of money” isn’t precise enough to explain what occurred in the market.
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You're not understanding me correctly, no.
 
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