You make some excellent points Mastiff and I can't find fault with any of your observations. And you are right about the super surge in the past 2 to 3 years with the exponential explosion of new Spyderco fans. Even the Spyderco.com forum isn't what it was as recently as 2008. But I still maintain that the Golden Era of Spyders as I like to call it (1998-2003) truly did set the stage for this new surge of Spyderfans.
I'm not at all saying that the older models were better quality than many of these newer models are. Even though Spyderco has always impressed me with their uncompromising quality control on all their products. But I am saying that particular era truly did set the stage for the Spyderco Surge we are witnessing now at this time.
I suppose I am sort of a sentimental fool for some of the older models but they were some great blades during their tenure. I still maintain that many of the older models that are reintroduced like the Ayoob and Shabaria Sprint models that my boss just bought were the brainchild of the models of that specific era. I love the older models with newer materials and I believe the sale prices and intense interest in the Sprint models bear that out.
But I also love many of the newer models too because I know how they came about>> and that's why I so deeply appreciate what I still call the GOLDEN ERA OF SPYDERS. The super models from that era are almost too numerous to mention.
I'm not at all saying that the older models were better quality than many of these newer models are. Even though Spyderco has always impressed me with their uncompromising quality control on all their products. But I am saying that particular era truly did set the stage for the Spyderco Surge we are witnessing now at this time.
I suppose I am sort of a sentimental fool for some of the older models but they were some great blades during their tenure. I still maintain that many of the older models that are reintroduced like the Ayoob and Shabaria Sprint models that my boss just bought were the brainchild of the models of that specific era. I love the older models with newer materials and I believe the sale prices and intense interest in the Sprint models bear that out.
But I also love many of the newer models too because I know how they came about>> and that's why I so deeply appreciate what I still call the GOLDEN ERA OF SPYDERS. The super models from that era are almost too numerous to mention.