Tell me about Spyderco.

T

Tiny86

Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
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Not looking to be an A-hole here. I don't have any knives from spyderco, and I'm thinking about getting a Stretch 2 and I want to make sure there is a good warranty. I hear allot of fanboy diehard "there the best" kinda stuff about them. I'm sure they are but I just want to make sure. I'm not really a fan of the hole but for some reason this knife just calls me. Again, not trying to troll here, I just know nothing about Sco.
How is Spyderco's warranty and customer service? If the blade develops play of any kind will they fix it? Or any other problems, like the lock or something. Will they send me a replacement clip for free if I need it? How is their sharpening? I'm not to sure I'll want to sharpen the ZDP.

Second, how is the Stretch? And how is the ZDP?

Thanks for the info!
 
Spyderco stands behind their products as long as you do not abuse the knife in a manner in which a knife was not intended to be used. If they do not make it anymore and it cannot be repaired, they will try to replace it with another comparable knife.

They do a good job in sharpening and it normally is pretty quick. You should be able to sharpen ZDP yourself. I have not had any problems maintaining ZDP edges with a Sharpmaker. If it gets really dull, it may become more difficult.

ZDP used in the Stretch, Calypso, Endura, and Delica have performed well for me. It is not a miracle steel, but it takes a good edge and seems to hold it as good or better than most steels.

I have a Stretch and I really like it. I don't consider myself a "fanboy", but I have owned Spyderco knives since 1991 and I have personally not had any problems with them. They are not my exclusive brand, but they are a good knife and a very good manufacturer. I rarely read anyone having a problem that Spyderco has not done everything that they should be expected to do to take care of their customer. Many times, they go above and beyond to satisfy customers.
 
I am pretty new to Spyderco myself, but I really want to comment on their sharpening consistency, which is simply un-human - I buy other brands and usually some of the knives have a awesome cutting edge, some have minor flaws - with Spyderco I am confident that I simply cannot improve the out of the box sharpness at that given angle

They also seem to have a good marketing approach (a CEO spending his time to answer pertinent forum questions), interesting projects (Mule, Sage), 'hot' steels for the afis & collectors, different handle materials - and all at reasonable prices (just think how much you would have to pay for a ZDP CF custom :eek:)

Dunno about the warranty, never had problems so far (only 11 knives, out of which 4 are different flavours of Militaries) but I think thay charge a symbolic fee for clips. They did ship internationally for me a hard copy of their 2008 catalog, and it was the only US company to do that :thumbup:

Hope that helps...
 
Spyderco makes great knives. I can' t tell you anything about the Stretch , I haven' t got it, but I have another Delica in ZDP, and its an great steel, real hard, gets EXTREMELY sharp, but it' s hard to sharpen, so you better not let it get too dull.Also all Spyderco knives come very sharp out of the box.
Also forgot to add, they have a very nice customer service, if you should have any problems with your knife, just send it to them, and they will fix it, without you having to pay anything.I think they charge a little but for clips though, like brj said.
 
Spyderco service is top notch! I got a second hand Para Military where the washers where missing, one e-mail and a week later I received two new washers for free.
A friend of me lost a screw from the clip of his Persian and it was the same story, in a week he had three new screws.
 
From your mention of the steel used I am guessing you are looking at the Stretch II, not the original Stretch. The II has the carbon fiber scales, the original was steel with kraton inserts and used VG10 for the blade.

I was a Spyderco Dealer for many years and with the exception of clips we had almost zero problems with the knives and the few we had were always quickly taken care of by the factory. I remember one in particular, a Police Model that had been abused a bit, the blade had become loose from the knife being used for prying, the scales were heavily scratched, clip was bent up some. It came back tightened, polished, new clip...great service. I an not what you would call a fanboy, I currently own 3 Spydies but I also own Benchmade, AG Russell, Kershaw, Al Mar, etc. All of these makers are able to sell their knives for what they sell for because the quality has been proven over time.
 
Some might call me a "fan boy" of Spyderco as I have near a hundred of them. Nobody is perfect but the stretch 2 is a knife that is built to slice and slice well. Mine came sharp enough to whittle a hair, without exaggeration. The CF is well done, balance and size for me is near perfect.

ZDP is ZDP. Some love it, others not so much. I know they didn't make production knives this well even 5 years ago that suited me so well.

In the time since my first Spyder ( 92) I've never had to send in for a warranty issue so I'll leave that to others to discuss.

Performance wise the Stretch 2 leaves many customs in the dust. If you like brass and stag obviously this isn't for you.

Good luck with your descision. Most of the higher end companies make a knife or two that they do really well so if Spyderco isn't for you, try Kershaw ( their SG2 knives are really nice), Benchmade, Falkniven is coming out with some larger, nicer additions to their "tre Kroner" 3G bladed line. Etc, Etc. Joe
 
Everybody's gonna hate me here, but here it goes... I have/do own about 30 Spyderco knives, and love their designs. I'll say that again, Spyderco has some of the best feeling and functional designs in the knife world. Having said that, I have noticed that about half of the knives I get from Spyderco are unevenly sharpened both in angle and in depth. They tend to have dips in the edge that when sharpened on a flat stone, the dip does not get sharpened, and a burr forms. I usually have to reprofile Spyderco edges to get a dip out. I currently working on an Atlantic Salt right now. And now for their customer service: I bought a CPM-D2 Military from them last year, and an Endura III. The Military was so offcenter, it scraped the side when you opened it. The Endura III was sloppy enough at the lock to feel when you shook it. I sent them in kindly requesting them to repair the manufacturing defects. I got both of them back a couple weeks later in the condition I sent them in with a pretty nasty note from Spyderco. It said that the Military tested within acceptable parameters, and the Endura could not be fixed because it was imported from Japan and pinned together. They also said that I was in the wrong because I hadn't sent in $5 with the knives to have the free sharpening service done that I had not requested. Take what you want, but not everybody has been treated so kindly by Spyderco.
 
I've bought somewhere in the range of 15-20 Spyderco's in the past three years. The only issue I've had was with a Manix I bought last year. It was just a cosmetic thing that most people probably wouldn't even notice. I sent it back explaining the issue. Spyderco replaced the knife even though it was well within their factory specs. I was very happy with the service I got. It's kind of funny. The one knife I sent back has more to do with why I buy Spyderco to this day than all the "perfect" ones I bought. I use Spyderco as my template to judge other companies customer service. In my opinion very few companies even come close.
 
Spyderco is the brand that converted me into a knifenut in winter 2004 (native3) ; I have other production knives from Kershaw, Boker, Kabar, Bark River, Scrapyard Knife Works which I also love; but, Spyderco's integrity, innovations, and willingness to place "exotic steels" in the hands of steelhead afi's at affordable prices is why I will be a lifelong fan of the company.
 
I buy more Spyderco than any other knife company, for a few reasons:

1. Haven't found anyone else that consistently puts out such ergonomic knives.

2. High performance blade steels and quality handle materials.

3. Genuinely useful knife designs with good variety in application (Rescue knives, "LBK's," MBC style knives, general work / utility)

4. Very strong and consistently secure locks.

5. Quality at a wide variety of pricepoints (Under 20$ for Byrds, 200$ Stretch 2 is phenomal etc.)

Haven't sent any knives in for CS but every time I've emailed them to discuss possibly doing so I received a quick reply. #1 is the main reason I buy Spyderco. When I hold a UKPK, Lil Temp, Military or even a Spin, it feels much more natural and conforming to my grip than any other knives I've tried. I wish Spyderco designed chairs :D
 
I agree with Vivi on all points with regards to Spyderco. I own more Spydercos than anything else and besides my CRK Sebenza they are my most carried knives.
 
The other great thing about spyderco (I own ONE, so I don't think I qualify as a fan boy) is they're not exactly the priciest knife on the market. That is, you buy one, and if you're one of the very few people that really dislike the knife...well, you're down fifty bucks. I guess 50 can be a lot, but comparatively speaking, Spyderco (and Kershaw, too for that matter) knives are very reasonably priced, and very conducive to the whole "try it, you'll probably like it" idea.

Before you drop more money on a stretch, give an endura/delica/native a try. If you hate the hole, the ergonomics, etc...it's better to find out on 50 bucks. If you love it, and decide to go ahead and buy the stretch, well then, you've got a great backup knife, or blade to leave in a backpack, etc.
 
michaelmcgo said:
Take what you want, but not everybody has been treated so kindly by Spyderco.
Click to expand...

The great thing about Spyderco is that you can go over to their subforum here and get your complaints read by Sal himself. The best you might get from some other companies is an anonymous brushoff, but with Spyderco you can go all of the way to the top with your concerns.
 
I have 5 Spydies, out of a total of 7 folders. I love those knives. My first real folder was a Stainless handled Calypso Jr. I bought it in 2001 and even though it's my most used knife, it still looks and feels just as good as when I bought it.

Great company, great knives.

Guy
 
Good warranty. I recently bought a Caly 3 from an eBay seller who turned out to be less than honest, and sold a "new" knife with some production defects on it.

I sent an email off to Spyderco's warranty department with clear photos showing obviously defective fit and finish issues--marring on the backspacer where it wasn't finished correctly, uneven blade grind, things of that nature.

They ended up having me send the knife in, and replaced it with what I assume is a refurbished knife. I say refurbished because the rivets are still not aligned 100%, and the blade grind is better than the original one I received, but not perfect.

I was a little worried, because the tone of the emails from the customer service rep I dealt with gave me the distinct impression they were NOT going to replace or repair the knife, but I sent it in anyway.

Compared to Benchmade and Lone Wolf, who have both replaced the blades of knives at no cost, with no questions asked and Gerber, who just gave me factory credit for the last purchase price of an SL 3.25 after it was damaged by a 3rd party sharpening service, I can’t rate the one experience with Spyderco’s customer service I’ve had as high.

From a pure Fit and Finish standpoint, both of the Caly 3’s I’ve had from Spyderco have a lower standards of F&F than both Lone Wolf and the Benchmade knives I’ve owned.

I don’t mean to “bash” Spyderco in any way, but the OP wanted a clear and honest example of Spyderco’s customer service and Warranty. The above has been my first experience with them.

With all of the above, the Caly 3 has superior ergonomics, and has bumped both the Lone Wolf and the Benchmade out of EDC rotation in favor of the Spyderco. I spent some time looking around for Spyderco with looks I really liked, because the Spyderhole just didn't appeal to me as an opening system. Until I tried it. This is easily my favorite knife I own.
 
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