Which Spydercos did not impress you?

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kgriggs8

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Did you ever get a Spyderco that either had a lack of QC or the design was just bad? I don't want to trash Spyderco knives here, I just want to know if there were any lemons. I know Sal reads these posts and I think he can take a little critque in order to possibly improve his knives. That is what makes Spyderco one of the best knife companies out there. They listen to the consumer.

I had a few that had QC problems.
1. Delica with pits in the steel. Spyderco replaced for free.
2. Military with a bad liner lock. It never failed but it would move if you used it.
3. Endura with front to back and side to side blade play. It is my work EDC now.

It seems like the Endura and the Delica are the two most popular Spydercos so I must have got a couple of lemons. The Delica seems like a great knife but the Endura leaves me cold.
 
Well I can honestly say I've never had any that I would describe as poorly designed. Just because a particular design does not feel right in my hand, or operate well left handed does not make it a poor design. Just because it lacks some feature I wish it had, or has some feature I wish was absent, does not make it a poor design, it just makes it a model that will not wind up in my pocket. If I've learned one thing collecting them, it's that "one size" definitely does not fit all. The size of our hands and the length of fingers and thumb are factors. Our motor skills, both gross and finel, and our level of hand-eye coordination. Not to mention what we cut, and how we elect to hold our knives when cutting. All these, and more, enter into what knives "work for us".

So far, out of around 200 new ones, have only had one - a Spyderfly with one very stiff handle - which required return for a QC issue. In a way, I was glad it happened as it gave me the opportunity to experience the W&R's service first hand. And, as I expected, the service was excellent. Beyond that, while I often grumble about what are really trivial issues of fit and finish, I generally come back down to earth when I ask myself how much more I would be willing to pay for it.
 
kgriggs8;

There are no products manufactured by Spyderco which are poor in design, and it is one of the reasons which make Spyderco's so successful, due to their knives being thought out so well, thus the functional aspect is superb, in that Spyderco's are built for a specific purpose, and overall, they work well, and function in a way which they were designed to.

Your post did mention that you were merely inquiring about "lemon's", and as such, your issues are primarily QC issues, and not to do with the actual design's of Spyderco's products, and so I take it that your statement of "or the design was just bad", is simply an inquiry, since the problems which you have experienced were nothing to do with design.

Overall, sometimes an item can be subject to faults, and that is what Spyderco's Warranty is for, and thus they garantee that their knives be of a certain standard in quality, and that they function properly, as intended.

You can always inquire to both Spydeco, and the forums, in regards to specific issues you have with a particular knife, as some may be common, and often other members can assisst in rectifying the problem, such as your Endura blade play may simply be a result of a loose pivot screw, and thus simply needs a little adjusting, or if not, Spyderco can always inspect your knife, and deal with it accordingly. Then there are some issues which just are, and you deal with them, and often they do not impact the functionality of the actual knife, but rather are just a minor issue.

Bottom line is, is that as you state, Spyderco does listen to the consumers, and from what I have seen, they do actively respond to inquiries, take note of any issues that arise, and assisst to rectify such issues in any way.
 
I certainly don't have the quanity Deacon has but my 30+ Spydercos have had no quality issues. All were bought sight unseen via the internet and quality has been consistant. I'm sure a few "lemons" get out, it's going to happen in a manufacturing environment. The one time I used customer service, I sent my Persian back for, what I thought, was a miniscule problem, but it bothered me a bit. Got a replacement back in 8 days, no questions asked, no fuss of any kind.
 
I was rather "underwhelmed" with the JD Smith collab model. Mine is the hardest to open Spyderco I own. It was also the dullest out-of-the-box Spydie I've ever handled. A little research on this forum revealed that my knife wasn't the only one with issues.
 
"I was rather "underwhelmed" with the JD Smith collab model. Mine is the hardest to open Spyderco I own. It was also the dullest out-of-the-box Spydie I've ever handled. A little research on this forum revealed that my knife wasn't the only one with issues."

Really? I didn't know that. I have been looking to buy one for a while because I like the look of it but I have never seen one in person.

Thank you for that info, that helps me to at least try before I buy on the J.D. Smith. It is response like this that can actually help. The rest of the above response are trying to pretend that Spyderco has never made a mistake and every knife that comes out of the factory is 100 flawless. Everyone knows that is not true of any company so I don't know what they are trying to say. Sal knows he has made mistakes, I don't think he is going to take it personally. You learn from your mistakes. If all Sal ever heard was that everything was fine and there were no QC or design problems, he would never improve on the products.

I am not trying to trash Spyderco. I think Spyderco is the best run knife company and they have more designs that I want to buy than ANY other knife company. Spyderco gets 80-90% of my knife dollar with Kershaw, Al Mar, and Benchmade spliting the rest. For every BM or Kershaw I buy, I buy 10 Spydercos. I have had a bunch of Spydercos and I can tell you that some are better than others. That is my point, let Sal knoiw which are the good and the bad. Maybe he will keep your favorite model another year because he decided to get rid of a model that we thought was not as good first.
 
My most consistent pet peeve and what I've heard a lot about his blades not being centered when closed. I'm not sure however this is par for the industry price range because I don't buy many other brands of knives in any quantity. As for specific models I felt that the Cobrahood especially conjunction with tip up the tip of only carry in the case of the salsa or not my favorite designs. I have salsa and I just off the cliff and works fine in my jeans pocket. Other than that spyderco has fixed any quality-control issues I have had making a very loyal follower sort of. I had won the original Wagners and the clip was screwed directly into the g-10 in the screw stripped out spyderco replaced the knife which it wasn't expecting them to. I had a clip breakout of micarta handled version in this was replaced. The one that bothers me is I had minor liner lock play in my own Chinese folder to put pressure decent amount of pressure on the back of the blade to liner lock scooted forward. This made me a little nervous but it probably would have ever failed in wasn't meant for martial arts use. I sent it back and it was exchanged the one I got back did the same thing and was later stolen from my car. Karma I've always felt guilty about the spree of returns in my early spyderco Courier and I felt only by knives from spyderco which I have except for couple deals I couldn't pass up in a benchmade Pinnacle spyderco doesn't make anything like it. And or I couldn't afford the titanium at the ready and given the fact that the model has a Cobrahood it probably wouldn't work out anyway. On related topic I will soon be giving away a Wal-Mart native is a small gesture of thanks in reconciliation to spyderco on the other form.
 
I have many Spydercos, including their first, the Worker, I love 'em all from the Custom collaborations that I have to the ordinary(is there really such a Spyderco knife?).

The only one I've ever tried and was not fond of was the Spyderco SPOT, it is such a specific use knife I couldn't find a reason to EDC the knife.

Other than that all my Spydercos,(I have about 15 or 20) see some EDC time).
 
I'm not a fan of the original Salsas. The cobra hood would occasionally help the blade find it's way open in my pocket or when I was pulling the knife out of my pocket. I darn near got some nasty cuts.

Razz
 
Razzierb said:
I'm not a fan of the original Salsas. The cobra hood would occasionally help the blade find it's way open in my pocket or when I was pulling the knife out of my pocket. I darn near got some nasty cuts.

Razz
Click to expand...

Well, thank goodness the cobra hood is being left off the Salsa 2. At least that's what I heard.
 
I had the same experience with my Ti Salsa. I carry inside the waistband and the little bugger opened up enough to cut through my t shirt, dress shirt and pants and then it bit me. I also found that the integral lock pinched my finger when opening. Not bad, but just enough to make it uncomfortable.
 
I shall be in danger from all who love Spyderco's, but I don't like the Starmate.
Too light for the size, and I didnt like how you could bend it. With dual liners,
it would be awsome!! But, then it would be a regular Terzuola ATCF.
 
First let me say I love the Cricket and probably have bought at least 10 of them in Almite, and carbon fiber and the ying/yang models, The SS is a great reliable slim little cutter. Butt.... I bought a pink FRN model for my daughter and almost didn't give it to her. I made her promise to consciously seat the lock by pressing the blade against a hard surface before using it. She has had no problems butt it still does not seat fully on opening.

Also, only a personal thing... I did not get along well with the Lil Temperance on a pass-around evaluation. It bit me danm near every time I opened it and the handle did not fit me well.

Butt then what the hell do I know... I passed on a '57 TBird a friend had for $1500 because it didn't have enuff headroom for me. STOOPID!!!
 
I mainly collect Spydercos. I do have a few other Company's knives but 95% of what I collect is Spyderco. With that said it is because of their "un-compromising" quality. Their insistance upon using top notch material. I have had a couple give me some minor problems. I had a Centofante II C-50 that just will not lock up properly. I just haven't got around to sending in to Amanda yet but I will. Probably isn't anything serious.

I know exactly what the other brother said about the Lil T biting him. It is the compression lock on the back side and it will pinch you spitefully if you don't keep that part of your hand clear of it. I have just learned to adjust. There are 3 Spyders that I just simply don't like the overall design of. They are the D'Alton Toad, The D'Allara, and the Spyderfly. But it's just a personal preference thing and nothing about the quality in which they are constructed. :)
 
Every spyderco I've had has been great except one. My CPM440V Native has terrible opening action. It's much too stiff even after 5 years of regular use. Don't get me wrong, I still love this knife, but it's not even in the same universe as any other spyderco I have in terms of smoothness and openability.
 
I think that design is what Spyderco really excels in. So no, I have never seen, or better held, a Spydie that was poorly designed.

In terms of fit and finish, I have had some knives that had fit and finish issues. Mostly annoying really but not flaws that would render the knife unsafe or unuseable. My pet peeve was for a while the too deeply recessed nested liners which would cause the blade to ride on the G-10 instead of the liners, but since Spyderco switched to the PB washers that issue is likely solved.

The problem really was that I got a Lil'T that had the perfect lockup, the perfect buttery smooth action and perfect fit and finish. After that I expected every single compression lock to be the same and I guess that is asking a bit much. But I also found that with just a little bit tinkering many of the minor issues can easily be solved anyways.

I also prefer to look on the bright side: Every time I pick up my Pacific Salt I am in utter disbelief. You get a knife that is so completely uncompromisingly designed around a specific purpose for such little money, it is really astounding. Makes me smile everytime I use that knife.
 
Never had any Q.C. issues w/ any Spyderco. A few left me kinda cold aestheically, but no problems w/ functionality. I'm going on the record as saying that I am a *big* fan of the Cobra Hood & would like to retrofit a couple of my Spyderco knives w/ them.
 
This is not a QC issue, nor one of a poor impression, but rather of a model that helped me with an important decision. It was the Rescue Jr. This knife told me that I did not like an SE edge. Sounds simple, but it helped me to build my personal preference. So I can't say that I wasn't impressed with the SE, its just not my thing.
 
1 Gunting with bad grinds
1 Chinook with bad grinds
1 Starmate with bad grinds
2 Militarys with bad locks
1 Yojimbo with an uncentered blade
1 Perrin where the blade wasn't seated in the handle evenly

All of these knives were bought sight unseen online. All were returned and replaced with the exception of the Yojimbo and the Military. (I haven't had time to send them back yet.)
 
It was thought I was picky and about clips falling off and locks not seating securely. Not even sure what a bad grind line looks like. Not really trying to be negative here. But I honestly thought I was one of the most troublesome of consumers.
 
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