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Home > Spyderco Knives Information >
(Spyderco and Spyderco logo are registered trademarks of Spyderco Inc. USA. All Rights Reserved)
At a recent meeting held in The Royal Armouries in Leeds, UK, the Spyderco design team presented their follow up range based on the Spyderco UK Penknife. Like the UK Penknife these knives have blades with cutting edges less than 3 inches long and non locking blades, making them perfectly legal to carry in public in the UK.
 Spyderco is one of the few companies to produce a high quality, decent sized, single bladed knife which complies with the law. The Urban range of knives have the same notch lock, a safety feature which prevent the blade closing on to the fingers when using the knives. A similar design is used in certain French made folding Laguiole knives, although the Laguiole knives do not have the additional half way safety stop found in UK Penknives.
There is no conventional lever or button lock release in the notch joint design, which requires additional force to disengage the spring bar, before the blade may be closed. Prototype models of the Urban range included models with stainless bolsters, Wharncliffe style blades and orange G-10 handle scales.
Based in Golden, Colorado, USA, Spyderco Knives produces a wide range of knives designed for different applications. Many features have been introduced including the trademark round hole found in all Spyderco folding knives. Every day carry knives like the UK Penknife can be easily opened with one hand using the round thumb hole pull. Holding the knife in the palm of the hand at the base of the fingers, grasp the handle with the tips of the fingers, insert the thumb pad in the round hole ,then slide the blade away from the handle using the thumb.
 Two of their original and most popular designs, the Delica and Endura knives have been gradually tweaked and improved over a 20 year period. The current Delica 4 knife features a strengthened blade tip, improved handle ergonomics and 4 position pocket clip. The pocket clip allows the knife to rest inside the pocket with the clip on the outside. This keeps the knife flat inside the pocket and easily retrievable. The pocket clip has evolved and can now be repositioned depending on user preference for tip up / tip down carry and left or right handed use. The Spyderco Delica 4 and Spyderco Endura 4 Knives now have this type of 4 position pocket clip.
The patented 'Spyder-Edge' consists of two step serrations with a repeated pattern of one large and two small serrations. A serrated edge increases the effective cutting edge length by up to 24%. The sharpened recesssed curve has more linear cutting surface than a straight edge. Edge retention is also greater because cutting is started by the serrations' tips, easing the workload on the recessed edges, and protecting the sharp inside cutting curves which wear less over time. The SpyderEdge has a repeated pattern of one large and two small serrations. This gives Spyderco serrated edge knives a ferocious cutting ability, making mince-meat of nylon rope, leather, cardboard, rubber hose etc.
The SpyderEdge can easily be re-sharpened by using the pointed angle of a fine ceramic Sharpmaker stone. When sharpening, the point of the stone will slide in and out of the serrations. Both sides of the blade should be sharpened, even though serration bevels are present on one side only. A fully serrated knife such as the Spyderco Harpy was developed for the marine fishing industry allowing ropes, lines and webbings to be severed efficiently with one pass of the blade. The Assist was designed for emergency personnel who may need to cut through seat belts or fibrous material. This knife also has a patented blunt tip, a plain edge portion near the tip for accurate cutting, a retractable, glass breaking carbide tip and a built in emergency whistle. The Police Knife has the maximum blade length to handle ratio for a lock knife, the SpyderEdge version being one of the most effective cutting tools on the market.
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Other Spyderco Knives
Spyderco Lava C110P
 The Spyderco Lava C110P lock knife was designed by Chad Los Banos. It measures 87 mm closed, witha 48 mm long, 2.5 mm thick, flat ground, VG-10 stainless steel locking blade. The blade has a negative downwards slope , bringing the edge into line with the wrist when held in a cutting position. Accompanied with excellent handle ergonomics, generous finger choil shape and slip resistant jimping on the blade finger choil and spine cusp, this allows a high degree of leverage and grip when cutting. There is a 12 mm diameter thumb hole pull for single handed opening. The solid stainless steel handles have a lanyard hole holes drilled on both sides for repositioning of the stainless steel pocket clip. The knife has a rear lock with David Boye safety dent on locking bar. This is another of Spyderco's 'little big knives' with strong cutting ability way out of proportion to its small size.
Spyderco UK Penknife C94GP
Measures 4 inches closed. 2.9 inch non locking blade, with 12 mm diameter thumb hole pull. Handles made of 3 mm thick G-10 with side changable wire pocket clip. Made in Golden, Colorado, U.S.A. Knife is held together with 3 torx screws. Although it is a slipjoint knife (non locking folding blade knife), the blade requires considerable force to close from the fully open position. This is due to the notched heel of the blade tang which engages with the top of the spring. Another notch creates a halfway safety stop when closing the blade. This is as close to a locking blade in a slipjoint knife you can find. It is safe to open and close the blade with one hand. This makes it an ideal knife for fishing, fox hunting, estate work etc. The blade steel is 3 mm thick American CPM-S30V, top quality expensive knife steel making this an expensive knife. At approx £70 it is a highly engineered tool which also complies with UK knife carry laws.
Spyderco Spin C86P
 Measures 2.5 inches closed. 1.75 inch locking blade. Standard edge, VG-10, 2.5 mm thick stainless steel blade with 10 mm diameter thumb hole pull. Modified Wharncliff blade profile with rounded tip. Stainless steel handles with laser engraved spider web design. Framelock with ball bearing detent, removable stainless pocket clip. Absolutely no blade play around the pivot pin. Knife is fully dismantlable for cleaning if desired. The design gives a good 2 fingered grip with easy positioning of the thumb on the spine cusp. The knife is truly engineered to extremely fine tolerance and manufactured with high grade materials. This general sturdiness together with excellent ergonomics allow it to be used for more demanding cutting tasks. The small size also allows easy one handed opening and closing of the blade. Although most modern designs allow one handed opening, few also facilitate such easy and safe closing with one hand. This is judged from the perspective of a right-hander, and closing may be somewhat less easy if one is left handed, this is in common with all framelock / linerlock designs as far as I know. the only slight criticism is the lack of a halfway stop point between fully open and fully closed. This could easily have been built into the design, although this may result in over engineering of such a nicely conceived and executed product.
Spyderco Military C36GPE
Measures 5.25 inches closed. 4 mm thick CPM-S30V stainless steel, 4 inch locking blade. Black, chequered G-10 handles. Steel linerlock recessed into handle. Removable, black coated, stainless steel pocket clip. As this knife is held together with allen-head type screws it may be fully dismantled if desired. The steel linerlock is recessed into the inner handle and held in place by 2 of the handle screws. The handles are made of 4 mm thick G-10, and have zero play when squeezed together. Despite the forward mounted steel pocket clip, the knife is well balanced. The weight of the pocket clip being offset by the steel linerlock. The handle provides good four fingered grip with the thumb resting nicely on the machine grooved spine cusp. The spine cusp in fact has 5 widely spaced deep indentations. The thumb hole pull diameter is 14 mm, which is the same size as that of the Salt I knife. The knife is made in Golden, Colorado, U.S.A.
Spyderco Endura C10PBK
Measures 4.75 inches closed. 4 Inch long , 3 mm thick, VG-10 stainless steel blade with standard edge, flat ground blade. 13 mm diameter thumb hole pull. Fibre glass reinforced nylon handles (FRN). Black coated stainless pocket clip. This is a conventional lock knife with lightweight FRN handles. The pocket clip may be removed by undoing the hollow threaded steel lanyard attachment. The locking release bar features Spyderco's patented 'David Boye Dent' which is a profile reducing cut-out and helps prevent accidental release of the blade lock. As the handle construction is of such a lightweight material, the prescence of the steel pocket clip helps to give the knife a good balance. Removing the pocket clip actually upsets the balance of the knife by moving it too far forward. This is the original Endura blade shape, which has a ferociously sharp pointed tip, and comes with usual Spyderco literal razor sharpness.
Spyderco Delica C11PBK (Out of production)
 Measures 4 inches closed. 3.1 Inch long , 2.5 mm thick, VG-10 stainless steel, standard edge, flat sabre ground blade. 13 mm diameter thumb hole pull. Fibre glass reinforced nylon handles (FRN). Black coated stainless pocket clip. Like the Endura, this is a conventional lock knife with lightweight FRN handles. Indeed the Delica is a scaled down version of the Endura. The pocket clip may be removed by undoing the hollow threaded steel lanyard attachment. The locking release bar features Spyderco's patented 'David Boye Dent' which is a profile reducing cut-out and helps prevent accidental release of the blade lock. As the handle construction is of such a lightweight material, the prescence of the steel pocket clip helps to give the knife a good balance. Removing the pocket clip actually upsets the balance of the knife by moving it too far forward. This is the original Delica blade shape, which has a ferociously sharp pointed tip, and comes with usual Spyderco literal razor sharpness. The above mentioned Delica according to Spyderco aficionados is actually termed 'Delica III', different from the 'Delica I' by having a removable steel clip unlike original FRN clips.
The 'Delica II' has a stainless steel handle
This version of the Delica fully addresses the problem of balance. Each half of the handle is made of a good 2.5 mm thickness of brushed stainless steel. All edges of the handles are chamfered which gives a very comfortable grip. The handle retaining pins and pivot pin are flush finished on the handle, which has a matt brushed stainless finish. There are 3 threaded holes at each end of the front side of the handle which allows the clip to be positioned for tip up or tip down carry. This model being altogether more satisfactory than the FRN handle models in terms of balance and sits very niceley in the hand.
Spyderco Endura 4 C10PBK
The latest version of the Endura has skeletonised stainless steel handle liners and improved blade geometry. 4 sets of holes are drilled in the ends of the handles at each side to allow re-positioning of the pocket clip. This model is assembled using size T6 / T7 torx screws instead of rivets and may be fully dismantled for cleaning. The tension of the blade pivot pin is also adjustable using a size T7 torx driver.The addition of steel liners beneath the lightweight FRN handles improves strength and the knife generally feels a lot more solid. Although it is considerably heavier than earlier models, the balance has been maintained with the halfway point positioned around the finger choil. The blade tip has been strengthened with improved blade geometry and additional spine cusp jimping has been added. All these refinements manage to improve even further on an already classic design.
Spyderco Native C41PBK
Measures 4 inches closed. 3.2 inch long, 3 mm thick, CPMS30V stainless steel, hollow ground, spear point blade with unsharpened false edge. Blade has 6 machine ground spine indentations at the thumb contact point. Blade has a 12 mm diameter thumb hole pull and a rounded finger choil in front of the blade tang. The lightweight FRN handle is molded into 2 finger choils. Together with the blade finger choil this allows for 2 cutting grips, one with all fingers on the handle, the knife in a forward position, the other with the knife further back in the hand, and index finger and thumb both in contact with the blade. A very good grip is achieved in both positions, allowing strenuous cutting or more delicate carving by adjusting the grip depending on the job. The stainless pocket clip may be removed and changed from side to side. This is achieved by undoing the threaded steel lanyard attachment. Even with the pocket clip removed the knife maintains its functional balance, unlike say the Delica or Endura models. I found that the ergonomicis were greatly improved by removing the pocket clip and this allowed a better grip of the handle. Made in Golden, Colorado, U.S.A.
Byrd Cara Cara
Byrd Knives is a division of Spyderco Knives. Designed by Spyderco, Byrd Knives are made in China using high grade materials to a very high standard. The CarCara knife is excellent value for a 4 inch blade lock knife with G-10 handles. The locking bar includes Spyderco's patented 'David Boye Dent' on the locking bar to prevent accidental release. The blade tang includes finger choil and spine cusp jimping to improve grip. The steel handle spacer is machine ground to produce a scalloped effect thus reducing weight. Blade steel is 8CR13MOV with a hollow ground edge. This feels a lot like a larger version of the UKPK with a true locking blade. The design of the handle allows a forward grip for tougher cutting jobs and the blade thickness and length makes it suitable for heavier cutting tasks.
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Handy Niknaks TEL: 08701 288979 E-Mail: info@handy-niknaks.co.uk
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