golden colorado 1978 ; 38 years ago 1978 headquarters golden colorado key people sal glesser founder & president products knives revenue us 10 million number of employees 138 website www.spyderco.com spyderco is a golden colorado u.s.a. based cutlery company that produces knives and knife sharpeners . spyderco pioneered many features that are now common in folding knives including the pocket clip serrations and the opening hole . spyderco has collaborated with 30 custom knife makers athletes and self defense instructors for designs and innovated the usage of 20 different blade materials . contents 1 history 2 products 3 blade steels 4 collaborations 4.1 list of collaborators 5 sprint runs 6 byrd brand 7 references 8 external links history edit spyderco warrior knife spyderco was founded by sal glesser . the first product spyderco produced was the portable hand in 1976 this spider shaped device which gave the company its name was a series of angles ball joints and alligator clips that helped people such as jewelers and hobbyists to work with small parts . spyderco s founder sal glesser and his wife gail converted an old bread delivery truck into a motor home and traveled to shows . as they became more successful they graduated from the bread truck to a truck and trailer . they settled in golden in november 1978 . spyderco began producing knife sharpeners in 1978 and produced their first folding knife the c01 worker in 1981 . 1 2 this knife was the first to feature a round hole in the blade designed for fast one handed and ambidextrous opening which is now the company s trademark . 3 additionally the company claims that this was the first knife to feature a pocket clip on the right side of the handle . 4 5 6 7 products edit spyderco military most knives produced by spyderco are folding knives of various designs blade steels handle materials and locking mechanisms including two patented proprietary locks ; however they have also produced fixed blade knives for various purposes . 8 9 spyderco s knives are made with a plain edge a partially serrated edge or a fully serrated spyder edge configuration . 10 their most common handle material is frn fiberglass reinforced nylon and g10 although they make knives with steel handles as well as some limited editions with handles from various other materials . 11 spyderco endura 4 which is made in japan a large part of spyderco knife production is outsourced to foreign contractors in countries such as japan taiwan italy and china . 12 knives made with cpm s30v steel were previously all made in golden colorado usa however spyderco has recently begun shipping cpm s30v to taiwan to have knives produced there using this steel . spyderco knives are respected for their simplicity reliability good ergonomics and functional aesthetics . they are popular with many markets including private citizens fire and rescue personnel and law enforcement officers . 10 for his many influences in tactical knife design most notably the pocket clip serrations and opening hole and many collaborations with custom knife makers spyderco s president sal glesser was inducted into the blade magazine cutlery hall of fame at the 2000 blade show in atlanta georgia . 13 some of the product models includes spyderco delica 4 spyderco endura 4 spyderco tenacious g 10 spyderco resilience g 10 spyderco persistence g 10 spyderco ambitious g 10 spyderco dice spyderco techno blade steels edit spyderco native spyderco has experimented with new blade steels over the years . 14 in 1994 spyderco was the first company to use powder metallurgy in a production knife in the form of crucible s s60v tool steel and the first knife company to use h 1 steel in a folding knife . 15 the blade steel used by spyderco over the years include 52100 a ball bearing steel used in the first run of the mule project . 154cm an american stainless premium cutlery steel 8cr13mov a chinese stainless steel tempered at the rc56 to rc58 range and used in the tenacious persistence ambitious resilience grasshopper kiwi3 and byrd lines of knives . often compared to aus 8 but with slightly more carbon . 9cr18mo a higher level chinese stainless steel used mostly in high end barbering scissors and surgical tools . 440c a stainless steel known for corrosion resistance and ease of sharpening . aogami super blue a japanese exotic high end steel made by hitachi . the blue refers not to the color of the steel itself but the color of the paper in which the raw steel comes wrapped . ats 55 a performance stainless steel similar to ats 34 with the molybdenum reduced used only by spyderco for knife steels until the early 2000s 16 aus 6 similar in quality to 440a used as a budget steel in early spyderco models . aus 8 a frequently used japanese steel which is known for taking a very fine edge due to the inclusion of vanadium . sharpens easily and has moderate edge holding and corrosion resistance . aus 10 a japanese stainless steel series made by aichi with the same carbon content as 440c but with slightly less chromium . bg 42 a high performance stainless steel formulated for ball bearings similar to ats 34 same composition but with added vanadium which has similar properties . cts xhp made by carpenter technology . often referred to as a stainless version of d2 which has similar properties . cts 20cp carpenter technology s version of s90v with slightly reduced chromium . features incredible wear resistance and edge holding hardened to about 60 rc . cts bd1 carpenter s versions of gin 1 with improved chemistry . originally feature in a mule team fixed blade . d2 a high performance tool steel that has 1 percent less chromium than required to classify as stainless steel . spyderco uses crucible s version of d2 which is a particle metallurgy powdered version not wrought . cpm d2 is found in a sprint run version of the military model . g2 aka gin 1 . a hitachi made low cost stainless steel comparable to but softer than aus 8 . generally hardened in the mid to high rc 50s . a tough corrosion resistant steel . h 1 is ideal for marine applications because it substitutes nitrogen for carbon and thus is nearly rust proof in any normal environment such as salt water exposure though can still oxidize if exposed to extreme heat and chemical attack . it grinds scratches and has edge retention similar to the low carbide steels such as aus 6 . it is a precipitation hardening steel which is a particular type of heat treating where the hardness and microstructure is formed through an extended soak . mbs 26 a japanese stainless steel very fine grained with high corrosion resistance used in the catcherman and in most kitchen knives by spyderco . n690co an austrian stainless steel hardened to the high rc50 range . currently found in the squeak and previously used in spydercos manufactured by fox cutlery . cpm m4 aka aisi m4 has a usual rc of 62 65 used in special purposes high speed steel with combination of high carbon molybdenum vanadium and tungsten for excellent wear resistance and toughness ; a powder metal non stainless steel . cpm s30v steel an american powder metallurgy high carbide steel developed for the cutlery market . 17 cpm s60v aka 440v aka cpmt440v a modern american super steel that is wear resistant but difficult to sharpen . unfortunately the low level of toughness means that it can only be hardened to around 56 rc causing the edge holding performance to be diminished . cpm s90v aka 420v similar to crucible s s60v but designed to be more wear resistant with a very high carbide volume and high vanadium content . appreciated for extreme edge holding . s90v was featured in a sprint run of spyderco s military in 2008 . since then it has been used in several sprint runs in knives like the manix 2 and paramilitary 2 . while s90v holds an edge significantly better than s30v both are usually hardened to about 59 61 rc . vg 10 v 10 18 a japanese steel developed for the horticulture industry by takefu often hardened around the rc60 range . reported to have better corrosion resistance but slightly less edge retention than s30v . appreciated for taking an extremely fine edge and being extremely easy to sharpen while still holding an edge well . used in most of spyderco s japanese made knives . zdp 189 a premium japanese powdered super steel made by hitachi hardened to rc 62 67 with very high carbide volume . has excellent edge holding ability although it trails behind s90v and s110v in that regard . collaborations edit through the years spyderco has collaborated with numerous custom knife makers in the design of various models . 11 list of collaborators edit fb02 spyderco bill moran drop point jens anso 19 alexandru diaconescu ulrich hennicke germany ulize c161gp william f. moran 20 bob lum 21 bob terzuola 22 brad southard bram frank butch vallotton 23 chad los banos chris claycombe d alton holder 24 ed scott 25 ed schempp 26 eduard bradichansky 21 ernest emerson 27 fred perrin 28 frank centofante 29 gayle bradley howard viele 30 james a. keating 31 jd smith 32 jess horn 29 jot singh khalsa 33 ken onion laci szabo 34 marcin slysz 35 massad ayoob 36 michael janich 37 michael walker 38 mike snody 37 peter herbst peter rassenti philippe perotti r.j. martin ralph turnbull sacha thiel szabo laszlo tim wegner 33 tim zowada 39 wayne goddard 38 warren thomas 40 sprint runs edit spyderco often produces limited edition models referred to as sprint runs . these limited runs are generally versions of discontinued models with different blade and handle materials though some are completely new models such as the kopa ; a dress knife with several variants each with a different handle material such as micarta evrina and tiger coral . byrd brand edit a subdivision of spyderco byrd s logo spyderco designs and produces knives under the byrd brand . these knives use high quality materials and are manufactured in china allowing much lower prices while retaining most of spyderco s quality . 41 to differentiate the brands byrd knives have a comet shaped opening hole in the blade rather than the trademark round hole found on spyderco models . to date byrd knives have featured 8cr13mov as their blade steel except for the byrd catbyrd titanium which uses 9cr18mo steel . 41 early byrd knives were marked 440c but tests found that the steel was something entirely different from american 440c . this steel was closer to aus 8 than american 440c and also went by the name 8cr13mov . 41 the first byrd models the cara cara meadowlark flight pelican and crossbill initially featured stainless steel handles . this is likely because company owner sal glesser believes that basic stainless is the best way to test a pattern design . function and ergonomics are easily determined without the influence of material . newer byrds have featured aluminum fiberglass reinforced nylon frn and g10 handles . 41 references edit delavigne kenneth 2004 . spyderco story the new shape of sharp hardcover . colorado paladin press . p. 312 . isbn 1 58160 060 7 . dick steven 1997 . the working folding knife . stoeger publishing company . p. 280 . isbn 978 0 88317 210 0 . spyderco history page . retrieved 2006 11 05 . sb sharpmaker brief article evaluation . whole earth . winter 2000 . findarticles.com . 07 feb. 2008 . http findarticles.com p articles mi m0ger is 2000 winter ai 68617298 spyderco round hole explanation . retrieved 2006 11 05 . spyderco clipit explanation . retrieved 2006