Amsterdam Meet 2012 Report

nick425 said:
Man it sucks that it is made in Taiwan... :(
Click to expand...

What really sucks is the scales don't cover the liners. The maker in Taichung puts out excellent knives, using American steel. I'd rather see it made in Taiwan than have the Paramilitary discontinued to free up the production capacity to make it in Golden.
 
Spyderco 2012 Prototype 2012 – Foundry (Carpenter)


This knife was introduced as a prototype last year; back then it was known as the ‘Carpenter’. It still is being developed for the Carpenter Company. The intention is to have a folding knife made using 100% materials made by Carpenter, with the first run going to its employees.

spyderco_amsterdammeet2012_prototype_foundry.jpg
 
The knife looks and feels like a solid working folder. The blade is around 3,5 inches long and made from Carpenter’s CTS-XHP steel. According to Spyderco’s testing, the steel’s performance is similar to powdered stainless D2. The handle on this proto is made from Bio-Blu which probably won’t be used in regular production. To me, the material felt a lot like a titanium alloy. It’s reasonably lightweight and the scales were finished like a fine polish. All the edges on the handle were nicely rounded for that ‘melted’ look and feel.


spyderco_amsterdammeet2012_prototype_foundry_blade.jpg


spyderco_amsterdammeet2012_prototype_foundry_clipside.jpg


spyderco_amsterdammeet2012_prototype_foundry_lock.jpg
 
The elongated milling marks at the base of the integral locking liner are the shapes that Spyderco R&D came up with as being the best way to make the locking liner of this handle material.

spyderco_amsterdammeet2012_prototype_foundry_closed.jpg


spyderco_amsterdammeet2012_prototype_foundry_closed1.jpg
 
The tip wasn’t yet perfectly finished on this prototype, you’ll notice that mostly in the spine shot, but I’m sure this will be fixed in final production. I think the Foundry would make a great working folder for a wide variety of utility chores.

spyderco_amsterdammeet2012_prototype_foundry_spine.jpg
 
So far, the Foundry is by far my favorite.

Thanks for all the terrific pictures from this show.
 
Make the Foundry with Ti handles and a solid pocket clip and you will have a home run.

That would be the perfect folder IMO.
 
Spyderco 2012 Prototype – Native 5 Fluted Titanium


Another familiar model was the Native 5 with the fluted titanium handle. I still think it looks and handles like a champ. The handle scales also ´replace´ the liners in the G10 model. Although visually it makes the ti scales look thicker, to me at least, I pretty sure the overall thickness is the same as the G10 model. I really like this Native variant and hope it gets made soon.

spyderco_amsterdammeet2012_prototype_native5ti.jpg


spyderco_amsterdammeet2012_prototype_native5ti_blade.jpg


spyderco_amsterdammeet2012_prototype_native5ti_clips.jpg


spyderco_amsterdammeet2012_prototype_native5ti_handle.jpg


spyderco_amsterdammeet2012_prototype_native5ti_clipside.jpg


spyderco_amsterdammeet2012_prototype_native5ti_hand.jpg


spyderco_amsterdammeet2012_prototype_native5ti_spine.jpg
 
Spyderco 2012 Prototype – Pekka Tuominen Puukko

The Puukko was also shown as a production prototype for 2012. It looked the same to me as it did last year, but this time the proto came with a sheath. It’s been a while since I handled a leather sheath for a fixed blade, but this ‘dangler’ design seemed very well made to me. When handling the knife I was struck by the relative thickness of the spine. The zero ground edge was sharp and, in fact, tough for me to capture ‘head on’ on camera.



spyderco_amsterdammeet2012_prototype_puukko.jpg




spyderco_amsterdammeet2012_prototype_puukko_blade.jpg




spyderco_amsterdammeet2012_prototype_puukko_handle.jpg




spyderco_amsterdammeet2012_prototype_puukko_sheath.jpg




spyderco_amsterdammeet2012_prototype_puukko_spine.jpg




The Puukko came along with a nice surprise…….a high tech folding Puukko, the Nilakka – also by Pekka Tuominen!



spyderco_amsterdammeet2012_prototype_puukko_nilakka.jpg
 
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