Not round holes

sqoon

sqoon

Joined
Jan 1, 2010
Messages
1,157
Is it just me, or does it seem that knife makers don't seem to understand that cutting a hole in your knife to serve as a place for your thumb only works if the hole is round? It feels like everyone wants to have that interesting look to their knife that a hole somehow lends, but because they don't want to directly imitate Spyderco they play with the shape. So we end up with these knives with weird ellipses that really feel horrible on your thumb when you truly are using just the action of your thumb to completely open the knife. The funny thing is, even the Byrd line, which is a Spyderco brand deviates from the round hole and it makes for a crummy opener. Of course manufacturers other than Spyderco will use the hole, which is awesome. But is anyone out there really asking for these (perhaps personally) torturous variants?
 
I think it's an intellectual property and respect thing. Spyderco was the first to have the round hole, and it's a surefire invitation to accusations of idea theft if another company does the same thing. It's their signature. It's on every one of their knives.

So, most companies modify it slightly.
 
Comeuppance said:
I think it's an intellectual property and respect thing. Spyderco was the first to have the round hole, and it's a surefire invitation to accusations of idea theft if another company does the same thing. It's their signature. It's on every one of their knives.

So, most companies modify it slightly.
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I think BM switched over to the regular round hole from oval after the lawsuit or whatever said that Spyderco couldn't trademark a hole.
 
JDunn709 said:
I like the Strider opening hole almost as much as Spyderco's :thumbup:
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Really? I mean, that is great that you like them! Whatever works is cool, but can you explain why? When I press a non round hole with my thumb and twist it, the pad of my thumb kinda pinches and has to rub against the hole in a way that isn't painful, but is really noticeable and weird.
 
Yep the round hole is a trademark of spyderco. If you see another company using it, they either are licensed to do so, are doing it illegally or dont know they should not be doing it. I think the reason you dont see the round hole on the byrd knives is because they wanted a brand of entry level knives with their own identity. If they used the round hole they might as well call it a spyderco. But I also have to assume they want to reserve spyderco name for mid to high level knives.
 
Comeuppance said:
I think it's an intellectual property and respect thing. Spyderco was the first to have the round hole, and it's a surefire invitation to accusations of idea theft if another company does the same thing. It's their signature. It's on every one of their knives.

So, most companies modify it slightly.
Click to expand...

I totally agree, and I think you put it perfectly. Thank you. But the thing I'm saying is that if you aren't gonna do the hole, go with something that isn't going to irritate me every time I use it. By not copying Spyderco, they're really just calling attention to the fact that they are not copying Spyderco while at the same time giving the user a worse knife than if they had used a thumb stud. Either use the whole because it is what works best and you want your knife to have the best features even if it means looking like an imitation, or think of another way to make your knife open that isn't with a bad hole.
 
Spyderco even makes knives with holes that aren't round, but the round ones do work best.
 
Spyderco's large round hole works the best. Nothing feels better or smoother IMO. The small ones are ok. But the Para, mili, Manix and similar cannot be beat! Unless its a flipper ;).
 
As much as I love the Buck Vantage models, the hole is worthless. I only use the flipper to open them.

That said, I just can't own a folder with a thumb stud, I wish I could, but it's an ocd thing for me. I'd rather a non functional hole vs. a great thumb stud.
 
sqoon said:
I totally agree, and I think you put it perfectly. Thank you. But the thing I'm saying is that if you aren't gonna do the hole, go with something that isn't going to irritate me every time I use it. By not copying Spyderco, they're really just calling attention to the fact that they are not copying Spyderco while at the same time giving the user a worse knife than if they had used a thumb stud. Either use the whole because it is what works best and you want your knife to have the best features even if it means looking like an imitation, or think of another way to make your knife open that isn't with a bad hole.
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both.gif
 
I'm kinda surprised that a round hole is a legal copyright trademark? I'm surprised that a thumb stud and a nail nick aren't trademarked.

For what it's worth, I also find it strange that companies can trademark colors too.
 
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sqoon said:
Really? I mean, that is great that you like them! Whatever works is cool, but can you explain why? When I press a non round hole with my thumb and twist it, the pad of my thumb kinda pinches and has to rub against the hole in a way that isn't painful, but is really noticeable and weird.
Click to expand...

Striders have some serious retention and a heavy detent/thumbstud is nowhere near as comfy as a hole. It works on a Strider rather well.
 
Comeuppance said:
I think it's an intellectual property and respect thing. Spyderco was the first to have the round hole, and it's a surefire invitation to accusations of idea theft if another company does the same thing. It's their signature. It's on every one of their knives.

So, most companies modify it slightly.
Click to expand...

Even their fixed blades. If another serious maker used it, they would be accused of stealing it from Spyderco and market share would suffer. This does not apply to $15.00 Chinese knockoffs. These makers don't care because their customer is not the serious knife aficionado.
 
Bugout Bill said:
I think BM switched over to the regular round hole from oval after the lawsuit or whatever said that Spyderco couldn't trademark a hole.
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The hole is trademarked by Spyderco
 
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