Spyderco

Spyderco Knives, Inc.

Type	Proprietorship
Industry	Manufacturing
Founded	Golden, Colorado 1978; 39 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.

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. 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. Additionally, the company claims that this was the first knife to feature a pocket clip on the right side of the handle.

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.

Spyderco's knives are made with a plain edge, a partially serrated edge, or a fully serrated "Spyder Edge" configuration. 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.

A large part of Spyderco knife production is outsourced to foreign contractors in countries such as Japan, Taiwan, Italy, and China. 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.