My new knife - Spyderco Urban Leaf

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Picked this up from the PO today. Bought from the British Blades forum.

Very impressed with the build quality and the way the knife handles. I think more Spydercos may be finding a home.

 

[JonathanD]

Spydies are superb knives. The urban, UKPK slipits etc, are my #1 EDCs. Cracking bits of steel.

 

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For scale

 

[helixpteron]

I was fortunate enough to buy a Spyderco Native (on BCUK) and am very impressed with the tool. Given how much I like the Native, I'd certainly buy more of the brand.

 

[durulz]

Delicate issue this, but an important one to raise, I think.
Why did they call it 'Urban'?
Do they see its use in 'urban' environments?
Such names, and the slightly aggressive/military look to the shape of the blade (whether they intended that or not is irrelevant. It looks like that to my eyes and I suspect for that reason - plus the 'Urban' name - it could look equally so to the kind of 'urban' youth some of our ill-thought out knife legislation is seeking to curb) are the kind of things that are giving knives a bad name in this country at the moment.

I raise these points genuinely. I don't doubt the knife is a well made and practical item. But I am just wondering about tact and sensitivity of calling it an 'urban' knife.
I realise Spyderco are an American company, but you would have thought they would be aware of the markets they are supplying to. Would it really have cost so much to have removed the word 'Urban' from the packaging and called it 'Hunter's', 'Fisherman's' etc?

These style of knives, with names like that, may be playing into the hands of the anti-knife lobby. Maybe a bit more thought wouldn't go amiss? Thoughts?

Just to clarify - it's not about my perceptions or your perceptions; we all know it's a perfectly legitimate tool. I'm just trying to ask us to think about what other, non-bushcraft, eyes may think of the look/name of such a thing. If we are to challenge the common (mis)conception of knives then we need to look at them from other's points of view.

 

[drewdunnrespect]

durulz good question and honestly i fully agree and maybe if some one wrote to the company and said this it could be changed

drew

 

[Hoodoo]

My guess is they called it Urban for precisely the concerns raised. It's a "UK friendly" slipjoint knife suitable (legal) for urban carry. Obviously the design is classic Spyderco and as such, it has a tactical look, i.e., it does not look like a stockman.

 

[durulz]

Yeah, but that's kind of my point - Spyderco clearly don't understand the UK market.
That style of knife (whether legal or not) has an overtly aggressive appearance which is compounded by it being targeted at an 'urban' market.
Tell you want, if I was a police officer and found that on some 'urban' 16 year old and, when asked why they had it, if they said in response, 'it doesn't matter why I have it - it's perfectly legal to carry without reason or excuse under UK law' then I'd still take them down the nick where they can convince the custody serjeant.
Truth is, bushcrafters are in the minority. If we don't want to lose the ability to carrry out certain aspects of our pasttime then we need to start seeing the situation from the opposition's point of view. 'Urban' knives like that, going for that 'tactical' look, work against us - whether they're legal or not. The public see such blades as aggressive weapons, not tools. We need to realise that.

 

[Hoodoo]

Yeah, but that's kind of my point - Spyderco clearly don't understand the UK market.
That style of knife (whether legal or not) has an overtly aggressive appearance which is compounded by it being targeted at an 'urban' market.
Tell you want, if I was a police officer and found that on some 'urban' 16 year old and, when asked why they had it, if they said in response, 'it doesn't matter why I have it - it's perfectly legal to carry without reason or excuse under UK law' then I'd still take them down the nick where they can convince the custody serjeant.
Truth is, bushcrafters are in the minority. If we don't want to lose the ability to carrry out certain aspects of our pasttime then we need to start seeing the situation from the opposition's point of view. 'Urban' knives like that, going for that 'tactical' look, work against us - whether they're legal or not. The public see such blades as aggressive weapons, not tools. We need to realise that.

I know just the knife y'all need. The hard part will be getting Spyderco to make 'em. Where would they put the hole?

 

[mayfly]

My views however clichéd and obvious are firm on this (FWIW). I don't think adapting to what we perceive is the public view is going to make any difference. It is not the knife that is the problem, so much as some of the idiots that carry them. The anti-knife lobby doesn't discriminate against this or that knife, but against all of them. I respect their views even if I disagree. Whether you call a knife an urban or a fruit knife or a tactical SAS style military killer knife makes no difference to their stance. Furthermore, the police will nick someone carrying one of these knives if they look - in the eyes of experience - like they should be nicked, but they'd do precisely the same if they were carrying a bright pink flashing knife that was sharp and pointy. Good policing is an art not a science. I have one of these and carry it all the time in London. It's legal and it is wholly functional. In fact, it's the perfect urban knife. And it looks great in green. Chris

 

[helixpteron]

I really don't see any aggressive lines to the blade or the handle, which I like.

The blade reminds me of the Clipit's in the Spyderco advert on the tree, which in turn reminds me of the vultures in The Jungle Book, about as far from an aggressive image as its possible to get!

I suspect that the name has more to do with the perceived marketing 'chic' and target buyer profile than anything else.

A 'cool' product in a 'cool' marketplace.

 

[JonathanD]

The Urban to me doesn't look tactical at all, slightly shorter than the UKPK. Remember that it was us Brits that helped design these knives, so you can't blame Spyderco for not understanding the UK market, it was us on BcUK and BB that had all the input on this knife range. I carry the UKPK all the time, never had a problem at all, especially with the orange or foliage green handles. The name doesn't matter, it's just a reference, it's not going to change anything even if you called it The Fluffy. Although if it was called the stealth urban, or hidden warrior, that would be different. At £100 per knife, it certainly isn't going to attract chavvy elements.