Custom Pocket Clips: Sal’s Pals

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Custom Pocket Clips: Sal’s Pals
A short, skeletonized clip distinguishes Lucas Burnley's Asian folder. (PointSeven image)
Zieba's rose gold clips
The serpentine titanium clips on Michael Zieba’s folders are finished in rose gold. (PointSeven image)
Butch Ball's damascus trailing point clips.
Damascus trailing-point clips adorn Butch Ball’s pearl folders. (PointSeven image)

 

C15 with pocket clip
Spyderco’s first factory/custom collaboration, the C15 designed by Bob Terzuola, sported a pocket clip.
short skeletonized clip
A short, skeletonized clip distinguishes Lucas Burnley’s Asian folder. (PointSeven image)

Custom knifemakers seem to introduce most knife innovations, which are then emulated by factory knife companies. Not so with custom pocket clips. BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-FameĀ© member Sal Glesser popularized knives with pocket clips in his Spyderco production line, and custom knifemakers took their cue from him. As a result, today’s custom pocket clips might well be called “Sal’s Pals.”

mokuti pocket clip
Craig Camerer employs mokuti for the long, curved clip on his folder. (PointSeven image)

Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, Spyderco offered its first knife with a pocket clipā€”and also the company’s trademarked blade opening holeā€”in 1981 when it introduced the Worker model. Spyderco also popularized serrations on sporting folding knives.

The fact that custom knifemakers adopted the pocket clip, as did factory knife companies everywhere, should come as no surprise. For one thing, the clip’s abilities to attach a closed folding knife to the lip of your pocket rather than having the knife bang around in the bottom of it with car keys, coins, etc., and to make it much easier to retrieve are eminently practical. In addition, Spyderco has offered many factory/custom collaborationsā€”knives designed by custom knifemakers and then reproduced by a company, in this case Spyderco. The first of these was in the early 1990sā€”the C15 designed by Bob Terzuola, which, of course, also had the blade hole and a pocket clip.

Today’s custom versions of the pocket clip run the gamut, including long ones, short ones, tall ones, round, anodized ones, rose gold ones and more.

For instance, Michael Zieba won Best New Maker at the 2016 BLADE Show for his S2 standard and mini models with serpentine titanium pocket clips finished in rose gold.

Short, cross-hatched clip
Ken Onion’s folders have a short, cross-hatched pocket clip. (PointSeven image)

On the other end of the scale is Lucas Burnley’s Asian-style folder with a very short skeletonized clip, while Butch Ball offers trailing-point damascus clips on his pearl-handle folders. Craig Camerer presents a long, curved clip in mokuti on his damascus folding knife, while Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame member Ken Onion opts for a short, cross-hatched clip on one style of his folders.

These are but a few of today’s custom knifemakers who took their cue from Sal Glesser and his utilitarian pocket clip. Hey, if you’re going to emulate someone, emulate the best.

 

 

 

 


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