C35 Q

C35 "Q" was created to be very lightweight. The scales and blade are "skeletonized". Simple to construct and easy to have different blades designs. Introduced in 1996 it was awarded Blade magazine's knife of the year. Production started in 1997 with the Spyderco Bug in the blade and continued for a few years. The initial name for the Q was the Silhouette.

History, mentionings from the forums etc.

Why the Q?

Built to be very lightweight (34g or 1.2 oz) the Q also brought a small and rather inexpensive platform for customization and since many blade designs were possible, it would become a marketing tool for companies. It would also be used to recognize employees for various companies and given away as prizes and the such.

Innovations

New Patent was for the "spring lock". Essentially a formed piece of wire that rests in the scales and the wire fits into a notch in the blade tang that locks it in the open or closed position. The clip was also formed piece of wire that was located in holes in the scales. The holes were constructed for 4-way carry.

Variations

Initially the FRN handle was built in a 'sculpted' design. Where the scale was a little wider in the middle and narrower at the top and bottom. The next generation of handle the sides were flat. Also an additional pin was added at the top of the scales near the lock. It is unknown exactly how many variations of blade design were created. There exists pictures for more than 50 blade variables. Many were done with different color handles. Quantities also varied greatly between variations. From Prototypes where 1 or 2 exist, very small quantities of 25 up to thousands for companies like REI and EMS. SE is the most common edge although PE was available as requested by the companies ordering them. They can vary for each company, some varieties included both edge configurations. CE was also available, but rarely seen on the regular blade. A Sheepfoot Blade was available on two versions that were only done in CE. One PE Sheepfoot Blade was done in a solid blade (A blade without any cutouts). The C35 Q was available in the following FRN colors: Black, Red, Green, Grey and Blue. Below we've tried to list the different variations as far as we know. If you know of others, please let us know here

Special thanks to Chris (boxer93) from the Spyderco forums for maintaining a Q website, from where much of this information was taken.

SKU	Handle	Edge	Steel	From/To	MSRP	Note	Number made	Grind	Clip	Clip positions	Collectors club
C35PBK	Black FRN	PE	440C	1996-	49.95$ (1998)	Regular Bug in blade, 3D handle		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35SBK	Black FRN	SE	440C	1996-	49.95$ (1998)	Regular Bug in blade, 3D handle		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35PBK	Black FRN	PE	440C	199?-1999	49.95$ (1998)	Regular Bug in blade, flat handle		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35SBK	Black FRN	SE	440C	199?-1999	49.95$ (1998)	Regular Bug in blade, flat handle		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35S	Green FRN	SE	440C			Solid blade		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35SBK	Black FRN	SE	440C			ACE Case		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35SBK	Black FRN	SE	440C			Advertising Products Co.		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35SBK	Black FRN	SE	440C			Anchorage Fire badge with flames		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35SBK	Black FRN	SE	440C			Anchorage Fire badge engraved		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35SBK	Black FRN	SE	440C			Bever outdoor store, Netherlands. Beaver image with the word bever cutout.		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35SBK	Black FRN	SE	440C			Blade (magazine) cutout. Each one is numbered, with some reported to be higher than 1000.	1000+	Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35S	Grey FRN	SE	440C			Blade (magazine) 25th Anniversary, with Blade and 25 cutout.		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35SBK	Black FRN	SE	440C			Blue Ridge Knives, with skull and crossbones cutout.		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35SBK	Black FRN	SE	440C			Bob's Gun Shop		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35PSBK	Black FRN	CE	440C			Cabelas cutout		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35SBK	Black FRN	SE	440C			Cairns (leather manufacturer) cutout, with Leather Since 1836 laser engraved below.		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35SBK	Black FRN	SE	440C			Calahan Construction		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35SBK	Black FRN	SE	440C			Calif. Assn. of Nurses CRNA		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35SBK	Black FRN	SE	440C			Carter Custom Weaponry with speeding bullet through company letters logo cutout.		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35SBK	Black FRN	SE	440C			Crucible Metals with CM logo cutout. Given to employees.		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35SBK	Black FRN	SE	440C			CICCC (Club International des Collectionneurs de Couteaux Customs) cutout.		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35PBK	Black FRN	PE	440C			HK in blade, relatively few PE exist		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35SBK	Black FRN	SE	440C			HK in blade		Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35PBK	Black FRN	PE	440C			Viking helmet in blade Made for Norwegian Spyderco importer at the time Viking international products.	150	Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35SBK	Black FRN	SE	440C			Viking helmet in blade Made for Norwegian Spyderco importer at the time Viking international products.	50	Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35PBK	Black FRN	PE	440C			REI in blade Made for Outdoor retail store Recreational equipment Inc.	Unknown	Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35SBK	Black FRN	SE	440C			REI in blade Made for Outdoor retail store Recreational equipment Inc.	Unknown	Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35PBK	Black FRN	PE	440C			MIT INKJET in blade Made for a Swedish firm making inkjet heads for large scale printers.	Maximum 200 total PE and SE	Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35SBK	Black FRN	SE	440C			MIT INKJET in blade Made for a Swedish firm making inkjet heads for large scale printers.	Maximum 200 total PE and SE	Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35PBK	Black FRN	PE	440C			Moose in blade Made for former Swedish importer Rocky Mountain AB.	Maximum 200 total PE and SE	Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35P	Blue FRN	PE	440C	2002		Part of a 5-piece set (blue, red, grey, green, black). Includes signed letter of authenticity.	20 sets	Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35P	Red FRN	PE	440C	2002		Part of a 5-piece set (blue, red, grey, green, black). Includes signed letter of authenticity.	20 sets	Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35P	Grey FRN	PE	440C	2002		Part of a 5-piece set (blue, red, grey, green, black). Includes signed letter of authenticity.	20 sets	Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35P	Green FRN	PE	440C	2002		Part of a 5-piece set (blue, red, grey, green, black). Includes signed letter of authenticity.	20 sets	Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35P	Black FRN	PE	440C	2002		Part of a 5-piece set (blue, red, grey, green, black). Includes signed letter of authenticity.	20 sets	Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35P	Grey FRN	PE	440C	2004		Part of a 4-piece, solid sheepsfoot blade set (grey, blue, black, green). Includes signed letter of authenticity.	10 sets	Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35P	Blue FRN	PE	440C	2004		Part of a 4-piece, solid sheepsfoot blade set (grey, blue, black, green). Includes signed letter of authenticity.	10 sets	Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35P	Black FRN	PE	440C	2004		Part of a 4-piece, solid sheepsfoot blade set (grey, blue, black, green). Includes signed letter of authenticity.	10 sets	Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH
C35P	Green FRN	PE	440C	2004		Part of a 4-piece, solid sheepsfoot blade set (grey, blue, black, green). Includes signed letter of authenticity.	10 sets	Hollow sabre grind	Q wire clip	TD/TU LH/RH

Most collectible variation

With the C35 Q it's more a question of which variation is NOT very collectable. Considering the amount of people collecting the Q and how few was made of some of them, it's impossible to say which is the most collectible. The least collectible seems to be the regular Bug in blade Q and the one with HK in the blade. Both of these appear pretty often and never really bring the really high prices. Most of the others seems to command a premium whenever they appear for sale.

Questions regarding collecting the C35 Q

• How many different variations was made?
• How many of the different variations?
• How many in each edge configuration of the different variations?
• Which ones are mere Prototypes and which was made?
• All variations are supposed to have a 440C blade, but the crucible one seems to be marked 420V. Is there others with a different bladesteel?

Technical information

Typical metric measurements in mm and grams:

Length overall	Length closed	Length blade	Length edge	Hole Ø	Blade thickness	Weight
						34g

Typical imperial measurements in inches and ounces:

Length overall	Length closed	Length blade	Length edge	Hole Ø	Blade thickness	Weight
5 3/4"	3 3/8"	2 1/2"	2 3/8"			1.2oz