Product Warranty

the spyderco
whale blade
This unique piece of Spyderco history was originally manufactured in
limited numbers for animal conservation groups. Now available to the public
for the first time, the Whale Blade is ground from 100% rustproof H-1 steel.
One of the tragic effects of commercial fishing efforts is the entanglement
of marine mammals in fishing nets and rigging. As the entangled whales
struggle to break free, the lines and nets pull taut, often resulting in serious
injury and sometimes death. Fortunately, there are a number of wildlife
conservation groups that specialize in rescuing these animals, but until a few
years ago, their efforts were hampered because they did not have the proper
tools for the job.
Douglas Coughran AM is the Senior Wildlife Officer, Marine Wildlife
Operations, Department of Environment and Conservation, Nature Protection
Branch, Western Australia. His teams specialize in saving entangled whales
by approaching them with small inflatable rafts. Since the whales can
approach 40 feet in length and weigh several tons, the teams use a 10-foot
rescue pole with a blade at the end to cut away the lines entangling the
creatures. Safely maneuvering a sharp blade at the end of a 10-foot pole in
choppy seas is an incredibly demanding task. To ensure that his teams had
the best possible tool for this job, Coughran contacted knifemaker Jim Steele
to develop a design.
Steele knew cutting tangled, water-soaked lines was a task best suited
for a serrated edge and suggested Coughran approach Spyderco, the
pioneer in modern serration technology. In 2005, Coughran contacted
Spyderco and Spyderco embraced the project and created a custom-
designed, SpyderEdge™ hawkbill blade with a blunt, rounded tip based on
Steele’s design. Upon completion of the initial prototype, we sent the blade
to Coughran to demonstrate it at Australia’s National Workshop for Large
Whale Disentanglement. The Whale Rescue Blade was tested on 40mm and
50mm rope with extremely impressive results. Two days later, Coughran’s
team received notification that a 10-meter Humpback whale had become
entangled and immobilized by two sets of pot gear. They responded with
the Whale Rescue Blade in hand, addressing the rope wraps and freeing the
whale with five key cuts.
Since that initial rescue, Spyderco’s Whale Rescue blade has been used
numerous times to save the lives of endangered marine life. Currently,
dozens of Whale Rescue Blades are in service in Australia, France, Canada,
South Africa, Alaska, Hawaii, and the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the
U.S.A.
The cutting power of our Whale Blade also attracted the attention of
U.S.A. military units working with NASA. During testing of space capsule
parachute systems, engineers needed a tool to quickly and efficiently cut the
parachute static line in the event of a chute deployment failure. Spyderco
provided a tool that could cut the special static cord, which was made from
a proprietary material many times more cut resistant than Kevlar. They
tested a Whale Rescue Blade and it worked perfectly, becoming a permanent
part of their specialized kit.
The original Whale Rescue Blade was made from 440C stainless steel.
It featured a long, sweeping hawkbill profile with a blunt, rounded tip.
This allows the blade to be gently maneuvered under tangled lines without
endangering the whale. Once in place, the combination of its fully-serrated
SpyderEdge™ and the strategic curve of the blade’s profile creates a
tremendously powerful cutting action that easily severs even thick, water-
soaked lines with minimal effort.
Because of its unique purpose, the Whale Rescue Blade had traditionally
been a limited item offered only to wildlife conservation organizations.
However, based largely on interest from everywhere, in 2012 Spyderco
decided to increase production and make it commercially available for the
first time. The commercial version retains all the salient qualities of the
original, but with the added benefit of being made from H-1 steel. H-1 is a
unique nitrogen-based austenitic steel that is completely impervious to rust,
and therefore the ultimate material for this one-of-a-kind blade. Spyderco is
proud of the Whale Rescue Blade project and our role in supporting wildlife
conservation.
SKU PRODUCT NAME OVERALL BLADE EDGE BLADE THICKNESS HOLE DIAMETER STEEL WEIGHT GRIND ORIGIN
BWRSH1 Whale Rescue Blade 11.00in 279mm 11.00in 279mm 8.46in 215mm 0.157in 4.0mm n/a H-1 5.7oz 162g Hollow Japan
SALT SERIES
44
BWRSH1