I Designed (Another) Pocket Knife! - Civivi Baby Banter
This story begins with theft. I’ll explain that later. But first, I’m stoked to present the Baby Banter from Civivi Knives! It’s a smaller and lighter companion to the Original (OG) Banter.
More juicy specs and info on the Civivi Baby Banter on Knafs.com
Now, let me explain the theft: in 2012, I was working my first job out of college filming YouTube videos for a knife retailer. It was a no budget, no crew, low-paying ordeal. But I had a lot of passion. Work weekends? Sure thing. Pay for a project out of my own pocket? Absolutely. This unfettered exuberance drove me to plan a video to film on vacation in Southern Utah. Before leaving, I took a small pocket knife out of the company inventory for the project. Normally, these would have been sold as used merchandise post-project, but I never gave it back. I stole it. It was my time off I donated. It was my pocket knife to take. I regret nothing.
I’ve carried that little pilfered Spyderco Dragonfly pocket knife for many years now. I still love that little thing, but over the years, I’ve realized it was missing something— many somethings. Nothing crazy, but these were things I could easily fix. In 2019, I put pen to paper and started sketching. The result was the kid sister to the OG Banter. I hadn’t planned to make a small version of Banter, but as I sketched, I kept returning to the same lines, curves, and theme. When the dust settled on the new design, it was clear the two knives were family.
How to Design a Small Pocket Knife
There were a few critical specs I wanted to follow as I started sketching:
Blade must be under 2.5” to be legal in Chicago and Boston (this is not legal advice, check your local laws, don’t go to jail, don’t collect $200)
Must fit easily in women’s jeans pockets.
Incorporate the things I knew people wanted, but I couldn’t bring myself to do on the OG Banter:
Reversible pocket clip.
More easily accessible liner lock.
Fix the things I didn’t prefer on the Spyderco Dragonfly.
The first version looked like this:
I planned to pitch the design at SHOT Show 2020, but on the 6-hour drive to Vegas, I thought more about it. I’d dedicated more time to the market research and general specs than I had on the actual lines of the thing. It had edges that wouldn’t fit well in hand and corners that would cause hot spots. I left my pitch deck in my backpack at SHOT. It wasn’t ready yet.
On the long drive home, I kept thinking: this knife wasn’t my idea— it was just a Spyderco Dragonfly with a thumb stud and a liner lock. Just like the original Dragonfly I “stole” off the Blade HQ shelves back in 2012, here I was again with my five finger discount. Except this time I was poaching a design in a hastily drawn presentation before SHOT Show. Slow it down. Do it right. When I got home from the show, I started drawing again; the specs were good, but the execution was all wrong. It would be another 7 months of stewing and sketching before I was ready to pitch it. Take a gander at the evolution from potato to pocket knife in my doodles.
I sketched on conference calls during the pandemic. I bought knives with choils and worked to understand what felt right. I played with the angles and the handle shapes. Ultimately, the sketches started to feel more familiar. The lines felt like mine. So familiar. Too familiar. I’d sketched a Banter again! Keep sketching. More Banter. Sketch differently. No, this is definitely a Banter— a baby Banter. Lean in. This wasn’t a new design for me. It was a variation on a theme— a second movement in the same symphony.
I do all of my design work in Adobe Illustrator. I make 2D renderings of my vision (like these above), complete with layers of specs, instructions, and places that I leave for the engineering team to figure out. No one has complained to my face about my doodles yet, so I keep doing them this way. Once I feel satisfied with the shapes, I print them on a shipping label printer. (I know, I’m a classy dude.) From there, I paste the label on a couple layers of cardboard to see approximate shape in hand. It’s not a high-tech process at all, but it works for me, particularly when it comes to getting finger choils and lengths right. I’m a big fan of “use what you have and learn as you go”— I think too often people let perfect prevent completion. In reality, creating anything requires a certain level of MVP— minimum viable product— combined with a healthy understanding that done is better than perfect. My label printer works great at this phase, and later in the process, I run a 3D print.
Once I’m satisfied, I send off the design to WE Knives in Yangjiang, China. They’re the parent Civivi Knives— WE is the mothership, and Civivi is its more price-conscious little brother. I wanted the Baby Banter to be a slightly lower price than the Banter, so I encouraged them to make it a Civivi. The Banter model now crosses lines between the WE and Civivi brands. Maybe that’s weird, but I like it. If you want a bigger, more expensive Banter, go WE. Smaller, less expensive, go Civivi. Anyway, WE/Civivi have a way of understanding what I’m looking for in a knife and making it exactly the way I had hoped. I hand off basic 2D line drawings and specs. They create CAD files and fantastic quality knives. I love watching the synthesis of my weird ideas and their amazing expertise. WE is an incredible partner, and I’m absolutely grateful to collaborate together.
Inspiration is Everywhere
I don’t think this knife is original. I truly don’t. It’s a combination of ideas and concepts that exist on several other small pocket knives out there:
I have said for years that I love the Spyderco Dragonfly. But it’s a backlock and it has a pokey-stabby look that has never quite sung to me. The CRKT Squid is a gem of a knife, but the handle just doesn’t quite fit my taste. The CRKT Pilar has a beautiful finger choil, but the sheepsfoot blade doesn’t have enough pokey-stabby. The Kershaw Shuffle is a great size, but the handle texture is wonky, and the bottle opener always snags. The Protech Calmigo is excellent, but autos in the office draw attention. That word “but” is a design catalyst for me. If there are things that I like but it’s not quite right for me, that’s where my ideas blossom. The Baby Banter is where my preferences align in one compact, small pocket knife. I pull my favorite parts of existing models I’ve carried, then I twist them, turn them, and create the thing that I want. Is that copying? Thievery? Borderline intellectual property theft? Nope. It’s the kaleidoscope of ideas— never new, but always unique.
The Release Plan
I didn’t mean for this thing to come in so many flavors and colors. I had planned two initial colors, but it turned out that one of them didn’t work, and we had to pivot mid-flight. That left me with the burden of deciding what to do with the color scheme for a whole bunch of units. And what did I do? I went WILD. Ok, maybe not that wild, but this initial launch has the makings of a package of Skittles. I really enjoy Skittles, but they should have never changed the green flavor from lime to apple. What were they thinking?! Bad move. I digress… let’s talk about the release plan:
Release: September - October-ish 2021
Availability: fine knife retailers everywhere, including a Baby Banter WIUG edition on Knafs.com
Colors: Vanilla (stonewash, black), Blackout, Blue, Purple
Price: $65-ish
Steel: Nitro V (Knife Steel Nerds has a comprehensive scientific write-up on the steel here. Why did I pick Nitro V? It’s an excellent steel for the money, and it’s been available during the Covid era.)
Final Notes
Someone told me the other day, “Good job on the Banter, Ben. You designed an instant classic.” I said thanks, then replied, “I’m not sure it’s a classic yet— let’s talk in 20 years.” I figure if people are still talking about a product 20 years after release, the product has staying power and potential “classic” material. The goal with the OG Banter was to design the butter knife of pocket knives— simple utility and extreme simplicity. And folks bought it all over the world; I never thought there would be so many Banter knives in people’s pockets. The Baby Banter builds on this idea of simplicity. It’s not a “look at me!” knife; it’s small, quiet, and blends in anywhere.