Why zip ties????

[cbl51]

Okay, I gotta ask.

On this and other forums, I see Spyderco knives with zip ties in the hole in the blade.

What the heck is that for??

[enki_ck]

It adds the ability to quickly draw the knife out of the pocket and have the pocket open the knife.
The zip tie catches the edge of the pocket as you pull the knife out of it and opens the knife. It's a cheap alternative to the Wave feature some of the Spidercos and Emersons have.

[Kampfer]

Add a hex nut with zip tie would give much better result.

[powernoodle]

It began when Ernest Emerson accidentally invented the "wave" feature, which he discovered would allow for one-handed opening by intentionally snagging the wave on the edge of the pocket.  There are youtube interviews of him talking about this. Spyderco, Kershaw, Zero Tolerance and others licensed this feature.  The zip tie on the Spydie hole is a poor man's Emerson wave.

http://knifenews.com/emerson-wave-trademark/

http://emersonknives.com/product-tag/wave-feature/

I'm not a huge fan of the wave, because its deployment is often inconsistent.  Sometimes it works, and other times not so much.  The wave was initially marketed on Emerson custom knives to military guys for the purpose of quick deployment in life-and-death scenarios.  Maybe there are people who can deploy the wave 100% of the time, but I've never seen one.  It might be especially difficult when someone at close range is trying to kill you.  So mostly I think it is just a cool factor thing, though some real workin' guys might find the one-hand deployment actually helpful.

[ThePeacent]

not only on Spyderco knives... 

[Aloha]

I have an Emerson and waved Delica that I'm pretty consistent with deploying.  I admittedly don't carry them often but funnily enough when I do take them out of my pocket they easily deploy.