2014 Forum Knife

[Josh Carrasquillo]

With so many of us treating this as an opportunity to get a custom knife at a production cost, it is probably best to eliminate the audience participation as has been suggested.

 

[Jack Black]

Why shouldn't there be a profit? Someone is putting the money up front (a large amount of money at that) just to get the project started. I have no problem with their investment being rewarded..... especially with all the pain in the rear it appears to have been last year.

In the case of the forum knife, wasn't it the case that the people putting the money up were the forum members (ie customers), since they paid in advance?

Some of our dealers here know a thing or two about Special Factory Orders (SFO).

Indeed they do. When Charlie or one of the other guys starts getting together an SFO it's an exciting process, even without participation. Aspects of the 2013 process left me cold.

The headache of dealing with two levels of administration is just too daunting for me though! I am reluctant to be involved in any way.

Certainly can't blame you there Charlie.

We need more of Sarah's (Pertinux's) wisdom!

P made good points early on in the process, which seemed to be largely ignored in all the clamour.

 

[sitflyer]

certain aspects of both the 2012, and 2013 process left me cold. Reading this thread today affirmed my commitment to not participate in polling on any 2014 knife threads if it comes to be. I'd be all for a committee picking a currently popular production knife with a Blade Forums identifier though.

 

[Alnamvet68]

If you want a cheap one, a sodbuster is probably the easiest to achieve.
A new pattern will cost more because of tooling.
The headache of dealing with two levels of administration is just too daunting for me though! I am reluctant to be involved in any way.
As far as numbers go, we were way past 200 knives, on our way to 300 before the regime change. And prices went too high, IMO.
Another forum does annual knives without "audience participation". They just make them and sell them. I don't know how satisfying that is for all parties.

Now why didn't I think of that...that's an excellent idea.

 

[silenthunterstudios]

Either a Farm and Field Tool or one of Queen's Country cousins, or Case's sodbuster jr. It would have to be a premium handle material, and something other than Tru sharp or 420HC.

 

[harronek]

The Buck 110 celebrates 50 years old this year .
My suggestion is a version of it .
Simple , classic , lock blade , not to expensive .
Every knife person needs at least one of these .


Ken

 

[kimsalls]

What if the powers that be gave several vendors a price point to meet at a certain quantity and see what they came up with? Then we could vote on the 3-4 proposed designs.

This would minimize many of the variables (and headaches), still allow some choice, and give the manufacturers tan opportunity to show us what they got.

 

[R Mac]

As a relative newbie I'm not familiar with the 2012 & 2013 models. Could someone please post some pictures. What was the cost of each?

I like the 'Council of Wise Elders' idea, maybe something like this. They would pick 3 patterns. Forum members would vote on that. Once the winning pattern was established, they would then pick 3 scale material/color combos. Forum members would vote on that. Majority vote rules. You either want the knife or not. As far as cost goes, I'm comfortable in the $70.00-$100.00 range, but I have no idea if that is feasible or not.

Regards,
Randy

 

[Sonnemann]

The Buck 110 celebrates 50 years old this year .

I thought about this. These can be had for less than $30 new, retail! Maybe BF could get a different shield made to replace the 50th anniversary one already in there!

I sympathize with all sides here - I know forum members are eager every year to get something that they can have personal influence on, but also I know that the admins and actual financial players often come away with little more than frustration to show for it. Maybe this year we can still have a knife but simplify the process in some way or ways as has been suggested. Keep it simple, cheap, no new patterns, single blade, and remove the open debate aspect which seems to create so much of the frustration. I also appreciate the wisdom of Pertinux's suggestions especially regarding the SFO experience of Mike Latham and his straightforward polls.

 

[Woodrow F Call]

As a relative newbie I'm not familiar with the 2012 & 2013 models. Could someone please post some pictures. What was the cost of each?

2013 Congress Jack around $130

 

[jakemex]

The majority wins; the minority gripes; Priced too high... Etc. etc. And very few buy. Not much incentive for someone to take on the challenge and headache.

 

[Alnamvet68]

The majority wins; the minority gripes; Priced too high... Etc. etc. And very few buy. Not much incentive for someone to take on the challenge and headache.

I suspect there is a lot of oppositional and defiant behavior when it comes to forum knife suggestions. If one member of low hanging fruit status recommends a knife, it's given short thrift, or worse. If the same knife is recommended by whomever has the highest paid membership status, or is a member of the controlling Central Committee, many will go just gaga and soil themselves. If economy is what folks want, take a hard look at the suggestions...if you want to spend 3 figures or more, then let that be somebody else's headache. It really doesn't need to be this difficult, really.

 

[payton206]

The Buck 110 celebrates 50 years old this year .
My suggestion is a version of it .
Simple , classic , lock blade , not to expensive .
Every knife person needs at least one of these .


Ken

I was thinking the same; + 1. A buck could be cool.

 

[black mamba]

The Case 62032 Texas Jack is one of the most popular knives around, but Case won't make a small enough run for us. GEC is great to work with, and their #76 Outlaw Jack is basically the same pattern as the TJ, but with the pivot at the other end. I personally think the Case version makes more sense from an ergonomic point of view.

If GEC could make the pivot at the other end without adding tooling costs, then they should be able to make us an Outlaw Texas Jack with clip and pen, or clip and coping. They should cost around $80 to $90 in the peachseed bone that the new #15 Radios use, which everyone seems to love. Our Bladeforums tang stamp would complete the deal, and it should be no problem to sell a couple hundred if they were priced reasonably.

 

[Will Power]

I'll take one thanks Jeff!

Practical idea, along the lines of what I suggested with choosing an existing pattern. GEC has a range of decent shields too.

But then there's Queen's No.6 Teardrop or No.41 Copperhead as inexpensive quality D2 alternatives.......

 

[Woodrow F Call]

I suspect there is a lot of oppositional and defiant behavior when it comes to forum knife suggestions. If one member of low hanging fruit status recommends a knife, it's given short thrift, or worse. If the same knife is recommended by whomever has the highest paid membership status, or is a member of the controlling Central Committee, many will go just gaga and soil themselves. If economy is what folks want, take a hard look at the suggestions...if you want to spend 3 figures or more, then let that be somebody else's headache. It really doesn't need to be this difficult, really.

Actually, it really doesn't have anything to do with status. Especially last year's knife. It was very much a sloppy democratic process. We ended up a pretty nice knife that was a bit uncommon as far as the pattern was concerned. It's a headache because you can't please everybody and those that aren't pleased just have to complain about it.

 

[Woodrow F Call]

The Case 62032 Texas Jack is one of the most popular knives around, but Case won't make a small enough run for us. GEC is great to work with, and their #76 Outlaw Jack is basically the same pattern as the TJ, but with the pivot at the other end. I personally think the Case version makes more sense from an ergonomic point of view.

If GEC could make the pivot at the other end without adding tooling costs, then they should be able to make us an Outlaw Texas Jack with clip and pen, or clip and coping. They should cost around $80 to $90 in the peachseed bone that the new #15 Radios use, which everyone seems to love. Our Bladeforums tang stamp would complete the deal, and it should be no problem to sell a couple hundred if they were priced reasonably.

They had the moose version of this knife.... meaning they already put a pivot on both ends. I like the pattern though.

 

[jc57]

I think we have a consensus here. We let Pertinux pick it! Whatever the pattern, we know that it will have blue handles.

 

[Beard&Owl]

Seems like if everyone interested came up with a rough idea of what the knife would be and enough people said they were "in" by putting down a deposit, that it might alleviate some of the stresses? I agree with having at least a current production pattern pre-determined as that could also alleviate some of the stresses. As long as I liked the chosen pattern, I could be very happy with any earthy colored scales and any scale material. I hope to see one this year and would be willing to throw down on a deposit.

 

[pertinux]

I think we have a consensus here. We let Pertinux pick it! Whatever the pattern, we know that it will have blue handles.

Ha! You're too kind, and also incorrect: I love blue well enough to not inflict it on others who are not as discerning attracted to it. Besides, a good blue-- neither too purple nor too green-- is hard to achieve, although I daresay KSF's results with camel bone make it look all too easy (smashing results, those). So, how's about a 3.25" Regular Jack with a clip point and a screwdriver/caplifter in ram's horn, eh?

All kidding aside, it would be folly to minimize whatever reality is behind statements already made in this thread:

Last year's knife was a major pain in the derriere for the mods and the design team, both on the forum and behind the scenes. The path forward on this year's knife has a major additional roadblock compared to the previous two years. I will not elucidate on that at this time.

And almost more telling,

Some of our dealers here know a thing or two about Special Factory Orders (SFO). I'd be really interested to get their insight on how best to approach this.

I am reluctant to be involved in any way.

~ P.