2016 BLADE Show Knife of the Year® Award Winners

I also don't really get some awards this year. No offense to the winners, but I just don't understand.

• Overall Knife Of The Year®: Lionsteel – Metamorphosis
??? for color changing handles? really? Compared to previous knife of the year winners, there's nothing really remarkable about the knife, or the process. As has been pointed out it's been on children's toys for ages. What's going to win next year? A knife that changes color in sunlight like Zartan (GI Joe circa 1980's)?

• Most Innovative American Design: Mike Vellekamp Knives & Designworks – The Ultimate Knife
Searched everywhere for this one. All I can find is a site called theultimateknife that sells fox karambits that look like the emerson model that's been out for years. If there's something more innovative out there from them, I can't find it.

• Knife Collaboration Of The Year®: Florian Knives & Russ Kommer – Sniper
Of all the collaborations that happened this year, I'm not sure how this rose to the top. Not that it looks like a bad knife, just nothing that remarkable. There were a lot of cool collaborations this year.
 
Does anyone know how they decide on a winner?

For example, how do they decide on Manufacturing Quality Award? Do they buy up, like, 100 knives from each of the big manufacturers and go over the tolerances with a micrometer?

And I'm surprised that the collaboration award didn't go to Reate or Kizer. Both of them have released a lot of truly amazing designs from incredible knife makers. Chinese knife makers collaborating with knife makers and designers from around the world, consistently making knives that many knife enthusiasts consider to be high quality. Reate even has a unique integral design from Tashi.
 
jac_solar said:
Does anyone know how they decide on a winner?
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"Qualified BLADE Show exhibitors display their entries at their booths and in the center display area of the show hall. The winners are voted on by their fellow exhibiting peers".
 
RamZar said:
"Qualified BLADE Show exhibitors display their entries at their booths and in the center display area of the show hall. The winners are voted on by their fellow exhibiting peers".
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Oh, hm, but what does that mean for the manufacturing award? Do the manufacturers also bring their own knives for display, and do they only display one? Wouldn't that mean they could just bring their best? Even assuming that's what they do, doesn't that only mean that the winner is capable of that type of quality, but it's not necessarily what they generally manufacture? Or is that all the award is supposed to be, and doesn't mean anything to potential customers?

I think that the manufacturing award should be done like I suggested, or something similar, though, since it's something that could easily be tested, and, in my opinion, would mean much more, and be much more interesting. (Ie, tolerances relative to complexity of details, across several samples.)

It'd be really interesting to see what the tolerances are for each year for the various brands, too.
 
None of these awards make any sense. Lionsteel makes a great knife, but the Kur? Not even close to knife of the year. And I can think of two dozen collaborations that should have won over the Florian Knives/Russ Kommer Sniper. Reate wasn't even in the running for the quality manufacturing award, and their tolerances are certainly up there with CRK's. Who even is Dragon King and how on earth did they take home the "Imported Knife of the Year?" Blade Magazine has lost all credibility with me.
 
I agree that the color-changing handles are gimmicky and don't contribute to the overall knife. I have the KUR in G10 and it's a very solid, well-made knife but nothing too innovative other than being a linerlock amidst many framelocks.
 
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