A healthy BM

[mnblade]

I was in southwest Florida this past weekend and had the pleasure to stop by an honest-to-goodness brick-and-mortar knife shop in a mall. Sadly, it's been awhile since I've been to a good knife shop - there isn't one where I live, so what little purchasing or trading I do is done online. Sure, I peruse the selection at Wally World and various hiking or sports stores, but there's knothing like an actual cutlery shop - especially one with a knowledgable, courteous staff. The <i>dangerous</i> thing, however, is that it gets your mind on what to buy knext, an affliction I've been able to suppress for quite some time now, much to my wife's satisfaction! Of the knives I inspected the Kershaw Chive really jumped out at me (literally!), and the Benchmade AXIS lock models were great. I also got to mess around with a Spyderco Military (startling quality, but a little too large for me) and Meercat (this and the Chive and battling in my brain to see which will become my knext knife). Anyway, just wanted to say it was knice to see that brick-and-mortar knife shops aren't completely a thing of the past.



PS: Just wanted to add something. The clerk I dealt with said they were selling a lot of Smith & Wesson SWATs to working guys, as they're seen as good quality for the money. He also said they're selling a ton of Leatherman Juices. Also, for the past few years Leatherman and other multis were murdering sales of SAKs but that the SAKs are really rebounding now and selling nicely. Lastly, he said that Kershaws are really moving in on Spyderco because of price point.

 

[YoungCutter]

I understand about your excitement, I got to visit Mike Dye at the New Graham Pharmacy in Bluefield, VA while I was on vacation.
I bought a BM TSEK AXIS from him and through other fondling, I now know that my next knife is gonna be a BM 43 Bali-Song

Comments on the PS:

For reasons unbeknownst to me, S&W SWATs do actually sell well, but they still suck.
I'm not sure how hot leatherman juices have been, but it's certainly true that Leatherman has taken a big bite out of Victorinox and Wenger's apple, I think perhaps some of the bounce-back is coming from the fact that Victorinox is really working to put out harder working SAKs.
As for Kershaws, maybe the Chive and Scallion are getting action because of their price point, but nothing else in Kershaw's line is particularly special price-wise. I think alot of people just look at the Speed-Safe and consider it a heavy increase in "value" over a non-speed-safe of compareable class and size. I see the speed-safe as a cute feature, but I find I can bust out any of my manuals just as fast (including Spydercos), just for me, I have to buy a Kershaw on it's own merits (not just the speedsafe).
Don't get me wrong i'm not knockin' Kershaws, I own a Scallion and a Blackout, good knives, like 'em alot, I just don't see any huge advantage that Kershaw has over Spyderco in any way, shape, or form.

 

[mnblade]

"As for Kershaws, maybe the Chive and Scallion are getting action because of their price point, but nothing else in Kershaw's line is particularly special price-wise. <snip> Don't get me wrong i'm not knockin' Kershaws <snip> I just don't see any huge advantage that Kershaw has over Spyderco ..."

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I agree. Personally, I'm a Spyderco guy all the way. Looking back, the fellow I spoke with didn't say Kershaws are gaining on Spydie because they're cheaper or better value - more like, as Spydie focuses on higher-priced models, they get into territory where there's more competition from other manufacturers. I got the idea from the guy that his customers would snatch up Delicas and such at $40. But up in the $60+ price range, their demand started to branch out to other companies as well. I don't want to base too much on a 10-minute conversation though.