American made fixed blade to raise funds for veterans Please share your thoughts

whitty said:
If you are raising funds for Veterans we will do anything and everything in our power to help and promote you! Shoot me a PM if we can be of any assistance!
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Thank you so much for the kind offer. May well take you up on it if we can come up with something that fly on this. =)
 
How about Zero Tolerance 0180 which is coming out soon (perhaps it's too soon to try) or Chris Reeve Knives Green Beret? Of course, the price climbs with CRK and Spartan. Just thinking out loud.

How about approaching Benchmade to make a Contego Fixed Blade in CPM-M4 or M390 in place of their current S30V? That'd be sick!
 
RamZar said:
How about Zero Tolerance 0180 which is coming out soon (perhaps it's too soon to try) or Chris Reeve Knives Green Beret? Of course, the price climbs with CRK and Spartan. Just thinking out loud.

How about approaching Benchmade to make a Contego Fixed Blade in CPM-M4 or M390 in place of their current S30V? That'd be sick!
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We were very lucky to be able to get the current ZT and they just can not do that for us on another one at this point we've asked. Here again the red hot brands and designs are in such demand the companies just can't keep up. Plus the companies just can't supply brands like us in the small qty's we need.

The companies that would accept an order are saying we would need to order 1,000 knives at least. We only make and sell about 350 watches per year and we are primarily a watch brand. So you can imagine how overwhelming 1,000 knives would be.

Thus far we have had no response from Benchmade and we even contacted someone there that knife scribe Dexter Ewing suggested. Also we have reached out to Spyderco and have not had a response yet. We would love to do a folder which would be lower in price than the ZT we are offering now. But I am pretty sure to do something unique we would have to do at least 500. Which for us is just too might to bite off currently.

Believe me we have made the rounds so to speak. =)

Plus with this fixed blade we have actually paid already for a design for our brand. Making it more than just a dealer exclusive so to speak. That being said it will be along the lines of the Desert Enforcer. But we will market this knife totally as our own.

What we have found is many who are also modest in size like us & wanting to offer a production or semi production knife. Ran into the same issues we have when trying to source from a top name manufacturer.

We then found that the solution they found is also a good fit for us. That solution? Suppliers like Randall King and Les Halpern. Which we also contacted Halpern who here again was way too busy to take on an additional client. There are other shops out there but most don't have the ability to offer a 100% completed and packaged product.

We have also found that some of the people who also source from Mr. King & Mr. Halpern etc price the product they source quite a bit higher than what Mr. King charges for product under his own brand.

Now I am sure much of this has to do with their using higher grade materials, with red hot designs of their own and that they also have built a strong in demand brand name and image. Which we clearly don't have that brand image and rep as of yet but who knows we may at some. =)
 
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Thomas,

Just a thought - have you checked with Buck to see what they can do?

They are mostly USA made now (only a small % still made overseas) so they have many USA made choices. I wanted to put something together like this as a fundraiser for the football forum I help run and found that minimum custom purchase is only 250. 8 week turnaround. And there is a very large contingent of Buck users/collectors around to draw on for your sales.

Nice knives, USA made, reasonable pricing, and smaller lots. Perhaps something to think about. :)
 
A nice S30V Buck Vantage Pro would be very nice, and more than likely be well under the $150-$175 mark if properly planned out.
 
SaintlyBrees said:
Thomas,

Just a thought - have you checked with Buck to see what they can do?

They are mostly USA made now (only a small % still made overseas) so they have many USA made choices. I wanted to put something together like this as a fundraiser for the football forum I help run and found that minimum custom purchase is only 250. 8 week turnaround. And there is a very large contingent of Buck users/collectors around to draw on for your sales.

Nice knives, USA made, reasonable pricing, and smaller lots. Perhaps something to think about. :)
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I have not honestly having retailed their product in the past they are not high on our list for several reasons and I don't want to really start casting stones. Lets just say they would be pretty much our last choice for what we really want. One reason is they just tend not to use the type of steels etc we would want to use.

Having said that it may be that I should really re-think that and consider the many strong points about the brand. Plus to be honest my impression of what they offer is based on experience that's about 6 years old at this point. I believe in that time Chuck has retired and CJ and I believe his son are pretty much running the business? So it maybe they have great flexibility in what they can offer now.

Ok so I keep adding to this post and as of now I have sent them an email. But do you know of a specific person I should contact with them and their contact info? If so can you pm that to me? Also what model in a fixed blade or folder would you suggest we consider?

The fact is while we really would like to do this fixed blade we also have a strong desire to also offer something at a lower price so more people can afford one. At this point based on the interest in knives and what our company is doing for charity we are interested in actually being able to offer a range of knife product. While we would really be looking for what I would call higher mid level priced product. We would also want to have some items priced closer to say $100.
 
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Thomas Carey said:
...But do you know of a specific person I should contact with them and their contact info? If so can you pm that to me? Also what model in a fixed blade or folder would you suggest we consider?...
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Yes, there was a specific guy that I was working with but I don't recall his name right now. I'll dig into my back email later today (waiting on wife :rolleyes: to go into town for a bit) and send you a PM.

As far as a fixed blade, I'd need to think on that a bit. We were going to go with a customized, engraved folder (Buck 110 - although Buck had offered either one) after a poll that showed our site members preferred a folder.

Anyway, I'll get that name and PM you when we get back. :)
 
I am interested in any other ideas etc the rest of you might have as well. =)
 
Check out Hogue Knives which are "individually manufactured, assembled and hand sharpened in the USA". I have several of their folders and they're high quality and reasonably priced. Their folders are in 154CM and fixed blades in A2. Wilson Combat sells some of their folders with the Wilson Starburst grip pattern in Hogue's proprietary G-Mascus G-10 laminate.
 
RamZar said:
Check out Hogue Knives which are "individually manufactured, assembled and hand sharpened in the USA". I have several of their folders and they're high quality and reasonably priced. Their folders are in 154CM and fixed blades in A2. Wilson Combat sells some of their folders with the Wilson Starburst grip pattern in Hogue's proprietary G-Mascus G-10 laminate.
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Tried contacting them and had no luck getting a response. Do you happen to have a good contact for them? =)
 
Thomas Carey said:
Tried contacting them and had no luck getting a response. Do you happen to have a good contact for them? =)
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Unfortunately, I don't directly. You should try to talk to Aaron Hogue, President or Patrick Hogue, Vice President.
 
Spartan Enyo would be perfect. While it's not at the desirable $100 price point, it's a great design. If all else fails, how about an ESEE Izula 2? Thomas, now isn't a good time as Bladeshow is right about to kick off, which is why you can't really get in touch with people. Give it a week or 2 when things calm back down and you should have better luck.
 
RevDevil said:
Spartan Enyo would be perfect. While it's not at the desirable $100 price point, it's a great design. If all else fails, how about an ESEE Izula 2? Thomas, now isn't a good time as Bladeshow is right about to kick off, which is why you can't really get in touch with people. Give it a week or 2 when things calm back down and you should have better luck.
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Very good point. In fact I am shocked the ZT we offered sold so fast with Blade being just days away. I have not been since about 1999 or 2000.

I had my eye on ESEE and Spartan here again we tried them first and they just have all the orders they can handle now. It's really amazing to me how hot & demand knives in general seem to be right now as the economy is not really what I would call healthy.
 
Thomas

I think the correlation between your maker preferences and their inability to fill an order for you is one that may not be overcome in a timely fashion. Knife makers utilizing high end steels, and unique design, are smaller by nature of exclusivity, and cannot keep up with customer demand as is. ie. Spartan. Survive!

As a veteran, I respect your commitment to this cause, heaven knows there are a lot of down and out Vets, but you may be forced to broaden your search by lowering the exclusivity.

As far as dollar amount raised, what you lose in higher priced percentage you could easily make up in volume with a lesser priced, popular design. For this, the aforementioned ESEE Izula II is a wildly popular knife, I have one myself, and would also open your perspective buyer window.

To be honest here, I'd love to buy one of these knives simply to support the cause, but $250-$300 just isn't something I can part with easily for wall hanger. Admittedly, that's just me, because I personally don't have a need for a knife based on Randall King's Desert Enforcer beyond collecting. Now, for 25% above retail (that may not be how you're pricing but I'm making a point) on a limited Izula II, I wouldn't blink, and maybe even order several extra for gifts.

Just another mans thoughts on it all, probably worth what you paid for it.

Regards

Craig
 
straitr said:
Thomas

I think the correlation between your maker preferences and their inability to fill an order for you is one that may not be overcome in a timely fashion. Knife makers utilizing high end steels, and unique design, are smaller by nature of exclusivity, and cannot keep up with customer demand as is. ie. Spartan. Survive!

As a veteran, I respect your commitment to this cause, heaven knows there are a lot of down and out Vets, but you may be forced to broaden your search by lowering the exclusivity.

As far as dollar amount raised, what you lose in higher priced percentage you could easily make up in volume with a lesser priced, popular design. For this, the aforementioned ESEE Izula II is a wildly popular knife, I have one myself, and would also open your perspective buyer window.

To be honest here, I'd love to buy one of these knives simply to support the cause, but $250-$300 just isn't something I can part with easily for wall hanger. Admittedly, that's just me, because I personally don't have a need for a knife based on Randall King's Desert Enforcer beyond collecting. Now, for 25% above retail (that may not be how you're pricing but I'm making a point) on a limited Izula II, I wouldn't blink, and maybe even order several extra for gifts.

Just another mans thoughts on it all, probably worth what you paid for it.

Regards

Craig
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Thanks for the support.

Those are all very good points.

However we would be making a Randall King sourced knife with what many would consider to be a higher end blade steel. The packaging would also be of higher quality. Plus there is the charity aspect. I hope people understand we can't do more for the same as or less. The math just does not work.

Having said that I have to say with the response we have had to the idea I would say we may well go in a different direction.

I have just gotten an email from the folks at Buck by the way.

Thing is we are not going to offer the exact same knife with an commemorative etch of some sort. It will have a bump up in spec somewhere.

Which means no matter who we go with I can assure you it's going to be higher priced than what a high volume deep discounting dealer is going to price the factory version for. Which means we will have push back whatever we do and some of that push back will be from down right indignant people.

I also know if we went really cheap on the knife and the price we would also have plenty of critics and honestly I don't think such a knife would really sell.
 
RamZar said:
Agreed.

Right now, BladeHQ is selling the various HTM Randall King Desert Enforcer Fixed Blade knives for $160-$200! Only difference being S30V vs. the proposed S35VN. For $300 I'd like to see something more unique and premium. Anything from Spartan Blades would've been my first choice even if it becomes much lower quantity.
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Without doubt steel wise. The ZT0100 is in CPM-3V for similar pricing.

The Ontario RAT line and ESEE both make fixed blades for under $100 which I personally love as they can take such heavy usage. The ZT fixed blade in VANADIS 4 Extra also seems like a hot ticket item, but I've found that when doing larger runs that staying under $100 keeps the logistics easier and a ton more people participate. Exotic steels are cool and all, but 1095 is still a helluva good performer on a fixed blade and it allows super high quality knives for very reasonable prices. Even with custom/semi-custom makers, I find that it is easy to find super nice 1095 and 52100 fixed blades/kitchen knives for incredibly good values. A few custom knives I have in 1095 from knifemakers with a ton of experience in the heat treatment perform super crazy well.

I've had a lot of fixed blades come and go...mainly because I'm really happy with my RAT5, and given it was like $60, I don't worry about damaging it or losing it. I've also not found a handle material I like more than micarta, and for what I do, there's really no lacking as far as 1095 goes, as it gets the job done for me well, is easy to upkeep, and is super affordable.
 
Whichever road you choose, I fully support this!

I love to see these things, and I honestly wish there were more knives that had profits going to charitable causes!
 
Thomas Carey said:
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Very good point. In fact I am shocked the ZT we offered sold so fast with Blade being just days away. I have not been since about 1999 or 2000.

I had my eye on ESEE and Spartan here again we tried them first and they just have all the orders they can handle now. It's really amazing to me how hot & demand knives in general seem to be right now as the economy is not really what I would call healthy.
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I may have missed it, but have you contacted Kabar? Maybe do a special run on a popular model like the BK16 or BK17? The sheaths are made in China unfortunately, but can possibly take that cost and up the steel or make the micarta handles a main feature instead of something you would buy seperate. A BK16 with different colored coating or micarta color would be awesome and I'm sure would sell like mad.
 
Wizard Master said:
I may have missed it, but have you contacted Kabar? Maybe do a special run on a popular model like the BK16 or BK17? The sheaths are made in China unfortunately, but can possibly take that cost and up the steel or make the micarta handles a main feature instead of something you would buy seperate. A BK16 with different colored coating or micarta color would be awesome and I'm sure would sell like mad.
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Have not contacted Kabar as of yet. Thanks for your input. =)
 
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