And The Winner Is...

jideta

jideta

Joined
Apr 8, 2020
Messages
2,099
Bored.
So.
After looking around BF I started to notice some trends.
Or so I thought.
Well, why not do an impromptu sampling and see if what I saw is really what it is?
I went back three years and did a random sampling of the EDC thread to see what everyone is using.
I had a suspicion and I wanted to either confirm or negate my theory.
I took a look at 33 pages and did a count of the knife brands I saw; I did this for the last three years, 33 pages from each year.

Here's what I found:
2018
13 Hinderers
34 CR
37 ZTs
63 Benchmades
138 Spydercos

Now, I know this is probably flawed big time and not a real snapshot of what all of you own. At least not specifically. Percentage wise it might be interesting. Notice not all brands are there; these are the top five.
I admit though, Kershaw might be up there too, it was too late to add it once I noticed they might be contenders.
Also, I'm not too good at identifying all the different knives listed. I only counted them if I could verify the brand.

2019
23 ZTs
45 Hinderers
41 Benchmades
46 CR
115 Spydercos

2019 I found that some other brands were starting to appear, mostly customs.
Cold Steel, Emerson, Buck etc are still making appearances, but not enough to challenge the big boys.

2020
9 ZTs
20 Hinderers
26 Benchmades
62 CR
89 Spydercos

Scientific? Not even.
My initial impression was that BF was a CR/Hinderer fanboy club based upon the amount of CR/HInderer knives I was seeing and continue to see. I actually thought I saw more Hinderers than I counted.
What surprised me was the Spyderco numbers. So many that I think I just get numb seeing them and sort of disregard them.
I was also surprised by the showing Benchmade had. More popular than I thought.
ZT seemed to drop some, but by 2020 I was seeing a lot more variation in brands compared to 2018. I also could have missed some mistakenly branded as Kershaw.
I was also surprised by the almost complete absence of Gerber! I think I saw one, and only one. BAck in the olden days, Gerber was right up there with everyone else.
I chose the EDC thread for I think you guys don't bother posting up every knife you buy, but most of you post up what's in your pockets. So this is mostly about what is being used as opposed to what's being bought.
Or something.
The fact that there are so many Spydercos out there suprises me, and yet it doesn't. I sold Spydercos back in the mid 80s when they were first kinda starting out and I carried a Spyderco on me for years (a serrated Mariner). I had a hard time selling them because they looked so strange!

So congratulations Spyderco fanboys! Unofficial Kings of BF!
 
Lol, yep.

Except for Spyderco, I guess I'm abnormal in not really being "mainstream."

4 spyderco's
1 WE
1 Drop/FF
1 Kershaw
2 Case
1 Southern Grind
1 Kizer
1 Brian Tighe and friends
1 Hogue
1 Heretic
1 ZT
1 Brous
1 Three Sisters Forge
 
spyderco?... not entirely susprising.
has anyone checked which
manufacturer's forum is the most active?
traffic that might indicate to some extend
where brand loyalties lie in relation
to the number of active bladeforum participants?
 
I've ended my boredom by doing more home reno projects and less browsin ; )
(although I still browse a stupidly high amount)
 
My wallet screams “HURT ME MOAR, HARDER!!!” whenever I find a Spydie that catches my eye. I’d argue that some models are overpriced yes, but we buy them all the same anyway. Spyderco’s a vicious mistress.
 
DangerZone98 said:
My wallet screams “HURT ME MOAR, HARDER!!!” whenever I find a Spydie that catches my eye. I’d argue that some models are overpriced yes, but we buy them all the same anyway. Spyderco’s a vicious mistress.
Click to expand...
You’re damn right. I’ve bought 3 in 2 weeks and about to pull the trigger on another. I just got into them though.
 
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I'm not shocked at the Spyderco "win" but I'd take it with a grain of salt . Post count popularity ain't everything .

Nothing wrong with Spyderco product , and the company definitely caters to the hobby .

Just not the best value for performance anymore for what you get , IMO .
 
Just casual observation, but I would guess Spyderco, Benchmade, then the rest. Although Benchmade seems to have ruffled some feathers in recent years.
 
Maxrez74 said:
I dont think I could ever carry a ZT. None of them look good IMHO
Click to expand...
I kinda feel the same, but I love some Kershaws. I thought Spydercos were overhyped and ugly til I bought one. Now I can stop buying them haha.
 
Here is my take. I couldn't get the chart to keep formatting, but I would rather have data you can edit than make it pretty. I am going to assume the data is accurate or pretty close.

Brand 2018 2019 2020 Sum Average
Hinderer 13 45 20 78 26
Chris Reeve 34 46 62 142 47.3333333333333
Zero Tolerance 37 23 9 69 23
Benchmade 63 41 26 130 43.3333333333333
Spyderco 138 115 89 342 114

Observations about the Data:
1.) Hinderer peeked in 2019 and it looks like Chris Reeve benefited by an uptick of almost exactly what Hinderer lost. What happened between 2019 and 2020? I can see them sharing the same consumers.
2.) Zero Tolerance and Benchmade are steadily losing popularity and Chris Reeve is gaining popularity.
3.) Spyderco is the consistently most popular brand even if they are declining year over year.


Things the data doesn't account for:
1.) Blade Forums members aren't the average person. We are people who have more knowledge, usage, and interest in knives than the average public.
2.) People come and go on forums. The people from 2018 aren't necessarily the same population as 2020.
3.) People can own multiple brands of knife and multiple from the same brand.
4.) People are more likely to edc their best knives. If I have a $10 Smith and Wesson Extreme Ops / Zhunter and a Sebenza 31, you know I am going to carry and take pictures of the Sebenza.
5.) The brands don't compete in all price ranges, which can affect popularity. Hinderer and Chris Reeve are primarily $400 plus and not for the casual user. Zero Tolerance are mid range $200 or so, with Kershaw from $20 to $100. If you want to compare that to Spyderco, you should combine Kershaw and Zero Tolerance. Kershaw isn't listed. Benchmade is roughly $100 to $200. Spyderco is $20 to $500. Spyderco has a huge edge here, because you can get your gateway drug $50 Spyderco Tenacious and work your way all the way up to a sprint run PM2/Native/Manix/etc without ever leaving the brand. You also generally have several options in every price and size range. You could jump from Kershaw to Zero Tolerance, but how strong is brand loyalty their?
6.) The power of the crowd is also important. Its pretty cool here to like high end knives, so there is the peer pressure even inadvertently to comply. In addition, some manufactures, Zero Tolerance, don't have a forum presence here, which can hurt popularity. I think that's an insane choice for a company to make, where they can hit so many targeted potential buyers in one place.

In short, I think this an interesting source of data about trends on this forum, but their are some challenges to measuring popularity of each brand.
 
You "forgot" to check the "What Traditional Knife Are You Carrying Today" thread over in traditionals, so missed all Case, GEC, Opinel, MAM, Schrade/Imperial/Old Timer, Marbles, Rough Rider, along with the German, French, Spanish, Italian, and British brands the traditional folks EDC ...

There is also a "What Buck Are You Carrying Today" thread over in the Buck sub-forum.

Many of those who "hang out" in the Traditional and Buck sub-forums don't visit General, or any of the others.

I don't go there, but I suspect the Cold Steel, Automatics, and Butterfly knife sub-forums have a specific to their interest "What Are You Carrying" thread, too.
Come to think of it, so does the SAK and Multi Tool sub-forum. :)

For the "average" person these days, I'd wager most EDC nothing or a cheap (not necessarily low cost) Leatherman knock-off multi tool of some sort. (better than nothing, I suppose)
A far cry from when I was a lad. The "average man" would no sooner leave the house without a pocket knife in his pocket back then, than he would without his pants. (Note that quite a few of the women carried a pocket knife in their purse back then, as well.)

As far as "The Winner" goes, that would have to be Victorinox/SAK.
I forget how many millions of knives they manufacture and sell every year.
The Buck 110 might be a strong second place. I believe Buck has made and sold over 18 million of them since introduced in 1964.
 
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PB3366 said:
I kinda feel the same, but I love some Kershaws. I thought Spydercos were overhyped and ugly til I bought one. Now I can stop buying them haha.
Click to expand...

I'll always think they are overhyped and ugly. But they are easy to hang on a nail. Seems to me that putting a big hole in a blade would make it weaker. Maybe I'm missing something.
 
000Robert said:
I'll always think they are overhyped and ugly. But they are easy to hang on a nail. Seems to me that putting a big hole in a blade would make it weaker. Maybe I'm missing something.
Click to expand...

With Spydercos the beauty is in the use. They make knives for function first, form second. I’m not saying they put no thought into the looks of the designs - they do. But they definitely want them to perform first and foremost.

Try one out. I bet you love it.
 
AntDog said:
With Spydercos the beauty is in the use. They make knives for function first, form second. I’m not saying they put no thought into the looks of the designs - they do. But they definitely want them to perform first and foremost.

Try one out. I bet you love it.
Click to expand...

I guess the lock would probably break before the blade did. I don't know if anyone has tested it yet. I'll never buy one unless it looks like a normal blade. I'm not buying a blade with a big hole in it. And I don't like thumbstuds either. But that's just my opinion. Many people like them so more power to them.
They do have many style and size choices and use many different types of steel. I'll give them credit for that. I'm waiting for my Kershaw Launch 1 to get here. It looks like a normal knife. But there are probably people that think it's ugly. To each their own. Great that we all have plenty of choices to choose from.
 
I think I mentioned earlier that when Spydercos first came out, they were tough sells as everyone thought they were ugly.
Then I would show them the one handed opening, grabbing the hole and flicking open, etc. and they were sold. Sort of.
I don't remember who I talked to when I got the line, but it was always function first. In fact if I remember correctly they pushed their serrated kitchen knives harder than the folders!
 
000Robert said:
I guess the lock would probably break before the blade did. I don't know if anyone has tested it yet. I'll never buy one unless it looks like a normal blade. I'm not buying a blade with a big hole in it. And I don't like thumbstuds either. But that's just my opinion. Many people like them so more power to them.
They do have many style and size choices and use many different types of steel. I'll give them credit for that. I'm waiting for my Kershaw Launch 1 to get here. It looks like a normal knife. But there are probably people that think it's ugly. To each their own. Great that we all have plenty of choices to choose from.
Click to expand...

Spyderco knives don’t start out as many people’s first choice, but most of us wind up trying at least one to find out what all the hubbub is about. That’s how they getcha.

Let us know what you think when you wind up trying one. :D
 
AntDog said:
Spyderco knives don’t start out as many people’s first choice, but most of us wind up trying at least one to find out what all the hubbub is about. That’s how they getcha.

Let us know what you think when you wind up trying one. :D
Click to expand...

LOL! Ok.
 
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