Are production knives holding you back?

JOELSM

JOELSM

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Joined
Aug 30, 2007
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When I started this hobby Benchmade held my attention. Now I have a dozen or so Benchmades and the last couple years not many of their blades have caught my eye, but now ZT has my attention. I ended up with a 0300, 0350, 0200, 0600, 801, 0801cf, etc. etc. And I'm not done with ZT...they keep coming out with knives I really dig: 0566cf, 0450, 0562cf, 0392... Holy crap the list goes on! Not to mention Spyderco...I don't even have a military, and thats a must have at some point, preferable one in Ti. Then we have the traditionals with Case, Queen etc...

The point is I keep looking at "mid techs" and customs, but I keep being so impressed with the production offerings that the funds consistently go to production products. I frequently compare specs/material between production / mid tech / custom, and the bang for the buck just seems to consistently lean toward the production product. I've handled a couple mid-techs (CRK) and they're nice, but I keep thinking "what does this have that my XYZ blade from XYZ manufacture doesn't - at 1/2 the price?"...

Anyone else find themselves on this boat? Not looking for a fight, just thoughtful discussion.
 
The lack of funds is what holds most people back, not production knives. The economy still sucks and lots of people carry a lot of debt, which takes precedence (or should).
Different people collect different things. Some people only like Emerson knives, some people only like Spyderco sprint runs or one particular model, some people only buy customs, other people only collect fixed blades, while others only have a couple 3-4 knives and have no interest in hoarding beyond that. Different strokes for different folks.
 
I have owned numerous and still own a few customs and midtechs. I find that the quality in many of my production folders rivals that of the customs/midtechs for a fraction of the cost and I am not afraid to use them like a $800 custom.
 
I'm one that have more production knives that I can use . And still can not see my self buying a CRK or a Strider . And these are on my top list but yet I will like to have a benchmade 940-1 or a ZT 562 CF when they come out over the mid tech knives . I have a bunch of Spyderco and my Benchamde collection is getting bigger . The ZT brand is starting to get my attention I like there new knives a lot more than there old . Kershaw make great budget knives but I don't really like the Chinese manufactures knives and with nothing new coming out of the USA I don't buy them .

In short I agree with you production knives are a great value and the new knives that come out are great looking knives with great materials . And to top it of I watched YouTube videos before I bought the ZT 801 and every one of the reviewer said that the 801 is at time a better and smother flipper than $800 knives . So production knives are keeping me from buying mid tech knives because there are better built than they were 10 years ago .
 
Not in my mind -

I collect higher end production folders, specifically the ZT and Kershaw LE knives - and I enjoy carrying and using them.

I also collect and use JK Handmade knives, I like Busse knives and have some of their products.

I recently purchased a G&G Hawk MUDD Prototype that was offered at Blade - more custom / mid-tech but very reasonably priced for such a fine knife (Thanks Gavin!)

Holding me back? Quite the contrary, I would call it more feeding the addiction.

best

mqqn
 
JOELSM said:
When I started this hobby Benchmade held my attention. Now I have a dozen or so Benchmades and the last couple years not many of their blades have caught my eye, but now ZT has my attention. I ended up with a 0300, 0350, 0200, 0600, 801, 0801cf, etc. etc. And I'm not done with ZT...they keep coming out with knives I really dig: 0566cf, 0450, 0562cf, 0392... Holy crap the list goes on! Not to mention Spyderco...I don't even have a military, and thats a must have at some point, preferable one in Ti. Then we have the traditionals with Case, Queen etc...

The point is I keep looking at "mid techs" and customs, but I keep being so impressed with the production offerings that the funds consistently go to production products. I frequently compare specs/material between production / mid tech / custom, and the bang for the buck just seems to consistently lean toward the production product. I've handled a couple mid-techs (CRK) and they're nice, but I keep thinking "what does this have that my XYZ blade from XYZ manufacture doesn't - at 1/2 the price?"...

Anyone else find themselves on this boat? Not looking for a fight, just thoughtful discussion.
Click to expand...

CRKs are still production knives FYI.
 
I really like ZT knives and have gone out of my way to collect any LE edition I can find. I like my ZT0551 for EDC. I still have a handful of Benchmade and Emerson knives. I have customs too but the quality isn't so much better that the production or mid-techs aren't just as impressive to me.
 
RevDevil said:
Mid techs are production knives too.
Click to expand...

Indeed but they usually have at least 'some' type of handwork done by the maker. What that handwork entails is becoming more and more tenuous considering Graham gets away with calling his knife a mid-tech when it's just a production knife he sharpens. But at least he touches them. Chris isn't touching Sebenzas before they roll out the door.

Heck, according to Ken Onion, any knife that isn't completed 100% in house by the maker is technically a mid-tech.
 
I haven't really seen any customs (even in Skelton's videos) that I would rather carry than production knives. Maybe an XM-18, but that would be a "why not?" thing as opposed to choosing it over my 0550.

I don't care to go beyond the $150-$250 range in production. There are too many great users in that range to bother.
 
Scurvy092 said:
Indeed but they usually have at least 'some' type of handwork done by the maker. What that handwork entails is becoming more and more tenuous considering Graham gets away with calling his knife a mid-tech when it's just a production knife he sharpens. But at least he touches them. Chris isn't touching Sebenzas before they roll out the door.

Heck, according to Ken Onion, any knife that isn't completed 100% in house by the maker is technically a mid-tech.
Click to expand...

Chris is the " Master " of production knives and he calls his customs production.
 
Aside from possibly uniqueness and feeding the addiction there's little spending lots of $$$ on a knife gains you these days. There are few true customs where you can truly pick all your options from makers anymore, most at best you get a couple choices, and what you get still looks almost identical to something someone else gets.

I think many knife guys start out buying lots of production knives, then creep into mid-techs or customs and settle into one camp or the other. I know personally I used to have tons of knives, and over the years I've gotten more picky about what I like/want so I tend to only have a few knives only keeping the ones that are truly impressive to me.

The level of quality in many production knives, and the blade steel options available means for function only most people could find more knife than they can use for under $250. That's not to say there are not exceptions, some mid-tech fit/finish stand out, but many of the mid-tech knives I've owned and later sold were no more impressive than knives costing half as much, the only thing impressive about many of them was marketing hype.

The economy may be bad, but people are spending way more money on common items these days than they were say 10-20 years ago. Knives are no exception, we see production companies prices creeping to $300, and mid-techs going way over $500 and they are selling all they can make. What guys are spending on limited edition/spring production knives is insane. Look at coolers, I know tons of guys buying yeti's, engel's etc. spending $400+ on a cooler to do nothing but go to softball games. When I go to the range there's tons of leica/swarovski/zeiss optics costing thousands of dollars. People were just not willing/able to spend that kinda $$$ in years past on products like that, but now it's much more common. So the economy might be bad, but high dollar items are flying off shelves.
 
Custom knives are pure novelty IMO. I buy them because I know they're hand crafted, I buy them for the exclusivity, I buy them for their beauty. A $2000 custom doesn't cut any better than a $200 production knife, but after you start owning/handling customs it's hard to go back to production. It's kinda like driving BMW's and Mercedes and then suddenly switching over to driving a Honda Civic.
 
No they aren't holding me back from customs, money is holding me back from customs, I only own on custom knife, a basic fixed blade that was made by a member here, I don't think I have ever used it, I have too many other fixed blades I like better, my favorite of which is a mora.
If I had the extra disposable income to buy whatever I wanted, I would probably pick up a custom folder of two, but I don't want one badly enough to save for it when most of my favorite knives are well under the $100 mark and work just fine for me.
Same with cars, I prefer to buy old and used but in good shape, I take more pleasure in driving my old truck than I would a new car or truck.
I like what I like without regard to price or status, and I am all for function over form.
 
Not really.


There isn't enough upside for me. If a custom maker was doing something completely out of the box maybe but it's mostly aesthetics or investment (exclusivity).

But when the materials are the same, designs are similar and the serve the same purpose I just can't get into it.
 
Id say no. A while back I tossed around the idea of getting a custom but I decided against it. I believe most customs are works of art, showing the best materials and design flow the maker has to offer. Not to say they aren't functional, they are, but they just aren't what I'm looking for in my knives. Plus, I have a rough and tumble job where my knives will be exposed to sweat, water, ash, extreme heat (between 350 and 400 degrees), and other abuse. Regardless of the price, I wouldn't want to expose a beautiful hand made custom to that kind of environment.
 
There's a difference between liking nice things that are expensive and high quality , and comparing every minute detail of an item and committing it to memory for later comparison while also appreciating the item for what it is regardless of how it compares. The former is, imo a collector, and the latter is a connoisseur , and those descriptions go for about anything not just knives. Most people, including yourself fall into the first category and that is who high end production knives are aimed at. Midtechs and customs are largely made with the connoisseur in mind, though collectors may dabble in them.
 
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