Bali's, Folders, Karambits and Fighters Oh My!...Where should I focus my efforts?

Robert Hankins

Robert Hankins

Joined
May 19, 2003
Messages
1,848
Bali's, Folders, Karambits and Fighters Oh My!... :eek:
Where should I focus my efforts?
As of late I have been working on Bali's and a few Lockback folders
But I really miss doing Fighters...
Now also wondering about doing some Karambits as well

Help me out of this quandry
Which would you be more interested in?
 
I say buy whatever catches your eye, regardless of the type of knife and how many of that type you already own.
 
i agree buy what you like, I started out buying almost exclusivley drop point hunters and custom hunting/outdoors knives. Now I collect auto's, folders, tacs, and well hunters still. Just go with what you like at the time, it will shift from time to time and your collection will grow.
 
barrabas74 said:
i agree buy what you like, I started out buying almost exclusivley drop point hunters and custom hunting/outdoors knives. Now I collect auto's, folders, tacs, and well hunters still. Just go with what you like at the time, it will shift from time to time and your collection will grow.
Click to expand...
I think he's talking about not only collecting, but making as well, which makes it more difficult^^.

I've always been fond of Balis myself.
 
I could be way off base here but Karambits seem like a fad to me. Just my opinion, folks. No offense to the Karambit lovers, I think they're cool as hell but I doubt their new found popularity will last too much longer.
 
Sorry I thought you was talkin bout collectin. I would be more interested in folders and fighters. Not a balisong guy but lots out there are.
 
Balisongs are growing in popularity very quickly. EDC knives sells out of customs faster than you can blink. I'd say balisongs are a good place to focus on.
 
Blinker, based on my "analysis" of current knife trends, I would think that balis are the way to go. Fighters are used by a niche market, as are kerambits, but balisongs seem to have a strong collector's and user's market right now. The fact that you can make this style of knife already is even more important. There aren't THAT many guys doing these well on the custom/handmade level, and you've gotten good feedback from people on this forum, so I don't think you could go too wrong sticking with that for a while.
 
Blinker,
I have to vote for the fighter/bowies you do. I have and use the Lil ole bowie that you made. I love your bowies!!! ;) I feel that your large bowies in carbon steel are some of the finest I have seen. I know that I would love to have one that looks like the Lil Ole Bowie but with a 11-12 inch blade out of carbon steel. I think if you look back into the forums you will realise how many like your fighters and bowies. My .02 on it at least.
 
Many Thanks for the kind words...
Your input is very valuable to me on a personal level:D

Have just about gotten my Bali's to where they would be a worthwhile venture to persue. As any maker will tell you it takes a long while to dial them in with all of the close tollerences involved in the making,

I will try a few Karambit's and see what happens, I to look at them as a tool for the serious martial artist. Again a niche market.

While Bowies are fun to make they take WAY TOO long to make right and be sold for under the $500 range.

A good fighter takes about as long but sells for much less usually. They are a survival tool that brave men stake their lives upon. So they typically fall into a Soldier's/Leo's hands before a Collector would buy one.
Myself give me a Randal 14 with a Border Patrol handle

So where does that leave us???
Bali's or Lockbacks........................Hummmmm
Both fold:D
 
Well I guess I'm biased since balis are my favorite type of knife, but I'd suggest balis as a focus. As was mentioned previously the number of makers creating good custom balis is much less than other types of knives. At the same time, the collector base is probably smaller, but if you look at a site that deals in custom balis like edcknives.com you'll see they are sold out on balis pretty much all the time, so the market is there. I really like your work so I hope you stick with balis. Having said that, if I were you I'd make whatever I enjoyed most and could make the most money at. :D
 
Laceration said:
I could be way off base here but Karambits seem like a fad to me. Just my opinion, folks. No offense to the Karambit lovers, I think they're cool as hell but I doubt their new found popularity will last too much longer.
Click to expand...

You have to consider one thing, kerambits have been around since the 12th century, although larger at that time and were smeared with various poisons when going into battle.
 
Blinker said:
Bali's, Folders, Karambits and Fighters Oh My!... :eek:
Where should I focus my efforts?
As of late I have been working on Bali's and a few Lockback folders
But I really miss doing Fighters...
Now also wondering about doing some Karambits as well

Help me out of this quandry
Which would you be more interested in?
Click to expand...
I like fighters, but make whatever you like at the moment. Variety is the spice of life
 
Personally I think there is a lot of life left in the karambit trend, especially if someome was making them well and charging prices that wouldn't scare off someone wanting to try out this unique blade. I think if karambits could be done for 150.00 or less and still be of decent quality you might get some takers who aren't willing to consdier the models that go for 300 plus.
Balis are also very cool and offer a lot of variety so you probably won't get bored with them to quickly. Looking forward to whatever you come up with.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top