Best knife reviewers

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LostCause

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This will be a long one, so apologies ahead.

I'll start with my favorite:
That's Pete, the guy from Australia.
I mean, the guy goes out of his way to show us not just edge retention but also tests his knives in real world use. And on top of all, he makes it entertaining to watch. Also, has some videos that had me crying from laughing.
Pete, if you're reading this - you have a beer if you ever come to Croatia.


Gideon's tactical also seems to do OK. He actually uses knives but for some reason is never entertaining enough to watch the entire video.


DBK guys... they really do use their knives. They also do some destructive testing (like bone, metal and so on) so in that kind of sense it's good to see what a knife can or cannot do. So no complaints on that part.
But they only use their knives for bushcraft tasks. Making their videos only worth watching if you are after a bushcraft knife and you plan to featherstick, scrape ferro rod, carve and that kind of thing.
Another thing is, large portion of their videos will be homoeroticism or goofy stunts (splashing each other with water, smashing food in each other and so on).
Then sponsors. And after sponsors - they sell their own strop, stropping compound, knife and whatnot. Turning big part of their video into a skippable AD. And then giveaway and patreon stuff...


Mayor Fuglycool - the guy I used to watch trash knives long before JoeX even started making videos. Not super scientific, but is fairly entertaining and he is at least consistent with what he does.


JoeX - just a mess. I used to find his videos entertaining at start, but now I no longer even bother to open them.
If only he at least counted strikes or had same procedure or order with same test mediums for every single knife, it could be at least somewhat scientific. But it is not.
Long story short - video of guy in gas mask hitting car, rock and iron rod and other crap repeatedly is not particularly entertaining in the long run.
I also fail to see purpose of shooting a knife, let alone already broken remains of a knife.


Nick Shabazz - just boring to me personally. He only has few entertaining videos about terrible knives and that's pretty much it.



Feel free to share your opinions about reviewers.
 
Agree 100% about Pete (Cedric & Ada Outdoors).. he is consistently entertaining and he is doing the lord's work in his efforts to disparage Huusk knives at every possible opportunity.. the offer for a beer stands if he ever makes his way stateside..

Advanced Knife Bro is good as well in that he does not take himself seriously and pokes fun at a lot of the "knife community" tropes.. chances are better than average that he gets a chuckle out of me.

The DBK crew ingest entirely too much cocaine ahead of filming for me to take any of their stuff all that seriously..just wayyyy too much "energy" for me in the few vids I've seen hahah..

Gideon's is ok, but he loses me with all of the "sponsored content" stuff.. there's always some fast-forwarding through his vids. I do appreciate that he at least includes content featuring knives being used as knives.

Shabazz.. once I became desensitized to the voice.. I grew to appreciate his content because he always had at least something out there about most of the newest stuff.. I may not have agreed with everything he said, but I alway respected his opinions because they were his opinions and I never felt like he was just a shill for the myriad Chinese knife companies giving him freebies/a wannabe-used-car salesman **cough Neeves, cough Beez blades cough cough** And I don't think anyone can argue that Nick's dis/assembly vids aren't invaluable if you've ever overestimated your ability to take apart your knife.. I 100% support Nick Shabazz's existence on the internet.

I don't watch every video that everyone puts out.. never have.. it's very much dependent on whether or not i'm interested in the knife they're reviewing.. and I try to take the content for what it is.. a biased glimpse at a knife I might be interested in vs some sort of gospel.. these are just dudes on the internet with opinions after all. Generally, I am supportive of any idiot who'll put a video online of a knife I'm interested in.. no one says I have to watch them hahah..
 
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DBK and Advanced Knife Bro make some of the most entertaining videos in my opinion, and they make some valid points about the knives, which they actually use. DBK spends a lot of time cooking/goofing/doing sponsor reads, but they actually make it amusing, so I'll take that over MC's repetitive catchphrases any day. These are probably the only two I'll watch a video from even if I'm not specifically searching for the knife in the video.

Metal Complex, Shabazz, and Neeves seem to have a wider breadth of videos and cover a large quantity of knives, so if I'm looking at a particular knife, they might be the only ones with a video on it. None of them actually seem to use their knives much. Shabazz seems to be a little more knowledgeable than the others, Metal Complex often goes on useless tangents or misses the point with his opinions, and Neeves is probably the worst of them but he certainly has quantity lol.
 
My contribution is much the same of the above. Hell, I probably coulda' cut & pasted L LostCause 's original post...


Gideon's Tactical: For the longest time, I'd search his content if I was looking at acquiring a certain knife. I'm a fixie guy and enjoy Aaron's "practical"/outdoor testing. From a viewer's perspective, I have also come to appreciate the fact that it appears that he has invested much of his "monetization" back into his channel. Much of his production quality (*screen-in-screen, recent use of drones, scenery, etc.) has improved over the years. I guess it helps that he lived in Colorado. Beyond that, he also tends to offer alternatives to whatever knife he is reviewing.

Mayor Fuglycool: I haven't watched anything from him in a bit, but used to watch his stuff all the time. Much of the YT "torture" testing stuff is lost on me, as most of it just seems like trying to break sh!+ for the sake of breaking it, and really doesn't offer anything practical. His "extreme" stuff had a kinda' "practical" slant to it...at least in my humble opinion.

The DBK guys: They "test" a large selection of knives. Because of that, I often get roped into their vids. For me, they've tested quite a few of the knives I actually own, and I tend to agree with some of their opinions. Their "humor"? Well, some of the time, I could take it or leave it.

Advanced Knife Bro: I don't go looking for his stuff. However, his vids sometimes come-up in my feed. I enjoy his dry humor. For me, he is "the straight man" in a comedy team...the guy who delivers humor without so much as smiling.

Joe X: It's no secret that I think he's a douche. If I had a billion dollars, I'd replicate his channel by crashing 3/4 and 1-ton "HD" trucks into "Jersey barriers" and then expounding on why they are absolute crap. Slamming a knife one hundred times, against a piece of Schedule 40 pipe, tells me ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about the performance of a particular knife or steel. For me, he's the "Whistlin' Diesel" of knife stuff. Every time I see one of his vids, my IQ tanks by about 40 points.

The Knife Junkie: I enjoy participating in Bob's Thursday night podcasts. Like me, Bob is not a knife or steel snob. He's just a "knife guy". The exchanges on his podcast are pretty educational and enjoyable.



Your mileage may vary...
 
I like to see reviews from a variety of reviewers, whether it's knives, movies, restaurants, whatever. It does not matter so much if my tastes differ from the reviewer's tastes as long as I understand what the reviewer's tastes are.

Cliff Stamp was great.
Pete and Nick Shabazz are great.
Erica EDC is often great.
LuvThemKnives is often informative.
Outdoors55 is exceptionally informative, although he does a lot of things that are tests and investigations rather than reviews. Sometimes he's hilarious.
I don't do bushcraft or stab cars, but sometimes I stab other things, and maybe some day I will need to baton something. Ya never know. So I find DBK and Joe X informative. Bear in mind that the DBK boys are boys and act like boys, but they know more about knives than a lot of Youtube reviewers.

My favorite channel is Project Farm, which sometimes tests knives and sharpeners, but lots of other kinds of tools and real life useful stuff.
 
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I miss the Edge Observer.......Was top notch..👍👍👍👍👍
Blade review/Dan. Was another good place for a good review.........

Cant do all the look at me yoyos on boobtube🙄
 
Metal Complex and Neeves knives.
I have pretty similar taste in knives as MC so I like most of his stuff..
Neeves has been doing a LOT of Chinese no-name brand stuff lately just to pump out videos it seems like. I liked his older videos more, but even still
His sharpening and stropping videos are very helpful IMHO
Also, “Blades and Fades” is a newer one and has some really good sharpening tips too in some of his vids.
ETA Chuck Nunface, a member here with a newer channel. I watch a lot of his stuff too
 
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Shabazz is goofy, I can't get behind him, he's qwerky. I dont buy what he reviews.
I respect Gideon and Bush Camping Tools.
 
ShaiHulud said:
Shabazz is goofy, I can't get behind him, he's qwerky. I dont buy what he reviews.
I respect Gideon and Bush Camping Tools.
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Interesting, so you won’t buy a knife if he has reviewed or because of his review?
 
I watch some videos to see something new occasionally. I don’t care for much of the DBK guys antics, but I do appreciate some of what they do with the knives.

I actually bought a Cold Steel 4 Max Scout after seeing the Joe X video. I think his ‘testing’ is insane, but I simply wanted to check out the folder that held up to so much abuse.

The Knifecenter short reviews are informative and concise despite not actually putting the knives to work.

Honestly, I am more interested in blades and comments from folks on this forum than any videos or channels.
 
Shabazz got me interested in knives many years ago. Taught me how to disassemble, the nomenclature, the difference between a good and not so good product. Actually created the hobby for me. I owe him quite a bit.

Pete (Cedric & Ada) is quite entertaining plus his tests are genuine and have “real life” applications.

LuvThemKnives entertains while frequently presenting what’s new in the market as well as educating with his disassemblies and metallurgical testing.

I admire Stassa23 for his love of the hobby, his sincerity and his personal courage.

And Advanced Knife Bro is always “off the wall” entertaining.
 
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