Bored of productions

[JR88FAN]

Great post. I'm just tired of production knives that outright fail, have obvious design flaws, or just don't make any sense with the stuff they're made of with no actual vision or clear cut defining purpose.

Stupid thick blades with tiny pivots and locks that fail. Stupid thin "edc" knives made with weak steel.. Fit and finish that exceeds the heat treatment and geometry of the blade. Rough flippers or tight washers. Ugh. Give me a good knife that makes sense, works right, and is capable of standing up to the makers' claims.

I can't agree less with this bodog! C'mon man....

Spyderco makes a lot of great knives that work.
I am not going to list them....
Benchmade as well.

It just comes down to what's good enough for you?!
It's not as simple as 'production' vs 'custom.

I have owned very expensive customs that just didn't work, and cheaper knives that did.

Just because it's a custom, doesn't guarantee you anything except that it will be expensive.

 

[ebidis]

I cant speak for anyone other than me but i go through phases. For me it broke down like this.

1. Enter hobby. Anything with an edge is awesome.

2. Start buying decent production knives. Berate the junk i had. Question legitimacy and practicality of customs

3. Discovers knives are not practical purchases after $30 anyways and breaks down and buys first custom. Berates all lower knives.

4. Production up their game and customs lower theirs blurring the lines of quality. Starts question why im paying triple for similar quality. The abuse of word midtech further obscures objectivity.

5. Finally gets sick of labels, pride of ownership, and decides to judge each and every knife on a knife by knife basis instead of subscribing to any type of elitism or hate. Much happier.

I find the above statements to be true. Especially numbers 4 and 5.

 

[bodog]

I can't agree less with this bodog! C'mon man....

Spyderco makes a lot of great knives that work.
I am not going to list them....
Benchmade as well.

It just comes down to what's good enough for you?!
It's not as simple as 'production' vs 'custom.

I have owned very expensive customs that just didn't work, and cheaper knives that did.

Just because it's a custom, doesn't guarantee you anything except that it will be expensive.

Don't get me wrong, there are A LOT of really exceptional production blades on the market. It seems that a small time maker truly puts himself into the knife he makes, even if its not made with the cleanest lines or highest tech equipment. Something about it speaks to me. It may burn me at some point. Right now, though, I'm really happy with spydercos and small batch fixed blades. The prices are manageable and quality is good. My small batch fixed blade thing is kind of limited, though, but I've been happy so far

 

[The Aflac Duck]

Just because it's a custom, doesn't guarantee you anything except that it will be expensive.

What makers are you refering to?

 

[bodog]

I cant speak for anyone other than me but i go through phases. For me it broke down like this.

1. Enter hobby. Anything with an edge is awesome.

2. Start buying decent production knives. Berate the junk i had. Question legitimacy and practicality of customs

3. Discovers knives are not practical purchases after $30 anyways and breaks down and buys first custom. Berates all lower knives.

4. Production up their game and customs lower theirs blurring the lines of quality. Starts question why im paying triple for similar quality. The abuse of word midtech further obscures objectivity.

5. Finally gets sick of labels, pride of ownership, and decides to judge each and every knife on a knife by knife basis instead of subscribing to any type of elitism or hate. Much happier.

Pretty accurate.. Though I am proud to show off knives that handle work and other guys notice it. No one outside of us knife nuts care about high end looks, materials, and they think we're crazy for the prices we pay. Until they see a knife run circles around whatever they're carrying. Something about seeing their light bulb turn on, however dimly, feels good, especially if your turning then onto knives made by small makers who depend on selling their knives to make ends meet.

 

[ebidis]

What makers are you refering to?

I don't believe he's referring to any specific makers Blues, just making a general statement that just because a knife is custom made, doesn't mean that the maker is necessarily exceptional.

I would also look at the flip side, and say that just because a knife is a production knife, does not mean that it has no merit. I have many production knives that are excellent in many ways.

 

[JR88FAN]

Don't get me wrong, there are A LOT of really exceptional production blades on the market. It seems that a small time maker truly puts himself into the knife he makes, even if its not made with the cleanest lines or highest tech equipment. Something about it speaks to me. It may burn me at some point. Right now, though, I'm really happy with spydercos and small batch fixed blades. The prices are manageable and quality is good. My small batch fixed blade thing is kind of limited, though, but I've been happy so far

I think you would agree that there are not too many knives out there that wouldn't benefit from a complete regrind and whole new geometry...

I think there is a built in amount of extra edge (and what's behind it) in all production and most customs....obviously it's easier to make a knife that way, and leaves room for user error, and less crying.

I hate to point out anyone knife maker, and the list could be much longer, but you think a Hoback, a Diskin, or a Chavez is optimized for anything specific?
For the price, I think it should be.

 

[Charlie Mike]

Case by case basis... I have a $1300 one off DDR in my safe that is absolutely perfect but recently, I've been carrying a pair of Cold Steel Rajah 2 folders... which are equally perfect.

 

[JR88FAN]

Case by case basis... I have a $1300 one off DDR in my that is absolutely perfect but recently, I've been carrying a pair of Cold Steel Rajah 2 folders... which are equally perfect.

I guess at the end of the day, that word 'perfect' has to be a personal thing based on your expectations of performance for what you do with a knife.

I don't think it needs to be much more complicated then that.

I could pick up knife X and think that it's poop, and Charlie Mike may think it's the greatest knife of all time.

We would both be right.

 

[Charlie Mike]

^ He gets it.

 

[bodog]

I think you would agree that there are not too many knives out there that wouldn't benefit from a complete regrind and whole new geometry...

I think there is a built in amount of extra edge (and what's behind it) in all production and most customs....obviously it's easier to make a knife that way, and leaves room for user error, and less crying.

I hate to point out anyone knife maker, and the list could be much longer, but you think a Hoback, a Diskin, or a Chavez is optimized for anything specific?
For the price, I think it should be.

True...

 

[r redden]

For me it was really what others thought were the go to knives. PM2, ZT, Sebenza and so on. Now it's just about what I like regardless what others think. Right now this very minute I have a Tenacious in my pocket and a Mel Fassio custom Fossil Mammoth Ivory in a sheath on my side.

 

[Gizler00]

I guess at the end of the day, that word 'perfect' has to be a personal thing based on your expectations of performance for what you do with a knife.

I don't think it needs to be much more complicated then that.

I could pick up knife X and think that it's poop, and Charlie Mike may think it's the greatest knife of all time.

We would both be right.

Exactly. That's the issue with certain people. It's ok if I think something's crap and someone else thinks it's the best.

 

[fsatsil]

Exactly. That's the issue with certain people. It's ok if I think something's crap and someone else thinks it's the best.

I agree 100% but sadly there seems to be quite a few people on the forums that just cannot handle the fact that not everyone likes the same stuff as they do.