Brand loyalty?

JayDeep

JayDeep

Joined
Dec 13, 2022
Messages
283
Are there any brands/manufacturers out there that just seem to "get it" for you? That they generally produce something you're going to be drawn to and like, for whatever reason?

For me Kai (Kershaw & ZT, more the latter, but still both) and Spyderco are it. Spyderco with their heavy use of full flat grind and generally very shallow and acute angle grinds suits me. Kershaw and ZT with their thin blades, sharp angles and heavy reliance on flippers (minus all the assisted stuff), because I love to flipity flip-flop all day long.

Honorable mention to Benchmade. They offer a few with decently abrupt angled grinds and the axis lock for my need to fidgety is just perfection!!!

Hoping to expand my horizons by trying more stuff.
 
luethge said:
Helm
Wenger
Gossman
Curtis
Carothers
Winkler
Siegle
Benchmade as well ( not all, but the ones I like are loved ).
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Anything specific about them? Do they al share something in common. I've honestly never heard of any of them. Going to look up now. Can't wait!

Edit: now know why I've never heard of them, they're almost all fixed blade only. Not my thing at all, but very cool looking stuff. I'm sure they're quality. Only fixed I have and, though very rarely, carry is a Bradford Guardian 3. Only one I use is a Terävä Jääkäripuukko, also and even more so very rarely.
 
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Chris Reeve - Just absolutely intoxicating good frame locks. It took me quite a while to come around to them but I now understand why they are so highly regarded. I was on the you can get more for less bandwagon for a long time. It wasn't until I bought one, used it quite a bit, took it apart, and reassembled a few I realized what I had been missing.

Spyderco- So many innovation, so many locks, so many steels. Top of the line to budget friendly. Perfect knives to start or end with.

Cold steel- I grew up on them. As long as I can remember my dad has had a trunk full. I was pretty overjoyed when they upgraded their steels. Let's all face it the triad is the absolute strongest folder lock on the planet. Not my favorite brand anymore but hands down the strongest lock available and they just work.

Hogue- I feel like hogue just gets the axis lock right. I have a deka and a RSK. I think the deka is what the bugout should have been, and the RSK is what the Ritter grip should have been. They are just better. From the centering to the action they kick ass. I still have my mini adamas, Crooked river, and my contego and absolutely love them. Truth be told Hogue out benchmades benchmade just like ZT out Emersons Emerson. (Waved models)

GEC - in my opinion they are the CRK of slipjoints. Beautiful knives with incredible fit and finish. I have multiple and they are just awesome. They make great collection pieces and even better users after a good sharpening. Their 1095 is something special. Stays sharp for a good amount of time and can be stopped back to true pretty easily.

I have owned and used the hell out of the above. Of corse these are just my opinions based on my real world experience so read with grain of salt.
 
Benchmade and recently CRK.

Benchmade has many models that really speak to me and being American made they became my brand of choice.

I added my first CRK, a small Sebenza 31 just before Thanksgiving and absolutely love it. Im looking forward to adding more but damn they are hard to come by.

Cheers, Mac
 
I have recently taken a serious liking to Arno Bernard.
Busse
Victorinox
Case
ZT

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While I do own, carry, and use knives from multiple manufacturers, my preference in collecting strongly lies with Benchmade. For me, their knives offer a great value-to-cost ratio, are American made, have just enough variation to make different models interesting, and have an enormous back catalog for hunting down. And while a small handful of models may interest me from a manufacturer, I find the vast majority of Benchmade's offerings interesting, exciting, and desirable.

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Please keep in mind that these are my personal opinions and preferences and I do not expect others to share them. I strongly believe that having varied opinions gives us more choices - which is a good thing!
 
I own lots of knives all over the price spectrum.
Of all of the brands, KAI are disappointing me the most.
ZT has lost all new creativity and are just offering new scales & colors on old designs.
Kershaw’s recent knives have been absolute garbage quality from materials to design and fit/finish.
Disappointing.

Honestly, WE/CIVIVI are king now for new designs and quality. Nobody is coming close.
Everybody else is just releasing their same old designs.
So while I love my Hinderers and my other higher end USA-made stuff, WE and CIVIVI are owning it and have been draining my bank account.

I do not own a single Benchmade or Spyderco knife - is that weird? I just don’t like ‘em.

I’ve also discovered I generally dislike button-locks.
 
At this point RHK is my top brand, followed by Benchmade. Of course this has to do with framelock and Axis lock being my most favorite locks. (OLD) ZT introduced me to high quality framelock folders and I still own four of their knives. (Old) Cold Steel won the strongest lock in my book and was very budget friendly so I keep two or three of their folders. I tried a few CRK folders and moved them. Have been thinking giving it another try, maybe a Sebenza 31 with inlays and insingo blade (when it is available).
 
I have handled, tested, and/or bought over 50 Benchmade knives in the last few years, mostly from three local stores, but a few from Internet dealers. Only two have had any problems. An Mini Infidel was very dull near the heel of one edge (BESS 800). An assisted Boost was very difficult to open, but it did eventually break in. As a matter of personal taste, on a few knives, I have loosened the pivot screw 1/8th of a turn or less to get manual knives to drop closed.

As for sharpness out of the box or off the shelf, aside from the Mini Infidel, the average of 5 or more tests with an Edge-On-Up ranged from 79 grams for a Volli (literally razor sharp) to 290 grams for an Emissary 470-131 (good but not great).

I keep telling myself I'm going to stop buying Spydercos. The good ones are great, and I like serrated blades. But there is no local Spyderco dealer, and I get an awful lot by mail that are less than satisfactory. The thread locker really irritates me when I'm trying to clean and lubricate a knife. I've gotten Spydercos that are so stiff that it takes two hands to open them--I returned a Native 5 for that reason. Others I have taken apart one or more times to adjust springs and lock bars. Even if I can open them with one hand out of the box, it may take months to break them in so that they Spydie Flick properly. Loosening the pivot screw a bit (like I sometimes do on a Benchmade) does not help. Lubricant does not help. There was the Manix that was so hard to close I had to use a metal object (such as a key or pry bar) to release the lock. There is the Lil Native where the blade bounces off my finger when I try to close it. And the ARK that scored over BESS 400 out of the box. The knife I use the most right now is a Byrd Meadowlark, but I took it apart three times to get it to flick nicely.
 
There are very few instances where I'm brand loyal, and even then, I don't necessarily exclusively buy that brand. SAS shoes and Kia/Hyundai are the two brands of anything that I'm loyal to in any sense of the word.

I have 7 Spydercos, I like a lot of their designs. Everything else in my collection is one or two (maybe three) from a multitude of brands.

I like variety, whether it be materials, color, opening type, etc.

For me, it's less brands I'm loyal to than it's more brands I will never buy/buy again. Benchmade, Emerson, Qtrmstr, and Brous come to mind in that category.
 
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