Brous T4 considered "Semi-custom"? "Mid-Tech?"

[Rolex John]

I know there aren't exactly universally accepted definitions of these terms, but would the Brous T4 be considered a semi-custom or mid-tech knife? Something else entirely?

 

[AddictedToGear]

From what I can tell it is a midtech like many of the Brous Blades. From what I can tell most of it is machined, but the blades are hand ground and I believe Jason puts his hand on every knife. This is what I have read and heard but please correct me as I may be mistaken if you know. The prices for the quality of the blades is excellent though especially if I am correct and it is considered a midtech.

 

[xICEMANx]

Jason calls them semi-custom but I would say the term in the knife world is mid-tech. Great knives for the money.

 

[Rat Finkenstein]

from what I've seen of the guy, likely just imported production knives.

 

[Scurvy092]

Midtech means whatever someone wants it to mean unfortunately. people just need to do their due diligence and figure out what goes into making a particular knife.

 

[Misanthropia]

Does anyone have any definitive evidence that all of his folders are hand ground? I assumed everything was machined and then he assembled/sharpened the knives. The grinds on every Reloader seemed too perfect to all be done by hand, and that's a pretty complicated grind. I think they lean heavily towards "production" as opposed to midtech, unless there's some videos or information out there that I'm unfamiliar with.

 

[zImsKee]

I would have to say production. No where close to semi custom.

 

[The Gringo Dingo]

Jason Brous refers to them as semi-custom. They are not hand ground. He does touch every knife and assemble them, but there is machining involved. Check out blade hq's you tube video of brous' s new stuff at Blade Show 2013. Jason talks about this a little bit in that video

 

[Rolex John]

from what I've seen of the guy, likely just imported production knives.

That's a rather serious allegation. Is there any real evidence to support such a claim?

 

[brownshoe]

A lot of production knives are hand ground.

Semi-production and mid-tech were invented for marketing purposes. Custom makers still wanted $3K for their special babies, they did not want to piss off collectors by diluting the worth of their past custom knives, but they also wanted to cash in on their popularity. Basically the terms are used to obscure how a knife was made. Some knifemakers eschew the label and just tell you how it's made...Bob Terzuola for one.

Unless a maker tells you exactly how the knife is made and who/how many people worked on it you don't know. Brous doesn't state much, thus it's most likely a production production, neither custom, semi-custom or mid-tech.

Brous no longer posts on this Forum and has a mouthpiece speak for him. This plus the number of his knives available and at multiple places also makes it seem to be a production shop.

 

[Scurvy092]

Jason Brous refers to them as semi-custom. They are not hand ground. He does touch every knife and assemble them, but there is machining involved. Check out blade hq's you tube video of brous' s new stuff at Blade Show 2013. Jason talks about this a little bit in that video

So can I start calling some of my zt's 'tim gaylean semi-custom' because he might have handled and assembled it?

 

[Rolex John]

Unless a maker tells you exactly how the knife is made and who/how many people worked on it you don't know. Brous doesn't state much, thus it's most likely a production production, neither custom, semi-custom or mid-tech.

Well, the fact that he lists the T4 under the "Production" category of his website certainly lends credibility to your theory.

Brous no longer posts on this Forum and has a mouthpiece speak for him. This plus the number of his knives available and at multiple places also makes it seem to be a production shop.

That's too bad he doesn't post anymore. Keep in mind that that the T4 is, I believe, limited to a 500 piece production run.

 

[Scurvy092]

Well, the fact that he lists the T4 under the "Production" category of his website certainly lends credibility to your theory.



That's too bad he doesn't post anymore. Keep in mind that that the T4 is, I believe, limited to a 500 piece production run.

500 pieces is a lit of knives in the custom/mid tech world. John Grimsmo who is basically a solo full production maker barely puts out 500 pieces a year if at all.

My guess is he has someone water jet all the parts, has someone cnc the handles and the blades, send them out for heat treat and then assembles and sharpens them himself.

 

[nwmetalbug]

The T4 is CNC for the most part and the blade is hand ground after profiling on CNC im guessing. Mine is awesome.

 

[Rolex John]

The T4 is CNC for the most part and the blade is hand ground after profiling on CNC im guessing. Mine is awesome.

A distinct possibility - I have an email into Jason to try and get some clarity on some of these issues.

 

[bearcut]

from what I've seen of the guy, likely just imported production knives.

How"s that?

 

[mr_anderson]

I'm still waiting on an email, 3 days now. Nothing to do with this thread, I was curious if he was making an acid etch version.

 

[spyderco lover]

How"s that?

Brous pissed off a few forum members by copying outright other blade designs. His division folder, for instance, is a literal copy of a fixed blade by a custom maker. Sooooo, he has left a bit of a bad taste in the mouths of some BF members

 

[RamZar]

T4 is one of Brous's Production Knives. You can tell the difference by looking at his Custom Knives.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a T4 with machined CF scales.

 

[mr_anderson]

He was banned on the USN for stealing designs, then lying about it. Trying to make new accounts, spamming the forum, then lying about it. Not accusing, just what the mods told me.