I think CS is sending the market a wake up call-that a well made, sharp cord-wrapped combat knife can be sold by a major manufacturer for $29.95.
When I first saw cord-wrapped Strider knives I was stunned at the prices that people gladly paid for them. When I worked for Blackjack knives (another bunk of "war heroes" replete with the toe curling stories!) they had about $8 cost in an AUS-8 ,boxed Ek Warrior cord wrapped knife in 1995 dollars, but at least it had a guard and a box, and it was razor sharpened in typical Blackjack fashion!
Strider and others prove on a daily basis that the greatest expense in the knife business is not machinery, or labor, or IP-it is marketing. Successful companies in this space are great marketing companies FIRST. You don't necessarily need a great product to succeed if the marketing is top drawer and you effectively reach your core audience, or rather barrage your core audience.
Strider Knives are production knives, just like Cold Steel. They are laser cut, heat treated in a production venue, CNC ground on an automated machine and then sandblasted and hafted and sharpened. They come with a good $20 sheath that costs more than the knife it holds within, guaranteed. Is the knife worth 10X the price of the Cold Steel version? To many, obviously it is. Strider has invested the marketing money to convince you that their $35 knife is worth $300! The ads, the articles, the freebies to operators--these knives are what a Rolex Sub or Corcoran boots were in VietNam---a status symbol! They carry a connotation that the owner is an operator, or has some training, or maybe even knows an operator, or in this case, at least the knife is made by an operator! That may be the closest some of the owners of these products ever get to an "operator", unless they work on a telephone switchboard, or unless they go to the Blade Show and drink Guiness with the Strider guys.
Cold Steel is, along with Al Mar, the first true specialty knife manufacturer.
Sure their marketing is over the top, but you can learn a lot from their products as they usually work quite well. They tend to market excellent tools that suit many types of customers from entry level to aficionado. They are truly a one stop shop from $5 to $500. They also barrage their customers with advertising but have great distribution and generally interesting designs.
They catch a lot of flak because in general they are an easy target, also because the Cold Steel average owner isn't represented on forums like this. They are more bread and butter specialty knives. Real hunters buy knives like the Master Hunter and real (poor and young) soliders buy knives like the SRK. People who spend time on 4-wheelers on horseback or HMMV's buy inexpensive to moderate priced knives (in general) that they can replace after they lose them or give them away as a gift. Very few own Busse's, or Striders, or any other $300+ combat knife. The ones that do are usually given them as gifts. Most enlisted men just do not use gear like that unless it is awarded or issued or sent from home.
The knife business, like most non-essential markets, is very personality driven.
As a result it is full of shysters, rip-off artists, and scam dealers.
Lynn Thompson isn't one of them. He may be a huckster to some, but frankly I just recognize it as effective marketing that appeals to many, but not all.
As far as Mick Strider is concerned. I am sure he is a great guy to party with and drink Guinness and single malt with and even covertly deanimate bad guys with. We have some mutual friends and they speak highly of him. I am not a fan of the product or the marketing even prior to the recent revalations, but thats why the knife business is so broad and diverse as there are plenty of folks that love their Striders and sing their praises loudly even if they rarely use them to do anything more than "deanimating" an apple.
Anthony, you must have a forthcoming article on Cold Steel to have written some of that.
A Mar produced high quality knives of his own design in Seki City and personally oversaw the quality control. Their quality was better than most imports brought into this country at any time. To even mention his name in the context of Cold Steel is a slander to his memory.
AUS-8 isn't used in the US so comparing Strider with Blackjack knives is inappropriate. Neither Blackjack nor Cold Steel are a basis for comparison with the sophistocated manufacturing methods and QC like those used by Chris Reeves, Strider, Simonich and others who use high end materials and carefully QC'd processes.
The steel alone used to make a Strider knife (depending on size) costs about what you attribute to a sheath.
Are these status symbols? The Marines don't often make unit purchases of status symbols. Are Sebenzas status symbols? I guess you could say that, but most people who buy and own them do so because they are well made and reliable knives. Were Rolex's a luxury in Viet Nam if you could afford one? Only if you didn't carry a good supply of batteries, didn't get wet frequently or aways, didn't experience any hard impacts, or such other things that Rolex's are built to resist.
"Real" hunters?
"REAL" soldiers? A great many "real soldiers", buy Striders as well as knives from Simonich and a goodly number of other high end makers - enough to keep high end makers pretty busy anyway. Unlike some, Strider offers a healthy discount to active duty personnel, as do other makers including myself. We also give away more than a few, all of which could have been otherwise sold for quite a lot of money. I guess that's pretty much the same as giving money to the troops. How much have each of you given.
And BTW, enough hunters buy high end custom knives to support about half the custom knife industry.
Here's what I think. Strider makes a good knife and sells it for a price people are willing to pay given the quantities produced. If they were a commodity item, few would pay the price. If they weren't a good knife people wouldn't buy them. Whether you like them, think they're overpriced, don't like the people who produce them, or simply believe a lot of the BS offered up in this thread, it's your call, your choice. I kind of doubt that in the grand scheme of things it much matters or will make much difference to the people who make, sell, buy, like and use Strider knives.
Hoever, something many people don't know and others have obscured in this discussion, Strider Knives isn't all about Mick. Duane Dwyer was a for sure Marine Scout Sniper with an impressive kill count. Others who work at Strider in CA and/or are their distributors around the world are similarly people who have serious records of military accomplishments. They've chosen their association; call them what you will.
If you admire Lynn Thompson, and I personally don't know many who do, buy his knives. It's your money.
