Collaborating madness

Yo Mama

Yo Mama

Joined
Sep 25, 2011
Messages
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Seems like the trend now in the knife industry is collaborate, collaborate, collaborate! Take any said designer that most folks would never be able to afford, and have another manufacturer put it together and slap logos everywhere to make it legit.

md collabs really set it off, you have Terzuola and Ferrum Forge jumping through WE to make (meaning to me you don't own either a Terzuola or Ferrum knife, you own a WE knife still). I don't remember the last knife at Spyderco made by either Sal or Erik. Benchmade has been using Butch and Ball for all their flippers. Brous is making blades overseas now, copying himself. Emerson let Kershaw do their thing with cqc everything. Chaves and Pena going through Reate, I would love I mean fricking love a Chaves, but not a copied scaled down version. Protech is going through Boker. Strider made by Protech. Vox made by Ace. So many more, why keep going, I know it's nothing new, it just seems to be ridiculously accelerating.

So you have a designer, manufacturer, and producer all who are different now. I don't know, I kind liked it where everything was done in house, and not pieced out. I think it devalues the work that went into building a great name at the expense of everyone making that dough.
 
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Couldn't disagree more. I like designers on their own and I like when they collaborate. I love my Smock SK23, and I'm sure I'll love the Spyderco Smock. Takes the foundation of a great knife and changes it up enough to be interesting on its own right with the addition of the spydiehole.

Another more recent pickup was the Hawk/Panchenko Orbit with parts made by Millit. What's not to like? Hawks did the lock and sweet new toggle system. Panchenko designed the bulk of the knife design and did his trademark finishing on the one I have. Millit manufactured the pieces to perfection. Where else can you get that kind of combined excellence?
 
It seems spyderco’ military model is almost considered a “traditional” knife at this point. I agree with half of what you’re saying. I hate when production is shipped overseas. But I like the collabs ZT had with Hinderer and Rexford.
 
Yo Mama said:
Seems like the trend now in the knife industry is collaborate, collaborate, collaborate! Take any said designer that most folks would never be able to afford, and have another manufacturer put it together and slap logos everywhere to make it legit.

md collabs really set it off, you have Terzuola and Ferrum Forge jumping through WE to make (meaning to me you don't own either a Terzuola or Ferrum knife, you own a WE knife still). I don't remember the last knife at Spyderco made by either Sal or Erik. Benchmade has been using Butch and Ball for all their flippers. Brous is making blades overseas now, copying himself. Emerson let Kershaw do their thing with cqc everything. Chaves and Pena going through Reate, I would love I mean fricking love a Chaves, but not a copied scaled down version. Protech is going through Boker. Strider made by Protech. Vox made by Ace. So many more, why keep going, I know it's nothing new, it just seems to be ridiculously accelerating.

So you have a designer, manufacturer, and producer all who are different now. I don't know, I kind liked it where everything was done in house, and not pieced out. I think it devalues the work that went into building a great name at the expense of everyone making that dough.
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You are entitled to your opinon of course + to each his/her own and all that.

How ever, collabs brings interesting designs within the reach of the average Joe.

There are several Southard knives, which I like. Some wouldnt put their mitts on a knife from the mind of for example Southard had it not been for the Spyderco collab.

I got one and its an awesome collab IMO.

Same goes for Farid Mehr etc etc.

As you say, the list goes on and on. Thats a good thing.

Further more, Ill turn your post upside down and claim, that the collabs might actually open the eyes of some customers to the work of high end and/or custom makers.

A gateway drug to high end knives, if you will.

Im all for the collabs.

Now for ZT to make a collab with Sinkevich for this one:

o7Q2Ca5.png
 
If it were not for colab. Brad Zinker with Boker, I would probably have discovered my Grail way latter (if at all) . . . I very rarely look at knives over $400 let alone consider buying one.
One of my very favorite knives, blade wise and handle length is the Brad Zinker Urban Trapper. I added a fat, textured, grippy handle and it is MY GRAIL for sure.

The all Ti version is fun too because it is comfortably carried in a shirt pocket yet is a "long" highly versatile knife. I love the Titanium in the handle of the frame lock and in the liners of the liner lock versions.
I was searching photos of high end knives last night looking for the name of a certain decorative material and rediscovered Brad Zinker. I won't, unfortunately for me, be buying any knives in the six hundred dollar range. :( :( :(

Thanks for collaborating Mr Zinker :
(sorry if my franken mod offends)
IMG_5318.JPG
IMG_5319.JPG
 
PS: big time; it appears in my photos of the Urban Trappers that the tips are rounded. That is most emphatically NOT the case. They are just wrapped in the terry cloth of the back ground.
 
The Shaman is a pretty recent Glesser Design made by Spyderco. And you have to look at it this way, you have makers and designers, both have their strength. Some people can design knives others can make them, some can do both. And some companies just have really good tooling skills/machinery. A guy like Chavez most likely can't just make enough knives for everybody who wants one, so collaborating is the logical choice. Same with Lambert and Reate, he likes his knives, he likes that people want them, so why leave money on the table and people frustrated and not collaborate with a company that can make a lot of them in a quick timeframe and get them out for comparably affordable prices?
 
Yeah I'm a little surprised that this would bother someone. It's not like Spyderco have stopped designing in house knives, same with Benchmade. Some companies mostly collaborate with other designers, and even that seems fine to me.

It benefits both the designer and the collaborating company. It gives some obscure knife makers a serious boost in publicity and in standing, and the companies making the knives, if they do a good job(which the ones you've listed most definitely do), gives us knife enthusiasts that can't afford a 3k custom, an opportunity to get a design in our hands that wouldn't have been otherwise. That seems like a really damn good thing to me.

Maybe Spyderco isn't pumping out 48 new in house designs a year, but that doesn't mean they stopped designing knives altogether, not by a long shot.
 
Collaborations are strictly positive, in my opinion. Here are some supporting reasons:

- in many cases, I learned about designers through their production collaborations. Rexford, Southard, etc.

- I often prefer production versions of knives over their custom or mid-tech counterparts, which are often very busy looking or gaudy. Sometimes, a designer’s entire catalog would fail to grab me without a collaboration (RJ Martin). Other times, it may be a model (0562 > XM-18 for me).

- they sometimes yield unique configurations. Microtech DOC = Strider flipper, the ZT 0550 = the only way to get a Hinderer “Camp Knife”, etc.
 
Yo Mama said:
Seems like the trend now in the knife industry is collaborate, collaborate, collaborate! Take any said designer that most folks would never be able to afford, and have another manufacturer put it together and slap logos everywhere to make it legit.

md collabs really set it off, you have Terzuola and Ferrum Forge jumping through WE to make (meaning to me you don't own either a Terzuola or Ferrum knife, you own a WE knife still). I don't remember the last knife at Spyderco made by either Sal or Erik. Benchmade has been using Butch and Ball for all their flippers. Brous is making blades overseas now, copying himself. Emerson let Kershaw do their thing with cqc everything. Chaves and Pena going through Reate, I would love I mean fricking love a Chaves, but not a copied scaled down version. Protech is going through Boker. Strider made by Protech. Vox made by Ace. So many more, why keep going, I know it's nothing new, it just seems to be ridiculously accelerating.

So you have a designer, manufacturer, and producer all who are different now. I don't know, I kind liked it where everything was done in house, and not pieced out. I think it devalues the work that went into building a great name at the expense of everyone making that dough.
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Sal (Spyderco) released a Bowie knife abt 2 to 3 months ago that he designed.
 
Some knife makers have made their entire careers though collaboration.
Anybody seen an Ethan Becker custom knife? BK&T was part of Blackjack, Camillus, Kabar. And he's knife community royalty.
Would Ken Onion be a household name without his early colabs with Kershaw?

Point is, it's good for designers, good for manufacturers, and good for consumers because it brings us these awesome knives, at prices we can afford. Win/Win/Win.
 
BladeScout said:
You are entitled to your opinon of course + to each his/her own and all that.

How ever, collabs brings interesting designs within the reach of the average Joe.

There are several Southard knives, which I like. Some wouldnt put their mitts on a knife from the mind of for example Southard had it not been for the Spyderco collab.

I got one and its an awesome collab IMO.

Same goes for Farid Mehr etc etc.

As you say, the list goes on and on. Thats a good thing.

Further more, Ill turn your post upside down and claim, that the collabs might actually open the eyes of some customers to the work of high end and/or custom makers.

A gateway drug to high end knives, if you will.

Im all for the collabs.

Now for ZT to make a collab with Sinkevich for this one:

o7Q2Ca5.png
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I would love to get my hands on one of these, but it is too pricey. This is why I agree with your post.

I am curious if ZT is watching the 462 to see how it moves prior to making any headway with this. They both seem to be built as designated daily slicers. This knife is based in a butchers knife but built with edc in mind.
 
Yo Mama said:
Yeah I remember making fun of that. A Bowie knife really?
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They released or will release another Bowie in 4V, which I hear is a great steel. I'm tapped out at the moment though so it's a no go for me. If they are still around in a few months maybe...
 
I can honestly say I don't understand your position. A lot of the knives I'm looking forward to are collaborations, some of which I couldn't afford if they were customs, others that simply wouldn't exist.

As for in-house designs I don't think those are going away any time soon, and there are plenty of those I like, too.

Heck, the first WE knife I've really been interested in is the Double Helix and I think that's an in-house design. And the Respect, Caribbean, Shaman, Police 4, Mantra 3, Autonomy 2 are all in-house Spyderco designs as far as I know.
 
Insipid Moniker said:
I can honestly say I don't understand your position. A lot of the knives I'm looking forward to are collaborations, some of which I couldn't afford if they were customs, others that simply wouldn't exist.

As for in-house designs I don't think those are going away any time soon, and there are plenty of those I like, too.

Heck, the first WE knife I've really been interested in is the Double Helix and I think that's an in-house design. And the Respect, Caribbean, Shaman, Police 4, Mantra 3, Autonomy 2 are all in-house Spyderco designs as far as I know.
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Precisely. 1) Spyderco has been doing it forever, 2) it provides and "entry point" for a maker that he might not have. Might get a person to move up to one of his customs.

You want a Terzuola or a Chaves? Buy one. Too expensive like you said? Sell some stuff, get a second job, I dunno.

It sounds like you want custom quality at a WE price. Can't have it.
 
I don't understand this "complaint" at all. Suits me just fine to have quality production versions of knives designed by lots of different people.
 
Think collaborations are awesome! it's a great way you can enjoy a knife you normally couldn't afford or wait 2-4 years on someone's books.
You have the designers blessing for somebody else to make the knife, it's not like your buying a clone or a fake.
I own a Begg steelcraft glimpse made by WE knives, I could never afford a custom Begg or feel comfortable carrying daily.
I do believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that Todd checks the knives from WE before there shipped out to dealers.
 
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