Curious, why bother with a cutting test with *insert brand name knife here*?

Duane Sanders said:
The people who make real money with guitars get paid to use brand Xs guitar. The player don't care, they're getting paid to smile and pose for the cameras with them. What you don't see is when they get home they rip out the insides and outsides and make them the guitar they want.

People who make a living that relies on a knife as a tool can't buy a knife and find one with the perfect blade, geometry, handle and so on. Only to know that the steel it comes in is very reliable at chipping rapidly. That knife user might need that knife to shave burs from copper, aluminum, PVC and other materials for last second fit and finish of pipes or conduit.

They aren't going to be able to easily make or buy a blade in the right steel then slap it on after the purchase. Where as the collector would be perfectly fine with highly polished 3cr13mov as much as they would S30V if all they do is slice paper and look at them. I think that's more what the OP is getting at.
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I partially agree. A function or aspect of a knife may be great for a collector but not a user and vice versa. There are places where both meet and generally those are the knives that become highly sought after. They're low cost enough for users to use and they're special enough for most collectors to like. The design and materials are spot on for both. Problems come when a collector/hobbyist demands that an only modestly decent design is the greatest and users come in saying it's not. And when users demand that certain things are the greatest without really trying anything better.

Look for the knives where both hobbyists and users meet and you'll likely have a really great knife.

And your first paragraph is absolutely true. The guitar may be some big name off the shelf body but the insides are completely redone by professionals. Just like a specific knife shape may be pretty good but when a professional takes quality steel and makes that shape himself, the performance will drastically improve over the same knife shape produced in bulk.

You may like buck but if you were to compare it to guitars, it's essentially a chinese made fender. Sure, it'll make sounds similar to a guitar, but you won't ever see the performance level of a guitar made by Les Paul. There's obviously at least some level of quality or people wouldn't keep buying them. There's no way Paul Bos heat treated the blade, though, just like Les Paul didn't make a Gibson. He had some say and that say was compromised in the name of getting as many knives/guitars in the hands of customers as possible.
 
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Duane Sanders said:
Maybe not here, but I bet you do have an idea of how many SMKW "fantasy" blades people collect are. One side thinks, who collects $50.00 plus knives, then there is the collectors who think S30V is a low end steel.

No one is right and no one is wrong but there are more "collectors" of SMKW blades than there is of what is considered a collecting knife here. It's just the tunnel vision members here get. They think only high end premiums steel knives costing multiple hundreds to multiple thousands of dollars are collecting knives. The SMKW collectors have a completely different view and as tough as it may be to accept, them cheap blades slice paper as vigorously as the premium models that get collected. The point I believe the OP was making.
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Fair enough. But don't leave out the high end premiums as knives that are highly collected. They are. In fact, I could name entire companies that would probably go out of business or have to cut back their production drastically if they weren't.
 
bodog said:
I partially agree. A function or aspect of a knife may be great for a collector but not a user and vice versa. There are places where both meet and generally those are the knives that become highly sought after. They're low cost enough for users to use and they're special enough for most collectors to like. The design and materials are spot on for both. Problems come when a collector/hobbyist demands that an only modestly decent design is the greatest and users come in saying it's not. And when users demand that certain things are the greatest without really trying anything better.

Look for the knives where both hobbyists and users meet and you'll likely have a really great knife.

And your first paragraph is absolutely true. The guitar may be some big name off the shelf body but the insides are completely redone by professionals. Just like a specific knife shape may be pretty good but when a professional takes quality steel and makes that shape himself, the performance will drastically improve over the same knife shape produced in bulk.
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My turn to say absolutely! :thumbup: :)
 
Duane Sanders said:
Maybe not here, but I bet you do have an idea of how many SMKW "fantasy" blades people collect are. One side thinks, who collects $50.00 plus knives, then there is the collectors who think S30V is a low end steel.

No one is right and no one is wrong but there are more "collectors" of SMKW blades than there is of what is considered a collecting knife here. It's just the tunnel vision members here get. They think only high end premiums steel knives costing multiple hundreds to multiple thousands of dollars are collecting knives. The SMKW collectors have a completely different view and as tough as it may be to accept, them cheap blades slice paper as vigorously as the premium models that get collected. The point I believe the OP was making.
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There is no doubt that your second paragraph is true. The BF collecting community is a very small community in the grand scheme of things. In fact, if you take all the knife forums and put them all together, I would bet it does not come close to how many knife collectors the video gaming industry creates.
 
Cobalt said:
There is no doubt that your second paragraph is true. The BF collecting community is a very small community in the grand scheme of things. In fact, if you take all the knife forums and put them all together, I would bet it does not come close to how many knife collectors the video gaming industry creates.
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I would bet the collectors in these forums are much more knowledgable than collectors video games generate.
 
That's true. And for the latter I think the 3Cr argument Duane posited holds up. I mean somebody's buying all those knives from Cutlery Corner. :rolleyes: ;)
 
bld522 said:
That's true. And for the latter I think the 3Cr argument Duane posited holds up. I mean somebody's buying all those knives from Cutlery Corner. :rolleyes: ;)
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Very large world outside of the knife forums etc...

That doesn't really mean that what most of them buy is really higher quality or even better in anyway, it's just what most people seem to buy for a variety of reasons.

Same reason why people shop at Wal Mart and dollar stores etc.

Dunno about most people but from what I have personally seen most of the popular kitchen knives I have seen and used over the years have pathetic edge retention compared to the Customs that I normally use in the kitchen in steels like S35VN, S90V, S110V, CPM 154. I am talking about knives that are thin and would actually cut very well in the kitchen with comparable geometry to kitchen knives.
 
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The only thing I can't figure out is where all those Cutlery Corner knives go. They've been on the air forever and they seem to sell more knives than there are jars to put them in, if you know what I mean. ;)
 
bld522 said:
The only thing I can't figure out is where all those Cutlery Corner knives go. They've been on the air forever and they seem to sell more knives than there are jars to put them in, if you know what I mean. ;)
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Well there are over 7 Billion people in the world, they are all buying something...
 
bld522 said:
The only thing I can't figure out is where all those Cutlery Corner knives go. They've been on the air forever and they seem to sell more knives than there are jars to put them in, if you know what I mean. ;)
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For real, how are they still in business? I don't believe at all that anyone actually buys the crap. And I definitely don't believe they make enough to buy airtime on at least one station in every locality across the country. Maybe Duane buys them all?

Just playing Duane...
 
Yeah. I suppose. And then they have the good fortune of selling products that probably don't last very long . . . sort of like toilet paper. So I assume their repeat business is very high.
 
bld522 said:
Yeah. I suppose. And then they have the good fortune of selling products that probably don't last very long . . . sort of like toilet paper. So I assume their repeat business is very high.
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Anything that is cheap will sell, that is a proven fact.

And that is why so much garbage sells.
 
Actual knife tests are notoriously unpopular around here. A pretty serious downside to the forum. I've maintained for a long time that BF is more about knife nuts signaling to other knife nuts as a social function, than actual knives. In that context, any knife testing that doesn't reinforce the dominating opinion is at risk of upending that social function.
 
shecky said:
Actual knife tests are notoriously unpopular around here. A pretty serious downside to the forum. I've maintained for a long time that BF is more about knife nuts signaling to other knife nuts as a social function, than actual knives. In that context, any knife testing that doesn't reinforce the dominating opinion is at risk of upending that social function.
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Yeah could think of a few threads I could start right now, today backed up with real testing that would blow up General in a real big hurry.... :D

But I won't..... Not really worth the trouble it would cause...
 
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shecky said:
Actual knife tests are notoriously unpopular around here. A pretty serious downside to the forum. I've maintained for a long time that BF is more about knife nuts signaling to other knife nuts as a social function, than actual knives. In that context, any knife testing that doesn't reinforce the dominating opinion is at risk of upending that social function.
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I'd think that on a knife forum the testing and review subsection would be the busiest.
 
Ankerson said:
Yeah could think of a few threads I could start right now, today backed up with real testing that would blow up General in a real big hurry.... :D

But I won't..... Not really worth the trouble it would cause...
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Please, do it. Good bad or ugly
 
bodog said:
Please, do it. Good bad or ugly
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I know better by now and tend to stay far away from it...... Far away.....

Buy yeah I actually do have the data, photos etc to actually make the threads, but it would be too ugly to even post in general.

A lot of people don't generally like reality when it goes against what they want to believe for various reasons.
 
Well, yes and no.

CATRA TCC is a cutting test. Cutting tons of cardboard is a cutting test. Presumably it measures the properties of the steel, as well as the grind, blade geometry, and sharpness. Those matter.

But it doesn't tell you anything about durability, build quality, ergonomics, and so on.
 
sparky2016 said:
Well, yes and no.

CATRA TCC is a cutting test. Cutting tons of cardboard is a cutting test. Presumably it measures the properties of the steel, as well as the grind, blade geometry, and sharpness. Those matter.

But it doesn't tell you anything about durability, build quality, ergonomics, and so on.
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Cutting cardboard and or rope for the better part of two days straight (8-12 hours a day) can tell one a lot......
 
Well I can think of one or two popular makers that might not fare very well, but I agree it's probably best not to blow up General! ;)
 
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