Does anyone keep their Sprints?

I like what they did with the Orange Military. Just extend production. Sometimes that might not be viable, so they could simply announce a super knife, take orders WITH PAYMENT up front, and after the order period is over build and ship the knives. I recall back in the early 90s speculators went nuts with comic books. No need to repeat history.
 
I thought they were doing that with the brown?

shunsui said:
I like what they did with the Orange Military. Just extend production. Sometimes that might not be viable, so they could simply announce a super knife, take orders WITH PAYMENT up front, and after the order period is over build and ship the knives. I recall back in the early 90s speculators went nuts with comic books. No need to repeat history.
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Good to know, well I know they are doing a second run with the brown also, I noticed it on one of the websites.
 
FYI, from BHQ:


Cam said:
Sorry for the confusion guys, this is our fault because our listing wasn't as clear as it could have been. This is the second batch of what is still the first run of this knife.
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EZ Bake said:
My personal opinion is that it doesn't feel right to see it done on this particular site. By all means, people are free to do what they want to with their money and knives, but this is a community of sorts and some of the same people who buy up Sprints in order to make a profit off of this community are the same folks who found out about those Sprint Runs from this board. Also, some of those same folks are the first ones to ask questions if they need something from this site.

Just sort of feels like $#!++ing where you eat to some degree. Not that I'm accusing anyone of doing that, but I've seen a few members who post a question about an issue they're having and 10+ folks chime in to give them all the help they need (for free). Then I see that same person post an inflated-priced Sprint run in the Exchange shortly after (and do it again, and again, and again...).

Don't get me wrong, I'm OK with the market changing and selling an item for a higher amount to adjust for the market, but when you attempt to drive the market by purposely inflating a price (and buying multiples of a knife based on a pre-order that you found out about from this site... and don't contribute to the community as a whole), then it's definitely not the same thing. As far as I'm concerned, go do that on eBay or some other site that you don't depend on for news, info, and support of your knife habit.

Like I said, you're free to do what you want and there's no rules against doing it, but I wouldn't personally do it.
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The only Sprint that I really regret not getting in on was the Grey Para2. It appears to be gone for good as folks aren't letting loose of them very often, and when they do someone grabs them quickly.
 
I prefer to hold onto all of my knives, but with slow work and not much funds earlier this year, I've had to sell them off to continue paying bills. I've held onto a few sprints (actually just own two right now), but I've sold/traded off most of my knives. Say what you would like about me, but this is a hobby that takes the back seat compared to paying for school and living on my own and if I have to sell some sprints, so be it. If I really liked the knife, I'll buy it back at what the secondary market is selling them at. It's the nature of the beast.
 
Honestly guys, when I see a G10/Ti M4 Military go for $375 on ebay like one just did, its mighty hard for me not to unload mine at that price. In fact, I probably will turn it into cash someday.
 
I only have a few sprints: D2 para, orange para2, orange manix 2 (i believe was a sprint), not sure if the cf michael walker is considered a sprint. (both paras being top 5 favorites that i own)

i do not plan on selling any of them. Although, as I have said a few other times before, I do wish i would have bought a 2nd orange para2 to sell and fund the purchase of the green para2 that is coming out later this year. but alas i only got one orange and missed out on the green completely.
 
I'm questioning if I need another hard use knife LOL. I have the GB, a bark river on order in CPM-M4, and the green sprint on order. I might keep the green only because there are lots of knives in M390 but as far as I can tell this will be the only offering so far in CTS-204p. Which I understand is pretty much M390 but still its going to be a unique knife for a while unless lots of makers can get their hands on some of this carpenter steel.
 
Same thing for Busse, Emerson, Hinderer, etc. I don't understand the dynamic - the brands are still current, the steels are still available, most of the models are constantly on the market. For the full customs it is easier to see the rarity and uniqueness driving prices, but for the production and mid-techs of manufacturers whose doors are still open, why pay a premium for a limited production run when you can get in on another later. The knives don't become two or three times as useful when the production run sells out, so the inflated prices do not equate to any increased value as tools.

People are mostly paying higher prices so that they can then charge even higher prices later by this irrational demand. Comics as mentioned did this, as did beanie babies, trading cards, etc. The issue is that this has increased the discussion of sprints, the demand for sprints, the availability of sprints, and the availability of the sprint materials. Well, this is only going to hopefully develop into a problem for the speculators. Different color scales are sold through the manufacturers as well as the aftermarket, the number of steel variants is increasing for multiple brands, and the number of distributors and retailers ordering limited runs grows. The number of small production runs is growing to the point where it isn't special to have a 'one of two hundred' labeled knife, since we all are getting a couple dozen opportunities a year to order one from a few manufacturers and a ton of websites. Missed out on an M4, M390, S90V, etc sprint? There will be another model with it. Or, there will be a Carpenter, Bohler, Crucible, Hitachi, etc analog in another sprint. Missed that last PM2 sprint? There will be half a dozen more. Missed that Spyderco sprint? Then get the BM, ZT, or Kershaw sprint.
 
hardheart said:
Missed that last PM2 sprint? There will be half a dozen more. Missed that Spyderco sprint? Then get the BM, ZT, or Kershaw sprint.
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As of right now Spyderco.com is showing 1 upcoming sprint for the PM2 and it sold out long ago. After that one there are none others announced so there may or may not be "half a dozen more" but for sure it won't be anytime soon. I would like to know where to find out about BM, ZT and Kershaw sprints, the only one I've ever heard about on these forums is a single ZT sprint and those are long gone too. For that matter some of the standard ZT production models are extremely difficult to find so people seem to be buying them and flipping them right away. Some people like the sprints that have already been done- M390 seems to be a better steel than most of the other sprints and some people like the orange or blue G10. Now that those have been done there won't likely be any more orange or blue sprints so the only way to get one is to pay the inflated secondary pricing.
 
BM and Kershaw do dealer exclusives, specialty show exclusives, and limited runs in other steels, plus gold class BMs. There are also limited production models that only get one or two runs. As you mentioned ZT has done a sprint already.

What I'm saying is that unless you absolutely have to have a specific blade length in a specific steel with a specific lock, then something else is undoubtedly coming. Paying the premium is only to invest in future speculation or to satisfy a need for instant gratification. M390 is available in regular production knives. A knife like the PM2 is available in black, digi, satin, and coated blades in regular production with S30V blades. Custom makers are able to order small batches of steel from multiple sources. Any color G10, exotic woods, pre-ban ivory, fossilized tusks, giraffe bone, etc. are all over the place and any scales can be put on any knife.

I paid less than a hundred dollars to get a custom maker with an 18 month backlog to churn out a CPM-3V blade for a production knife. It is a one of one special order that in total cost less than most sprint runs from most companies before the secondary market drives prices up. I got the knife I wanted in about 4 months. You can get a Buck 110 in different steels with different handle options whenever you want to order from the Custom Shop. Delica, Endura, and Griptilian scale color options are out there. Cuscadi, Wilkins, Halpern, etc have a steady business of custom scales. Several waterjet/abrasivejet shops will do small orders of custom blades straight to the user, and heat treat services are just as available.

I agree that the rampant speculation is going to an extreme, but I am saying that with so many players it will get sorted. There is no reason for a markup above the cost of any of these other options just to get blue G10 or a particular blade steel. With this knife 'aftermarket' of more than just sprints, the drive to speculate should hopefully peter out. The funny thing is that these one-off customized knives don't have the secondary market appeal of the exact same spec sheet done in 600 to 1000 pieces of a large sprint. The fact that there are hundreds of other knives exactly the same seems to increase the price, even if the on-off has the same materials and quality. Something like that may help quell the pricing fever if it catches on.
 
Spyderco R Nishijin in my pocket now... yep, I keep 'em :thumbup:
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woven glass fiber goodness...
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hardheart said:
What I'm saying is that unless you absolutely have to have a specific blade length in a specific steel with a specific lock, then something else is undoubtedly coming.
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I missed out on the S90V Military, but I picked up the M390 version and the Para2 S90V. I don't feel so bad about the S90V Millie anymore. Missed out on the old Busse Satin Jacks but got a Desert Storm Stealth Fighter for a reasonable price. It's a great time to be a knife fan.
 
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