Evolution of US Knife Makers

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Dunnie19

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Sep 1, 2024
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It’s interesting to see the evolution of US Steel makers. The long time American Made knife makers of Chris Reeve & Hinderer to the newer US standards of Koenig and OZ. I can appreciate that Koenig outsources their designs to a large extent but they make a great knife. And OZ Machine is just crushing it with their Rosie.

It will be interesting to see how Koenig and Oz evolve as they grow and potentially come out with new products. I will admit I over paid for the Rosie by a few hefty bar tabs but dam…… it’s kinda amazing.

https://imgur.com/a/XLT4kOy

I don’t know if this Imgur links works……BF didn’t seem to let me just insert a photo
 
Tsujigiri said:
Are you talking about knife makers or steel makers? Also I wouldn't consider that to be an evolution at all, just different products meant to satisfy different desires. There are still a lot of people who've tried them all and still prefer Chris Reeve or Hinderer.
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Knife makers I guess….. more of time evolution I suppose….
 
Dunnie19 said:
It’s interesting to see the evolution of US Steel makers. The long time American Made knife makers of Chris Reeve & Hinderer to the newer US standards of Koenig and OZ. I can appreciate that Koenig outsources their designs to a large extent but they make a great knife. And OZ Machine is just crushing it with their Rosie.

It will be interesting to see how Koenig and Oz evolve as they grow and potentially come out with new products. I will admit I over paid for the Rosie by a few hefty bar tabs but dam…… it’s kinda amazing.

https://imgur.com/a/XLT4kOy

I don’t know if this Imgur links works……BF didn’t seem to let me just insert a photo
Click to expand...
Pay for a basic membership. It's not much money and you can actually post pictures and not deal with ads and private message as well. Definitely worth the money plus you support this awesome page.
 
Lol I already know brother 🤣 it's worth it just not having to deal with the darn advertisements
 
I think it's still TBD whether Oz is a one-hit wonder, not that there's anything wrong with that. The Rosie is a great knife overall and it's great that they're still cranking them out since the demand seemingly hasn't waivered. Personally I'm a bit disappointed that the only other things they've done are pens, prybars, and an XL version that looks like they just took the Rosie CAD model and scaled it up 125%. With the beautiful execution of the OG Rosie and variety of configurations available, I have been and continue hoping that Daniel has another excellent design in his brain somewhere that the world may one day see. If the next thing we see from them is the Rosie Mini, the exact same knife scaled down to 80% I'll probably give up hope on that front.

On the other hand I don't necessarily love the Craig Brown "collectible" model of only making so many of a given model before it's gone for good, but I do understand he's a one man shop and making the same parts day after day and year after year would get boring...I think Holt gets this right by doing runs of their previous models from time to time and I wish more makers would do it. If Oz ever does come out with a new design I hope that it doesn't stop Rosie production for good.

I have never owned a Koenig but I haven't quite determined how I feel about the model of being a boutique knife manufacturer with no in-house designs. Ironically I do think they got it right with the Mini Arius because the original always seemed too large for me and is a big part of why I never tried one. The mini has tempted me many times.
 
IMO, the evolution hasn't been as much from CRK and Hinderer to any particular manufacturer, but to very small, boutique makers that are hovering in the mid-tech space. OZ, Tactile, Vero Engineering, TRM, EMP EDC and other, similar companies, some of which use US OEM to produce small batches of very high end folders.

Heck, one of the cooler small manufacturers is Dead Reckon knives that pumps out integral button lock knives made in Grove City, OH fairly close to where I live. I need to pick up a Ridgeback, as it's a very cool knife that's an absolutely steal for an US produced integral.

But many of these tiny manufacturers are only one or two person operations and frequently only offer a single model of knife with some variations in material or size. They're highly niche and seem to have embraced the ethos of doing one thing exceptionally well much more than more traditional, larger manufacturers and I think enthusiasts like us respond really well to that.
 
Going from a Ti handled framelock folder to a more expensive Ti handled framelock isn't evolution.

The Reeve frame lock was an evolution of the liner lock. Almost a leap vs. an evolution. Refining the frame lock isn't evolution.
 
Danke42 said:
Going from a Ti handled framelock folder to a more expensive Ti handled framelock isn't evolution.

The Reeve frame lock was an evolution of the liner lock. Almost a leap vs. an evolution. Refining the frame lock isn't evolution.
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Micro vs macro evolution 😁
 
The OZ and Koenig pivots appear more on the thin side (3/16"?). Just because they are more expensive, it's not an evolution, and not a new standard, either.

Good to have more choice though, of course.
 
Ilikesharpstuff said:
I think it's still TBD whether Oz is a one-hit wonder, not that there's anything wrong with that. The Rosie is a great knife overall and it's great that they're still cranking them out since the demand seemingly hasn't waivered. Personally I'm a bit disappointed that the only other things they've done are pens, prybars, and an XL version that looks like they just took the Rosie CAD model and scaled it up 125%. With the beautiful execution of the OG Rosie and variety of configurations available, I have been and continue hoping that Daniel has another excellent design in his brain somewhere that the world may one day see. If the next thing we see from them is the Rosie Mini, the exact same knife scaled down to 80% I'll probably give up hope on that front.

On the other hand I don't necessarily love the Craig Brown "collectible" model of only making so many of a given model before it's gone for good, but I do understand he's a one man shop and making the same parts day after day and year after year would get boring...I think Holt gets this right by doing runs of their previous models from time to time and I wish more makers would do it. If Oz ever does come out with a new design I hope that it doesn't stop Rosie production for good.

I have never owned a Koenig but I haven't quite determined how I feel about the model of being a boutique knife manufacturer with no in-house designs. Ironically I do think they got it right with the Mini Arius because the original always seemed too large for me and is a big part of why I never tried one. The mini has tempted me many times.
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The Koenig model is interesting to me and I wonder if it will become more wide spread. Outsourcing the design and focusing solely on high end manufacturing / execution. Although from a business model POV I suspect their profit margins are not as high as they would be if they had in house designs. I would guess the designer is getting a percentage of each knife sold.

Chris Reeve has been cranking out the Sebenza since 1989? There is still demand for them, they have certainly made improvements and updates over the years. He has had a fair number of other designs in the last 30 years too……Umfaan, tri-lock and a bunch of once piece knives. personally I find the inkosi to be a better knife for my tastes.

But there is no shortage of designers and makers out there right now. I really need to broaden my collection to be more inclusive of a larger variety of makers
 
OMG I should have said the liner lock to the frame lock wasn't an evolution but a revolution. Can't believe I missed that.
 
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