Fading popularity of traditional knives

I could say " You can't teach an Old Dog new tricks " , but in my case that is not an issue . I have always been willing to learn new things but I just never did like the feel of the newer knives . IMO cold steel vs warm bone or Stag or wood is a no contest at all . I do not need to have a knife clipped into my pocket to show people that I am carry'n . My friends know that I do . Strangers do not need to know that I am . I have Gifted , or offered , every male , and some female , members of my extended family a traditional knife so that they are at least exposed to and familiar with them . They can then make an informed opinion .

Harry
 
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It seems to me that the popularity of traditional knives has faded somewhat. Several traditional knifemakers have gone out of business (Schrade, Queen), and others are now making many modern "tactical" knives in addition to traditionals (e.g., Buck). Even Case is now slapping pocket clips onto traditionals, and they're coming out with one-handers too. Most people under 40 that carry knives carry moderns only. I think my children only buy moderns. So I think traditionals have become somewhat of a niche market. But it is encouraging to see some young people posting on the traditional forum.
On the other hand, I am looking forward to receiving the 2018 forum knife with modern steel!
 
To the op’s thoughts, I have seen a plethora of folks switching to traditional knives, that have been buying and collecting moderns for the past 5 years. YouTube tells all! Guys are calling themselves traditional collectors now, who were nothing but modern collectors before. Now they’re calling themselves authorities on traditional knives! It’s pretty funny, every time they open a box, they’re mostly using a modern. This tells me everything I need to know! If you’re showing a Spyderco or the like, to open your mail, you’re NOT traditional!
 
Traditionals are definitely making more of a resurgence, but I do feel they're still currently a niche thing.

I can come up with many things such as asthetics why I've mostly left modern folders behind, but I've thought about this and realized that what it boils down to is the same reason why I love carbon steel so much.

It's because modern folders with stainless steel blades were all that was available at the places I bought knives as a kid / teenager, it's like I had been stuck with modern folders and stainless steel for so long that now I want all the traditionals and carobon steel I can get.
 
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I am not situated somewhere between two extremes or recognized categories.

I am only on one extreme or the other. So I carry a traditional or an Emerson knife (with the wave). No middle ground. It is either a traditional (which i carry in the USA). Or a all out self defense folder. Here is my reason why..I travel to Brazil a lot and when i stay in Brazil it is an Emerson knife because of it being a dangerous place and I want a knife to open (the wave feature) immediatly when drawn out of the pocket. Don't need that in the USA.


All those other knives are kinda lost between the 2 different folders. I see no use for a ZT, Hinderers, strider or super futuristic WE knives etc. It is either ALL OUT self defense folder (Emerson) or a traditional. No inbetween for myself.
 
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It is really hard to make a claim when each of us has such a small sample size, relatively, to consider. In my daily life, I hardly know anyone else that carries a traditional knife. Most folks look at it like some kind of relic from the past and it doesn't fit into the paradigm of modern society...which is to improve things at an exponential rate (think Moore's law or smartphones) and make things as convenient as possible (think WALL-E). Why would a younger person want to deal with a knife that can rust and needs to be opened with two hands? The only reason would be if they had some sense of tradition instilled in them or their peers used them which made them "cool".
I am totally ok with traditionals not being wildly popular or mass produced in vast quanities.
 
I wouldn't use any of BHQ's marketing as a definitive measure of popularity of traditional knives. First of all, every knife retailer out there has their own business plan, and their own marketing approach. As dealers, I would imagine they have different profit margins by brand as well. Taken as a whole, if you take a look at their website, and their YouTube marketing as a whole, BHQ clearly puts more emphasis on the modern knife market. I would suggest that the BHQ video you refer to where the employees are showing their knives may not be 100% honest. It's a marketing video, and I would not be one bit surprised if what they were carrying was scripted. Even if that's not the case, I still feel like as a company, they put more emphasis into marketing to the modern knife market.
 
JohnDF said:
I think you make a valid point. The brick and mortar stores, and big online retailers, have way, way, way more modern knives to choose from. The stores around here have display case after display case full of modern knives. Then there are usually a few traditional knives hiding in back, usually Case or Buck brands.
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You see Case? Well, that's cool. :thumbsup: Here, I usually see Schrade, Ozark Trail, Chinese Bucks, modern Bucks, and a Buck 110.

I like Trads because they are better. Slicey, no pocket clip to catch on stuff, easy to sharpen... better knives. I love the gestalt as well. And related to that, you get to use them more. If you take out a little traditional, just about anywhere, no one blinks because of the homey feel. Therefore I get to use my knife in more places more often.

I do often carry a modern while working.
 
CVamberbonehead said:
So what are your thoughts on this subject? Are traditional knives dying out in our modern world?
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Not with me !
I have recently got very interested in yet ANOTHER traditional; the Slimline Trapper and have been EDCing one or the other of these two for about three weeks now.
:thumbsup:
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I must say it drives me insane that I can't not only get it with some seriously hardened version of the stock alloy (I will take chips in the edge over rolled edges ANY DAY ! ! !) but that I can't even get one of these or both black handled models with at least freakin' plain carbon.
This is where I took a fire axe to this post and cut out my novella long rant on how I can't understand why I can't get these exact knives in M4 (or one of the other serious tool steels) . . . .
. . . . . .
. . . .
So I have little sympathy if their sales drop off.
I mean is it a price thing ?
Here we have people paying $600 . . .$1000 . . . $1600 (and that's mid priced for a knife) . . .
And I can't pay $140 and get a traditional with some STEEL in it. o_O:confused:o_O:confused:o_O
:(
Oh well . . . I just chant :
I LIKE touching up every day,
I LIKE touching up every day
I LIKE touching up every day,
I LIKE touching up every day
I LIKE touching up every day,
I LIKE touching up every day.

. . . well that didn't work

What's the hold up kiddies ? ? ? ?
 
I grew up on a farm carrying slip joints, after 20 + years I bought a modern liner lock with a thumbstud around '96 it was a small custom knife with no pocket clip so it carried easy, about 3 years later I bought a production tactical knife, it was thin but first thing I did was remove the pocket clip and tossed it in the trash. Aluminum frame and thin so it carried well for the next 8 or 9 years. Then I received a benchmade 940 reverse tanto for Christmas, first super steel I had owned. S30V, good stuff, I left the clip on and a year or so later realized it was eating the top of my jeans pocket. So after a couple of years I moved into some custom flippers, big knives that continued to maul my pockets. One day about 3 years ago I decided I needed something smaller and lighter so I bought a reasonably priced custom slip joint in carbon steel. By this time custom flippers from the well known makers were bringing crazy high prices and I lost interest. I kept one big flipper just to carry around when I'm out doing chores around the house and need a one hander but I still have a slip joint or two at all times. Much more affordable and practical knives. Around here you can hang a Bowie on your belt and not get many wtf looks but it's just not practical for me to carry big knives on a daily basis. I have developed a fondness lately for the old case tested folding hunters, I'll slip one on my belt on weekends along with a couple of pocket size slip joints in my pockets, not that I need all of them but it's fun to have em handy to admire at will. I've found the folding hunter cuts cardboard like hot butter:thumbsup:
 
JohnDF said:
That might be "mid-priced" for you and a few others, but not for me. Lol
I'm sure for that price you could find somebody to make you a Slim Trapper in your choice of steel.
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No I'm not buying knives at the high end . . . I'm just saying it is a fact . . . and yet here we are wit' nut'in on the low end.
I'm sure for that price you could find somebody to make you a Slim Trapper in your choice of steel.
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Heck I could buy a Spyderco Military and cut a traditional blade shape out of it and make the knife myself (don't think I haven't thought about it ).
But what I am saying is I shouldn't have to.

And besides I am tired of making knives out of knife shaped objects. Two examples:
Cold Steel Pendleton Hunter in 3V I ground from 5mm at spine to 2.2mm
Cold Steel Ti Lite IV ground full flat to 1.9mm (I've done more than one of those)
I would post pics but that sets off so many alarms around this part of the forum and then the SWAT Team shows up and it gets all ugly . . . oh the carnage.

Nope . . . I'm going to sit right here and hold my breath until I pass out or get a factory made Traditional . . . specifically a full size single blade clip point Trapper . . . in M4.
and I mean it.
 
It's all marketing.

Brilliant marketing at that. I watched the whole one hand wonder tactical knife thing happen in the late 80's. The highly hyped Cold Steel products, the Gerber LST that pioneered cheap speedy injection molding handles, and the use of screws to make the knives easier and faster to assembly by semi trained members of the ape family. The modern knife is designed for speed and low cost of manufacture. This results in a bigger profit margin. Buck made a killing in the 60's and 70's with the sales of a single blade knife with cast brass bolsters that was very distinctive looking knife.

Add in another thing called paid product placement. In movies, you can pay to have your product put in a prominent spot to be used in the movie. Manufacturers noticed this back in the 1970's when gun shops couldn't keep a S&W model 29 in stock. Every swinging Richard and his brother wanted a "Dirty Harry" gun, so you went to gun shop and put your name on a waiting list. This is done with knives as well. The more zowie looking blade the better its shows up in a horror/action movie.

Knife manufactures have sold an image, just like the gun makers and other label stuff. It's become vogue to go about your life in 21st century suburbia with more knife than your granddaddy used on the farm in the old days, when men worked more with their hands than any ten office cubicle personal. It's all about the fantasy factor of 97% now, and much less about the real world cutting jobs you may encounter in your average day. Unless you're a Nay SEAL or action movie hero.

I actually had a Spyderco delica for a few months. Someone misguided gave it to me so I used it. I ended up giving it away and dropping my old Buck stockman back in my pocket. Aside from being very limited by just one blade, the blade was very often to big/wide for a small cutting job that needed a bit of finesse. The pocket clip got in the way and sometimes caught on the seat belt and I'd find the knife still in my truck clipped to the seat belt.

I view the modern one hand knife as a solution to a non existent problem. It's a wonderful job of marketing to sell a product that is different for the sake of being different in what was in the 1980's a failing cutlery market. In the final third of the 20th century, more and more people were not even carrying a knife at all, and sales were plummeting. Schrade, Camillus and other were trying to figure how to survive in an office cubicle world when Lynn Thompson burst on the field with his "Tanto". Sales took off for Cold Steel and the image they were selling, and they all took notice. Now knife sales shifted to the weapon view and images of enemy sentries being stilled and other movie commando stuff. It was the Dirty Harry effect, and it sold lots of knives. Then Rambo movies themselves sold tons of hollow handle "survival" knives. Tom Cruise uses a Criss Reeve knife and everyone takes notice. Heck, there's even a cult that watches every NCIS episode to see what kind of knife Mark Harmon's character comes up with.

Never under estimate how well hype, smoke and mirrors can sell anything.

But I see that the Tractor Supply and some hardware stores still have a Case display, and Victorinox is still bigger than the top three tactical wonder knife makers combined. Must still be some people around buying a knife as an every day mundane cutting tool, Chinese paratroopers be dammed.
 
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davek14 said:
I think use of slip joints might have dropped to a certain level and could just stay near that level indefinitely.

As to moderns' popularity, I wonder how much is due to what's available. I haven't seen a lot of decent slip joints at the big box stores.
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This may not be a popular thing to say but maybe they're not available because they're not popular aka not selling. If they were selling the big box stores would have them.
Any traditional resurgence is only on this forum and mostly among the collectors. The only sales surge I see is Rough Rider and those aren't traditional. IMHO

I saw a post on AAPK in chart form, I didn't think much about it until I broke down the numbers a bit. 89% of the traditional users were over the age of 40. Of those 53% were over the age of 60. Of the remaining 11% only 3% were under 29. That doesn't leave a lot of new users flocking to traditional knives.

I started with a Case Stockman and carried stockmans up until about 15 years ago but it wasn't because it had 3 different blades. It was because it had 3 blades, the lesson learned from that Case was CV wouldn't stay sharp long and Buck wasn't much better. Old Timer and Camillus 1095 held an edge better but could rust or patina. To me patina on a knife meant someone was to lazy to take care of it. The best solution I found was 1095 as a working blade, and a Buck 303 as a back up or clean knife.

My solution now is a modern traditional like the Lionsteel Shuffler in the RFP and a modern in a sheath. I don't carry saber ground bricks like most moderns, the moderns I carry slice and cut as good or better than the GEC #43 Oregon. They have a closed length of 3 7/8 to 4 1/4, hold their edge several times longer and don't rust. Most of them are even lighter than the #43. I still open two handed or quietly roll it open.

Young people getting into knives these days have a choice, they don't have to put up with low grade steels and patina. There's a good chance there dad didn't carry a traditional and just as likely he didn't carry a knife. So why should they buy a traditional, there's no tradition there. In 1960 there was but not in 2018.

I'll date myself here but Pocket knives have gone from mainstream available in every hardware to just a niche market. Traditional knife companies had a chance to change and update but they didn't and the result is almost all of them are gone now.
What I'm seeing now are modern makers dipping their toes in to what you could call a modern traditional. Maybe that's the new future.
 
Wowbagger said:
Nope . . . I'm going to sit right here and hold my breath until I pass out or get a factory made Traditional . . . specifically a full size single blade clip point Trapper . . . in M4.
and I mean it.
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Nothing wrong with M4, but I suppose You know the difference between waterjet cutting of the blanks and blanketing.
Factory made traditionals are using blanketing machinery and the modern supersteels demands waterjet cutting.
This is the main reason why we seldom see factory made traditionals in supersteels.
There are exceptions like the Queen made Northwoods Indian River Jack, but that one was made in CPM 154 and this is not what You ask for.

So I guess You will either have to make the Trapper Yourself or go the custom route.

Regards
Mikael
 
jackknife said:
But I see that the Tractor Supply and some hardware stores still have a case display, and Victorinox is still bigger than the top three tactical wonder knife makers combined. Must still be some people around buying a knife as an every day mundane cutting tool
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I was blown away a couple of years ago to see that my favorite climbing / backpacking shop no longer had their case of Victorinox.
I mean WHAT ? ? ? ?
I don't know man . . . I just don't know. :(
 
Mikael W said:
Nothing wrong with M4, but I suppose You know the difference between waterjet cutting of the blanks and blanketing.
Factory made traditionals are using blanketing machinery and the modern supersteels demands waterjet cutting.
This is the main reason why we seldom see factory made traditionals in supersteels.
There are exceptions like the Queen made Northwoods Indian River Jack, but that one was made in CPM 154 and this is not what You ask for.

So I guess You will either have to make the Trapper Yourself or go the custom route.

Regards
Mikael
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Thanks for the reply.
Questions that pop into my mind are :
Spyderco and other knife makers get it to happen (cut it with their water jet or get it cut).
and
I bet there are dudes out there with water jet cutters just looking for more contracts.

Victorinox is still bigger than the top three tactical wonder knife makers combined.
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So there it is . . . it is up to Victorinox (Wenger ?) to buy a water jet cutter.
Heck . . . they'er not all that expensive come to think about it . . . I was thinking you meant underwater plasma cutter.

So I say again : What's the hold up kiddies ? ? ? ?
 
Wowbagger said:
Thanks for the reply.
Questions that pop into my mind are :
Spyderco and other knife makers get it to happen (cut it with their water jet or get it cut).
and
I bet there are dudes out there with water jet cutters just looking for more contracts.



So there it is . . . it is up to Victorinox (Wenger ?) to buy a water jet cutter.
Heck . . . they'er not all that expensive come to think about it . . . I was thinking you meant underwater plasma cutter.

So I say again : What's the hold up kiddies ? ? ? ?
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We like it the traditional way! :)

Regards
Mikael
 
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