Forum Knife Updates and comments

Will Power said:
Laurelbb Laurelbb Ha Ha! Yes you've a point, it is a bit like having a pet, rewarding but high maintenance literally :D I have dozens of carbon knives and so I must be like the mad old person with 600 cats;)

Unlike cats or dogs, at least carbon pets don't get stricken with diarrhoea :eek::D Not unless you think of Celluloid knives...:D
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Yes, but do Club Members have any say in the knife or does CASE just decide what it will be?
 
jc57 said:
The quandary is caused by the current market in traditional patterns. Too many manufacturers gone forever, or nothing left of them but their names still being stamped on copies of their old patterns made elsewhere.

In the US, pretty much all we have left is Case and GEC, with Buck, being a much more varied producer, still providing some traditional patterns but it is not their main business line.

So to be blunt about it, you've pretty much got GEC as the only maker in the traditional space that is happy to accept SFOs and make knives to customer spec, in the sizes of orders a forum is able to come up with. I was quite pleasantly surprised that Buck would take on the business this year, and that a dealer would agree to handle the orders and everything else at no profit. If people want another Buck semi-custom next year, that might be another option.

I would not count on that lightning to strike twice. We have lost several of our most active member dealers since I joined, so the pool of likely candidates to bring another forum knife to fruition is small.
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There is also Utica but they have a very limited selection, don't really promote their brand much (why nobody knows about them), and I think they tend to make others knives (co-man). I think they make Klein's knives at least and they have a few listed on one of the big knife retailer websites that I don't think is a sponsor/member of BF.
 
Will Power said:
Yes, but do Club Members have any say in the knife or does CASE just decide what it will be?
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It has been a while since I was a member but as I recall we did have some input into it - usually which existing pattern to choose from. The one I ended up with during my time there was a Russlock with the drop point blade (at that time not commonly made) and in a unique bone color and jigging, which was just for the CCC and not used in general release. It turned out really nice, though the huge "Knife Forum" printing on the blade itself was the only detracting feature.

"XXpresso jigged bone" and the bolsters were intricately scrolled and the blades were engraved with individual serial numbers. Mine is #162. Also has "Forum 2013" engraved into the opening lever. It's a quality piece, but obviously intended for collection or display more so than use, with all that bling.

I think it was about $80ish back then - $88 shipped UPS seems to stick in my mind.
 
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Laurelbb said:
Think I’m one of few who prefers stainless, so looking forward to the Buck.
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For all my talk, I do like stainless. I just hate crappy stainless and will take cheap carbon instead any day of the week. I have to say that I really like what Mike is doing with the Euro Barlow and the Vipers. I know that made in the USA is a big deal for many, but I'm getting to the point where I look for a quality product at a fair price and give less weight to country of origin ... I still like to buy US, but it's not a deal breaker.
 
mitch4ging said:
What about these guys?:
"Like a phoenix? CSC is reborn..."

Think they will have the stability and/or capacity to do a forum run?
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Only if they ramp up significantly from their starting point - from the dealer's web site that carries their knives: "With less than 5 master cutlers able to make 5/6 knives daily, Canal Street will be returning Fall of 2018 with a very limited but collectible selection of traditional patterns."

"Less than 5" when talking about human beings = 4 or fewer. So four cutlers making 6 knives a day would take about 3 weeks to make 250 forum knives. I suppose with a paid-up-front order for that many, they might be willing to take on the work. They are selling for significantly north of $100 for what they are making now, and you'd need to find a dealer to front for them willing to work for no profit.

Maybe if they attract more cutlers to their co-op business model, and if you can find a way to negotiate with them directly, you might be able to set something up.
 
From the way it reads currently they are not capable of devoting that much time and resource as most batches are a fraction of what it seems a forum knife batch size would need to be. It is also stated that doing SFO was part of their problem before so something like the forum knife may never be a possibility. It will just depend on how this new CSC works out and grows to say what the future may hold... or I misread things and they will do the 2019 run :p
 
eisman said:
And yet you can buy a Swayback, or a Zulu Spear, or a Mini-Trapper, or a Backpocket, or a Saddlehorn (all knives that came out as collaborations) for well under $100. They just are made in different materials. A certain non BF dealer always has "exclusive" runs that are under 500 pieces. Case makes a lot of small runs, the better to serve those who buy them just like Beany Babies or Hot Wheels in the belief that such things are "collectible" and will have value in excess of what was paid for them.
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There is a huge difference between the Case / Bose annual collaboration and the production case knives that bear the Tony Bose name. it goes far beyond materials. One looks like a regualr every day Case, the other like a true custom and is built completely different.

I could easily see one of the Production Bose branded knives selling below $100 if done as a forum knife but sure it would need the okay of Mr. Bose even if Case was willing to do a special run for the forum.
 
Jsega51 said:
...I can’t wait for mine to show up. These should be pretty nice and I can’t wait to see the elk scales that roll out.
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I'm looking forward to this knife as well as I don't own a Buck slippie unless you call 110's slippies. Not too concerned about a 2019 Traditional Forum knife at the moment. It's good to look to the future, but from my point of view, the 2018 forum knife is still the future.
 
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