Generic knives

Quiet said:
Shiny, it's good of you to be shining a light on the makers here on our very own forum. The Maker's For Sale section often seems very far away and unpopulated compared to the more trafficked places on BF. I think more folks should be looking through there, a heck of a lot of awesome deals flow through there every single day!
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They deserve the attention, I'm happy to shine that light when ever I can.

I think those who've been around long enough eventually work their way to trying the custom or hand made route.
 
Good lookin' knives Blues! Looks similar to the J. Oeser knives I've seen.

Yours ain't too shabby either Shiny!
 
shinyedges said:
This slippy is 430.00

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/pocket-folding-knife-the-dragon-repost.1612182/


This friction folder is 129.00 :eek:

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/friction-folder-re-post-and-drop.1610969/

Mammoth ivory and titanium for 660.00

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/liner-lock-with-mammoth-ivory.1606570/




I think people assume handmade = astronomically unaffordable. But that's just not true.

My Ben seward was about 1000.00 which isn't cheap. But Ben feeds his family and makes a living doing this. Buying 20 cold steel knives for 60 to 100 bucks? Save that and buy the custom.
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Couldn't agree more!
Typically with Customs you get a lot more than you pay for! Feels that way to me anyway. And it always feels good to help someone make an honest living too!:thumbsup:
 
And here's mine from John April!
abpMov9.png
 
danbot said:
Couldn't agree more!
Typically with Customs you get a lot more than you pay for! Feels that way to me anyway. And it always feels good to help someone make an honest living too!:thumbsup:
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Hit the nail on the head. Meeting these folks at blade you see they have families and aren't becoming billionaires off their "unaffordable" knives. Makes me feel good supporting them :thumbsup: Plus the connection to the knives is that much more for me. That's a personal thing though, some folks think of knives how I think of a hammer, but if that's how they view knives, what the hell are they doing here?:D
 
Sometimes, with some luck, you can find an up-and-coming maker whom "the market" hasn't discovered yet. Years ago I bought a Gareth Bull Shamwari for like $300.

One of our own folder makers like this is @Bailey Knives. I bought one of his "nerd addition" folders a year or two ago. It's great and I suspect that his newer ones are even better.
 
shinyedges said:
As my knife journey has progressed, I've realized many knives I like in pictures (or theory) once in my hand, lose appeal to me rather quickly. Typically I can say they all share this generic knife "feel" to it. It's actually not easy to convey what I'm trying to get across so bare with me.

Maybe this is what some people refer to as "soul? I don't quite know as I never really got the term soul as applied to knives.

The generic "feel" is more than just a physical feeling a knife has. I've come to appreciate a knife for more than just the sum of its parts. This journey has led me to custom knives, hand made knives by people.


My current favorite for months now is a Ben Seward body guard ( @RevDevil when you come back my foot will be here waiting for you ) :
View attachment 988927


It's made by a real human, not mass produced. It has character and a feel that speaks to me in a way no production knife ever has. Now this "feeling" is intangible and is 100% in my head but it is very real and it changed my buying habits.


Support our craftsman here on the forum, try out a handmade knife and see if this is true for you.
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It probably is our minds. Different knives give the experienced knife guy different feelz.

I have long noticed that if you hand the average guy a sebenza they have no idea what makes it anything special. To them it is just a boring grey metal framed knife.

Customs often do have little quirks about them that show physically that there was a human hand involved. Those little things are only noticable after many many knives pass through one’s hands.

One thing for sure is that in earlier days of knife hobbying so many knives look cool and you feel like “I need this.” Over time less and less excites.

It is getting hard to buy knives without putting them in my hand first at all. Especially if they are from an unknown maker. Sometimes they look awesome in photos but the second they touch your hand it’s like “uh oh....”
 
Quiet said:
Shiny, it's good of you to be shining a light on the makers here on our very own forum. The Maker's For Sale section often seems very far away and unpopulated compared to the more trafficked places on BF. I think more folks should be looking through there, a heck of a lot of awesome deals flow through there every single day!
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Maybe I have expensive taste but every time I see something on the makers market I like its $600+ :D
 
stonproject said:
Maybe I have expensive taste but every time I see something on the makers market I like its $600+ :D
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Maybe someone's taste just happens to take the to all the affordable knives ? :D

Unfortunately, I'm in your boat and every knife I like is about a grand :confused:
 
Lapedog said:
It probably is our minds. Different knives give the experienced knife guy different feelz.

I have long noticed that if you hand the average guy a sebenza they have no idea what makes it anything special. To them it is just a boring grey metal framed knife.

Customs often do have little quirks about them that show physically that there was a human hand involved. Those little things are only noticable after many many knives pass through one’s hands.

One thing for sure is that in earlier days of knife hobbying so many knives look cool and you feel like “I need this.” Over time less and less excites.

It is getting hard to buy knives without putting them in my hand first at all. Especially if they are from an unknown maker. Sometimes they look awesome in photos but the second they touch your hand it’s like “uh oh....”
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Luckily we have the exchange here and moving knives is fairly easy. I almost exclusively take a loss, mostly small losses but I'm ok with that. I'm not in the hobby to make money.
 
SpySmasher said:
Sometimes, with some luck, you can find an up-and-coming maker whom "the market" hasn't discovered yet. Years ago I bought a Gareth Bull Shamwari for like $300.

One of our own folder makers like this is @Bailey Knives. I bought one of his "nerd addition" folders a year or two ago. It's great and I suspect that his newer ones are even better.
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Like when Daniel fairly started making folders, very affordable! And top notch!
 
stonproject said:
Maybe I have expensive taste but every time I see something on the makers market I like its $600+ :D
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Oh, trust me, I understand where you're coming from. I think the cheapest knife in my current EDC rotation cost...well, it's a lot. And most of them are either midtechs, or hand-made/finished.
 
What I love is the variety you see from the various makers. Every so often I go back through a few weeks or so of previous listings and always find a few that are truly unique to anything I've seen before. Certainly no shortage of well-made knives from the makers here.

And I definitely get what you mean about that feeling of something else from a handmade knife. It's one thing to admire a knife that's been perfectly CNC'd, but quite another to admire the same attention to details knowing that someone took extra effort to make it that way on the knife now in your hands.
 
I get what you're saying op, I've got a few customs I won't ever be parting with for just this reason, some production models as well. Going the custom route does make it a bit more special.

DocJD said:
Unfortunately , many of us cannot afford anything but "generics" . :rolleyes:
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The argument of not being able to afford something that is relatively inexpensive isn't a good one, and won't hold water in an enthusiast environment.
 
For me I find knives like the Buck 110 or the Spyderco's with stainless steel scales to fit into that box of a "Generic". They're not bad knives, they're refined and form follows function but somehow they're not desirable; it's like looking at a Buick and saying no thanks.
 
I can understand wanting to shine a little a more light on the Knifemaker's of BladeForums. Hell, when people ask for fixed blade recommendations that's the first place I try to steer them. There are some incredibly talented craftsman here. And I can see how owning a true custom would have certain attributes that only you can truly appreciate, after all it was made/spoke for/to you.

But there are some production knives out there that have that same feeling, especially in the traditional world. While they may not be to the quality of a 1k knife, they have that handmade/lost art sort of vibe to them, and I think that's why there's so many collectors out there for that particular subgroup. Even well done modern production knives can give off that feeling, it won't be exactly like a full custom, but there's been times when I first got a knife in hand and that "Oh shit, that's perfect for me" bulb went off. I'm sure I'm not the only one whose had that same feeling on a knife under $200.
 
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