Gun buy panic and Spyderco sales?

Yo Mama

Yo Mama

Joined
Sep 25, 2011
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Seems like the demand for the Yo2 and Para2 hit right with the gun/ammo panic? With many unable to spend the money they had put for a firearm, they are looking at knives, knowing Spyderco rocks they see these 2 popular models and start ordering.

Any other guesses as to the immense and sudden increase in demand?
 
I would think that any connection would be coincidence. My opinion is that demand for these knives is more about their design appeal. Most folks are probably carrying the Para 2 with intent to use as a tool, not a self-defense weapon. Many are carrying the Yo2 with the same intent (I've heard it makes a great utility knife). I'm sure that there are those that carry these knives as self-defense weapons, but I would think that more folks carry for use as a tool.

Besides that, there are other equally effective knives that could be used for self-defense that are not in short supply (i.e. Matriarch, Military, Caly 3.5 - the list could go on)

Seems like most of the gun/ammo panic was driven by fear of government restriction and fear of other scary/violent folks with guns. Folding knives don't seem to solve either problem, at least to me.
 
First of all, gun buyers don't panic. We prepare. :)

And I don't think there is a sudden demand for the Para 2. Production seems not to be meeting demand, which Mr. Sal has attributed in part or in whole to the current expansion of their physical facilities. It will moderate in due course, and there will be enough Para 2's to meet demand. Thats the beauty of the free market. :thumbup:
 
No, that doesn't have a thing to do with it.
Certain people are panic buying for no reason needed, and that would hurt knife sales if anything. But I don't think it is.

And there is no increase in demand for the Para2. Its a decrease in production. Things will get better when the expansion is finished.
 
^ Agreed nothing to do with it.
It does affect me spending time with some more Spyders at a gun show today... heard another stop took people three hrs to get in. I just wanted to go before class today and check out some blades (aaaaaand maybe look for a certain .22 I've been searching for)... now having major second thoughts :grumpy:
 
I partially agree with Ken44, it's a decrease in production. At least that's what I understand to be the case with the PM2. I've heard all sorts of rumors as to why, aside from the expansion, but the one I find most intriguing is that they are having trouble with machinery at the factory. No proof to that, only something I heard from a seller who supposedly heard it from a distributor who heard it from God only knows..... Like I said, it's a rumor and highly likely to be nothing but total B.S. As for panic buying, yes, I think some of the gun/ammo panic buyers are also buying blades. Some people are buying multiple amounts of the same blade as well. Both for insurance against future lack of availability and as a high value barter or resale item. Should regulations tighten even further on firearms, I suspect you will see knife sales balloon even higher. People seem to be buying up any type of weaponry that could eventually be outlawed. When and if that happens, you will see people buying up baseball bats and hammers! Hey, now would be a good opportunity for Benchmade to cash in by re-releasing the AFCK! Sorry, just a thought that popped into my mind.....
 
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I agree knife sales have increased because of the gun scare. Plenty of people have admitted to collecting knives because they had money lying around that they wanted to use for guns or ammo but everything was sold out. I don't think it's the only reason why the Para2 and Yo2 are behind schedule but it has added to the demand.
 
I can say that I personally put my gun-buying hobby on the back-burner for a bit and started focusing on knives more. Ammo is sparse but a network of friends and I hit local shops (that haven't price-hiked) as often as we can and then contact each other when we find anything in a needed caliber, but even with that, you can hardly save up enough ammo to shoot a class, more than the occasional competition, or any serious training (I'll admit that I don't reload), so I've cut back to pretty much recreational shooting with the kids. I had two builds going, but ended up halting both due to the fact that most of the parts I wanted would be delayed long enough that the whole build wouldn't be finished for quite some time so I figured I'd wait until all this AWB talk blows over.

That being said, I bought all the ammo and gun stuff I absolutely needed prior to all this panic-nonsense so I've just recently had enough to buy some of the knives I've been holding off of previously.

I still don't have a black/satin Para-2 because I've been working on sprints and other knives, but I've definitely been buying a lot more knives than guns/ammo lately due to the panic.
 
No connection between the two.

I've never had a hard time finding a Para 2. I'm not looking for them, that might be the problem. Every time I look for a particular knife, they're sold out and nobody has any for sale in the Exchange.
 
Yo Mama said:
Seems like the demand for the Yo2 and Para2 hit right with the gun/ammo panic? With many unable to spend the money they had put for a firearm, they are looking at knives, knowing Spyderco rocks they see these 2 popular models and start ordering.

Any other guesses as to the immense and sudden increase in demand?
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I'm not sure what you are interpreting as a knife demand? It's more than likely that the production schedules are on different knives at this time. My guess is that they hit their production quota and they moved onto the next item on the list. They don't run the production floor 24/7, and it's well know that Spyderco is not a huge company. I just can't really see any connection.
 
Zero connection!
I can't remember ever hearing the media mentioning anything about a knife ban....Parana feeding frenzy.
I think that the popularity of the domestically produced knives speaks for it's self.In my view Spyderco is not the only production knife company who currently can't keep up with demand for domestic production models.We will just have to be patient and wait if that's what we choose to purchase....
 
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For me there is a little connection,I don't go to the range as much cause ammo is harder to come by, so been picking up more knives here and there
 
messer454 said:
I am pretty sure the Para 2 was hard to find long before the gun frenzy started.
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Despite what I said before, I do believe this is true as well. The PM2 rose to a level of popularity well beyond "knife guys" well before all this gun-scare nonsense began and Spyderco was already having trouble keeping up with orders.
 
powernoodle said:
First of all, gun buyers don't panic. We prepare. :)

It's panic, not preparation. Why is it that thee is no ammo, no ars, not even min14s..yes I'm a survivalist, I hate that turm pepper. The Government is probe mil behind it. Only put so many magazine fed rifles or a month.... The real way ands
Only way to control gun violence is to control the ammo....no ammo, no killing with "guns". Knives, bats cars and other subjusts come to my mind wich are just as deadly. But back to the op. no there's no mass panic on knives. Guns yes. Knives no. Para 2 is just there most popular model and its hard from a production stand point to order a million, screw,million bolts. Clips, scales handles. Liners.
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Keep in mind in one state, NY, a warning appears if you try to have a Spyderco Bee shipped, lol. If you complete the transaction there will be a drone strike on your house.
 
I agree knife sales have increased because of the gun scare. Plenty of people have admitted to collecting knives because they had money lying around that they wanted to use for guns or ammo but everything was sold out.
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This is happening. Maybe some of you saying "no" are misunderstanding? Nobody is saying that "there is a knife buying panic" or that somebody can't buy a gun so they are buying a knife to carry instead. But it is VERY true that it is really, really hard to find any good deals in the gun area right now. If you are like me and you routinely put away money every two weeks for "the hobby," this causes a problem. The money mounts up to the point where you would usually buy a gun. You look around. People want 2-3X what you think that gun is actually worth. You aren't willing to pay that. (Or even if you are.... you can't find any for sale!)

In my case, it brought me back to BF. Years ago I started out buying Spydercos. Then several Himalayan Imports. As I got older and made more money, I started to buy guns instead. Very rarely bought a knife. But since all this craziness started in Dec, I've bought bought two Himalayan Imports and two Spydies. Hard to say there is "no connection" in my personal case. It has affected where I spend my money. And even where I spend time reading and posting online. I normally spend 90% of my online time at various gun boards. Yet here I am posting on BF.

Gregg
 
tulsamal said:
This is happening.
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I disagree, though it's the case for you, it may be the opposite for others. For every person that isn't paying infated price for guns, there are two(or more) that are. Just look at the lines at the gun shows, and people in the gun shops.

Many go from gun forums to knife forums, and repeat. I've went back and forth from buying alot of both in my life. I'll be into gun's for years, and then back to knives. Been this way for me the last 30 years.

The lack of Para2's has nothing to do with gun sales.
 
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