Has the economy hurt knife makers?

Boy oh boy what a touchy subject with me - my knife buying has dropped off severely. I did buy a few knives since Jan 09, but for the first time in my collecting life I sold a few out of the collection to balance out the cash.

I was used to going to my local knife store and making 2 purchases a month. It looks like that lifestyle died along with this economy and will not be making a return visit.

I find that I am much more precise about my purchases now, whereas before I would buy a knife if I liked the looks or heard one or two good things about it. Now I research it to death, and after I am convinced it is what I am looking for will I buy it.

I am fortunate in that I am still working, but only after taking a HUGE hit since starting my own company in 2006. My salary is down 66% - and it hurts.

I send best and sincere wishes to all who are out of work and hanging on - I do not like to see misfortune fall on good people.
 
cbxer55 said:
I have not bought a knife since the company I used to work for gave us sixty day notices last November. I have been out-of-work since January 3. So there are no plans to buy anything unnecessary until I land a job. And that does not look to be happening anytime soon, let me tell ya.

Not one of the local staffing agencies has a job for anyone, NOT ONE!

There are no "Job Fairs" going on at all, most are being cancelled because
none of the companies scheduled for the fairs have any jobs.

Local Sunday edition of the Daily Oklahoman usually has 12 to 13 pages of jobs. Lately it has been three to four.

Sorry for the long post, I am kind of ranting here. I am on extended benefits and only have 16 more weeks to go until they are exhausted. I am worried and a wee bit scared at this point. I have never in over 30 years of working been out of work for this long. And the longer you are out, the more companies use it to justify not hiring you.

So just from the standpoint that I usually buy three to four $100.00 plus knives every year, one or two $200 plus, they have lost my business. I am sure I am not the only one, since unemployment is at 26 year highs. Last I read there are 14 million unemployed, 33 million under-employed, and working week average is now down to 33 hours, lowest it has been since they started keeping records on this stuff. So when things turn around, long before any company hires new staff, they will raise the work week up for their existing employees.

Unemployment is a lagging indicator, and stays low after a recession "recovers". Hence since this "recession" (I call it depression, as do a lot of economists) has a few more years to go, unemployment is going to be around for a lot more years. Most of us who got layed off will not ever be going back to our old line of work, it is gone for good. I built railcars, railcar freight is at record lows, Union Pacific has cars stored that if lined up would stretch from Seattle to Albuquerque. They have a railyard in Fontana that has locomotives stored on one rail over two miles long. And that is just UP. What about BNSF, CSX, etc.

I suspect it will be a long time before I see a new knife.

Although the picture and video below are from February, it has gotten worse, not better. If you doubt it
just go to Railfax and see every single entry for rail freight is in red in parentheses, meaning negative. Railcar freight is down an average of over 20% as compared to 2007, or 2008. The shipment of containers overseas is going to see 27 million less containers shipped this year at years end. Over 5,000 trucking companies have gone out of business since the high fuel prices last July. US Express and Covenant Transport are currently laying off drivers, managers and office staff as I type.

Anyone seeing them "GREEN SHOOTS" for real? All I see is yellow weeds, turning to brown turds.

Video of below picture from moving car.

4052_1235455332.jpg
Click to expand...



Fantastic post. I wish to show you a silver lining in the cloud.

Do you have a bunch of knives sitting around? How about swapping some of them for new ones in the exchange? After all, isn't collecting about experiencing new things?

Best of luck in your job search - i looked for 3 months and finally settled for an $8.00/hr part time job. And comparatively speaking, the economy in my area isn't in totally awful shape. There are just no jobs...
 
I am down to one knife per month. I am retired so I don't worry about jobs. However the price of gas and a few other things sure has ill effects on fixed incomes.
 
cbxer55 said:
An excellent, but way long article on the cause of this econoic disaster.
It is more charts and graphs than words. But sometimes they tell a better story.

Cause For Depression.
Click to expand...

Cbxer,

take a day off and come over to our knife event July 24-26 in Rogers. I will give you a VIP pass and you can look to your hearts content and talk to over 100 knife makers

A. G.
 
A. G. Russell said:
Cbxer,

take a day off and come over to our knife event July 24-26 in Rogers. I will give you a VIP pass and you can look to your hearts content and talk to over 100 knife makers

A. G.
Click to expand...

Take a day off? I have had far too many of them this year. Pretty soon I will be contemplating what are called Tier2 extended benefits, the ones oobooboo is paying for.

I got a nice motorcycle, payed for, begging me to ride it. May just take you up on that. How do I get this free pass? I am just a guy on the internet. You would not know me from Joe Blow in the real world.

I do get your catalog though, and have bought from you in the past, early last year the last time. Things been kind of going downhill since then.

On the other hand, going to a knife event and not being able to buy anything would be a real bummer for me. I have been to the knife show out in Solvang California a few times when I used to live there. Never left empty handed.

Let me look at a map and see how far it is. :)
 
Yes, most can feel it for sure, but many of the few with a very long backorders are still doing well.

I have talked to two differant great makers(in past month) with a little over a year backlog.
Both said they have had many more canceled orders than ever before.
 
cbxer55 said:
I'll tell you, the STATE RUN MEDIA is trying their darndest to make us think everything is alright.

I read at Mish's site some time ago, that in our country, with it's current population, we need to be adding over 100,000 jobs a month to keep a stable employment level. As long as we see negative every month, I do not care how many, we are in trouble.
Click to expand...

Both of these statements are 100% true. I was around in the 80s and I can confirm this thing is much worse.

The media IS lying, some of them anyway, the others are simply parotting because they don't know any better, and they are (for good reason) discouraged from putting out a spin that isn't positive. Might lose that coveted seat on Air Force One if you ask embarrassing questions.

The 'experts' point to the rising stock market prices as proof of recovery, and ignore the fact that the average S&P 500 P/E ration has risen to over 1,000 times value, and they ignore the bulk of the buying is being done by both speculators and banks that are ignoring the suggestion they put that TARP money into affordable mortgages, and buying stocks instead.

There is another side of the unemployment figures not being mentioned. Those who have been out of work for more than 6 months are simply dropped from the reported number of unemployed. Likewise, in many states part time employment does not qualify for jobless benefits, so when you are laid off from that PT or temp job, they don't have to report it in the month's jobless figures. The jobless numbers may be much worse that the News is reporting.

Widespread unemployment or a runaway depression can rapidly become a National Security issue. A quick check of history shows the collapse of 29 led to Nazi Germany when putting bread on the table became more important than worrying about how it was being done, and came very close to causing a coup d'tat here in the US [Research Smedly Butler and, or, the 'the Business Plot' of 1934 to see what I am talking about]. Lenin and Marx may have been idiots generally speaking, but history does tend to repeat. Bank bailouts (i.e., what we call TARP today) were tried back then, and failed miserably. Hoover's Folly (Hoover Dam) and the CCC were laughed at back then, but those infrastructure projects put bread on a lot of tables.

I think it is going to get worse. I am a member of several Homeowners Associations. Both developments have foreclosures spotting the neighborhoods like a kid with Chickenpox. I'd sell, but I would take a bath and move into negative numbers. I just watched a townhouse that sold for $180K 3 years ago go for $85K in a foreclosure sale. One of my tenant's (a teacher) came within a hair of being laid off last County budget time. It still may happen to her again this year as the tax revenues have shrunk. I can point to nice, formerly affordable, for rent homes which have had their for rent signs up for over four months. In this area (70 - 80 miles West of Washington, DC past the Shen River) there are very few non-govt. major employers left. The economic news that worries the most is that two local supermarket chains, after reducing their employee hours, are casting a 'should we close it?' eye on their lower performing stores. For some people further out into the backwoods the loss of their local supermarket would be really bad news. It wouldn't be good news for the shopping center stores dependent on the supermarket to bring the customers to the shopping center either. The thing I really dread is a natural disaster analogous to the great dustbowl of the 30s. Another Katrina? An LA earthquake? Whatever, something big, and wow would we be in trouble then.

Knives and knife makers? I wanted to buy a Busse or a Scrap Yard last month. Neither maker had any on their websites. I bought 3, on Ebay. One with a sheath. The most expensive one was $145. Two were about $120. A year ago I would have probably wound up spending the same money for just one. I suspect that if I had just waited a few more weeks or months, I could have possibly gotten 4 or 5 for the same money.
 
What did everyone think when they ALLOWED this country to import cheap Asian crap?
Even an ANTHILL knows that you NEVER ASSIST A COMPETITOR!

It's just stupid.

And how many of us are guilty of thinking WE should make sacrifices to "make ends meet."

The ends don't meet because of this lousy GOVERNMENT we have with its "FREE TRADE" BS.

Fortunately, I'm retired and started making preparations for this catastrophe around 1999.

But I loathe and despise our "representatives" and the lies they tell us to stay in office.

:mad:
 
superc said:
Knives and knife makers? I wanted to buy a Busse or a Scrap Yard last month. Neither maker had any on their websites.

I bought 3, on Ebay. One with a sheath. The most expensive one was $145. Two were about $120.
Click to expand...

Busse always has One knife model on there website for pre order.
The BCS(ran by Skunk at his residence) will stock certain runs from time to time. They also have several Ganza's a year here on BF to buy from.

The knives you bought were Scarp Yard I assume, since I havn't seen any Busse sell on the bay for $145.
 
Well, okay I acknowledge I did see that Ganza knife or whatever the heck they call that funny looking round sharp thingie. Also I discounted the Tank Buster and the SAR as I was looking for a single edged knife for slicing, not a chopping short sword or an illegal 2 edged dagger. Yes, I wound up with Scrap Yard products, not that I perceive much difference between the products given the identical handle materials, occasional infi steel, etc., and find it to be a difference that makes no difference. [Yes, I also own a Busse Combat (an AD) and repeat, beyond pricing, its a difference that makes no discernable difference from a consumer perspective.] Also in fairness, given the way their website has nothing advertised as being in stock with a buy it now button, even when it is in stock, Swamp Rat wasn't included in the above statement although I did recently see an affordable Howling Rat on the ebay.

the AD
Busse.jpg
 
Lavan said:
What did everyone think when they ALLOWED this country to import cheap Asian crap?
Even an ANTHILL knows that you NEVER ASSIST A COMPETITOR!

It's just stupid.

And how many of us are guilty of thinking WE should make sacrifices to "make ends meet."

The ends don't meet because of this lousy GOVERNMENT we have with its "FREE TRADE" BS.

Fortunately, I'm retired and started making preparations for this catastrophe around 1999.

But I loathe and despise our "representatives" and the lies they tell us to stay in office.

:mad:
Click to expand...

Closing the borders against competitors goes against the free market principle that the USA holds so high in regard.

Just don't go around saying you like a supply/demand driven economy and you can close your borders right down again.
 
I am not buying anything more either except what I have already ordered. Lost my job a week ago. :(
 
Ankerson said:
I am not buying anything more either except what I have already ordered. Lost my job a week ago. :(
Click to expand...

Oh that sucks. But I know how you feel, been out of work for eight months now. Problem I, and most of those I worked with are having, is a lack of jobs to apply for. 99% of the available jobs are medical. When there is a non-medical, production or manufacturing job available, it gets barraged with applications.

I recently had an interview for a truck driving job, company had two positions available. They received 550 applications in three days.:rolleyes:
 
cbxer55 said:
Oh that sucks. But I know how you feel, been out of work for eight months now. Problem I, and most of those I worked with are having, is a lack of jobs to apply for. 99% of the available jobs are medical. When there is a non-medical, production or manufacturing job available, it gets barraged with applications.

I recently had an interview for a truck driving job, company had two positions available. They received 550 applications in three days.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

There is like ZERO jobs here in my area now, guess I will just wait it out and see what happens. I saw this coming though so I do have enough money in the bank to hold out until unemployment kicks in and my bills aren't that bad so I can get by easy on it.

I was out of work for a year and a half back in the early 90's when the economy was bad the last time.

It seems that the economy is much worse than they say it is. :mad:

In a word this freaking sucks...... :mad:
 
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My take is simple. Gun sales skyrocketed beginning last fall. Ammo sales followed, draining the supplies. Prices became stellar. The black rifle/carbine sales must have tapered off as local stores are starting to drop their prices on them. Ammo supply is still tight; prices still up. Knife sales at gunstores dropped due to the changed interest, permitting some decent deals for those of us that are not black rifle/carbine types (My last firearm purchase was nearly a year back - a .22 revolver!). The casual buyer, if he still is gainfully employed, continues looking for ammo, so knife sales in general are down. Buck Knives, after reorganizing last year upon laying off some folks, just had a 10% pay reduction, rather than lay-offs.

So, if you have some money, there are knife bargains... but there will be some casualties somewhere.

Stainz
 
My knife collecting has definitely slowed down. I have car payments now and I took a 10% cut at work so my play money has decreased. :(
 
I have been trying very hard to cut back. I have two custom orders to pay for, and I am just saving up for those. I have done a lot of trades in the past few months, and treated myself last month to two folders, a Buck 501 Impala at Cabelas (marked damaged, one small speck on the buffalo scale) and a Tidioute 73 with chocolate bone. Birthday presents :D. After I get the customs, I might place an order next year for an EDC from a maker, and want to get a Hudson Bay. After that, I have no reason to place any more custom orders for a while (except for that slipjoint ;)). I would like to get some Strider CC folders, and the wood Sebs I've been looking for for the past couple years. I think I'll limit next year to the Hudson Bay, an SNG CC and a small wood Seb. I've been doing a lot of trading, so I don't think it will be a problem to limit myself to three knives :D.
 
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