Have traditionals become more popular recently?

I gravitated toward traditionals when I started noticing modern folders mundane and duplicative of each other. A black G-10 PM2 is a black G-10 PM2. Sprint runs offer some diversity but all are the same within the batch. So I started commissioning custom scales to be made for my favorite model numbers. That got crazy pricey. $130-$260 knife then $80 for custom scales? Hello traditionals, where the variety of patterns and uniqueness of cover materials seem endless, and carbon steel blades take on a life of their own.
 
jprime84 said:
I am guilty of this. I used to be all General Discussion and at one point had a good 15 ZTs and Spydercos. Now, I have sold everything off such that I have two H1 steel spydercos I use while on the water, and everything else is traditional.

Well, everything except my small Sebenza 21.

I love the natural materials found more in traditional knives. I like that even the production knives have a degree of human input and variance to them where as the modern folders typically just come out of CNC machines.
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dont get me wrong, i love my spyderco harpies/and tasmans (hannibal fan) and all my other knives. there is just some thing about traditionals that brings me back. in fact my traditionals outnumber all the other types of knives i have. ive spent the most on them. i could never bring myself to go over about $150 for a knife tho, so no sebenza for me
 
Add to your list another "left winger" who EDCs a SAK Huntsman as well as either a GEC stockman (#53 or #82) or a small fixed blade Busse (a Game Warden or Active Duty) depending on the day. Also served 20 years in the Air Force with two remote tours overseas. Also known to carry and shoot Colts and Winchesters now and then (my guns tend to group to the left, too). Still work as a DNC volunteer each election cycle. We "lefties" appreciate a well-made quality tool as much as anyone else.
 
Three years ago I had one traditional knife, now I have over 25! The grind, build quality, and better acceptance at places like work are my reasons. They seem like they are gaining popularity to me, but like the OP I have no data except my own and my families. (Which shows an increase all around:)
 
Outside of the kitchen, traditional knives are the closest thing to "universally socially acceptable." And in these times, I think that makes them more popular. Folks are more likely to view them as tools rather than weapons. I think tacticals hit a peak of popularity with US military engagements overseas, and are due to decline somewhat in popularity going forward.
 
The Virginian said:
Outside of the kitchen, traditional knives are the closest thing to "universally socially acceptable." And in these times, I think that makes them more popular. Folks are more likely to view them as tools rather than weapons. I think tacticals hit a peak of popularity with US military engagements overseas, and are due to decline somewhat in popularity going forward.
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I completely disagree. I think tactical knife sales are taking off proportional to firearm sales. People I never thought would buy a gun are now getting their CC permit and first firearm. Tactical knives, not traditionals, appeal to these type of people. Look at gun mags and they have tactical knives reviewed and advertised. Traditional knife sales may be higher compared to 10 years ago, but I don't think they have matched the rate of increase of tactical knife sales.
 
I really don't buy my knives because they are socially acceptable, it's just a happy benefit of buying a cool knife with a bit of nostalgia behind it.
 
shipwright said:
I would disagree with this and i think your perception of "left leaning" people might be a bit generalized. I'm a "left leaning" gun/knife owner and i know many others too. Turns out it has nothing to do with politics. I think it's spot on to say that hipsters can appreciate the retro quality of traditional knives.
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I wonder if region could play a part in that? I'm generally middle of the road and try to avoid those conversations with people. That's a good way to make non-friends. Politics and religion lol.

I can say that in south Louisiana, the tacticool trend is going strong. People look at me funny when I pull out my little case or medium Davison and never bat an eye on the rare instance I carry my shirogorov.
 
I have been carrying a folding (traditional) in my rfp for going on 47yrs.. Been collecting/acquiring knives that long also.. I do enjoy most other knife forms also.. So I don't know if they are getting more popular or not.. They are just "RIGHT" to me!! John:thumbup:
 
Honestly, it's pretty hard to say anything on the topic without having numbers to count on. also, I live in quite a different cultural and traditional environment compared to most members here. Yet, I have a few thoughts to express on the topic...
I'm under the impression that European traditionals (from Opinel to Victorinox to Mora and so on) are just keeping their market pretty much stable, at least on this side of the Atlantic. I also believe that the modern folder crowd has grown a bit, but not that much.
As for the British/US slipjoint world, I do believe the numbers might be increasing a bit. Aside from CSC going down (sigh!), most companies seem to be moving forward, not just GEC: RR and Colt, for example, seem to be riding the wave as well.
What matters most to me, though, is not really the share of knife enthusiasts that get into the world of traditional cutlery.
It's the ones that give slipjoints a try, and then realize they like them better than modern folders (for any number of reasons we all know very well) and decide to stay :)
This number seems to be growing. Obviously, at the moment the modern folders crowd is way bigger, but that's not a bad thing for the porch. A number of them will eventually try a stockman or trapper or peanut and then cross the line from the highway into our ranch where the porch is waiting :)

Fausto
:cool:
 
This is a lot of us^! The knife journey at first can be overwhelming, once one realizes the difference in steels, lock types, materials.

I started with a summer of basically jotting down every budget modern folder from nutnfancy's hit list for fun. I would pick them up, keep them in my work bag and flip them when I realized they weren't for me.

Innocently I picked up a Colt peanut because I happened upon the goofy Cult of the Peanut thread in traditionals.

Made me realize that while I enjoy modern one handers as work knives around the house etc... They have no place in my regular, normal world. A discrete, non offensive to society cutting instrument is now my speed most of the time. The only reason why I don't use them as work knives is I find them to Purdy to muck up the way I would a one hander! There's a real streamlined practicality about trads. Especially when one takes into consideration normal everyday cutting tasks and the amount of blade length needed for those tasks.

If you compare a trapper's blade length, you get a whole lot of knife, just as much as any modern but in a much slimmer carry package. This in itself is irrefutable in terms of edc logic. If one wants to make the conscious choice to carry a big bulky modern that's OK too. But I'll stick with traditionals and maybe some hybrids if I can find them like the urban trapper which I have on order.

What's great is I went from buying Chinese made traditionals to now primarily US made ones. Don't know why or how that happened but that's OK too. I still peruse them all though when I get the itch.

PS the only thing that I meant by my last comment is that I have committed to spending more money now on trads vs moderns. Before I would not want to take away from my modern knife budget. Outside of a few folders in that category I would rather spend my knife budget on trying out new to me traditionals!
 
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okbohn said:
I would say they are more popular than when I got into the knife world. We have always primarily purveyed traditional knives, but 6-7 years ago they moved very slowly next to fixed blades, but now they are, arguably, hot at times.

I wonder if the modern "hipster" movement isn't part of the increase in popularity. Hipsters like quality, nostalgia and just cool things. Traditionals fit that very, very well.
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Ryouchijtx said:
I agree with the modern "hipster" movement Derrick. Largely attributed to that in my opinion. I've generally found that the same guys who enjoy some Alden Indys, Horween Shell Cordovan or filson have a traditional in their wheelhouse somewhere ;) I've even gotten my tattoo artist in Bushwick to start collecting GEC's and she loves them for wood carving.
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I don't know any hipsters, (hard to believe) I don't even know what the general definition of a hipster is much less if I'd recognize one in the wild but what I do know is knves and the knives people collect in my neck of the woods. That being said I don't think the sale of traditionals has really changed much. There's an underlying group of people selling and buying and reselling a lot of the same traditionals that have been around anywhere from 40-100 years old. I don't see this happening with tacticals, the oldest tactical knife can't be any older than 35 years old but those traditional Remingtons, Robesons Cattaraugus, KeenKutter, Schrade Walden.

These have been around for a hundred years and some substantially more than that, these knives have a limited finite number and will never be made again. The new generation of younger folks being drawn to traditionals are just now discovering them as a viable collectible and after using them realizing they are not their old man's or grandfather's knives antique cutlery but functional tools. I don't know of anyone who was young enough to start collecting tactical modern folder as a first knife that has ever made the complete switch from modern folder to traditional but I know lots of guys who started collecting traditionals because that was what we had, tactical knives weren't described until the 80s and I had been carrying traditional folders daily for 15 years already. See there are lots of oldtime collectors like myself that support the traditional industry because that was a knife when we we young, the tacticool folders were the fad.

Don't get me wrong I have 2 Sebenzas and plenty of Benchmades and Spyderco, there's always a modern one hand folder either clipped or dropped into my pocket but for every mder locker I have 3 traditional knive of some type with me too. So in answer to the OP's question do I think they're more popular? no I think for most of the younger generation it's a fad or nostalgia but if they carry regularly when they go on line they're looking at modern first and then stopping off to admire the traditionals as they take their time deciding what they want to try.

I didn't buy a traditional and then say after a week or two I'll sell or trade it, when I bought a knife it was a tool, I made an educated decision based on form and function, bought the best knife for the job I could afford (that was my Old Man's take on tools, always buy the best you could afford and you'd never be disappointed). I didn't get into knives as a hobby it just kind of evolved into that as I learned more and more.

Don't misunderstand my long post as I'm all for anyone buying traditionals and I'm a firm believer in companies like Rough Rider that has made the tradional knives available to the average person with a tremendous variety of patterns and materials available to satisfy anyone and to do it at affordable prices. I just don't see the surge of traditional sale being that large of having any sustaining affect on overall sales numbers in the long run. The other reason I say this is look at the sales of the cheap fleamarket tactial offshore made knives, at any given day at the fleamarket I see these guys selling modern over traditional 10-15:1.

Sorry again for the long post and these are just the observations of an old man who's been collecting knives for nearly 50 years and had to use them as part of my trade for 35 of those years. If I offended anyone with my opinion I apologize and am more than willing to listen to any opposing opinions.
 
One of the unforeseen effects of the Internet is that it allows small subcultures to congregate. This creates the illusion within those subcultures that the subcultures themselves are larger than they really are. I think that the number of people carrying knives at all has diminished, and that within the small percentage of the population that does carry a knife the percentage that carries a traditional knife is equally small. I have yet to stumble upon another person in the real world that collects any kind of knife, much less a traditional knife.* The people I know that carry a knife all do so without much thought as to what knife they're carrying and look at me sideways when I indicate that I have an interest in knives.

About six months ago we had a discussion which led me to do a very little bit of research into how many knives various companies were producing. I was blown away when I saw the difference in production numbers between the companies making traditionals vs. the companies making modern folders. If traditionals are becoming more popular the numbers are so skewed that the increases become insignificant.

As has been mentioned above, everything in this post is anecdotal and I have no hard facts. It is very possible that I'm completely wrong about all of this, but the OP asked for our impressions and these are mine. :D

* I have met other people that collect knives, but only after seeking those people out. I've been to knife shows and people that know I collect knives will give me tips on stores that they find with large knife displays. When I go to these locations I sometimes run into other knuts. ;)
 
shipwright said:
I would disagree with this and i think your perception of "left leaning" people might be a bit generalized. I'm a "left leaning" gun/knife owner and i know many others too. Turns out it has nothing to do with politics. I think it's spot on to say that hipsters can appreciate the retro quality of traditional knives.
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Count me in with the liberals that own guns and carry knives.
 
Just to add my 2¢, it seems like I'm seeing a few more traditionals pop up in another knife related site I'm on, especially after the release of the beerscout. Others have commented noticing the same thing. They are still greatly outnumbered by the one hand folders but there seems to be a bit more appreciation from the tacticool crowd for a good looking traditional. Maybe folks are simply becoming less hesitant of posting pictures of their traditionals? Whatever the reason, I like seeing more traditional content.
 
I have no idea if the total numbers of traditional knife sales are up or not. I have never owned what I would consider a modern knife and neither do I have problem with them. I have been brought up with traditionals and carried only one for 40 years and retired it in 2001. I started accumulating Case knives in about 2003 or so , but after awhile I never saw much in new ones that I cared that much about . That changed last year when I found an old Russell Barlow when I was trying to find a knife like Dad had. That lead me to try to find more Barlows. That lead me to GEC. Then that lead me to this forum and seeing that there are lots of people out there who are interested in traditionals and who are finding some absolutely amazing knives and are turned on by them. So I don't know if there are more traditionals being sold now or maybe we are just in a Feeding Frenzy . LOL !!!!!!! I just know that my friends are now asking what I am carrying and my Kids and Grandkids are asking for knives as gifts instead of money , and I am quite happy with that!!!!!

Harry
 
Please leave "left", "right", "liberal", "conservative" out of this. Posts with those terms belong in the Political forum.

Nor is this a gun forum. So please leave those out, as well.
 
Cory Hess said:
One of the unforeseen effects of the Internet is that it allows small subcultures to congregate. This creates the illusion within those subcultures that the subcultures themselves are larger than they really are. I think that the number of people carrying knives at all has diminished, and that within the small percentage of the population that does carry a knife the percentage that carries a traditional knife is equally small. I have yet to stumble upon another person in the real world that collects any kind of knife, much less a traditional knife.* The people I know that carry a knife all do so without much thought as to what knife they're carrying and look at me sideways when I indicate that I have an interest in knives.

About six months ago we had a discussion which led me to do a very little bit of research into how many knives various companies were producing. I was blown away when I saw the difference in production numbers between the companies making traditionals vs. the companies making modern folders. If traditionals are becoming more popular the numbers are so skewed that the increases become insignificant.

As has been mentioned above, everything in this post is anecdotal and I have no hard facts. It is very possible that I'm completely wrong about all of this, but the OP asked for our impressions and these are mine. :D

* I have met other people that collect knives, but only after seeking those people out. I've been to knife shows and people that know I collect knives will give me tips on stores that they find with large knife displays. When I go to these locations I sometimes run into other knuts. ;)
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IMO you are spot on. Perhaps the more accurate statement would be that "Traditionals have become more popular within the knife community."
 
T. Erdelyi said:
Don't get me wrong I have 2 Sebenzas and plenty of Benchmades and Spyderco, there's always a modern one hand folder either clipped or dropped into my pocket but for every mder locker I have 3 traditional knive of some type with me too.
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A man after my own heart. The large Sebenza is my "white whale", but I've got a lot of golden guppies in the slipjoint world and I wouldn't mind sitting out here on "the porch" and playing show-and-tell as I collect some of them; a happy lefty-leaning gen-Xer who loves carrying his Spydy alongside two Cases and a Queen Big Chief in the back pocket.

Edit: Deleted mention of boom sticks. :o Sorry, knarfeng, only saw your post after I submitted mine.
 
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