Have we entered a “Golden Age”?

betzner said:
OK, Roger, I'll bite. What's your point? I've made mine.
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That I was comparing knifemaking today as compared with 10, 15, 20 years ago. Not 5 years ago.

I don't see 1993 as exhibiting the kind of across-the-board elevation in quality that we are seeing today. If there is a golden age (and I say there is) it's now, not then.

You see it differently, and that is more than fine.

Roger
 
Consider the extraordinary forged, stockremoval, slipjoint, gentleman folder, art knife and tactical makers of today and the outstanding knives they are currently producing and then ask yourself: "are we in a 'golden age' of custom knives or something pretty close to it in regard to knife design, construction, materials, embellishment and overall quality?"

Examining the knives found in these three links may help.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=612884

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=701878

http://www.knifelegends.com/homepage2.htm

If not, state a period when finer knives were being produced.
 
well I've never been been one to allow that others should define my perception. Therein lies my intrinsic freedom.

If indeed this is a question of perception, and it seems to be, then I am in the camp of those who feel that they are caught up in a renaissance.

'Golden Age' I guess can mean many things, and that's why I find this question to be complicated and interesting. To me it means 'renaissance'.
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance )


Kevin is someone that I see who is a visionary in custom knives. He keeps good company with another who many see as a visionary; Jerry Fisk. Kevin has taken a major role in creating a community of collectors and makers, and he has doggedly fought toward this vision. He sees that collaboration is a key to the growth of custom knives and knife making, and for all these reasons, and my own, I will easily go along with him if he believes that this is a 'Golden Age' for knifemaking.

Just sayin' :)
 
Lorien said:
well I've never been been one to allow that others should define my perception. Therein lies my intrinsic freedom.

If indeed this is a question of perception, and it seems to be, then I am in the camp of those who feel that they are caught up in a renaissance.

'Golden Age' I guess can mean many things, and that's why I find this question to be complicated and interesting. To me it means 'renaissance'.
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance )


Kevin is someone that I see who is a visionary in custom knives. He keeps good company with another who many see as a visionary; Jerry Fisk. Kevin has taken a major role in creating a community of collectors and makers, and he has doggedly fought toward this vision. He sees that collaboration is a key to the growth of custom knives and knife making, and for all these reasons, and my own, I will easily go along with him if he believes that this is a 'Golden Age' for knifemaking.

Just sayin' :)
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Lorien, we struggle so with definitions in custom knives (custom vs handmade, bowie vs fighter, the definition of mosaic damascas) and so on and on. ;)

When initially drafting this thread I had thought "golden age" was too strong as others seem to. And thought "renaissance" was more appropriate. However since renaissance is so often taken to mean "revival or rebirth" I decided against it as I see this as a time like no other in custom knives rather than a "rebirth" of the past.

But still, I will go along with you as well, as a "renaissance" just seems a much better description as to what we are experiencing.

And thank you Lorien.
 
in my signature is a link to photos of the current knives in our collection under the Custom Knives album. Knives there are from 1978 to 2010. the Golden Age of knifemaking has been going on for at least 30 years as I think an examination of these knives can attest.
 
Kevin Jones said:
Interesting that both of you referenced economic conditions.

Do you believe a poor economy to an extent stimulates creativity and "new" ideas as makers look to distinguish themselves/their knives from the pack in hopes of capturing sales?
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Interesting question
Does innovation cause economic growth?
or does economic growth cause innovation?.................

I think it is both
They work hand in hand
The entrepreneur spirit (as Joesph Shumpeter call is it) is always alive, to a certain degree, regardless of the economy..IMHO

A poor economy means less capital====>
A knife maker does not have the "extra money" to be innovative
He can't afford the time for one thing
Too busy working to pay bills to have time to make design the new folding knife locking mechanism
Or he can't afford the CAD software. or the CMC milling machine to mess around on

On the other hand is the incentive effect
In a poor economy, the knige maker might have more "drive" to be innovative
and collect the "entrepreneurial profits" for his work
He may see the guy at the table next to him with his blonde girlfriend, Rolex watch, and the Beemer parked in the lot
The guy with the meteorite bolsters and the quad axis liner lock mechanism
It may drive him to work over time in the shop to try and make a new design...

Is there more product differentiation, not product INNOVATION, in sluggish economies?
"to distinguish themselves/their knives from the pack in hopes of capturing sales?"

PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION AND ECONOMIC
PROGRESS

The optimal competitive strategy is to seek ways of differentiating
the firm’s output from that of other firms by creating a product that is
more desirable to consumers. Indeed, this strategy is necessary for the
survival of a competitive firm, because every firm’s competitors will be
looking for those types of competitive advantages, and the firm that simply
follows the neoclassical strategy of minimizing cost with a given production
function will be left further and further behind its rivals. Whereas
the neoclassical framework assumes that competitive firms have homogeneous
products, in fact competitive markets require firms to innovate and
differentiate their products if they want to survive.

Rather, the huge increases in economic welfare have come from the
economic progress that has brought with it new goods and that has
improved the characteristics of old goods. These improvements are the
result of product differentiation, which is the engine that drives the continual
increases in economic welfare that the world has seen since the
beginning of the industrial revolution.
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If you mean Golden Age in terms of INNOVATION?
I would say innovation is an evolving phenomena
The Golden Age is just around the corner
On the horizon
According to Schumpeter, the process of economic
development can be divided into three clearly separate stages. The first stage implies technical
discovery of new things or new ways of doing things, which Schumpeter refers to as
invention. In the subsequent stage innovation occurs, i.e. the successful commercialization of
a new good or service stemming from technical discoveries or, more generally, a new
combination of knowledge (new and old). The final step in this three-stage process – imitation
– concerns a more general adoption and diffusion of new products or processes to markets
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The Inventor’s Role: Was Schumpeter Right?

When was The Golden Age of video recording?
Betamax? VHS? DVD? Tivo? Blue Ray?
When does innovation stop? Does it ever stop?
As long as there are entrepreneurial profits to be had===>
Someone (everyone?) will strive to make their product (and industry) better by designing a new and improved knife
Or at least, different than the guy at the table next to him at Blade
May not be BETTER, but, it's different...........

Following the Schumpeterian line of thought (entrepreneur as an innovator), Leibenstein postulates that the entrepreneurs are gap-fillers i.e. they have the ability to perceive where the market fails and to develop new goods or processes that the market demands but which are not currently being supplied. This can be regarded as a special kind of innovation. He postulates that entrepreneurs have the special ability to connect different markets and make up for market failures and deficiencies. Additionally, drawing from the early theories of J.B. Say and Cantillon, Leibenstein suggests that entrepreneurs have the ability to combine various inputs into new innovations in order to satisfy unfulfilled market demand
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneurial_economics

In Schumpeter, an entrepreneur is a person who is willing and able to convert a new idea or invention into a successful innovation.[4] Entrepreneurship employs what Schumpeter called "the gale of creative destruction" to replace in whole or in part inferior innovations across markets and industries, simultaneously creating new products including new business models. In this way, creative destruction is largely responsible for the dynamism of industries and long-run economic growth. The supposition that entrepreneurship leads to economic growth is an interpretation of the residual in endogenous growth theory and as such is hotly debated in academic economics
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Schumpeter argued that the innovation and technological change of a nation comes from the entrepreneurs, or wild spirits. He coined the word Unternehmergeist, German for entrepreneur-spirit. He believed that these individuals are the ones who make things work in the economy of the country
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneurship

BTW.. Are there any knife makers that use PLATINUM bolsters yet?
Or how about a biometric/fingerprint type of knife opening mechanism?
I did notice one knife maker was selling "low count" Damascus steel
And here, all along, I was always told "more is better"!!! :eek:
 
I think its over stating it to say we are in a golden age of knifemaking. A lot of the stuff I have seen are reworks of stuff that have been around for centuries. The bowie is a 200 old pattern, folders are still not appearing in the variety, decoration and technical accomplishment that was present at the end of the 19th century.

What has got better is the fit and finish on a lot of knives that are being made now. The fit and finish are much better than most of the knives made 100 years ago and equal to some of the best made knives of 100 years ago.

Makers have been quick to use new materials and lock designs and thats where a little golden age is.

But on the whole, we are relearning what was done 100 years ago and that learning process has not ended. After the learning process, we can then see where we can progress.
 
Kevin Jones said:
Consider the extraordinary forged, stockremoval, slipjoint, gentleman folder, art knife and tactical makers of today and the outstanding knives they are currently producing and then ask yourself: "are we in a 'golden age' of custom knives or something pretty close to it in regard to knife design, construction, materials, embellishment and overall quality?"

Examining the knives found in these three links may help.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=612884

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=701878

http://www.knifelegends.com/homepage2.htm

If not, state a period when finer knives were being produced.
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I'll presume the last sentence is more of a rhetorical statement, since we would then get into trying to define what "finer" means. I agreed earlier that many more mastersmiths exist now than before, which means greater quality must surely exist in knives. But not a "Golden Age".

Guess we are just at a semantics stalement. I just don't hear any "hallelujah" chorus goin' on in the background.

Best,

Bob
 
I agree that we will have to look back at some point in the future to see if this is a golden age of knifemaking, but to me, the golden age started back in the late nineteen fifties. From that point there have been evolutions and revolutions, and it will probably continue into the foreseeable future. Knives today are more embellished and use more advanced materials than at any time in the past. There have been times when innovations came hot and heavy, and there have been times when they have come at a much slower pace. I'm not seeing a lot of innovation right now. What I am seeing is a lot more work being put into making knives more beautiful, but not at being more functional.

Do I think we are in a golden age of knifemaking? Yes, but I don't think it started recently, I think it began a long time ago and will continue as long as there are makers that have vision and collectors that demand the most of that vision. The future looks bright.
 
Keith Montgomery said:
I agree that we will have to look back at some point in the future to see if this is a golden age of knifemaking, but to me, the golden age started back in the late nineteen fifties. From that point there have been evolutions and revolutions, and it will probably continue into the foreseeable future. Knives today are more embellished and use more advanced materials than at any time in the past. There have been times when innovations came hot and heavy, and there have been times when they have come at a much slower pace. I'm not seeing a lot of innovation right now. What I am seeing is a lot more work being put into making knives more beautiful, but not at being more functional.

Do I think we are in a golden age of knifemaking? Yes, but I don't think it started recently, I think it began a long time ago and will continue as long as there are makers that have vision and collectors that demand the most of that vision. The future looks bright.
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I very much agree, Keith. A golden age is usually quite long, no?
 
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From Don Hanson................What I am seeing is a lot more work being put into making knives more beautiful, but not at being more functional.







I agree Don
 
Maybe instead of a “Golden Age” it’s a convergence? A time of great makers, better materials, increased visibility / information via the Internet and an affluent audience with more disposable income for the products available.
 
JParanee said:
From Don Hanson................What I am seeing is a lot more work being put into making knives more beautiful, but not at being more functional.







I agree Don
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Joe, Keith said that, I quoted him in my post. I do agree, but we can have beauty and function :cool:
 
I totally agree that we can have function and beauty. It is just that over the last few years, I have seen much more effort being put into adding embellishments to knives than into finding new and innovative designs. There is nothing wrong that, but I don't think it signals the beginning of a golden age of knifemaking.

What has steadily happened is that the collector has been given a much broader selection of great knives to choose from. The innovations of the past are being improved upon and we are still seeing new designs that add excitement within the custom knife community, even if it's not happening at the rate it did in the eighties and nineties. It is a great time to be a collector.
 
I think that we aren't able to tell if we are currently in a "golden age" because we have no way of knowing what is coming next. We may very well see a period in the future where innovation and quality are vastly superior to what we are currently experiencing.
 
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