Help me get caught up.

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Livefreeordie92

Joined
Jan 14, 2012
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353
So I’ve recently revisited the knife hobby after a five and a half year hiatus. Seems like a lot has changed. I still remember the days of XM-18s being $800 minimum so I’d go to bladehq and buy a Strider, and now it’s the other way around! Have one of those on the way, with a CRK large Inkosi micarta planned to replace the large classic micarta I never should have traded. So what else is new and what’s changed?
 
Livefreeordie92 said:
So I’ve recently revisited the knife hobby after a five and a half year hiatus. Seems like a lot has changed. I still remember the days of XM-18s being $800 minimum so I’d go to bladehq and buy a Strider, and now it’s the other way around! Have one of those on the way, with a CRK large Inkosi micarta planned to replace the large classic micarta I never should have traded. So what else is new and what’s changed?
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I'd say the shift in attitude on Chinese made knives.
WE, Reate, etc.
They've really proven to be serious contenders and personally I held out as long as I could (I bought a mid-tech last year that unbeknownst to me was manufactured by WE and after disassembly, inspection, use, I was completely impressed) and now I own at least one from each of the major producers.
 
Barman1 said:
I'd say the shift in attitude on Chinese made knives.
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Yep. I think that is the big theme. Lot's of american custom makers and designers are getting limited production runs of their designs being made by WE or Reate or Kizer. Like Barman1 Barman1 , I am really impressed with the quality. MBK, Berg Blades, Liong Mah, to name a few.
 
Barman1 said:
I'd say the shift in attitude on Chinese made knives.
WE, Reate, etc.
They've really proven to be serious contenders and personally I held out as long as I could (I bought a mid-tech last year that unbeknownst to me was manufactured by WE and after disassembly, inspection, use, I was completely impressed) and now I own at least one from each of the major producers.
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I got a Reate in 2014 and a new one recently, and while I like them they still don’t have the same feel as my CRKs or Striders did as far as it being MY knife that I take apart, clean, and do all of the maintenance on. Maybe I’m weird like that, or just haven’t been back into the hobby enough yet, but I’m still not 100% sold.
 
There has been surge in the popularity of quality traditional slipjoints. Particularly American made.--KV
 
Livefreeordie92 said:
I got a Reate in 2014 and a new one recently, and while I like them they still don’t have the same feel as my CRKs or Striders did as far as it being MY knife that I take apart, clean, and do all of the maintenance on. Maybe I’m weird like that, or just haven’t been back into the hobby enough yet, but I’m still not 100% sold.
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I was a serious holdout but they've worn me down a bit.
My 3 most carried are US designed and manufactured but I do appreciate the variety and innovation that the aforementioned have to offer.
Right now I'm chasing a couple of Italian made folders that will be released this week, lots of innovation going on in that neck of the woods as well.
 
This isnt new but...
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/mick-strider-has-some-explaining-to-do.453852/

Other than that spyderco made some changes. No more red locktite, disassembly doesn't void warranty anymore but once you disassembled its yours, no more mule team, new catalogs should have knives that will be released soon and not be delayed for 1-2years.

Spyderco sprint runs sell out fast

Lots of trendy shit happens that's really annoying in the knife world. For example m390/204p/20cv exploded regardless of knife designs or heat treatment, it's the best lol.

Alot more designers or makers are using Chinese OEMs to bring small batch knives to market.

Check out https://knifesteelnerds.com

Axis lock patent is no longer a thing.
Doug Ritter made a new axis lock with houge and it's really good.

Crk makes a slip joint now. Still continues to use s35vn despite the demand for 20cv/m390 etc.

Will Moon still makes horrible knives but keeps getting social media to rep him like he has no issues.

With that reddit community is repping really bad makers like will moon, garath bull etc.

ZT is still being zt... Really horrible social media out rage crying and yelling at customers. Still overly thick behind the edge and art knives. They still have the same poor lock geometry that will fail. Kershaw China has alot of qc issues.

Tony from microtech sued a blogger and zt. Along with some of his family and a whole lot of others. Not to mention a bit more crazy Ness.
 
Oh also, G&G Hawk makes an OTF which has zero blade play (aptly called the deadlock) but is currently still above 1K in prices. Rumors say it will get cheaper. In that same vane, Hawk makes an side auto for $400 that can take all the abuse you can give it called the MUDD. (protip: KnifeCenter has some inventory in stock at this very moment.)
 
Some big trends:

1. We have a new generation of super steels, and also some oldie-but-goodies are having a resurgence - AEBL has become more widely available in thicknesses suitable for knives and is earning a reputation as one of the toughest of the stainless steels.

2. Spyderco has really expanded their upper-tier knives produced in Taichung. A lot of high-quality (and high-dollar) collaborations have poured out in the last few years.

3. The Italian and Chinese makers have exploded into the high-end production markets. LionSteel, Reate, and WE are really knocking it out of the park, and Fox, Kizer, and others are filling in the midrange.

4. There's been a trend in traditional slipjoints being made in modern materials. CRK has a slipjoint. LionSteel is making some stellar modern slipjoints. Benchmade has several slipjoints in G10 or micarta and S30V.

5. OEM small-batch production of midtech knives has exploded with the advent of small, ultra-high quality shops like Millit, Three Rivers, Reate, and We now pouring midtech designs into the market.
 
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I find that even when the knife industry changes my tastes seem to stay mostly the same.
 
Mo2 said:
ZT is still being zt... Really horrible social media out rage crying and yelling at customers. Still overly thick behind the edge and art knives. They still have the same poor lock geometry that will fail. Kershaw China has alot of qc issues.
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People still make stuff up on the internet.

Survive still can't figure out how to deliver knives paid for three years ago. And thus, had their subforum shut down here.

Makers like carothers performance knives are knocking the fixed blade market out of the park with designs and their delta 3v.
 
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rubberdog said:
D2 is being used in lots of budget blades, never used to see that a couple of years ago.
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I wonder why it took so long given that D2 has been ubiquitous as a tool steel for so many decades. Should have been cheap.
 
Livefreeordie92 said:
So I’ve recently revisited the knife hobby after a five and a half year hiatus. Seems like a lot has changed. I still remember the days of XM-18s being $800 minimum so I’d go to bladehq and buy a Strider, and now it’s the other way around! Have one of those on the way, with a CRK large Inkosi micarta planned to replace the large classic micarta I never should have traded. So what else is new and what’s changed?
Click to expand...

Barman1 said:
I'd say the shift in attitude on Chinese made knives.
Click to expand...

And I was about to describe how that shift related specifically to Strider but Mo2 already linked to a great article about it.

I think it's actually been very well covered by the first few posts, except for what I would argue is misinformation about ZTs locks by Mo2, but that's a very hotly debated issue at the moment.

I'll add that it seems to me that we've hit an awesome time period where there are loads of really great steels available for prices that 5 years ago you just wouldn't see. Kershaw Blur in and Buck vantage both in S30v for about $80.

Buck is charging ahead like a pissed off rhino into the high value territory. The Spitfire is available in S30v and linen micarta for all of $60 on Copper and Clad. They have also massively expanded the old classic 110 lineup with micarta models, lightweight models, slim models, etc... all available in some very nice steels. SKBlades even has the lightweight models in CPM154 for $40!!!

Kabar has set up a "custom shop," which puts out limited runs of some interesting stuff as well.
 
rubberdog said:
D2 is being used in lots of budget blades, never used to see that a couple of years ago.
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D2 was made popular by the USA makers like Dozier, Carrothers etc with really good heat treatments. So China cought on to the savings and the trend. But they couldn't replicate the heat treatment. But knife buyers don't know the difference because they are mostly budget customers. It's better than 8cr13mov but rust prone. So for the cost it's good for them.
 
Mo2 said:
D2 was made popular by the USA makers like Dozier, Carrothers etc with really good heat treatments. So China cought on to the savings and the trend. But they couldn't replicate the heat treatment. But knife buyers don't know the difference because they are mostly budget customers. It's better than 8cr13mov but rust prone. So for the cost it's good for them.
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I wouldn't call D2 rust prone. D2 is a "semi-stainless." Personally, I've never had it rust on me. You could absolutely make it rust if you try, but that's not really being "prone" to rust...
 
19-3ben said:
I wouldn't call D2 rust prone. D2 is a "semi-stainless." Personally, I've never had it rust on me. You could absolutely make it rust if you try, but that's not really being "prone" to rust...
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Yea, I mean it depends on the ht. Most of the China stuff rusts super easy. I mean unless you take care of them. My China d2 rusts unless I oil it. The USA stuff doesn't seem to rust easy at all. Go figure.
 
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