Holy Trinity?

Who should be the third member of the holy trinity of US knife making, after CRK and Hinderer?

  • Strider

  • Les George

  • Demko

  • Spartan Blades

  • McNeese

  • Koenig

  • Medford

  • Other

Results are only viewable after voting.
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Blade Lab

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CRK, Hinderer, and Strider have long been referred to as the "trinity" of American mid-tech knife making, but today, many question Strider's inclusion in that select group. There's no shortage of contenders for that third spot. Who would you choose and why?
 
I’m leaning Demko. Demko came out with innovation, design, performance and multiple models/blade types and a fixed blade. There are also the Demko customs that are absolutely incredible.

Koenig almost got my vote but I ended up voting Demko.
 
John Phillips said:
I’m leaning Demko. Demko came out with innovation, design, performance and multiple models/blade types and a fixed blade. There are also the Demko customs that are absolutely incredible.

Koenig almost got my vote but I ended up voting Demko.
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I only picked Les over Demko because the actual Demko brand is relatively new, even though he's been an industry force for a good while. Also, by sheer volume, I suspect most of Demko's knives are imported from Taiwan.
 
Blade Lab said:
I only picked Les over Demko because the actual Demko brand is relatively new, even though he's been an industry force for a good while. Also, by sheer volume, I suspect most of Demko's knives are imported from Taiwan.
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This is a fair point
 
TBD. There's a reason the "Holy Trinity" only ever comes up when discussing a third brand that isn't CRK or Hinderer.
 
oldmanwilly said:
Kind of an open-ended question. My gut says Sal Glesser, but I'm not certain what the criteria are. Regardless, Sal is a titan of modern American knife design and manufacturing. He's got my vote.
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Sal is in a class of his own, with numerous models of must have/try. My meager collection is 50% Spydercos, 20% ZT, and 30% miscellaneous. Did I do the math right?
 
I don't believe the term is relavant today. It originated from a time when CRK , Hinderer and Strider stood out, makeing knives in a new catagory. Rather than a production or a custom they were making high end productions that had a lot of custom/ hand work. Today there are loads of high end production knives. The knife world has caught up with them and in some cases passed by them. Practically every custom maker now has a production line.
 
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norcalAF said:
Sal is in a class of his own, with numerous models of must have/try. My meager collection is 50% Spydercos, 20% ZT, and 30% miscellaneous. Did I do the math right?
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I definitely would have included Sal, but I consider Spyderco more of a production knife maker, as opposed to mid-tech/semi-custom. I don't know ... maybe those lines have become blurry. I'd have another category for Spyderco, Benchmade, ZT/Kershaw, Pro-Tech, Microtech, etc.
 
John Phillips said:
I’m leaning Demko. Demko came out with innovation, design, performance and multiple models/blade types and a fixed blade. There are also the Demko customs that are absolutely incredible.

Koenig almost got my vote but I ended up voting Demko.
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I voted Demko as well. I like that my AD20.5 come with studs and a hole opener, though I wish I could remove the stud.
 
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