How come you never see william henry forums

V

Vermont woodsman

Joined
Jan 22, 2005
Messages
212
Chris reeve has loyal sebenza lovers , and benchmade has thier loyalists, but ive never read to much about william henry. I know they make alot of models, so you would think they would have a fallowing, so what gives?
 
To have a company forum, I think you need to have the company sponsor one.
 
Cold Steel is bigger than William Henry, and they don't have any forums, either. It's not the size of the company or the loyal following, it's the willingness of the company to support a forum. A small shop with no time to spare will not bother. The makers concentrate on a quality product, and probably on taking their work to knife shows.
 
They have a loyal following, they are called "buyers". :p

Seriously, Matt Conable is still doing work on the blades and unlike Chris Reeve, doesn't have a wife to volunteer for forum duty.

They have a sales manager, Rick, but Rick doesn't strike me as the forum-moderator type. They provide excellent customer support (I know, I currently own 5 of their knives), but I imagine that they spend their public relations time and money elsewhere.

When they were still in Santa Cruz, it was right around 10 people. Now that they have moved to McMinnville, Oregon, they have grown to 17 people. If they continue to grow like that - who knows?

One thing to remember is that WH spends a lot of time and energy creating very "customized" versions of their standards patterns using more exotic and expensive materials - their energy seems to be more focused there than anything else. If you are interested go to their home page on click on "collectors" and then register (it is free) and marvel at page after page of exotic $1000 knives all marked "SOLD". They release these one-offs every couple of months.
 
They are a very small company. They are tied up with other stuff I'm sure.

That, and the people who buy most William Henry knives probably already know William Henry knives! :D
 
Besides, I hope they are busy with their new products. I'm anxiously awaiting my B12-SZD. Titanium and snakewood handle with damascus clad ZDP-189. Yum! :D
 
They're too smart to have a forum. Manufacturer's forums can be a double-edged sword. They instantly become a public customer complaint forum. Forums then provide an easy way for one or two flaws to become a "problem." They provide an easy method to compare prices and dealers, favoring dealers with an internet presence. If I wanted to maximize retail price, I wouldn't be want to favor internet dealers. Forums are an easy place to waste staff time answering questions from people who will never buy your product, particularly at WH prices.
 
brownshoe said:
They're too smart to have a forum. Manufacturer's forums can be a double-edged sword. They instantly become a public customer complaint forum. Forums then provide an easy way for one or two flaws to become a "problem." They provide an easy method to compare prices and dealers, favoring dealers with an internet presence. If I wanted to maximize retail price, I wouldn't be want to favor internet dealers. Forums are an easy place to waste staff time answering questions from people who will never buy your product, particularly at WH prices.
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Internet pricing isn't going to be an issue anymore. I believe William Henry is going to MAP pricing.
 
Steven, I don't know what "MAP Pricing" is, but I do know that they have put a moratorium on "internet" discounting and that will not allow any of their authorized dealers to sell new knives on Ebay (and presumably, other auction venues).

Some dealers will still bypass those rules by purchasing from the larger wholesalers and then selling at a discount but usually, they get found.
 
Architect said:
Steven, I don't know what "MAP Pricing" is, but I do know that they have put a moratorium on "internet" discounting and that will not allow any of their authorized dealers to sell new knives on Ebay (and presumably, other auction venues).

Some dealers will still bypass those rules by purchasing from the larger wholesalers and then selling at a discount but usually, they get found.
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MAP = Manufacturers Approved Pricing

I believe they have quit selling to distributors as well. I'm betting you won't find any of the new buttonlocks for less than retail. Anyone who would sell below retail is risking their dealership.
 
Steven Roos said:
Besides, I hope they are busy with their new products. I'm anxiously awaiting my B12-SZD. Titanium and snakewood handle with damascus clad ZDP-189. Yum! :D
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:drools all over himself:
 
It's really too bad because I like their knives.

But I consider WH knives to fall in to the "rich man's toy" category--definitely not for the "working man".

Allen.
 
I do not think that William Henry's are rich man's toys, although some of the high end jobs are jewelry with a blade.

What the knives are is an extension of what Benchmade, then Microtech started. That is, the highest quality production knives made in America, if not the world. The prices are reasonable for the quality you get. The problem is that many, many people do not want to pay for quality, they don't even understand the difference. I don't hang out with these people, so I do not pretend to understand the mindset, I have only been to a Wal-Mart once, for work, at 2:00 am. It is a scary place.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
I have always admired the William Henry line. Hopefully someday I will own at least one. It would be nice if they had a forum, but they seem to be doing just fine without it.

Paul
 
PWork said:
I have always admired the William Henry line. Hopefully someday I will own at least one. It would be nice if they had a forum, but they seem to be doing just fine without it.

Paul
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Well, William Henry isn't very good with the whole website thing, but hopefully soon there will be a site going with all the new William Henry Buttonlock stuff. ;)
 
They don't have a forum of their own, but we can sure talk about them here! I love William Henry knives. They are such little jewels. I'd love to see something bigger from them, but they seem to be very successful being the high end production Gentleman's knife. There's plenty of makers addressing the high end tactical folder market, but not so many chasing the market that Matt Connable has identified and excelled in. Their stuff goes from sleek, light and competent to the lite side of mid sized and beautiful.

I have a T10-CF. It's the smallest folder I own besides the Victorinox SAK classic. Certainly the smallest locking folder. It's an amazing little knife. With the jeweled Ti liners, razor sharp ATS34 blade and carbon fiber scales it is an amazing little piece of engineering.

Their higher end pieces are just amazing and hardly qualify as production knives.

John
 
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