- It's not as popular as you think it is. Look at the manufacturer sub-forums, other than the Busse forum (a subculture worthy of it's own study!) the most popular forums are Spyderco, Buck and RAT. None of which really market, make or promote your chosen point of contention. Looking deeper you could even argue that outdoorsman-style cutlery is much more popular based on the traffic in the Wilderness forum compared to the
I'll take that Busse comment as a compliment.
And as I mentioned, if you look at Busse subforum, you'd find a lot of people are using the knifes as an outdoor cutlery. And a lot of the Busse offerings are being made as an outdoor type of knives, with mean names like Battle Mistress or Tank Buster. Which further supports your theory.
But I think that your arguments are among the best presented so far, except for funny but a bit too personal of a stab in the end.
Larry Turko
I can respect that, although I don't understand you at all. Unless you are a pure collector of things meant for killing. And there are that kind of people, I mean there museums of torture and stuff out there, and people who visit them aren't necessarily psychos.
bigbadboom
Its a matter of taste. I will never spend over $120 just so I can put a dingler on my knife. Matter of fact when I first saw a group buy thread on them, I was very confused, as I couldn't believe the concept. But once again its a matter of taste I was thinking of maybe putting a $20 cross pendant on one of my knifes, I'm still considering it, but its not at the top of my list by any measure. As I said its a matter of taste, when I was a kid I loved fantasy knifes, I didn't care about anything if I could have day dreamed with one.
A.P.F.
Satin blade is far from being tactical, as the glare really is a dead give away. I remember people covering their knives in soot just to avoid that. However the tiger striped knife with groves and other mods that you claim to be fit for a safe queen, is actually a lot more likely to be used by an operator then a satin blade which can usually be found in safes or jean pockets.
The OP looks at exactly that, why or what causes us to find those tactical features safe worthy.
My answer to that would be:
If one ever has anything that was properly made, one would like it. The pure craftsmanship of an item is enough to make us marvel at it. And the more resources is spent on making something the better it could be. Knife manufacturers like Strider, Extrema Ratio, Microtech, and others mentioned in the tactical camp, charge substantial sums for each blade, which technically allows them to spend more time refining the quality of their knifes/tools. Therefore after seeing almost all possible designs over the years and the evolution of the knife, the emphasis shifts from the design to craftsmanship, which in itself is an art. You see that concept in watches, pens, lighters, cardholder, tie pins, sometimes pure elegance of simplicity and fine craftsmanship outshines the exaggerated bling of someone who lacks any sense of style. And those that are selling to the military are forced to improve their craftsmanship in order to be able to compete on that market.
So we end up with a lot of well known tactical manufacturers, who advertise to the military and make great stuff. Which in turns is battle tested and approved in combat. The information regarding those blades is easily available, and one can go out and buy a knife with superior craftsmanship and be happy with what he would consider a collectors item (sometimes limited runs add fuel to the fire).
One is generally introduced to knifes as tools from there one does research (for example he can join these forums and ask) and gradually he is exposed to the information based on its availability, and even if you ask about cheap knifes you can use and forget, you'd get one or two responses, like "don't buy crap save up your $$$ and buy a strider/busse/emmerson/spyderco." Even if you don't buy the knifes then, you are already exposed to their existence and you say to yourself when I have the money to spare I'll try it out.
With any other knifes you'd have to go to custom makers or companies that turn to different type of consumer. And those knifes may look neat, but more often then not they aren't battle tested, and you can only judge the craftsmanship by the picture you see on your screen. You can ask, and ask some more, do research, and find a knife that would fit your style a lot better then any of those tactical knifes, and it will have better craftsmanship. And you will be much happier man if you do score a knife like that. But the chance that you'd be exposed to the information about the right manufacturer are a lot lower then seeing a good review of a strider, or sebenza for example. And in this way its not a trend driven by the public, but rather by the demographic targeting methods used by the manufacturers.
I mean, case and point, I saw MercWorx, and loved their design (with me it was, man I wish I had a knife like that when I needed it, so I'll buy it for nostalgia sake, and I'll still use it as a camping knife once in a while.) So I went to look for info on their quality, and came across Strider, the information on strider quality was far more readily available. I even watched a destruction test of one. But since I often murder my blades I wanted the best warranty and when I came here, I was told to check out Busse. I did end up buying two then and there. Now as we say "no regrets." But just 2 days ago I found out about American Kami, great looking knifes with perfect mix of practicality, and with a warranty that attempts to rival Busse's. Now all those knives are chisel ground which a lot of you out there find repulsing. I think its practical and doesn't look half bad. Considering their prices, I might just buy one of his knives when I get the funds together. As I said, it all depends on the availability of information (as does everything in life).
I'm almost willing to bet that nobody got this far in my post, so I'm going to stop now.
:thumbup:
