Knife Bubble?

Just about every new knife looks like this. I'm starting to get a bit tired of Ti scales.
TqiHDIV.jpg
 
Nellem said:
Buy knives to enjoy them and be prepared to lose money. Few will succeed in making good profit from buying and selling knives and knives with the potential to generate good profits are very expensive to start off with anyway. Either go very serious and pay big $, or just enjoy the ride and take the losses. Sub-$1000 knives have no real long term value so don't let them ruin your day when they lose value.
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Yep. And remember to consider behavioral economics. Psychological biases such as the one-two punch of escalation of commitment and aversion to loss keep the cycle running indefinitely. Then you add compounding interest (if you're buying everything on credit) and you can end up paying $300 for a $200 knife and selling $200 of stuff to buy that new knife earns you $100 in old interest, plus a new knife.

It's best if most people never get into this at all, as not many of us our financially equipped to fill in all the holes it leaves in our pockets. But hey, it still beats compulsive online furry dating, rampant Kabukicho host club addictions, and auto-erotic fantasy sports gambling.
 
Did somebody say auto-erotic fantasy sports gambling?????
How the hell did you know????
Dam
 
What and where are these once popular discounted knives that are languishing on store shelves?
 
I don't see these once popular, overly high priced custom or mid-tech knives selling like they first did. And this includes the Bling that is out there too. It's going to burst. Peeps are wising up, I hope.
Remember the German Luger market??
rolf
 
It's gotten to the point where scrolling through pages of knives the $800+ dollar ones look very similar to ones $200 and less, and the build quality and materials are sometimes better on the less expensive ones. And the designs are all blending together, with little real functional differences to distinguish them--largely it's cosmetic differences only. Too many designs made just to try to be different in a sea of options, and more emphasis being put on hype than on substance.
 
Lycosa said:
I don't see these once popular, overly high priced custom or mid-tech knives selling like they first did. And this includes the Bling that is out there too. It's going to burst. Peeps are wising up, I hope.
Remember the German Luger market??
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Lugers were hot in the 1980's. How about the M1 Carbine market? Got really tired of looking at ones that were slapped together with no matching parts. You couldn't really trust anyone. I'm hoping the Colt market continues. Still have not purchased a mid-tech knife... not really sure what one is anyway. I just buy what I like and don't care what it's called.

Remember the Japanese sword market? Shows were wonderful back in the 80's when all of those old swords started to surface and most people really didn't know much about them. Then the Japanese started buying them back and prices skyrocketed here in the US. The knowledge window opened up rather quickly with a number of good reference books.
 
stog75 said:
Without innovation, we would all be sporting the same Buck 110's we had as kids.
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Some of us still do (or something along similar lones). As I once heard it, we should think that our grandfathers were really ever underknifed.
 
gopeder111 said:
Just about every new knife looks like this. I'm starting to get a bit tired of Ti scales.
TqiHDIV.jpg
Click to expand...


FortyTwoBlades said:
It's gotten to the point where scrolling through pages of knives the $800+ dollar ones look very similar to ones $200 and less, and the build quality and materials are sometimes better on the less expensive ones. And the designs are all blending together, with little real functional differences to distinguish them--largely it's cosmetic differences only. Too many designs made just to try to be different in a sea of options, and more emphasis being put on hype than on substance.
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Not unlike other markets. In the auto industry most sedans and coupes now look like jelly beans. Even the cheap ones perform well. I recently saw a small BMW I thought at first was a Honda. But the old muscle cars of the 60s and early 70s - they're something special.
 
22-rimfire said:
Lugers were hot in the 1980's. How about the M1 Carbine market? Got really tired of looking at ones that were slapped together with no matching parts. You couldn't really trust anyone.
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Big difference is that those items are no longer made unless as copies/homages. Those production lines ceased long ago and the items have a true relevance to world history. There are only so many of the, and their numbers will not increase so they'll hold collector cache even when they're going rate moves up and down. Over the long run, they move up in collectability and in value.
 
The other things is that we absolutely all love knives and variety. But at the end of the day, a Mora, Opinel, 110, Delica, Rat 1, Kabar Dozier is enough knife for daily chores to last a heck of a long time. I went on a walk with my wife last night and was picking through my pile of knives. My hand passed over a PM2, Blur, Whittler. I actually had both the Blur and PM2 in my pocket when I said why do I have these beefy knives in my pocket and I threw the Kabar Dozier in my pocket. I still love buying the knives that I like. I went through a framelock period and they're fantastic especially CRK. But the variety as many others have said of the same thing is just astounding. Ultimately I'm going to end up keeping only what I use and rotate out the other stuff. Not sure if it's good or bad.

I've been trying to find an under $50 Benchmade Nagara no HD logo for the longest time. I couldn't believe that a knife with 8CR steel could get marked up for double the retail price just because it was discontinued.
 
The exceptions will be the Giants, past and present, in the knife business; Loveless, Moran, Dozier, Morseth, Randall, Hartsfield...
 
If you had a pristine Loveless or Dozier would you use it? It's counter to what Loveless said about his knives but I don't think I could do it.
 
I think it is a very interesting market. Is it a bubble? No, I think you've watched too much TV.

There are a variety of factors and probably the most important is how we get information now. 15 years ago, we didn't have as many makers because there was not a market, there was not a fast and quick way to sell your items. You had to hope a distributor would purchase your product and move it for you to a brick and mortar location.

Now there are thousands of retailers, many who are happy buying 1-5 knives. There are also a number of avenues to sell used knives, which makes buying a knife to try less daunting. Buy a knife, don't like it? Ebay it..

More used knives have driven the price of the mass produced knives down, brought up expectations of the buyers.

The real "bubble" if we have to talk about it is the credit bubble and people living on credit vs. what they make. More credit which people mistake as disposable income has led people to buy a $500 knife they normally would not feel they could afford.
 
cchu518 said:
If you had a pristine Loveless or Dozier would you use it? It's counter to what Loveless said about his knives but I don't think I could do it.
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My brother has a Dozier that he uses like crazy. He's a semi professional hunter, sometimes guide, hunting realtor, and food plot specialist so his knives get used pretty much as hard as it gets day to day. He wasn't really aware of what he has, he enjoys knives and has a bunch but doesn't really research or anything. The first time I sharpened that Dozier it had serious chips, and I was a bit nervy. But it sharpens up well and he still uses it.

He has an ESEE 3 and was like "Man, this thing dulls like instantly compared to my Dozier!" I just said "Yeah, that Dozier's in another league."
 
You can kind of see a bubble happening and that because knives are becoming a collectible with intrinsic value. Much like what happened to beanie babies, comic books, pogs, sports trading cards. Kind of a collectible fad.

With knives the same thing is happening. They are being manufactured on a high end scale and then people buy multiples to sell taking them out of circulation.

There is a guy right now on this site who just got the new Alpha beast balisong which only came out like 2 weeks ago which was limited to 400 made limit of two per household. Well this guy apparently brought the two just to resell at a substantial price gouging. Makes you wonder just how many of those guys actually are good for the site. Sure its a capitalist mentality and they may contribute vital info but marking up a item 40% two weeks after it comes out is low. That is predatory like a vulture circling prey.


You have a lot of people now who buy knives to collect and not use. So you're starting to have an abundance of new knives in circulation that just pass through hands never being used.
 
gopeder111 said:
Just about every new knife looks like this. I'm starting to get a bit tired of Ti scales.
TqiHDIV.jpg
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I keep seeing MidTech and some Custom knives from people I've never heard of pop-up on the major sites with $500+ price tags. They all have plain grey Ti scales, and the only differences are the slabs are either satin, acid washed, blasted, or have one or two carvings on them and a maker's name. Does absolutely nothing for me at all. I won't pay $500+ for a "Meh, its good enough for a MidTech knife!"
 
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