Knife Publications–Where would we be without them?

My anecdotal proof that knife mags are still important, at least to a maker: We took out our first ad in the Blade issue out on stands now. I have already received 10 calls to date and sold 2 knives and took orders for 7 others. 9 out of the 10 callers are not on the forums, and had never been to a knife show....their only exposure to our knives has been through the mags, I know because I conducted a survey! In essence, we now have 9 NEW collectors/buyers......pretty nice return for one ad.
 
tntbegg said:
My anecdotal proof that knife mags are still important, at least to a maker: We took out our first ad in the Blade issue out on stands now. I have already received 10 calls to date and sold 2 knives and took orders for 7 others. 9 out of the 10 callers are not on the forums, and had never been to a knife show....their only exposure to our knives has been through the mags, I know because I conducted a survey! In essence, we now have 9 NEW collectors/buyers......pretty nice return for one ad.
Click to expand...

I'd have to agree. I have no ads published yet, but that Tactical Knives piece on my folder this month has generated dozens of inquiries.

I have a two-page waiting list into my next batch--most of which came through the TK story.

After all, no one's gonna want your knife if they don't know it exists!
A lot of mag readers don't visit forums.
 
JCaswell said:
A lot of mag readers don't visit forums.
Click to expand...

Very true. We who frequent the forums and generally make significant use of the web can sometimes forget that there are a whole bunch of people out there who don't.

Roger
 
Joe Kertzman's pithy comments make me want to smack him with a big ass thesaurus..and I have personally chided him about this, explaining what a great fire he has been allowed to tend....he's clueless....Ken Warner is simply a MUCH better editor
Click to expand...

I have to agree with this. I would rather read something relating to the knife or maker than some of the comments that are there, but the book is great. I think I have them all.

I think all the knife magazines are good and either subscribe or buy them when I can. The articles are mostly informative, with the caveat that just because it is in print doesn't make it so. They don't always have something that interests me, but they are a great way to get your name, web site and knives in front of a lot of people. While the internet is great and we utilize it as much as we can, some of our best customers don't even own a computer and don't want one. They depend on Blade, Knives Illustrated, Knives XXXX, and Tactical Knives for their information. I guess we also depend on the magazines, but for customers. It seems the magazines are how most of our customers find out about our web site.
 
RogerP said:
Very true. We who frequent the forums and generally make significant use of the web can sometimes forget that there are a whole bunch of people out there who don't.

Roger
Click to expand...

I agree as well.
And there's also lots of knife folks who don't frequent the forums or read the mags.
They are only interested in the knives.

One collector who was recently asked about joining the CKCA said he wasn't really interested because he only collected one maker. In other words, not really interested in everything that surrounds custom knife collecting, but just one particular maker and his knives.

Very interesting in my opinion as there's many different approaches.
 
Last edited:
Fellas,

I seldom make comments on these issues, BUT ... thank God for the new wave of knife and steel education brought on primarily by the knife magazines in the last 30 years! When I started at a forge in my teens help in any form was very hard to find, but slowly and surely knife magazines came to my rescue.
Thank God also for the pioneers who blazed the trail for us knifemakers, be we amateur or pro. I feel a personal debt to Wayne Goddard and Ed Fowler and many other great authors who cared enough to create the articles advising the many thousands of us eager to learn this craft, helping us achieve near-perfection ... until our craft has become an art. And it was all done with MAGAZINES.
Sure, eventually it grew to include Books and Videos and Classes and then Internet Access, but it could never have happened without the aid of Magazines. Let's give credit where credit is due.
I have three fairly large boxes of these magazines that I've saved over the years, and I regularly go back to re-read certain articles again ... for they are great reference material. A world of education is contained in those three boxes, and they are very valuable to me. Many happy hours have been spent in the light of their knowledge.
I'm not negating the internet; I use it often too ... but the bulk of my meager knifemaking education came from those magazines. Honestly, where would we be without them?
I do have one suggestion for the magazine companies ... We knifemakers are mostly interested in (1.) Custom Knives, and (2.) Articles helping us to perfect our craft. We'd like to see (3.) much Less Advertising, maybe limiting size to that of a business card or so, and (4.) better Color Picture Quality throughout. Maybe all the major magazine manufacturers could get together and produce one truly Super magazine with US in mind ... call it CUSTOM KNIVES, and include the things in it that WE most desire!
Whadaya think?

Sgt1000.
 
And it should be sent as a free complementary subscription to all "custom knifemakers" too, right? Or how much are you actually willing to pay per issue for this no ads and great color magazine?
 
Sgt1000 said:
Fellas,

I seldom make comments on these issues, BUT ... thank God for the new wave of knife and steel education brought on primarily by the knife magazines in the last 30 years! When I started at a forge in my teens help in any form was very hard to find, but slowly and surely knife magazines came to my rescue.
Thank God also for the pioneers who blazed the trail for us knifemakers, be we amateur or pro. I feel a personal debt to Wayne Goddard and Ed Fowler and many other great authors who cared enough to create the articles advising the many thousands of us eager to learn this craft, helping us achieve near-perfection ... until our craft has become an art. And it was all done with MAGAZINES.
Sure, eventually it grew to include Books and Videos and Classes and then Internet Access, but it could never have happened without the aid of Magazines. Let's give credit where credit is due.
I have three fairly large boxes of these magazines that I've saved over the years, and I regularly go back to re-read certain articles again ... for they are great reference material. A world of education is contained in those three boxes, and they are very valuable to me. Many happy hours have been spent in the light of their knowledge.
I'm not negating the internet; I use it often too ... but the bulk of my meager knifemaking education came from those magazines. Honestly, where would we be without them?
I do have one suggestion for the magazine companies ... We knifemakers are mostly interested in (1.) Custom Knives, and (2.) Articles helping us to perfect our craft. We'd like to see (3.) much Less Advertising, maybe limiting size to that of a business card or so, and (4.) better Color Picture Quality throughout. Maybe all the major magazine manufacturers could get together and produce one truly Super magazine with US in mind ... call it CUSTOM KNIVES, and include the things in it that WE most desire!
Whadaya think?

Sgt1000.
Click to expand...

Aye, there's the rub. I am sure that there are still a few publications, probably mostly professional journals, that are able to publish based on revenue from subscriptions or membership dues, but I could not name one off of the top of my head.....maybe the Lancet. The "fanciest" knife mag that I have seen as far as print, paper, photo, bindery, etc, is Excalibur. With that said, it was chocked full of ads and the LOCAL cover price......not the cost to get it in the US........was 8 Euros or somewhere north of $12 at their table at SICAC last year. I hear tell that there some in Japan that are even fancier. Advertising is what allows you to publish, so unless we can find a group of people sufficiently large to pay $20+ per issue, then the likelihood of getting a high quality glossy with limited advertising is pretty darn slim.
 
Sidehill Gouger said:
And it should be sent as a free complementary subscription to all "custom knifemakers" too, right? Or how much are you actually willing to pay per issue for this no ads and great color magazine?
Click to expand...

The advertisements don't bother me, in fact I welcome them.
I do like the concept and would support a "customs only" magazine with high grade photos and would expect it to cost a little more even with the advertisement.

Not sure such a magazine would be successful though as I'm surprised at the number of custom knife enthusiast I know who don't subscribe to blade because they feel the $20-$25 per year is too high. :confused:
 
Last edited:
Kevin Jones said:
Not sure such a magazine would be successful though as I'm surprised at the number of custom knife enthusiast I know who don't subscribe to blade because they feel the $20-$25 per year is too high. :confused:
Click to expand...

I have subscribed to custom knife mags that cost much more (i.e., La Passion des Couteaux). Those $20 - $25 are simply too much for something like Blade Mag.
 
Joss said:
I have subscribed to custom knife mags that cost much more (i.e., La Passion des Couteaux). Those $20 - $25 are simply too much for something like Blade Mag.
Click to expand...

There's MANY that will disagree with you Joss as Blade's monthly worldwide distribution is enormous.

There are issues that I will spend less than 15 minutes looking over, but others I spend hours with. Just the per-Blade Show (July issue-thousands given away at Blade) and post Blade Show issues (Oct 08-distributed next month) are more than worth my subscription cost.

From a collector's standpoint, when I look back over how much information I have picked up from Blade, KI, David's books, Knives annuals and such over a relative short period of time, it becomes obvious how they have impacted and continue to impact the collectible knife industry. However this will only continue as long as we support them.
 
Kevin - I was just responding to your skepticism. There is a market for a higher end custom knife publication even among people who don't want to spend their money on Blade mag. It might or not be enough from a purely business standpoint, I don't know.
 
Long after the most important forum threads have passed into oblivion, the pages of a magazine will still be alive. So will the images.

I have a literal library of knife books, and Annuals from 1981-present.

Imperfect? Yes. Invaluable? Absolutely.

Coop
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top