Knives we are considering to boost our efforts to raise funds for charity.

[sabre cat]

How about scales in a dark blue with the stonewashed/polished blades you posted above?

Or maybe a run with desert tan scales sporting a black blade, clip and screws.

 

[Thomas Carey]

How about scales in a dark blue with the stonewashed/polished blades you posted above?

Or maybe a run with desert tan scales sporting a black blade, clip and screws.

The last option is very much what we have in mind now. The handles are aluminum so the best coating for it is to anodize. We have had on another project bronze color anodize done which gives you sort of that desert tan to Flat Dark Earth type of color and it looks great with black. Here is a sample.

I spoke with Dave at Pro-Tech about that and he is not sure how close his vendor can get to that. The hope is if we said a sample they will be able to do it.

 

[Thomas Carey]

As far as aesthetics are concerned,colors, and such I would nto get too crazy. Always best to keep it simple. Ask Dave to make you a couple customs with Damascus as well, you could raffle those off on your site.



While that would be nice, the charity chosen is veterans.

Thanks for the great suggestion of a special few customs done in Damascus. I spoke with Dave and has some blades we can use though those few version would also be automatic's. We would then raffle or auction off those in some way with 100% of the proceeds to go to charity.

In the past we have done up special one of wrist watches which we have done that sort of thing with. In that case we supplied the watches to a charity that then auctioned them off in a special auction they held to raise funds I believe at the big NRA national show.

What I am wondering is if there would be some way to auction one of at the next Blade Show.

 

[Thomas Carey]

Here is an update. We are taking the next step and having a prototype made up. We are not sure if Pro-Tech's vendor for anodizing will be able to hit the color we are after. Samples have been sent to them for an attempt.

At this point I am guessing we would most likely have just 50 of these made up with 1 or 2 special ones added with Damascus blades. We would like to be able to do up more but our guess is that interest will be limited somewhat.

Also here at Minuteman we are trying to figure out what will be the best way to put the word out about this effort. If any of you have some suggestions please let us know. =)

 

[Thomas Carey]

In addition to the Pro-Tech knife which we covered in our original post.

We are in talks with the folks at Southern Grind about offering a small fixed blade which we would be able to price at around $100 thus more people would be able to afford one. For that effort we are considering a Flat Dark Earth version of their Rat.

In addition the brand is getting ready to offer a new smaller size folder and we may opt to do something with that. As the price of that would be higher we are not sure which direction we should go and would love to hear your thoughts.



Next up we have been in contact with the fine folks at Queen Cutlery about the idea of offering a classic Queen knife in a special combo of some sort.

We are very tempted to offer something with a modern high performance steel. There are some questions here with this idea.

1. Can they offer the knives in a steel we would like which we would like to use one which they have to date not used.
2. What would such a knife cost and thus what would we have to price that out.
3. Will the demand be there to allow us to make 300 of them which is what we would need to have produced in order to get something done up in a non standard blade material.
4. Which style of knife should be used.
5. Should a classic handle material, or modern one be used and which one exactly.

Please let us know your thoughts. Offering all three in one year may be too difficult for us to pull off. If we offer just one or two which one would you suggest we select?

 

[jstrange]

I love Southern Grind, but am not too partial to small neck knives in general. I am likely in the minority in that opinion however. Zac Brown does a lot for charity also so the two companies should be a good fit. Pro-tech would also do an awesome job as well. Consider the Wounded Warrior Project as the charity. Regardless of what you choose, I must say that this is an awesome idea and I appreciate you looking for feedback here. Keep up the good work.

 

[Thomas Carey]

I love Southern Grind, but am not too partial to small neck knives in general. I am likely in the minority in that opinion however. Zac Brown does a lot for charity also so the two companies should be a good fit. Pro-tech would also do an awesome job as well. Consider the Wounded Warrior Project as the charity. Regardless of what you choose, I must say that this is an awesome idea and I appreciate you looking for feedback here. Keep up the good work.

Thanks so much for the input. As far as Wounded Warrior they are popular but our issue is they spend a lot of money on marketing and their CEO. Which means only about 60% of the funds they take in go to their charitable programs and the rest goes to admin, marketing etc. We really like to work with a charity in which at least 80% of the funds they take in go to the folks that actually need it. In the past we have been lucky enough to find two groups in which 100% of the funds they take in go to the folks that really need the help.

 

[Colorodo]

I would offer the first two and keep them the same color and if possible have a skull put on the fixed blade also. If you use a lanyard keep them the same also. Red,white and blue could also be used in the lanyard.

 

[Thomas Carey]

I would offer the first two and keep them the same color and if possible have a skull put on the fixed blade also. If you use a lanyard keep them the same also. Red,white and blue could also be used in the lanyard.

Never thought about the Red,white, and blue lanyard which could be a good way to get that color in and if people don't like it they could simply swap for something else. =)

 

[jac_solar]

4. Which style of knife should be used.


Please let us know your thoughts. Offering all three in one year may be too difficult for us to pull off. If we offer just one or two which one would you suggest we select?

Lanny's Clip usually looks awesome on classic folders. And, I would think, it's a blade shape that most people like. So, I think a single blade Lanny's Clip slipjoint with carbon fiber, micarta, g-10, or some type of wood frame, with or without bolsters, with a 3" - 3.5" long, 0.14" thick blade, would look great.

Ie

It shouldn't be too traditional, in my opinion. With a decent thickness and length, and modern materials like carbon fiber or G-10, it can more easily appeal to a wider demographic. It shouldn't be too expensive, and it should have a stainless steel of sorts in my opinion, even though, I think, it's more common for traditional blades to have carbon steel. 440C, D2 would probably be more than good enough, but a higher end steel, like S30V or S35VN, or a super steel, like ZDP-189, if you could get it at a decent price, would be even better. Since a slipjoint traditional knife will, or should, be used only for slicing and cutting, high edge retention should be the goal.

A sodbuster with a lanny's clip, if possible, would also be awesome, and I would guess that it'd be easier to manufacture.

 

[Thomas Carey]

Love the Lanny's Clip suggestion and other suggestions on blade steel etc. =) The single blade should really help to keep costs down.

 

[leghog]

What percentage of your net on each item will go to charity?

 

[Lost Cosmonaut]

A manual Pro-Tech with no skull, dark bronze anodize (like the Sig Sauer P220 Combat) and the two-tone stonewash/satin blade would be a buy for me. Can't do auto and not a fan of skulls all over the place. Much more a fan of just a simple look.

 

[jstrange]

Lanny's Clip usually looks awesome on classic folders. And, I would think, it's a blade shape that most people like. So, I think a single blade Lanny's Clip slipjoint with carbon fiber, micarta, g-10, or some type of wood frame, with or without bolsters, with a 3" - 3.5" long, 0.14" thick blade, would look great.

Ie

It shouldn't be too traditional, in my opinion. With a decent thickness and length, and modern materials like carbon fiber or G-10, it can more easily appeal to a wider demographic. It shouldn't be too expensive, and it should have a stainless steel of sorts in my opinion, even though, I think, it's more common for traditional blades to have carbon steel. 440C, D2 would probably be more than good enough, but a higher end steel, like S30V or S35VN, or a super steel, like ZDP-189, if you could get it at a decent price, would be even better. Since a slipjoint traditional knife will, or should, be used only for slicing and cutting, high edge retention should be the goal.

A sodbuster with a lanny's clip, if possible, would also be awesome, and I would guess that it'd be easier to manufacture.

Nice suggestion jac. Definitely my favorite traditional pattern. I would prefer a 3.5" or bigger blade.

Also, thanks for the info on the Wounded Warrior Thomas, didn't know that, and wanting more $ to go to the charity definitely makes sense.

 

[Thomas Carey]

Hope to have some updated info for you fine folks soon.

 

[sabre cat]

A manual Pro-Tech with no skull, dark bronze anodize (like the Sig Sauer P220 Combat) and the two-tone stonewash/satin blade would be a buy for me. Can't do auto and not a fan of skulls all over the place. Much more a fan of just a simple look.

I have to agree.

 

[Thomas Carey]

I have to say I really had planned to do them with the skull. But with so many suggesting we do them without. We might do them sans skull on the knife. Also I am thinking we are going to do Red, White, and Blue on the lanyard with skull there. If you like it you can keep it on the knife and if not it can be easily removed.

 

[Noswad0208]

I have to agree about the skulls. I don't really like them being all over either. I'll be a skull soon enough, I'd rather not go around with one on me. I have to admit I do have a shirt with a skull on it, but only got it because of the Patrick Henry quote on it.

Take my words with a grain of salt, I won't have the cash to buy one anyway. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Thomas Carey]

It's been awhile since my first post in this thread about a new knife effort. Currently we are working with Pro-Tech and here are some photo's of the first test mule.

At this point we are not sure if we will have the skull in the handle or not.

 

[jazub]

Wow, that looks sick with the skull. Never tried a Pro-Tech but the combo you show there looks fantastic. :thumbup: