Bingo! The only "needs" involved are the needs of the cutleries and makers to cover costs and labor and make a profit for the owners which allows them to stay in business! To this end... it is exactly as a famous professional fisherman once told me about his newest fishing lure on which I was working on a patent application. "Fishing lures aren't designed to catch fish better than others. Fish have no money. They are designed to catch fishermen!"
:thumbup: So true. I haven't found the industry advertising to be too aggressive or offensive, mainly because it doesn't have to be. Retailers are responsible for most of the industry advertising, and they're usually not real imaginative when it comes to promoting their wares. Clownish knife-makers like Lynn Thompsom and Cold Steel, on the other hand, do plenty of over-the-top propaganda -- but they don't typically use 'super-steels'.
If I did see Cold Steel-type ads from Crucible, Bohler or Hitachi, I'd probably have a knee-jerk reaction against their products. In this case, the steel companies can't be bothered, and Spyderco are admirably restrained. After a quick introduction to the steel in question, they don't say much more about it. You're not likely to see Sal or Eric Glesser making embarrassingly juvenile YouTube videos about ZDP-189 or HAP 40, stabbing dead pigs and car doors and whatnot. Their superficially strange and -- to some -- ugly designs tends to attract customers who want quality and performance over looks.
I think many appreciate the fact that Spyderco doesn't treat its customers like mall-ninja douche-bags, but as intelligent people who like sharp, pointy things. Long before I became interested in knives, I loved physics and chemistry. When I became acquainted with the different blade steels, I loved to speculate about what certain elements might improve or compromise a steel's performance, what improvements differing ratios of carbon, chromium, vanadium, molybdenum, tungsten, niobium, nitrogen, etc. might yield.
This will twist the meaning of the nice little quote above, but oh well: all Spyderco had to do was show up, on this particular fishing trip. They didn't bother baiting the hook or casting. They simply told us fishies there were some super-worms available, and most of us just leaped into their boat. But I have fun with it all. I enjoy reading and watching Jim Ankerson's reviews, but I'm also becoming more interested in better sharpening methods to increase efficiency, durability and create a sharper cutting edge, and learning more about heat treatments and optimal hardness. I don't expect others to be as fascinated by any of this as I am, and I realize long-time members like yourself might find this pointless. I will say, however, that I actually like 'old-timey' methods and materials, and traditional Bowies, Fighters, and Camp Knives. Some of the makers on BF are creating some amazing, beautiful, handmade knives for very reasonable prices, and I prefer seeing those knives made with 1095, W2, O1, and Damascus, instead of CPM 154. It's just a preference, since S110V seems completely out-of-place on a coffin-handled Bowie.
