midtechs, whats the point

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patrickthealmighty

Joined
Apr 4, 2015
Messages
126
I see many people who preach about there sebenza, xm18 or sng but are they really worth it over many high end production knives for example zero tolerance and emerson
 
Perceived value is a personal thing and will vary depending on each persons opinion, likes and dislikes.
 
It all depends what is worth it to you. Do you like exclusivity? Also, do you care about extremely tight tolerances? A Sebenza costs twice as much as a ZT, does not make it twice the knife. It is however a very fine feat of engineering.

I own an SMF and a Sebenza, I would not trade them for any "production" knives.
 
Perceived value is a huge, inseparable feature of knives. ZT is undeniably the king of absolute value; the materials and fit and finish they are achieving on their production knives is second to none.

But some of us place higher weight on some subjective features, and thus will spend more money to attain them. There absolutely is a point of diminishing returns, but that doesn't stop me from spending more on a knife with less absolute value than a ZT. Case and point: most customs.
 
patrickthealmighty said:
I see many people who preach about there sebenza, xm18 or sng but are they really worth it over many high end production knives for example zero tolerance and emerson
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Those aren't really midtechs, those are just high-end production knives made for guys who also make a few customs. Sometimes they have a direct hand in making them but for the most part they are all 100% made by guys working in the shop under the maker's direction.

Midtechs are generally "production" knives made by a custom maker, who usually still has some hand in the making (assembly, blade grind, something of that nature). They're also usually patterned after a hand made custom. The idea is being able to access a custom maker's design and handiwork at a much much lower price. For instance, Southard's "Performance Series" knives, the Tolk and Avo, are half the price or less of one of his customs. The difference between a Tolk or Avo and something like a Spyderco Southard, is that Brad has a hand in making his Performance Series (midtech) knives, where the only hand he had in the Spyderco Southard is designing it.
 
Everything mentioned so far is a production knife...
Just sayin'...

Midtech is a misleading term anyways, people call everything midtech nowadays.
 
I think it just depends on the person. Considering the high quality, lower priced options out there, for me i have no justifiable reason to spend hundreds of dollars on a knife, especially when i'm probably just going to beat it up.
 
Blues Bender said:
Everything mentioned so far is a production knife...
Just sayin'...

Midtech is a misleading term anyways, people call everything midtech nowadays.
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Indeed, of all of the "midtechs" I've owned, I would say that only three have really met the criteria: The Hoback Kwaiback, Southard Tolk, and the CKF Morrf because those are the only ones that I know of where the maker did something other than assemble them and sharpen them.

Brous Blades get called midtechs, which I think more constitutes a production knife from a production company that happens to only have one employee. Production knives are still assembled and sharpened by hand. The rest is done by machines. Doesn't Jason Brous CNC all of his parts and then assemble them? I haven't heard of him doing anything more complicated than that. I think "midtech" is just a catchall term to describe when a custom maker has a production knife made for them, but not made by one of the major knife companies.
 
Misanthropia said:
Indeed, of all of the "midtechs" I've owned, I would say that only three have really met the criteria: The Hoback Kwaiback, Southard Tolk, and the CKF Morrf because those are the only ones that I know of where the maker did something other than assemble them and sharpen them.

Brous Blades get called midtechs, which I think more constitutes a production knife from a production company that happens to only have one employee. Production knives are still assembled and sharpened by hand. The rest is done by machines. Doesn't Jason Brous CNC all of his parts and then assemble them? I haven't heard of him doing anything more complicated than that. I think "midtech" is just a catchall term to describe when a custom maker has a production knife made for them, but not made by one of the major knife companies.
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Very true. I've even heard people calling Reate's midtechs:rolleyes:

I have "customs" that have laser cut parts and CNC'd scales and such. Even though they fit the term "custom" since everything was done by 1 guy, I don't consider them custom. I didn't ask for the clip that's on here, I didn't ask for this steel type, I didn't ask for etc... But I still like the knife:D
 
patrickthealmighty said:
I see many people who preach about there sebenza, xm18 or sng but are they really worth it over many high end production knives for example zero tolerance and emerson
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You really should search for this topic, there have been some really decent and not so decent threads about it. Worth is a relative term, as is the case with much of the opinions on things.


Scurvy092 said:
None of those are mid-techs. They are all high end productions.
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Isn't that exactly what Ken Onion defined a Mid Tech to be? Something that is better than a regular production line knife, with some of the characteristics of a custom; but not quite the level of custom fit and finish/quality? I guess we each have our own ideas, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
 
RevDevil said:
You really should search for this topic, there have been some really decent and not so decent threads about it. Worth is a relative term, as is the case with much of the opinions on things.




[/I guess we each have our own ideas, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing.]
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finally a rationall thinking person on this forum
 
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