Modern knife era - what defines it

Status
Not open for further replies.
willmtn1

willmtn1

Gold Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2011
Messages
875
I was reading comments on a knife thread somewhere out in the ether and someone made comments about the "modern knife era which evolved about 5 years ago."

I admit to be a knife guy but not a steel guy, also I have a narrow interest in knives so I may not follow along with shifting trends/technology.

Anyways,

What defines this new era of knives? Is it steel usage? Is it a shift in fashion?
 
Knives have been evolving ever since Grog the Neanderthal beat the first one out of bog iron. Modern metallurgy has advanced significantly in the last 20 years, especially with powder steels. Read The Story of Knife Steel by Dr. Larrin Thomas (a.k.a. Larrin on this forum), and his blog Knife Steel Nerds (https://knifesteelnerds.com/). Larrin developed Magnacut, IMHO the best knife steel devised so far.
 
There have been a few big shifts in the past 5 years or so. A lot of models started trending towards flippers that run on ball bearings, and titanium framelocks with a lot of detailed machining became highly available as higher end Chinese manufacturers came into their own. More recently, there's been a push towards thin, lightweight, unobtrusive EDC knives following the success of the Bugout. Even more recently, there have been a lot more button locks after the Malibu became a hit, and crossbar locks after Benchmade's patent expired.

You'll see in the era a little over a decade ago, titanium framelocks were a rarity and a luxury. There were a lot more knives built on steel liners and G10 handles, and the trend pushed heavily towards overbuilt or tactical style knives.
 
DeadPineKnives said:
The line between traditional and modern knives is wide, arbitrary and unclear.
Click to expand...

Agreed. And I'd add "shifting", because time doesn't stand still.

el gigantor said:
When I think about what defines an era change, innovation comes to mind. The creation of the pocket clip and one-handed opening signaled a massive shift in how pocket knives were built and carried.
Click to expand...

I'm down with this. Think of the phrase "modern convenience". One could make a case that Bob Terzuola was one of the most influential forces bringing folding knives into the modern era, and by that metric, I'd even call Spyderco a "hyper-modern" influence.
 
willmtn1 said:
I was reading comments on a knife thread somewhere out in the ether and someone made comments about the "modern knife era which evolved about 5 years ago."

I admit to be a knife guy but not a steel guy, also I have a narrow interest in knives so I may not follow along with shifting trends/technology.

Anyways,

What defines this new era of knives? Is it steel usage? Is it a shift in fashion?
Click to expand...

Have no idea what that fella was talking about. It would help if you would reference the thread so we can see the context.
The only thing I can think of that happened in the last 5 years is the inclusion of bearings in the pivot, essentially turning knives into fidget toys. A lot of fellas now insist that a knife needs to snap open, even if it does not have a spring mechanism. Personally, I never needed to have a knife that snapped open. But some folks think the cool factor is important.

In the Traditional Forum, we differentiate between "traditional pocket knives" and "modern knives".
We set the line at "one-hand opening" and/or "inclusion of a pocket clip".
And we set the proof question as, "Would a man of the 1950's who saw the knife, consider it a standard knife?"
 
knarfeng knarfeng

It was somewhere on Reddit... so not in this realm. They were ripping on a knife company they felt has fallen behind the times.

I hadn't thought of the rise of high end China knives being released into the market and how that would impact the industry. The utilitarian Benchmades I fell in love with 20 yrs ago are all long gone now and replaced with fancy stuff.
 
willmtn1 said:
knarfeng knarfeng

It was somewhere on Reddit... so not in this realm. They were ripping on a knife company they felt has fallen behind the times.

I hadn't thought of the rise of high end China knives being released into the market and how that would impact the industry. The utilitarian Benchmades I fell in love with 20 yrs ago are all long gone now and replaced with fancy stuff.
Click to expand...

This should make you feel better:


Benchmade2 (1).jpg
 
DaveHS said:
Is this K’roo modern or traditional? Everything about the slipjoint function, construction and design are traditional.
View attachment 2985543
Click to expand...

Beautiful traditional. But that beer is pretty thin - or is it ice tea ? :)

willmtn1 said:
I was reading comments on a knife thread somewhere out in the ether and someone made comments about the "modern knife era which evolved about 5 years ago."
Click to expand...

The only thing that changed 5 years ago was Covid, and everybody started buying more knives WFH. :)

On a serious note, I came to like BF's traditional definition.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top