Monterey Bay Knives Laconico Minpin out!

Or Laconico simply realizes he can make more money in mass production AND get his work into more people's hands. There is nothing wrong with that. It was part of the Bauhaus premise.
 
vanadium said:
It sounds like Ray cares more about getting his art into people's hands than generating investment opportunities. That choice earns my enduring respect.
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I probably didn't word that well, but I have no problem whatsoever with the licensing projects (as an very happy Keen owner). What I should have said is Ray should consider making some custom/semi-custom Keens - it is an AWESOME design.
 
I confess I would like it just a bit better with a full flat grind drop point. But that's me.
 
vanadium said:
It sounds like Ray cares more about getting his art into people's hands than generating investment opportunities. That choice earns my enduring respect.
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Would you rather sell 1000 production knives at $25 (?) profit or 50 custom knives at $150 (?) profit?

A well done production run for any maker is a cash cow, and certainly comes into play when choosing how to run your business.

Can’t say I blame Ray or any other maker, but don’t think for a second that money is not a huge deciding factor.
 
IMHO, if he can position himself as a designer, and not a sole craftsman, he's demonstrating business acumen.
 
marchone said:
Or Laconico simply realizes he can make more money
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JH225 said:
don’t think for a second that money is not a huge deciding factor
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marchone said:
he's demonstrating business acumen
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Okay, so really explained myself wrong. When I said that Ray was more interested in getting work into people's hands, than generating investment opportunities, I was talking about investment opportunities for other people — the secondary market.

Sure, Ray and MBK stand to make good money from this endeavor. But someone commented that it would devalue his customs. All I'm saying is, I respect an artist who's willing to take that risk, even if it upsets the status quo.
 
The trick will be to differentiate the customs from the mass produced designs.

To paraphrase Mick Jagger, "Never blow all your ideas at once." Although that might be the exact quote. Dunno. I'm old and forgetful, but you get the idea.
 
My Minpin showed up yesterday. Wow, I'm super impressed! Beautiful hollow grind, great fit and finish. I would have preferred either a deeper grind for better slicing, or a full flat grind w/ thinner blade stock, but this works good as is, and is very nice on the eyes. Not the best slicer, but competent, and thinner behind the edge than I would have guessed w/ the blade stock. Handles are slightly contoured, and feel great in hand, especially when choking up to use the half choil in front of the flipper tab. Detent is perfect - on the stronger side, super snappy, and makes for a great flipping action. No loctite on the screws, which I like, but needed a drop of the blue on the pivot screw to keep her from getting loose. I'm going to put her through the paces for the next couple days and will report back...
 
Agartha Audio said:
My Minpin showed up yesterday. Wow, I'm super impressed! Beautiful hollow grind, great fit and finish. I would have preferred either a deeper grind for better slicing, or a full flat grind w/ thinner blade stock, but this works good as is, and is very nice on the eyes. Not the best slicer, but competent, and thinner behind the edge than I would have guessed w/ the blade stock. Handles are slightly contoured, and feel great in hand, especially when choking up to use the half choil in front of the flipper tab. Detent is perfect - on the stronger side, super snappy, and makes for a great flipping action. No loctite on the screws, which I like, but needed a drop of the blue on the pivot screw to keep her from getting loose. I'm going to put her through the paces for the next couple days and will report back...
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Thank you for the shares of your first impressions here and on Reddit. I’m hoping we get a decent amount of reports back from early buyers!
 
Agartha Audio said:
My Minpin showed up yesterday. Wow, I'm super impressed! Beautiful hollow grind, great fit and finish. I would have preferred either a deeper grind for better slicing, or a full flat grind w/ thinner blade stock, but this works good as is, and is very nice on the eyes. Not the best slicer, but competent, and thinner behind the edge than I would have guessed w/ the blade stock. Handles are slightly contoured, and feel great in hand, especially when choking up to use the half choil in front of the flipper tab. Detent is perfect - on the stronger side, super snappy, and makes for a great flipping action. No loctite on the screws, which I like, but needed a drop of the blue on the pivot screw to keep her from getting loose. I'm going to put her through the paces for the next couple days and will report back...
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Sounds very good. I am very attracted to this Laconico design.

A couple nights ago a put my Keen on the Wicked Edge, and it is one helluva slicer - very thin behind the edge. I set the bevel at 18.5 degrees per side, for a reasonable 37 degrees inclusive. The way it is cutting now, I see no reason to go more acute. Factory edge was pretty close to symmetrical (much better than most are) - it was a breeze to make it perfect.
 
RBid said:
Thank you for the shares of your first impressions here and on Reddit. I’m hoping we get a decent amount of reports back from early buyers!
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All good man. Really loving this knife, and feeling the MBK designs and mission. Trying to spread the word for sheerly selfish reasons - if they thrive, then we get more of these great Laconico designs done well at an amazing price point!
 
Agartha Audio said:
All good man. Really loving this knife, and feeling the MBK designs and mission. Trying to spread the word for sheerly selfish reasons - if they thrive, then we get more of these great Laconico designs done well at an amazing price point!
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Same. Part of the reason I was blowing them up here and on reddit was out of concern that they were under promoting. Same with Alliance. If those brands do well, we may get a Jasmine (teased by Alliance), Beagle, Fossa, or even more new designs as we got with the Keen. That excites me. Prior to the Keen coming out, my favorite Laconico designs were the Jasmine and EZC, and each of those has been interpreted by Kizer, so far. I love the Gemini and Ursa Minor, and the thinner blade stock they use, so I’m good with what they did with those. Having said that, a Beagle with .12” blade stock, built by WE or the Minpin OEM, would pretty much blow my mind. I’ve been thrilled with the Keen (obviously— I have two), and by the positive response to the Minpin.

Interestingly, we’ve now got so many options for production Laconicos that we can be a bit selective. If you’d have told me 8 months ago, “Reate is going to build a slight tweak on an EZC, and you won’t buy one”, I would have said, “you’re a lying liar-pants who lies, and I don’t need you in my life.” Yet, here I am, with two Keens, no EZE, and no Minpin (so far).
 
RBid said:
a Beagle with .12” blade stock, built by WE or the Minpin OEM, would pretty much blow my mind.
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Oh man, I googled that one, and am with ya 100% brother. Wow, what an awesome design - that blade shape, grind, size, and front flippage makes it a pretty complete "no brainer best edc" for my needs. Shit, that needs to happen asap!!!
edit: I really like the regular flipper version too. Lines on the beagle are phenomenal regardless!
 
Any more feedback on this model? I hear that more will be available very soon.
 
AF said:
Any more feedback on this model? I hear that more will be available very soon.
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So far, the feedback has been 100% positive around F&F. Dr Frunkey has a first impression vid up. Good for size perspective.
 
I received mine and I am very impressed. It fits my medium sized hands perfectly. My pinky finger tucks just behind the return portion of the handle at the butt and really secures the knife in hand. The flipping action is superb and I’ve yet to have a failed launch. It’s an effortless deployment though I will say that pressure on the lock bar will make the detent slight harder to overcome. I’ll second the statement that it needs a small amount of blue lock tight to keep it from loosening up. Since then it’s been solid as a rock. No play any direction. Zero lock stick despite not having a steel insert. The blade feels flat ground to me and it’s thin behind the edge. For grins, I got the calipers out and measured .015- .018 consistently along the length of the blade. The primary and secondary grinds are damn near perfect. My only negative critique would be that the peak of the flipper tab is a bit sharp. You can feel it when you reach into your pocket. I feel that they could have provided a larger radius and made it more comfortable without compromising the flipping action.

I guess you could say that I’m flying high on Laconico over the last couple months. Between this and the Keen, there’s been very little else occupying pocket time.
 
Lighting sucks, but here ya go.

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Blkfrncis said:
I received mine and I am very impressed. It fits my medium sized hands perfectly. My pinky finger tucks just behind the return portion of the handle at the butt and really secures the knife in hand. The flipping action is superb and I’ve yet to have a failed launch. It’s an effortless deployment though I will say that pressure on the lock bar will make the detent slight harder to overcome. I’ll second the statement that it needs a small amount of blue lock tight to keep it from loosening up. Since then it’s been solid as a rock. No play any direction. Zero lock stick despite not having a steel insert. The blade feels flat ground to me and it’s thin behind the edge. For grins, I got the calipers out and measured .015- .018 consistently along the length of the blade. The primary and secondary grinds are damn near perfect. My only negative critique would be that the peak of the flipper tab is a bit sharp. You can feel it when you reach into your pocket. I feel that they could have provided a larger radius and made it more comfortable without compromising the flipping action.

I guess you could say that I’m flying high on Laconico over the last couple months. Between this and the Keen, there’s been very little else occupying pocket time.
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Per Sanford, the lock face is heat treated like the lock bars of the customs. The Minpin is a very true representation of the custom knife.
 
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