Most significant impacts in the knife industry in the last 10 years?

[elkins45]

What new models or makers really impacted the knife industry since 2015? New designs, new locks, new steels? What are the best things that have happened for knife enthusiasts in the last decade?

 

[Crag the Brewer]

What You wanted to know?..I'll say Magnacut.

Edit.....I'm going to rephrase my answer.:
Dr. Larrin Thomas has made many positive changes.

 

[91bravo]

Carothers has come a long ways. I remember buying/using their knives and participating in their forum before everyone knew who they were. Now, everyone wants a CPK. D3V is some of the best cutlery steel out there right now.

 

[Railsplitter]

This only addresses your last question but numerous switchblade bans throughout the United States were repealed in the last 10 years.

That was a game changer for me and many others.

 

[Crag the Brewer]

This only addresses your last question but numerous switchblade bans throughout the United States were repealed in the last 10 years.

That was a game changer for me and many others.

Good answer, I wasn't thinking that way....
My state too, within the last 15-20 years declared that knives are Not weapons.

 

[Delgadonine]

How easy and fast it is to get something. A quality knife. KNIFE! Not some other addiction. Business models have changed dramatically. Small business owners, such as the many makers herein, can survive through any corporate flood.

 

[chevyrulez1]

This may not qualify as it goes back a few years earlier, but the Benchmade Axis lock. In my opinion, it was a breakthrough in ease of use and strength.
I guess in my mind how that fits into the original post is that their patent expired in the last few years, which has had a huge impact on the knife world. Now most manufacturers are incorporating the axis (crossbar) lock into their products lines in lieu of frame locks/liner locks, etc. giving us stronger more reliable knives than ever, while still being easy to open and close one handed.

 

[ferider]

1) Online business; Amazon, for instance:



2) CNC

3) Yes there are new production steels, but I feel that's less important than the availability of more and better data on knife steels, for example at knifesteelnerds.

 

[Mick Boardman]

Demko

 

[Fonedork]

Cheap Chinese knives of higher and higher quality, contrasting the winding down of historic knife makers in Japan, closure of Crucible industries in NY, etc

 

[Alberta Ed]

New steels, culminating with Magnacut, stand out for me.

 

[kobold]

I echo the above, the flood of Chinese knives and the widespread use of CNC machines?

 

[RIBob]

For a good many people, perhaps the closure of Ontario Knife Company: https://bluebusinessmag.com/is-ontario-knife-company-going-out-of-business/

 

[mitchnola]

Knife enthusiasts buying and supporting knives made overseas is still a relatively new development that we’ve yet to see and feel the full ramifications yet. I fear it will end in the same results as mom n pop shops having to compete with Walmart. We all know how that ended.

 

[ferider]

Knife enthusiasts buying and supporting knives made overseas is still a relatively new development that we’ve yet to see and feel the full ramifications yet. I fear it will end in the same results as mom n pop shops having to compete with Walmart. We all know how that ended.

Goes both ways, though: much easier to support a local maker - e.g., in Eastern Europe - today than it used to be.

Similarly, the growths of online business and CNC usage that I mentioned above has downsides, too.

 

[edgelion]

Leveraging the partical steel process to better control the ingredients and fine tune recipes in order to target more desirable traits specific to knives, and the accompanying transparency about the research and calculations behind it all. 30 years ago, I could name maybe 3 kinds of steel off the top of my head, with vague awareness of several others. Ten years ago I very casually found out about a dozen competing steels for knives alone. Today I possess knives in a greater variety of steel than I ever imagined, know of each of their particular strengths and weaknesses, the ideal use cases, and the best way to care for and sharpen each one. And they keep coming up with new and better formulas.

I'd say shared knowledge has had the most significant impact.

 

[mitchnola]

Goes both ways, though: much easier to support a local maker - e.g., in Eastern Europe - today than it used to be.

Similarly, the growths of online business and CNC usage that I mentioned above has downsides, too.

I agree, it’s much easier to find and support smaller, local knife makers. But usually supporting these guys mean buying higher end more expensive knives. But these same makers have never had to compete with high quality mass produced knives from overseas that compete with them directly in their price range. E.g. 10 years ago absolutely no one was buying mass produced knives from china in the $4-500 range.

Also related to this same issue is what seems to be a trending business model based off of what I’ve seen at bladeshow the last few years is established makers or even someone with no knife making experience just comes up with a design and has it manufactured overseas but prices and acts like it’s a midtech knife. Two examples off the top of my head, Chavez and Arcane designs.

 

[conan11]

52100
01
8670
1095
15N20
AEB-L
Magnacut
110V
Z-Max
3V
D2
N690
These are all steels that I have got from custom makers on this forum. From NC, NY, CO, GA, Canada, Romania, Croatia and Greece.
Outstanding knife makers on this forum alone.

 

[Seedy Lot]

Larrin Thomas

 

[SharpBits]

Well, S! left a massive impact crater.