Moving on from production knives

K.O.D.

K.O.D.

Sell your cloak buy a sword
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Tastes change, we all know that. However, I've come to the point that very few production knives interest me, and whenever do see one, it's always made by Reate or WE. Nothing against them, it's $400+ is too much for a knife made in China. Also, it seems to have become a trend to "design" knives but not actually make them, but have a company, usually from Asia, make them for you. It used to be a custom maker would collaborate to offer an attainable, affordable version of what they make. I was cool with that. These custom makers have experience making knives, not just drawing what they think is cool and outsourcing it.

The last production knife to interest me was the Pro-Tech Malibu, and while I've carried mine a few times, never cut, the hot spot clip is making me consider selling it or trying to bend the clip.

Last summer I bought a Cheburkov and a Biryukov, and they are my two favorite knives. It was a big expenditure for me, but its basically made me fully move on to midtech and custom knives only.

I gave away 4 knives last month to my half sister, her husband, and my niece and nephew. I had just met them.

This hobby is so strange sometimes. It's seems as though the past ten years even though the market has become flooded with new makers and new designs, the less interesting production and even midtechs are to me. I've always been one that values uniqueness and variety. So I've basically revised my budget to allocate for 2 or 3 high end/custom knives per year.

TL;DR

Has anyone else come to this point where production and even midtech are uninteresting? I'm sick of full titanium framelocks. I have one, and while I love it, it's black DLC. I don't get the metal scales on a PM2/3 etc. They are lightweight knives, why make them heavier?
 
Im not sure where I stand on this..

I love GOOD production folders. I have handled a few custom knives and have never really been blown away by the quality to cost aspect.

Granted there are a few customs out there I REALLY want.. and that's what I'm working towards right now as there is little knives out there right now that are tugging at my heart strings more than a Lochsa.
 
I agree, the designer "made in china" knives hold absolutely no value to me. Some of them are unique but mostly variations on an old design. I have moved into low and mid range custom knives. The high end custom are just too costly to justify. The low to mid range knives will grow in value over time. There is a PLSK-1 on E-bay listed at over $1200 that probably sold originally for under $200. It may not sell at that price but who knows. That being said the cost of even the more mass produced in the USA knives have risen to a pretty high cost as well.
 
K.O.D. said:
Has anyone else come to this point where production and even midtech are uninteresting?
Click to expand...

Mostly. Occasionally a knife comes along that I just have to have, like the Manix XL in Cruwear recently, or a rare Gen 5 Sheepsfoot XM18 that suddenly popped up out of nowhere at a good price.

Then again, these days I'm mostly interested in fixed blades. That move opened the door to another world, with the makers on BF being now the main attraction to login here.
 
The whole "design a knife" thing is pretty old. I'm tired of it.
It's start isn't from social media "influencers" either, believe it or not.
I first saw it in the 90's, In the beer scene.

Marketing companies, little start up ones, some genius right out of college thinks he's good with photoshop designs a beer label. Like That's a Real Job? haha.

Well.... he/she gets the idea to farm out the work, and "Open a brewery"
it's called contract brewing.
Some Other REAL brewery making Your beer.
There was a point where almost Half the micro's weren't making their own beer..... Hell, Samuel Adams didn't have a brewery for the longest time! just a marketing campaign.
They ended up needing one, I heard, Just so they could have brewery tours, haha and it gives them some street cred, Now.
idk if anyone actually makes beer now?


But....... I'm seeing the Same thing with knives the last 10 years or so.
Someone else does all the work!
 
Have kinda gotten there with fixed blades, but not folders.
 
Crag the Brewer said:
The whole "design a knife" thing is pretty old. I'm tired of it.
It's start isn't from social media "influencers" either, believe it or not.
I first saw it in the 90's, In the beer scene.

Marketing companies, little start up ones, some genius right out of college thinks he's good with photoshop designs a beer label. Like That's a Real Job? haha.

Well.... he/she gets the idea to farm out the work, and "Open a brewery"
it's called contract brewing.
Some Other REAL brewery making Your beer.
There was a point where almost Half the micro's weren't making their own beer..... Hell, Samuel Adams didn't have a brewery for the longest time! just a marketing campaign.
They ended up needing one, I heard, Just so they could have brewery tours, haha and it gives them some street cred, Now.
idk if anyone actually makes beer now?


But....... I'm seeing the Same thing with knives the last 10 years or so.
Someone else does all the work!
Click to expand...
Two Brothers here in the Chicago area makes their own, I did a tour of their brewery back in 2015 as part of my bachelor party. Have a Two Brothers shirt actually. I believe New Glarus in Wisconsin still makes their own, and you can't buy it outside Wisconsin.

I understand about the label design, but charging $500 for a knife made in China at the same factory as $30 Sencuts disturbs me.

Today my Alan Davis custom comes, its out for delivery.

ferider said:
Mostly. Occasionally a knife comes along that I just have to have, like the Manix XL in Cruwear recently, or a rare Gen 5 Sheepsfoot XM18 that suddenly popped up out of nowhere at a good price.

Then again, these days I'm mostly interested in fixed blades. That move opened the door to another world, with the makers on BF being now the main attraction to login here.
Click to expand...

While I appreciate fixed blades, I don't really have a "use" for them. I do have one custom, a one off from Warpath Strategies last summer in St. Louis, made from a farrier's rasp. Cool knife. If I (ever) get a chance to go camping etc, it will be perfect.

I'm a terrible fidgeter (adhd, RLS, etc) and while I have bolt-action pens and other stuff to fiddle with, to me, there is nothing as satisfying as opening and closing folding knife quickly.

I enjoy the production knives I have, but seen nothing else that peaks my interest in that category, and I don't believe in owning multiples, though that may change with customs if I like the maker a lot.
 
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Not so much.
I understand the need to move past the current price of production for a decent knife.
I have no need for more knives. Except my new fascination with se. Which is still well under the 400$ mark.


Beyond 300$ for a knife doesn’t make much sense to me. I would have a hinderance to use such a knife. If that’s where you are then enjoy the ride.
 
I have a few custom FBs, nothing fancy: Dozier K1 General Purpose with jiged bone grips; an Ivan Campos American Tanto in D3, an awesome chisel grind, and another Campos blade, a Scandi in 1070 handled in ivory-ebony by Kris Klammer of Edmonton. No custom folders; my Sebbie 21 seems the pinnacle for my tastes. All my knives are users, I don't have any just to look at.
 
Not there (yet) but can totally understand the sentiment.

Not only the oversaturation aspect in general, coupled with the overly outsourced to China (by even iconic brands like Buck) to cut costs, as well as the "designed by" overpriced PRC-made mid-techs, but also the oversaturation of blatant clones and counterfeits becoming more and more rampant through Chinese bulk sites, and not only nothing being done to stop it, but such a large portion of complacent consumers actually ok with it, even supporting it, is becoming more and more disheartening....

For me there are still a few companies and models out there that I like and still want, whereas the full on customs, particularly in the folding market, rarely appeal to me as they often tend to be too fancy for my liking, too expensive, (I was so nervous handling "just" an $1800 custom William Henry at a store a couple years back, so I'm pretty sure that outside of winning the lottery, for my current blue collar middle class comfort zone, $1500 is a HARD cap, even though I've yet to top $1k), or many more are just too plain Jane for me to pony up that kind of cash just because it was hand made...

However I will say that the traditionals, and the fixed blade markets, those 2 are getting more and more likely that I will go full on customs sooner rather than later. Locking folders however, I've already slowed down some, but will more than likely stick in the midtech realm for quite a bit longer, and would more than likely start tracking down specific hard to find, discontinued models, before I jump to customs...

But that said, I get it.... Looking forward to reading about some of those customs from you in the future...
 
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I’m kind of the opposite. After sampling some higher end knives, it’s just made me appreciate Spyderco all the more, and I’ve gravitated back to my favorites there for edc folders. The diminishing returns weren’t enough to grab me on the high end. But I certainly appreciate them.

100% with you on Chinese products. That’s always been a hard no for me.

But I’ve always been more drawn to fixed blades anyway, so folders are much less alluring to me than many folks I think. And in the fixed blade world, other than Carothers, customs are the draw for me.
 
I have been into customs for while but still pick up an occasional mid tech. I have two makers that I seem to patronize ( Alan Davis and Eliot Maldonado) and one or two a year.
 
I don’t find myself moving into custom knives yet but I am not too excited about what I see in the production knives marketplace. I am simply buying fewer knives. I mean like one or possibly 2 a year because I am just not thrilled with what I am seeing.
I have no interested in knives made in China. I don’t care who designs them.
 
I'm fine with budget folders from companies that do them well. I feel like that's where the Chinese companies shine with stuff like the sub-$100 knives from Kizer, Civivi, etc.

I'm generally less excited about premium production folders from China. Part of that is my expectations and pickiness rising with the price tag. Some is that knowing that getting a good heat treatment on super steels is important and you can generally count on a better job from something like Spyderco's American-made knives. As the price continues to climb though, it just becomes an issue of what else is available. For instance, $500 can get you a new Cheburkov with more attention to detail and an excellent heat treatment.

I have an especially hard time justifying more expensive production fixed blades. There are just too many talented makers on the exchange here offering custom work at competitive prices. Even with "budget" materials, how could I justify buying the new Spyderco Enuff 2 in VG-10 for $168 when I can get a TFK in N690 made to order here for less?

BTW, that's exactly what I did...

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