Okay, I've thought about it, and I think I may like them. I'll tell ya why.
Zytel is not my cup of tea, but there's a whole generation, maybe two, that have grown up with the zytel handle modern knives. Spyderco is a big one, for example. Most of the young guys won't even look at a traditional pocket knife for a couple reasons, one is they are totally unfamiliar with them. Bone handles? old school man.
But give them a material they are familiar with, in a lower cost package, and there just may be some of them that will be tempted to give them a try. Maybe the attraction of the thinner blades and better cutting, maybe the logical draw of having a second blade for either back up or the 'dirty work' could be a draw. I don't know. But having a possible gateway drug may not be a bad thing. Certainly the lower price may help. While they may not buy a 30 to 40 dollar knife just to try out a new type of knife, a 20 something dollar knife may temp one to try it. Heck, a couple premium beers at the pub with his buds will cost that much. If he likes it, he just maybe will brag to his buds how well it cuts. Maybe. If a convert can be won over, to where they just maybe might jump to a more expensive bone handle knife with some nickel silver bolsters and jigged bone, then it may be worth Case's while to have the gateway traditional pocket knife available.
And to be honest, I may not mind having one for trips, like my Key West vacation where I didn't feel like gambling on a sticky finger TSA or baggage handler lifting my amber bone damascus peanut from my bag. If I had one of those zytel numbers, then it may have been my vacation knife instead of my SAK recruit that I left behind as a gift for the grounds keeper. Certainly I would have not felt hesitant about subjecting a zytel stainless peanut or small trapper to the riggers of salt water, humidity, and wet conditions I encountered on my vacation.
For 25 years I carried a delrin handle Buck 301 as my everyday pocket knife, and it served brilliantly, in every condition that could be encountered in some hostile climates. Black saw cut delrin is not really a traditional material, but it worked on my old stickman. Maybe the new zytel stuff will bring a new generation into the traditional world. Heck, lets give it a try. It's a material that the under 30 crowd can identify with, so maybe the guys at Case have an idea of what they are doing. Maybe I'll even try one as a beater knife. Wow, did I just say that?
I do think Case should rethink the color. Maybe yellow zytel or basic black, red, or something other than the tan. I'm not real wild about the color. Spyderco does seem to sell a lot of yellow ladybugs.
Okay, as Grand High Muckba of the cult, I say lets let the zytel peanut in on a double secret probation status, and after a trial run, the cult member must upgrade to the jigged bone to go beyond the base level membership. Hey, we have to get the recruits in the door somehow, huh?
Carl.
