Performance and Community in mid-techs and new brands

[vanadium]

I've owned a lot of sub-$250 factory knives in my time, all knives (or brands) with reputations that precede them. But lately I'm getting caught up in admiring a lot of knives that are, by comparison, almost obscure: the mid-techs, and various higher-priced knives made by companies that (according to some) built their reputations on OEM'ing mid-techs. I'd specifically put Rikeknife and WE Knives in that latter group.

A lot of these knives are really exciting in design, but something's missing for me: I'm accustomed to seeing a community of people discussing the performance of knives, or at least the reputations of the makers. So for example, if some company does a bad heat treat, or makes a real ergonomic goof, I'm probably going to (a) hear about it beforehand, or (b) have a community to talk about it with, to resolve it or at least just compare notes. The whole world of mid-techs and these new mfgr's seems to be missing this to a large extent: You'll often be able to find a review or two, but they'll be focused on design, and tend not to examine cutting performance or long-term quality.

So my question is, how are people deciding to invest in any expensive knife that sees so little in the way of performance discussion or review? I'm amazed to see that Rikeknife has some models around $1000 now, even though it doesn't seem like there's a visible community Rikeknife lovers. Forgive me if this is a dumb question, and I mean absolutely no offense to these makers, but who is buying a Rikeknife or a WE? And, how much does cutting/durability/utility matter to these buyers?

Please, someone tell me these mid-techs and high-end newcomers are all just awesome, with great heat-treats and QC, and that I should just buy one already. Or that these knives were made for flipping and admiration of fit and finish and materials, and that if I want a cutting tool, I should stick to my PM2.

 

[jill jackson]

You can find reviews online of WE knives being used. I didn't do anymore than type in We knife reviews and some came right up.

http://bestpocketknifetoday.com/we-knife-610-review/

 

[Insipid Moniker]

I haven't heard quite as much about Rike, but I've casually stumbled across a bunch of WE reviews without going at all out of my way to look for them. Last I checked there was a pretty extensive thread on them right here on BF.

 

[ToddM]

Summary of the below: If you are mostly interested in function over form, get a sprint series PM2 with higher end blade steel. You'll get better cutting performance than 90% of mid-techs out there and save $.

Of the two you mentioned they are both Chinese makers, so some people may be hesitant to spend $300+ on a Chinese knife. So many might need to handle/experience one to be willing to buy it. I like some of the WE and Rike knife designs, but I'm very much a function over form person, and there are so many great production options that I won't spend $300+ on a knife anymore if it has "average" steel. S35VN is a perfect example, it's not a bad steel, but its biggest advantage is not to the end user, it's to the maker in it's ease of grinding and heat treat. If I can get a host of production knives with S30V/S35VN blades for under $150 there's no way I'm paying $500 for a mid-tech using the same blade steel.

You don't see tons of discussion on mid-tech performance because many of them don't cut any better than $150 knives. You can't blame people for not wanting to talk about the cutting performance of their $450 Sebenza with S35VN steel that doesn’t hold an edge nearly as long as a $150 PM2 or Manix with S110V steel. So why are people are paying $500 for mid-tech knives with S35VN?... simply because for them cutting performance is not the biggest factor in their purchase. They are paying for the rareness of the knife, the maker’s name, and hopefully a significantly higher fit/finish though frankly many also fall short in this area. I went through a mid-tech phase for a while and tried many of the “big name” brands/makers and in the end most of them were not impressive enough to justify the price. Today I only have 2-3 that I’ve kept and they are ones that used high end steels. So there are exceptions and those that have improved quality AND higher end blade steels can be worth the extra cost in cutting performance instead of just social status.

Upper end knives have become more like watches in that they are more fashion statement than performance increase. A $50 Casio G-shock that adjusts it's time nightly by radio signal, keeps more accurate time and will take more abuse than any Rolex will, but people still buy, wear, and lust after Rolex's. We can talk about diminished returns, and sure in most industries as you spend 2x more money you don’t get 2x more performance, but you should get some increasing in performance. A $500 knife with S35VN is actually a cutting performance DECREASE over knives costing half as much with higher end blade materials.