POLL: Branded pivots vs. branded blades

Do you prefer branding on pivots or the blade itself?

  • Total voters
    25
SwissHeritageCo

SwissHeritageCo

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jan 8, 2021
Messages
3,217
The trend of clean blades and branded pivots seems to be spreading and I'm not a fan. I have my first branded pivot knife on the way... but my plan is to try to grind the branding off. On the other hand, branding on the blade itself doesn't bother me at all. What say you?
 
Locutus D'Borg said:
I never heard of this. Some makers put their name on the crown of the blade, which is a good option IMO.
Click to expand...

You mean on the spine like Laconico? Not sure I get your meaning by "crown".

Some companies that do branding on their pivots: WE, Civivi, QSP.
 
I don't like "billboarding" on blades and doubly so on Damascus. The exceptions are when it is tucked away nicely. For instance, small print on the spine such as in Ray Laconico's designs is fine. (I think that is what Locutus D'Borg Locutus D'Borg was talking about.) There, it could even act as a light jimping.

Another good example are the WE and Civivi knives that brand the pivot and then make any blade writing very small and at least partially hidden by the edge of the scale. Another is Petrified Fish or other brands printing on the flipper tab. Coincidentally, the branded pivots used by WE, Civivi, and a few other brands also have a rear notch to capture the pivot screw. The Sencut budget line from WE spares this expense and as a result, the pivots are free-spinning. Of course, using a D-shape would work but they are apparently not set up for that. 🤷‍♂️
 
A trademark on the pivot does not bother me at all, but I like having the trademark and type of steel on the blade. I think it would be best to have the trademark on both to discourage fakes, since counterfeiting a trademark is a federal crime, and importers and sellers can face jail time.
 
Last edited:
In theory I like the idea of a custom pivot, could be a nice touch that shows some attention to detail. But I can't think of one that I've seen that I really like, unless you count CKF's signature off center slot or the partial slot Shirogorov uses.

It's something that really irritates me about We Knife's products; the logo isn't visually appealing and some of their offerings would look so much better without it in a prominent position. Even worse, they always use a high contrast dual tone with sharp edges. My Reazio and Arrakis would look more like custom knives if they had done a small logo. On the other hand, I do like the way it looks on my Reiver since it matches the design language of the rest of the knife:

sjdhqRZ.jpg
 
Chronovore said:
I don't like "billboarding" on blades and doubly so on Damascus. The exceptions are when it is tucked away nicely. For instance, small print on the spine such as in Ray Laconico's designs is fine. (I think that is what Locutus D'Borg Locutus D'Borg was talking about.) There, it could even act as a light jimping.

Another good example are the WE and Civivi knives that brand the pivot and then make any blade writing very small and at least partially hidden by the edge of the scale. Another is Petrified Fish or other brands printing on the flipper tab. Coincidentally, the branded pivots used by WE, Civivi, and a few other brands also have a rear notch to capture the pivot screw. The Sencut budget line from WE spares this expense and as a result, the pivots are free-spinning. Of course, using a D-shape would work but they are apparently not set up for that. 🤷‍♂️
Click to expand...
I definitely agree that less is more, when it comes to brand graffiti on a Damascus steel knife blade.

A lot of knife logos add to the look of the blade: Hinderer, Benchmade, Kansept, Joker, Cudeman, LT Wright, GiantMouse, and many others. I'm in fact a bit disappointed that Lion Steel doesn't have an awesome logo on their knife blades, but at that scale it can be difficult to have a lion's head that didn't look terrible.

A lot of companies add information on their knife blades and for the most part I don't mind. Casstrom are one of the big offenders when it comes to getting a bit busy on knife blades for the sheer joy of it, but I still like their knives. I like the way Spyderco put their coded maker marks on their blades.

52820858631_2aa5d3fbbc_b.jpg
 
Simple branding on the blade like what RHK does is perfectly fine. Busy branding like most ZT knives are not. The wording of "first production xx of yy" on some Benchmade knives is a big turn-off. "Broken Skull" on a Cold Steel folder is purely stupid. Like a poster said, branding on the pivot would require a huge pivot if the logo and the steel are to be included, which should be the minimum. Of course all these are IMO.
 
Tsujigiri said:
In theory I like the idea of a custom pivot, could be a nice touch that shows some attention to detail. But I can't think of one that I've seen that I really like, unless you count CKF's signature off center slot or the partial slot Shirogorov uses.

It's something that really irritates me about We Knife's products; the logo isn't visually appealing and some of their offerings would look so much better without it in a prominent position. Even worse, they always use a high contrast dual tone with sharp edges. My Reazio and Arrakis would look more like custom knives if they had done a small logo. On the other hand, I do like the way it looks on my Reiver since it matches the design language of the rest of the knife:

sjdhqRZ.jpg
Click to expand...

It's the reason why I'll never own a WE or Civivi, which is a shame because I hear they are good knives.

The WE logo would look so much better if it were just on the blade.
 
SwissHeritageCo said:
It's the reason why I'll never own a WE or Civivi, which is a shame because I hear they are good knives.

The WE logo would look so much better if it were just on the blade.
Click to expand...

Maybe a budget Sencut is right for you. Despite owning a lot of fancier or "better" knives, they end up in my pocket on a regular basis. I also feel freed to get two for a scale swap or practice different mods on them. Like the Civivi knives from WE, they run their 9Cr18Mov closer to 60HRC where its edge retention is decent.

This one is my favorite. It's a scale swap with refinished scales, deleted lock-bar jimping, and Skiff bearings.

AfrMz1W.jpg
 
SwissHeritageCo said:
It's the reason why I'll never own a WE or Civivi, which is a shame because I hear they are good knives.

The WE logo would look so much better if it were just on the blade.
Click to expand...

They did forgo the pivot logo on the new Ziffius, and did a low profile engraving on the clip instead. Hopefully that's something they do more of in the future...
 
For me it really depends on the knife. Either way I prefer unobtrusive. My WE Deacon had a tiny mark on the blade near the pivot to indicate M390, and the WE emblem on the pivot was fairly subtle too. I'll take that over the billboards on Kershaw, ZT, Microtech, and Emerson. This looks worse on coated blades. Unless it's a limited edition, I don't need to know what it's production/serial number is.

If you are going to provide a lot of info, put it where I'm not constantly going to notice. I like that about my Heretic Manticore E. It's on the spine of the handle, and a barely noticeable "S35VN" etched in the blade.

I like the the way Andrey Biryukov does his. Very subtle stylized "A" with the blade steel and HRC. The other side has in a fine font "Made in Russia." It's a fine, artistic, and unobtrusive font and style. Relevant information that is only there if you look for it.

Cheburkov has less markings, but it's more obvious. It is cool how they put the year made in the tang near the lock up.

Alan Davis just has his name stylized at the base of the blade.

99.9% of the people (in real life) I meet/know won't care what the make, model, steel, etc my knife is. The only ones are y'all knife knuts.
 
If it’s either/or I’ll choose branded pivot. I really hate billboards on the blade. I’ve never seen a pivot branding that I felt as strongly about.

I’d prefer they all do something subtle like CRK or Cheburkov and just hide the info like little Easter eggs all over the knife, but maintain a clean aesthetic.
 
For me it really depends on how their logo/signature looks. Most of the time it doesn't bother me, but others, it flat out destroys the aesthetic of the knife.
For example, these CRKT Michael Walker knives get absolutely ruined by the cheap looking lasered on block lettering. I just don't get what they were thinking.
I honestly don't get the point of putting overt branding on a knife anyway. I already bought it. Why are you advertising on my blade? It's not like some random passerby is gonna stop to read it.

CR4010_LSR41.jpg
 
Chronovore said:
Maybe a budget Sencut is right for you. Despite owning a lot of fancier or "better" knives, they end up in my pocket on a regular basis. I also feel freed to get two for a scale swap or practice different mods on them. Like the Civivi knives from WE, they run their 9Cr18Mov closer to 60HRC where its edge retention is decent.

This one is my favorite. It's a scale swap with refinished scales, deleted lock-bar jimping, and Skiff bearings.

AfrMz1W.jpg
Click to expand...

I've yet to find a sencut design I enjoy. Kizer (Feist XL), QSP, (Lark) and even Ganzo (FH922) yes... but I'm still holding out hope for Sencut!
 
SwissHeritageCo said:
The trend of clean blades and branded pivots seems to be spreading and I'm not a fan. I have my first branded pivot knife on the way... but my plan is to try to grind the branding off. On the other hand, branding on the blade itself doesn't bother me at all. What say you?
Click to expand...
I'm gonna need new glasses.
 
SwissHeritageCo said:
The trend of clean blades and branded pivots seems to be spreading and I'm not a fan. I have my first branded pivot knife on the way... but my plan is to try to grind the branding off. On the other hand, branding on the blade itself doesn't bother me at all. What say you?
Click to expand...
How about neither?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top