Poll: Would you like to see a "budget" line of folding CRK knives? Please read notes.

Would you like to see a budget or officially licensed line of CRK folders?

  • Yes! I would be interested in a budget, or officially licensed line of CRK folder

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No! I would like CRK production or remain in-house at high levels of quality, regardless of price.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    0
Say What! If it ain't broke, don't fix it......

I could go on for a bit, but I'll leave at that.
 
Here's the way I see it- I don't think a "budget line" of knives can be made in house without diminishing the CRK name. That said, I feel like if a reputable company approaches them for a collaboration, go for it but only a new knife. I love some of CRKT's knives, but when I think of high end collabs, they aren't the first name that pops up. I think of ZT, Kershaw, and Kabar, in that order. On top of that, I don't think a knife made by another company should look like an existing knife in the CRK line up. I, personally, am attracted to the Chris Reeve Knives primarily for the sheer simplicity in the designs (the precision they're made in is great, but for what I need a knife to do, a $20 Buck works fine... It's just not as visually appealing).

If a knife company contracts with CRK to design a knife with their signature simplicity, only then do I think a cheaper CRK can be sold.
 
kidcongo said:
I also think there is a general human trait that when you are fortunate enough to afford a relatively expensive item, you want to keep that price high to maintain that item as a status symbol and "keep out the riff-raff" so to speak. Kinda like Rolex's etc. There may be more "exclusivity" at work with the CRK brand than I originally thought. Maybe Nutnfancy is right. I might be a douche! :eek::D
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Status symbol, keeping out the riff-raff, nor "exclusivity" has not one thing to do with the price of CRK's.
Quality is the only factor.
You get what you pay for with CRK, and if one is wanting lower quality there are many options out there to choose from.
 
Ken44 said:
Status symbol, keeping out the riff-raff, nor "exclusivity" has not one thing to do with the price of CRK's.
Quality is the only factor.
You get what you pay for with CRK, and if one is wanting lower quality there are many options out there to choose from.
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'zacly. :) :thumbup:
 
I voted "NO" because they have already tried this and the result was never up to Chris's high standards. I like CRK the way it is. If you cheapen them, it would be like CRK making a Strider......lol.......... I am in NO WAY trolling, I spend 99.9% of my time on BF on the CRK page. I have dealt with all the great companies and my worst experience ever was with Strider.
 
I wouldn't want to see it, as others have said, CRK made it's market notch on supreme fit and finish and that level of precision and consistency is expensive. Though over the years I believe modifications and choices have been made to allow increased production and cost reduction. Such as the adjustable pivot, non-notched blade stop pins etc. not causing a lowering in price, but perhaps avoiding a price increase. I could be completely wrong, but certainly with production on a much larger scale compared to a few years ago some design choices had to consider the need for higher production.

There are plenty of knife options these days at half the price that are pretty darn close to the CRK knives, and over the years I believe that gap has closed a lot compared to 10-20 years ago. Some of the $150-250 knives these days are pretty darn impressive, not to the CRK standard but they are getting closer.
 
ToddM said:
I wouldn't want to see it, as others have said, CRK made it's market notch on supreme fit and finish and that level of precision and consistency is expensive. Though over the years I believe modifications and choices have been made to allow increased production and cost reduction. Such as the adjustable pivot, non-notched blade stop pins etc. not causing a lowering in price, but perhaps avoiding a price increase. I could be completely wrong, but certainly with production on a much larger scale compared to a few years ago some design choices had to consider the need for higher production.

There are plenty of knife options these days at half the price that are pretty darn close to the CRK knives, and over the years I believe that gap has closed a lot compared to 10-20 years ago. Some of the $150-250 knives these days are pretty darn impressive, not to the CRK standard but they are getting closer.
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Great thoughts Todd. I agree. It makes my wonder if Lemmuhj's wish for even higher quality knives from CRK might not be the way forward for Chris and Company. I guess time will tell, but if, as you say, the competition is catching up, they'll have to make some move. Mind you at the rate they are shipping out 25's maybe everything is just fine the way it is. Personally I'd rather see the quality (if that were even possible :) ) and perhaps the price go up, and the volume go down, but that might not be the present CRK philosophy. After all he did not set out to be a custom maker, and there is something good to be said about bringing vast quantities of quality knives to the masses.
 
I like CRK the way it is.
I like High quality knives and High quality has its cost.
If i would't spend too much there are many other brands
Just my 5 cents
 
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No. I don't think bringing out an inexpensive line of knives would be good...
Even if a lower cost knife was decent in quality, it still isn't going to be the same knife people associate with the CRK name. The knives aren't cheap, and there are many that would like to own one, but can't. It is that way with a lot of things in life.
 
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From what I understand this is exactly what Chris was trying to avoid with his business model. He knew he could not compete with Gerber, Buck(put in your own name) on the low end and be successful. His answer was to build the highest quality production knife out there. It sets him apart and there is always a market for quality. I would like to see him go the other way and build a few customs(with exotic metals) for fun. Probably wouldn't be very profitable, but it would be fun to see.
 
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I voted "No!"

Mr. Reeve seems to be a very exacting fellow and I can't see him being big on compromise--at least when it comes to his knives and I admire him for it. In my opinion, CRK sets their standard with the plain jane Sebenza, which I think is already very reasonably priced for what it is.

-Brett
 
BBQ BOY said:
Nope!!! I feel that with the rising cost of custom makers knives that are of no higher quality of a CRK, that CRK's are actually very affordable. Iv'e had $2,000 customs that didm;t have better tolerances, fit and finish of my $350 Sebenza.
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BBQ and I constantly talk about this subject. CRK is actually a value compared to most customs and midtechs these days. Leave the great value and awesome productions to Spyderco, ZT, Kershaw and others. It's a nice thought though.
 
No to downgrading quality of CRK…. Let the folks keep goin'! Haven't missed yet! Bart
 
Again, I reiteerate that I'm not promoting the idea, I sit in the 'even higher quality' camp; However, I find it really interesting that although the written responses have been almost 100% against the idea, the 'yes give me a budget/cheap CRK' vote keeps gaining strength each day. As of today its 15%. Still nowhere near the majority, or even half, but more than I expected. It would be nice to hear from some of those folks, but I suppose you'd have to be pretty brave to promote that idea, on this forum, in writing.

My best guess is that most of the regular visiters to this forum have all voted 'no' as they already own a CRK knife, and love it, and have proven they can afford it, while the casual visiters to this forum may be voting 'yes' as they do not have a CRK knife, and might be more likely to try one out at a lower price point. I dunno.......interesting to me.
 
If it were not S35Vn then yes. 3V, M4, M390 or Elmax. I know this is a very contrary opinion, but that would motivate me to buy. S35 just doesn't do anything for me. What would be even cooler would be some nice carbon steel. Doesn't much matter if it is the budget line or the regular line. Not trying to stir the pot, just my opinion and I know it does not reflect 99% of CR customers.
 
Chris Reeve & his people can't keep up with demand for their premium knives. Why create a "budget line" in that situation?
 
iamsmiling said:
Chris Reeve & his people can't keep up with demand for their premium knives. Why create a "budget line" in that situation?
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There is no good reason other than blatant capitalism, greed, or maybe on a positive note, the pride of bringing a design and product you have created to a wider audience because you can't do it alone. As I mentioned in the notes for this poll, this line of knives might be one that is outsourced in the same way that Hinderer, Southard, etc does, so it would not be contingent on the Idaho factory meeting the demand. Altogether this is unlikely to happen, and this poll is just fantasy, but the price of these knives seems to always be a point of discussion, so I was curious what percentage of people really wanted a cheaper one. How many Nutnfancies are out there maybe.
 
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