I dont think crk should produce a value line in-house. But I wouldn't mind them collaborating or designing a knife for another company to produce. Strider has hooked up with Buck. Emerson and Hinderer have hooked up with ZT. Custom makers have hooked up with companies such as Boker and Spyderco. I dont think a CRK collab would hurt anything. I think it would allow more people to get into CRK knives and get them on the road to purchasing a real CRK.
-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Poll: Would you like to see a "budget" line of folding CRK knives? Please read notes.
- Thread starter kidcongo
- Start date
DallasSTB
Gold Member
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2009
- Messages
- 3,250
Actually, Chris has made a couple of attempts at collaborations, but they haven't turned out to be very popular. The Fantoni Razionale was a pretty decent folder and the Gerber LHR was a decent fixed blade. Personally, I think that Chris missed an opportunity that other popular high-end makers have capitalized on by not collaborating on more high-quality, lower-cost production models. Rick Hinderer has done it right by maintaing controlling interest in his designs and choosing a manufacturing house (KAI) that can consistently produce models that don't denigrate his brand. Others have also done this to some extent, but you have to make sure the production house is top-notch. Anything less and it becomes a joke. The opposite end of this spectrum would be the release of a very limited number of full customs by Chris. Can you imagine a current model "H" Sebenza?
Think about it - a fully-endorsed Chris Reeve collaboration with, say, Spyderco or Zero Tolerance (forget about the Spydie-hole for now) for around $200, typical CRK-produced Sebenzas for $450, and fully handmade Sebenzas for $1000+/-. We wouldn't be worrying about the 25 Micarta inlays then, would we?
Think about it - a fully-endorsed Chris Reeve collaboration with, say, Spyderco or Zero Tolerance (forget about the Spydie-hole for now) for around $200, typical CRK-produced Sebenzas for $450, and fully handmade Sebenzas for $1000+/-. We wouldn't be worrying about the 25 Micarta inlays then, would we?
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2012
- Messages
- 2,398
This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2013
- Messages
- 1,354
We should remember that focus is a finite thing. There are only so many hours in the week to spend.
Everything extra we'd like Chris et al. to do would take quite a lot of hours away from the current running of the business. That can jeopardize the current line, unless it's a black box that runs so well he's browsing Facebook all day right now.
There's no such thing as a business decision without tradeoffs.
Everything extra we'd like Chris et al. to do would take quite a lot of hours away from the current running of the business. That can jeopardize the current line, unless it's a black box that runs so well he's browsing Facebook all day right now.
There's no such thing as a business decision without tradeoffs.
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2004
- Messages
- 18,850
Unless I'm reading this wrong here, it seems the people that are for this basically want to bypass the high tolerances and finishing processes CRK is famed for so that people can experience a CRK at a lower price point. Whether it be through a collaboration or a reduced step inhouse production all that is doing is removing what makes a CRK a CRK, the very thing that puts a Chris Reeve knife where it is on the map. I don't see how that really helps anyone ? Those that can't or don't want to pay for a CRK are still not getting anything extra for their money and those that can or will pay for them are still just getting what we all want from a CRK and are happy paying for any way. Yes, it wouldn't hurt but really I don't see what the point would be or what "problem" would be solved by it......