waynorth
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2005
- Messages
- 32,553
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.
I think a factory sample should be pretty good; everyone kind of has their own way of doing stuff so it could be something the factory would send to the production team for approval. Either they OK it and the run goes live or they pull the cord and send it back to have issues addressed.I have also wondered about this, while I dont have any prototypes, i do have this Schatt and Morgan "factory sample". It seems to me that it is slightly unrefined, and possibly meant to be a sort of a rough idea of what would eventually be produced at the factory, with a few changes here or there. As you can see ( hopefully in my poor pics) the bolsters are different lengths pile side to mark side.View attachment 1449753 View attachment 1449754 Its my guess that the prototype would be the first piece made after all the refinements are made and before production actually begins??
That’s one way of recusing yourself, but not what the term ‘recusing yourself’ ordinarily means.
The dealer in question is fantastic, and shouldn’t be judged adversely just because he doesn’t buy a spot and a voice on these forums.
I would be very pleased to have one of these rare knives, among the last made by Queen, a great company.
I have quite a few prototypes from Tuna Valley, Case, Queen/S&M, Bear, Prater, etc. The biggest factor (which has already been said) is that A.) they were issued before the general production run, and B.) they are verifiable that they are an offical proto. Most of mine all have a signed COA, or were serial # stamped in the bolster 0000 or PROTO. But, as has been said, there are general production knives that people laser etch PROTO just to increase their resale value.
I don't know about the rest (little experience); but Case protos are rare as hens teeth. Remember back 25 years ago the factory was looking for some late 1980's or early 1990's CCC model that they couldn't find while putting together a factory collection. I had one and contacted them and offered mine for a Case Canoe Prototype - and they traded me. Don't even know where it is at now - but that tickled me beyond words.
I remember seeing a lot of Case Classics that were "0"; then "00"; then "000", etc.
I tend to think that what most veteran knife companies are calling a prototype would really be more like a test run or pre production sample.
If you think about it , how often is a standing traditional knife company actually gonna be engineering or inventing something new that would require a true work in progress prototype ?
Lol...Bill would put one together just to show me how bad my idea was.
Nothing like seeing it in hand, to help understanding, and help making decisions!!!!The genuine prototypes are rarely prototypes because of the core product. Generally a test to see how a wood finishes; getting opinions on a small change, etc. I have several knives that are not marked prototype but that is exactly what they are because Bill would put one together just to show me how bad my idea was.