I have been following Reate since they first posted their first shill post here, and my initial impressions were that they made a product that was superior to the other Chinese knives out there, but had a lot to overcome. They have a language barrier, and it's not clear what their production levels are - I think they're closer to something like Nathan the Machinist than they are something like Kershaw. The problem is that a custom maker in China won't resemble the business practices of a custom maker in the U.S. They're going to beat deadlines more often than not, and a small outfit that would easily pass for a "custom" shop in the U.S. wouldn't even resemble a custom shop (just by looking at their production speed, business practices, that are visible through online reviews) when in China. What's even more confusing is that Reate doesn't understand the distinction, or even the need to make a distinction. If they are a 2 man operation, I think it's fair to say they qualify to sell alongside custom sellers, no matter what manufacturing processes they use.
Pass arounds that are sponsored by the manufacturer have always bought instant fans on here (and everywhere), so that's not really surprising. Usually any average person that doesn't regularly receive test models for review or swag will react favorably to it when it happens, it is a great marketing gimmick in a case like this, and everybody should keep that in mind. Even the most objective observers will overlook some things when they feel like they have a relationship with the manufacturer, and the only thing that cures that is eventually testing enough products and receiving enough swag in promotions like this that they've literally received something from all the competition. They will still often favor the manufacturers that developed a relationship with them earlier. I've never test driven a car that I didn't like, and when a car company selects you in a small group to test drive their car and participate in a feedback program, the opinions you put out to the public are going to be tempered by a respect and preference for things other than the actual product that you wouldn't have had otherwise. The eagerness of some people to jump in to something like a passaround indicates that they're more supsceptible than most would be to having a positive opinion impressed on them. You really need to arrange to handle the knife if you want to know how well it is made or if you'd like it. Passaround reviews are handicapped from the word go. That's not to say they're not a nice program (lots of people are going to get to borrow a knife, and they're all going to have positive experiences unless there are screw ups in shipping or something, and 10 people participating in a passaround is going to be more popular than 10 people reading a review any day), but you shouldn't be expecting to get unbiased authoritative reviews of the product - that's expecting a bit much.
Everyone here owes it to the Reate guy to give him a chance - he paid for a membership and is participating in the ways members have asked him to, even though it's not necessary or required. He has good communication (forget the language barrier - everybody owes it to others to be respectful and aware of language barriers. Would you like it if you got your hand cut off for shaking someones hand just because you didn't understand a cultural difference?), and is working to be a part of the community. It's also a good thing as far as cultural relations go- I'd bet most people here are more ignorant of the world than they'd like to admit, and here is a chance to interact with a businessman from a country that has been oppressed and closed to the west, and even people that aim to educate themselves about other cultures may not get the chance to learn from. Given how much China factors in to our hobby, consider how much first hand information that these guys know about how, where, when, who and why the Chinese models for your favorite manufacturers are made. He could shed light on things like counterfitting, and many other aspects that no one else here will ever even come close to having a first hand account of. If the knives are genuinely a high quality, honesty and transparency is in his favor - something that hasn't been true for other Chinese knife businesses. Send a message to the Spyderco counterfitter on ali-baba and ask for a video of their manufacturing process or something - I'm sure you would get an interesting story, but never honesty. Skeptics and haters owe it to everyone else to either bite your tongue and be welcoming until you have a legitimate complaint, or just STFU and ignore talk about these knives for now.
