Hello
I only recently became aware of the CPK knives, and in particular the Lorien collab ones, as I've only more recently started becoming more acquainted with the smaller knife makers and brands in the market. I've been into benchmades and beckers and barkies for a number of years now, but my tastes and interests have been shifting towards Survive, CPK, fiddleback, Winkler, and some of the other smaller makers on the board here. I discovered the CPK Field Knife + EDC after already placing a presale order for a Survive knife a while back, and when I wound up being in the winning set of folks in the last field knife sale, I wound up having to pass on it for cash flow reasons.
And honestly? I've been wracked with some low-grade anxiety ever since, after hearing that the line would be discontinued next year. Will I wind up being able to score another when cash flow is less tight? Will I be the beneficiary of someone else bowing out or helping with a proxy purchase? Or will I miss out entirely on something that was within my grasp, but I had to let slide due to circumstances, on account of either not being fast enough (or having a fast enough connection), and/or not being well enough connected or in the 'in-group' to be able to benefit from any kind of proxy favours?
Frankly, I really
hate having to even consider these factors in making a knife (or any) purchase. I'm not a gambling man, and I personally dislike lotteries, and when it comes to first-past-the-post web sales, that's often more or less what it amounts to.
The intention to help 'forum regulars' (not your words, I realize) get their hands on what they're looking for is a fine and generous notion, but it does theoretically lead to a huge 'in-group' advantage in securing knives. Which, depending on your view, is just fine though it does then bias the product towards being a kind of 'club privilege' rather than a product intended for the wider market.
Quoting a snippet from one of your earlier replies to another member:
This is where it kind of gets philosophical for me: should the long-time fans and collectors necessarily have a purchasing advantage (ie. constraining the knives to the existing sales pool), or should the new fans have an equal and fair chance to pick up their first CPK (ie. expanding the sales pool)?
It's all just food for thought, I guess. In the end, I like to plink down my cash and buy what I want, without the requirement for luck or favours.
That said, given that luck and/or favours seem to be
de-rigeur in getting one of these things, I hope I have one or the other (or both) when I try for an EDC