... Which is more beautiful, an intricate and embellished baroque cathedral, or an SR71?..
Not one word of a lie, I have a new mint condition copy of Sled Driver by Brian Shul, autographed, that is the only book sideways cover out on display on my wall of book shelves. Not sure if you are aware of what it is so maybe this doesn't make sense and you probably have NO idea what lengths I went through to get a copy and have it autographed.
Not to drift too far off track:
Are CPK's a "gateway drug" to finer craftsmanship and a higher understanding of knives which will expand and sustain the custom knife market? Or are they the high end for the collector who has every Spyderco PM2 Sprint Run?
This thread highlights what I was saying:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1414006-Besides-CPK-knives-whaddaya-like/page2
Dawkind and Bentzer are the exceptions in that fanbase.
Let me share my opinion since that what everyone seems to be doing here.
I would consider myself young. I have two young children, a wife at home caring for them who has been off work for years, and probably will remain so. A small modest house with a reasonable mortgage, and a household income well above average. I would say I am representative of a percentage of newer collectors not all that uncommon. I say this as I seem to share the opinion of many of my peers.
This commentary is not directed solely at you, and may seem harsh.
There are a lot more makers out there who think they are a lot better at what they do than I think they are, and ask a lot more for what they are selling than I think it's worth. So simply put, I am not motivated to buy their wares.
In total, I have about $12,000-$15,000 on the high end tied up in my "collection" of knives, maybe 24 pieces in total. Some people have exponentially more than that in a single knife. Why? Because they have either a lot more money than I do, or a lot more debt than I do.
It's simple really, it's economics like have been talked about earlier. My friends, peers where I live, and people I know who share the same passion for knives that I do, all make $100,000-$200,000 and simply can't afford many $1000+ expenses. One of the main reasons is because life has become massively more expensive than it used to be, and incomes have not grown to match. As others have mentioned, the Baby boomers have massively damaged the economy through spending and consuming at a rate which was unsustainable, and they simply won't pay for it. This is reflected in national debt. My generation is dealing with the bill, and the next one will pay for even more. My income tax rate is over 50% all in. I pay more in taxes than I do housing, transportation, clothing and food. And I am WAY above average income! Tell me, how many large collectors faced that when they were young and starting out? I pay more in tax than the average person makes where I live. If I can't afford high end knives, living a lifestyle similar to the average, how can they?
Preferences for discretionary spending have also changed. This is the other fact many ignore, there are way more places to spend discretionary income now than there used to be. I know PLENTY of people that spend $1000+ a year on a phone, but their phone is something they use with great regularity. How many of them could be argued into forgoing every second year's upgrade and buy a $1000 knife instead to sit in a display? Probably none. Knives are being out competed.
If a maker is trying to sell his products to a very small % of the top 1%-2% of earners in the world, how many people does that actually represent? Not many. And how many of them are young? Think about the current trends in wealth distribution for a second. The very rich are getting richer, not the middle class are getting rich.
IMO, collectors and makers do not determine the value of a knife, the market does. A maker can't say my knife is worth $5000 and so he is entitled to $5000. He can ask the market and it will give an answer. If it is not selling, that is because it is not currently marketed to the right person, or it is worth less than asking price. Think about it for a second. It's not that there is no market. I bet every single knife you high end guys are thinking about that is languishing on a site or something would sell at a price significantly lower than it is now. Maybe that is the CURRENT market value. It can't sit languishing, yet sell it for less than it's worth, the market tells you what it's worth. Maybe you don't like that.
Anyways, back to the young. So if it's not the young who have the money, who is the market for these kinds of knives then? Who has the money to buy this kind of thing? Not the young, so where are the middle aged people who's kids have now moved out, are dual income or something with houses paid for, maybe several hundred thousand in home equity and a decent nest egg, so comparatively speaking tons of money? Why aren't they the "market"?
Maybe I am completely wrong, and there are tons of young people with tons of money to spend because they still live at home. If so, I don't know any of them. Hell, maybe they are out blowing it on hookers and blow. I don't know. At the end of the day, I like many people I know...with regards to the opinion of most of the people QQing about us here..... we are as unconcerned, as they are unaware of the inaccuracies of the vast majority of their opinions and the state of the state they have created. Like Tupac said, "I was given this world I didn't make it".
Most of us youngin's realized long ago, you don't change the minds of the old, you let their ideas die with them.
So answering your question on CPK:
CPK is not a gateway to better craftsmanship. As Bob said, 99% of the makers around couldn't achieve what Nathan can and he does it at a fraction of the price.
CPK is currently making, though credit to Lorien for his design is due, a knife that it's destroying the current standard of acceptable performance in the mind of one person at a time. A big part of it is the law of diminishing returns. CPK makes a knife that represents a value massively higher than it's asking price, based on what the current market competition is offering. I'm a big fan of CPK, and a big fan of many classic makers. When Nathan puts out a knife that is marketed and sold as "field grade" it's not meant to represent the peak of his craftsmanship. You will probably find many makers made knives that were not masterpieces.
Bob has shown me amazing pieces of human creation which represent tens of thousands of hours of hard earned craftsmanship and are truly an honor and privilege to admire. They demonstrate the pinnacle of human achievement in the field. But admire them is simply all I can afford to do.
Show me a knife as well executed as CPKs current offerings and as well priced, readily available and of equal performance and I am sure they have the same demand.
Oh, I don't own any Spydercos.
