Strider Knives. Why So Much?

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Good enough, Blues ;) I understand everyone's opinions, for and against. I just choose not to participate in it much anymore. I did avoid Mick's knives early on but decided the piece of steel, G10 and titanium they make is something I like. I'm still old school in that my favorite Striders are those with the stonewashed blades and stonewashed Ti. I'm 55 years old so I don't consider myself a mall ninja :)

I am not a Strider fanboy, no Striderholic here and I don't belong to any knife club. Just the forums. I am a fan of my Strider knives though.

Never paid for one but I have five I traded into.

So in closing for me, I don't judge anyone in this thread for feeling like they do. Not one bit. I own Striders and that's where it ends for me. Again, I am not a crusader :)

To each his own, indeed :)


Blues said:
Reeek, I don't think anyone can argue with your right to choose. It's your money and you've earned the right to decide. (And thank you for your service.)

That said, I think it's good for folks to know the truth and be in a position to make a decision for themselves based upon the facts.

I've never owned a Strider and it's unlikely I ever will so I have no vested interest either way. In my own experience and my own collection I have pretty much sold off or given away any knife from an individual or company I later found to be less than trustworthy or upstanding. I won't say that that is the road everyone should travel...but I do think they have the right to make their choice based upon the truth.

To me it's just that simple and straightforward. To each his own.
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This thread started like every other newbie "Let me see pics of your knives" "Why do widgets cost so much" "Do K&N air filters really work.
The OP got his answer 20 times over before the "thread" ever went off point and I say off point because others categorized it as such, the issue of the reputations of the company owners absolutely impact the perceived value of the knives.
Facts are; these knives are not inexpensive. The knives have an average reputation for quality, F&F and styling at best (Tiger stripes, really?) I seem to remember Members Only jackets eventually made there way to the flea market too.
ALL that aside, there have been two sides defined in this issue - those who care and those who do not.
The ones that care have been fairly clear about why Integrity, Honesty and Reputation matter especially when it relates to issues they care deeply about like their hobby/passion of knives as well as Military Service.
The folks who have made it clear they do not care have resorted to calling people "Girls", "ButtHurt", "Whiners" are we getting married AND worst of all resorted to the weakest possible argument anyone without a defensible position EVER resorts to - Indicting completely innocent and irrelevant people namely, Other Knife Makers by saying "IF you checked out every knife makers past.....Blah Blah Blah".
We aren't discussing Every other knife maker OR fantasy deeds of of indiscretion - We are discussing these knife makers AND the Factual History of their indiscretions.
Then we have to hear "Well ya know nobodys perfect and lest we judge and ya know I really like the knives blah blah".
Fine.
Buy the knives. Don't buy the knives Whatever.
Just don't defend somebody who isn't defendable.
Yes. We all have made mistakes. Some of us even spend the rest of our lives trying to make amends without ever bitching and moaning that enough is enough we don't want to hear about it anymore.
NewsFlash - That isn't the perpetrators decision when the discussion stops. Where is the link to the act/statement of contrition by Strider apologizing? I never saw it.
This thread has served to illustrate that the knife community is just like every other community - a Mix.
There are those who have defined lines of right and wrong and then the group that engage in situational ethics. W e l l, it depends.....I like the knife s o I g u e s s it doesn't matter.
So, what does matter? When does the line cross where the behavior of the company owner impinges on the desireability of the product? Just curious.
Nothing gets solved here today other than a division within the community. and no it has nothing to do with fan boys -vs- haters , personally I couldn't give two $h!t$ about Mick Strider OR his knives.
I do however care (deeply) about our Military, Honesty and Integrity and belonging to communities that observe higher standards of conduct than the Common Man.
 
Not a fanboy here, but while we're spreading the truth about Strider knives, it is important to mention one thing.

Strider knives is an American company, with an all American workforce, that supplies and donates high end knives to the men and women of our Armed Forces.
Not many other manufacturers can claim this.

There are two sides to every coin guys.
 
5.56 said:
Not a fanboy here, but while we're spreading the truth about Strider knives, it is important to mention one thing.

Strider knives is an American company, with an all American workforce, that supplies and donates high end knives to the men and women of our Armed Forces.
Not many other manufacturers can claim this.

There are two sides to every coin guys.
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Very true, Mick has more than paid his debt to society IMO and has chosen to go on the correct path of both improving himself and helping people in the Military by his own choice.

The guy made a mistake, he paid for that mistake and moved on in a positive way.

HE is also one of the better Custom Knife makers around with a lot of Awards under his belt, something most of the people here didn't know. ;)

Give the guy some credit here.
 
The real question is:

Velociraptorawesomness.jpg
 
FlaMtnBkr said:
Isn't this your video? You sure are tolerant of what sounds like some really crappy service. Who besides a Strider fanboy, would put up with that crap?

For anyone watching you can skip all the hurricane 'drama' and jump forward a ways.

[Youtube]nRFNbK_O3gY [/youtube]
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Crappy service? You break a knife, and they fix it - period. That's damn good service in my book.

Try again.
 
Sorry guys i didnt follow this thread after I posted. Got caught up with something else. I will research about the Strider boys past and my offer stands! If anyone has links to stuff about their "real" pasts PM or email them to me please!
 
Striderco said:
Sorry guys i didnt follow this thread after I posted. Got caught up with something else. I will research about the Strider boys past and my offer stands! If anyone has links to stuff about their "real" pasts PM or email them to me please!
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Why dont you search around the forum?

If you are too lazy to look for yourself, I doubt that you care about it very much.
 
Finarfin said:
If you had simply taken the time to read the first page in the link I posted the thread from the owner of "Bladeforums" you'd not make such a silly statement. Do you think for a moment that if these were not the facts, that if they were not totally, absolutely, true, that this Strider would have just left the forum, and kept his mouth shut, as opposed to suing "Bladeforums" ass into bankruptcy for slandering him and his business? Good bit of logic you've got there...
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Did I not say I read all the links and information? Or did that part go right over your head? I don't KNOW if everything is 100% accurate since I was not directly involved. I don't care what the topic is, the internet is FULL of rumors and trash-talk. Even still, let's assume that it IS 100% true as you claim. In that case, let me say this AGAIN: This topic has been beaten to death and there have been many like you trying to play the "good guy". I don't know what you are trying to accomplish with proving your point but my original post dealt with the knives which was what the OP asked about. All you have been ranting on is information that has been regurgitated countless times. So, let's get off the topic here shall we and talk about the actual knives. Have you ever even handled a Strider?
 
Just to respond directly to the OP's question on why the Strider knives are so much. I think there are a few fairly well known reasons, most already mentioned in the thread, but here's my summary.

* It's the steel. They use premium, latest type of 'designer' steels (S30v, now S35v), and they have very thick overbuilt knives, so they're using a LOT of this steel. Bottom line, that makes stuff expensive.
* It's a small custom shop. They are not a large maker when you look at their volume, they are not like Spyderco for instance. They have smaller runs, not as much volume, so the cost of every knife is higher to produce.
* They really are strong, well-made knives. in general, if you want a stainless, premium materials, hard-use knife for military/tactical use--and one that looks good in the process--they are a good choice.

Are they overpriced? Are they worth the price?

These questions are utterly subjective. They are pricing the knives for what the current market will bear. Enough customers out there value these knives and are willing to buy them at current prices, so that tells you right there "what the market will bear." If you want to spend this much for a very premium, hard-use knife, then go for it, you probably won't be disappointed.

If you want to spend a lot less, you can definitely spend a lot less and still get a great, reliable, hard-use, high-performing knife. It may not be made out of S35 stainless and have tiger stripes and look like a short version of a Japanese (tanto) sword, but you can definitely still get great, functional knives for a lot less money.
 
They make the knives, they set the price for the knives. Have you ever tried it? Get yourself some shop equipment and learn knife making. Grinding out a great blade is only half the work for makers of the precision folder. You could stop after learning blade grinding and just learn the very simple process of G10 and micarta working and turn out a bunch of fixed Bark River (yawn) type stuff. Folders, especially high end titanium framelock type stuff is a whole other animal. Try milling of titanium, the precise fitting of the pivots and locks, the hand finishing and most importantly coming up with a design that will gain interest. Look at your pile of wasted titanium and super steel and keep going until you can make the parts perfectly every time. Even after you graduate to the level where you're pulling your parts off of CNC machines you still have to incur the huge expense of those machines. The Tormach mill I've been looking at is $9000 and I can expect to spend another several grand on tooling, software and a host of other things that will be needed.

Bottom line? Those types of knives, or any high end product that you care to label as overpriced, are overpriced to you because you don't understand what goes into making them. I think they're worth every penny but I'd prefer to make my own.
 
stabman said:
I'm sure they don't.
Liars often, well, lie.
But lying doesn't piss me off like theft does...like the knifemaker (or mail worker) who stole my second SmF; who stole it depends on who you ask.:rolleyes:
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So one of two guys who stole your knife is "lying" about it, "but lying doesn't piss me off". Only on the internet!:D
 
Harpoon1 said:
So one of two guys who stole your knife is "lying" about it, "but lying doesn't piss me off". Only on the internet!:D
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Well, if they lied but gave me my knife, I wouldn't mind.;)
(well, maybe I'd mind a little, but I'd have a cool knife to comfort me)
 
Harpoon1 said:
So one of two guys who stole your knife is "lying" about it, "but lying doesn't piss me off". Only on the internet!:D
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Why don't you stop quote mining?

He said that lying doesn't piss him of like theft does, not that lying doesn't piss him off altogether.

Quote mining to make a point is a lot like grasping for straws.
 
You're exactly right, I'm not making an argument - because I don't care
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Thanks, I know I am...And I Know you don't, and now, so too does everyone else who does....
 
I want to buy one to try it out. I honestly don't care what the guy did. I'm buying a knife, not the person. If I ever get ahold of one and it doesn't impress me, I'll gladly get rid of it. I definitely understand why some of you wouldn't own his knives and that's just fine. I just don't care, if it's a good product that cuts stuff, I'll but it.
 
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