Per BS Instagram..
...
Collaboration? No, those
ARE SK! 7/7's.. Just with a different logo.
Ah, rebranding/collaborating. An interesting strategy Cotton, let's see if it pays off.
If I had made one of those orders before BSS I would not be happy.
Just to add, BlackScoutSurvival is not an 'instagrammer, he's an 'YouTub-er' if you'd like. He's much more prominent on Youtube - he's been reviewing GSO knives since they first started - I saw the first GSO review around 2012; he's actually the reason I heard of S!K, he and nutnfancy.
I never heard about Bladeforums until I searched for a way to buy a S!K knife. I wonder how many people of the over 7K followers S!K has on Intagram are even here, on BF. My guess is that under 200ppl...
Cheers!
People do overstate the importance of sway of BladeForums on the industry at times, but I think yours understating here.
You know when you watch a movie or read a book and you're just aghast at all of the village people cheering for someone getting hung or beheaded in the village square? All of the people cheering the demise of this company are exactly like that.
Bad, Ugly- Survive sucks at giving accurate delivery dates. Even the biggest optimist couldn't conclude they could meet their delivery timelines. If you order a S!K knife you're putting money in a black hole hoping for something pristine to come back to you. You simply cannot order a knife from them and rely on their delivery time. I think they bit off more than they can currently chew.
Good- They have the best small to mid sized knives in the business. I've never gotten anything but amazing from them. I have Beckers (and custom handles), ESSE (and custom handles), Busse's(and... you get it), AA Forge, Grey Wolf, JK, Adventure Sworn, South American, Scandinavian... not an inclusive list but I've had my hands on a few knives. CPK is the only company that compares as far as 'MY' needs are concerned. Still, Survive!'s new model 4.1 is the best mid-sized knife out there are far as I'm concerned. It's comfortable for long use, sharp as hell, good edge geometry for what I use it for.. just golden.
I decided I didn't want to wait for some knives after I'd committed money to buying them. I got a refund in 3 days. It was (to me) a big chunk of change. No nonsense, no hassle, just a refund.
Maybe I'm just the rare customer that got taken care of. Maybe .. yeah, not.
I haven't had one, so I'm sure everything I say will get shot down, but here's the thing for me;
I just don't get how they are so good. They're a production knife, made in parts by companies that produce parts and knives for lots of other companies, that's put together and finished in the smallest way (supposedly) by hand. But not even by someone whose name is famous as a Knifemaker or for their knifemaking skills! They have pretty normal materials, maybe a step above the typical mid range production knife but certainly not more than what you can get on a custom knife at the same price range. And all of that is totally separate from the prepay and wait time issues.
Currently chew? They bit off more about 3 years ago. Many of us predicted it. Some still drank the koolaid, and some still do. They are gone from here for good reason. Using this community to propagate an obvious scam is wrong. The mods and owner did good by the rest of us by closing their sub down.
Their knives aren't that special. Sharp is not a selling point unless you don't use the knife and can't sharpen. No extra credit for delivering a sharp knife. It should be sharp.
It should also be delivered.
Again, I don't get the demand. What is so good about them?
Respectfully, there is more to a good knife than a good edge. They deliver (when they Finally deliver) an almost perfect product. Plenty of people predicated their demise but let's face it, there's no company here lacking in detractors. Their knives are that special, IMO.
Did Survive! do you wrong, personally? I've no truck with social justice warriors.
How so? What justifies the demand?
Take legal action then? It took longer than it was supposed to for my Busse Forsaken Mistress to arrive than it was supposed to but I won't cry about it and just be happy it showed up.
Are you kidding me? Something, twist into something you want, twisted into your self which has no resemblance to the original message is more like. Did you miss the part where I canceled my future S!K orders? Because I didn't want to wait, and I didn't wait for the forum police to take care of me.
I like some of Busse designs, as I like some of the S!K designs, but they don't take prepay and I still don't think the wait is reasonable. Sure, maybe they have other orders to fill but I highly doubt they take up the majority of their production time and either way their ordering system is still silly. They don't use unique materials for the runs, so they don't need to get specific amounts of each handle color. I think it's in part a way to ensure people are happy with every knife, I don't know the name of it but it's that the people who wait it out rather than giving up and cancelling an order convince themselves that the knife is perfect and the greatest thing in the world because they don't want to feel silly.
True. And they have no "business" trying to act like a large manufacturer either.
They also have no business acting like a one man custom outfit either, although even a one man custom outfit might be able to do better with some business sense and vigor.
I'd imagine the six figure down on a hotel in the middle of nowhere would have been better spent on materials and labor. Maybe it's some new millennial style business plan but I always thought things like overhead and labor came first so you can actually stay in business. I like how their updates always claim that steel is ordered for whatever model years after they took your money for it or that they are waiting on parts for things years later. They do not manufacture one single part of their knives, how does it take years to order materials?
SK customers have just been unwittingly financing their irresponsible lifestyle, multiple moves, leasing buildings, spendy equipment, vacations, lux purchases, etc.
You know what doesn't make your comments sound more convincing or logical? Throwing in a nonsensical term (often used as a misnomer) like millennial. It's Guy even in that age group? Or are you using it like the vast majority do, just as a term to designate some person as not part of whatever you consider to be your group or generation.
But it gets worse.. another elephant in the room we need to remember, a big part of the marketing and "value" of the GSO! knives was it's "lifetime warranty". But as the company's credible risk of bankruptcy/failure increases, the "lifetime warranty" becomes of less and less value. And if SK! does fail, my lifetime warranty becomes worthless. In that respect, my personal owned GSO knives are already depreciating in value.
The part about the warranty is true, but I'd take it farther and say that's true for any company. The risk is just much much higher with S!K
“guaranteed as long as my business stands and BTW, this is my first ever attempt at my own business with this caveat that I’ve never ran or been involved with another business at any upper managerial capacity”
Another thing I don't understand, especially considering the above, is why this all got how it did. But more importantly, it's extremely frustrating to me and I'm sure insanely frustrating to all the good knifemakers out there just trying to build a following and reputation that someone with so little experience could get such a demand and business opportunity then squander it, as it seems.
It's not bs marketing when a good business uses it. Survive using it is a joke.
It's still marketing, even when it's not BS (and I think it's partly BS even with some reputable companies). Claiming to have a lifetime unconditional warranty is worth more in increased consumer trust than the risk of loss of inventory. It's quite often a big marketing point.
