The current 'Tactical Custom Folder' market = HOTTEST ever?

no doubt several forums on the web work effiectively in hyping and driving sales to makers who work those forums.
I hope this forum never becomes one of them.
 
BTW: Where's Mike Snody been? I'd love to listen to (watch??! ;)) his input.
 
I know the obvious one. What other forums are driving this trend?
Lorien said:
no doubt several forums on the web work effiectively in hyping and driving sales to makers who work those forums.
I hope this forum never becomes one of them.
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Lorien said:
no doubt several forums on the web work effiectively in hyping and driving sales to makers who work those forums.
I hope this forum never becomes one of them.
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I agree, there's enough hyping and driving sales here already IMO.
 
Bladeplay74 said:
Don- I'm decidedly not a tactical guy, but this whole thread has had me thinking about your Big Tacs as a means of appealing to both bases. GTC, Jeremy Marsh, Tom Ferry, Jody Muller and others all have full custom dress tacticals that really do it for me. I don't know how many people carry their big Tacs, but I'd have custom deerskin lined pockets tailored if I had to. :D

These are not on the whole, at the same price point necessarily as more "traditional" tactical makers, but I'd rather pay for one of the above than for a lottery for a seat at the cool kids table.

Seth
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Seth, I have to thank Coop for getting me into the up scale Tacs.

His 'Clacker' was a first for me. :D

Been a hell of a ride so far!

Thanks man!
 
Don Hanson III said:
Seth, I have to thank Coop for getting me into the up scale Tacs.

His 'Clacker' was a first for me. :D

Been a hell of a ride so far!

Thanks man!
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Gotta say Don, that Hanson 'Tac' is one of the nicest knives I've ever seen


-Michael
 
Excellent thread Coop!! My feeling is there has always been a tactical folder market of some kind. It's just evolved in a new direction. Right now it's "overbuilt" folders and as a maker, I really enjoy this new trend. I see a new type of production trend as well, very small companies with a number of employees doing production work with custom features and options at full or even more than normal custom prices. As a custom maker, I'm now competing with them. I just have to look at what my good customers a posting to know this :D I look at it as a new market or new playing field myself. It's a trend that I can easily embrace. I have always "overbuilt" my folders anyway so nothing has really changed for me. Even my smallest model, The Pimpsuieak has a 1/4" pivot pin and are built as framelocks. I just wish the new consumer would consider what should go into the new "overbuilt" knives. Let me blow my own horn and share my feelings on the subject at the same time. In many cases I just see thicker blades and frames. My feeling is all the components of these knives should be equally robust or whats the point?? They should also function AS knives with grinds that actually work and mechanisms that will actually stand up to hard use as well. I'm sure we've all seen some of these new creations that make our hands hurt just looking at the their handle ergonomics?? I just think all this provides a lot of room for makers to show their individual STUFF allowing them to stand out from the rest. My personal take on this......... I refuse to use bearings in my flipplers just for this reason. My flipper designs also eliminate the "banana slots" for the stop pin in the blades. I see some of the flipper blades out there and wonder how they survived heat treat, let alone how they will take hard use and maybe some side pressure on the pivot area. Also, at the same time, these knives can still be visually appealing as well. They don't have to look chunky or look like a CNC spit them out. Just like the knife market before, the key to success for a maker is making his knives stand out from the rest. That part of the business will never change. I think this new trend provides a great opportunity for new makers as well as established ones to showcase their creativity. That's certainly been my goal and I'm having a lot of fun with it.
 
fwiw, I hear that Mike Snody is now in the hotel business and is a manager at some upscale hotel.
rolf
 
Thanks Neil! That was insightful. :)

Rolf: I've chatted with Mike via email about this thread. He's doing especially well selling higher end folders, but is relegating ALL his posting now to Facebook. He's finding his market there.

I don't know about any other rumors. :confused:

Coop
 
Thank you, Coop.
The Hotel rumor came to me from a reliable source.
What ever Mike is doing, he knows how to work it.
rolf
Yes... great post, Neil.
 
Scurvy092 said:
The current market is being driven by the 'celebrity' knife maker. It's not about having the best fit and finish, it's about socializing with people and making them buy more into the maker themselves than their product. This is NOT about any one maker, there are SEVERAL out there right now.

I see so many knives out there with OBVIOUS fit and finish issues selling for large amounts of money because the maker is popular or friends with folks who are popular in certain areas of the internet.

This compared to something like my John W Smith F5 Flipper. An absolutely flawless knife that sells for a fraction of what those other knives do because he basically doesn't exist on the internet.

And that's not even mentioning the whole 'secondary market pricing' issue.
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Exactly this, I really couldn't have said it better.

I've had knives approaching the four figure mark from various flavor of the month, CNC "makers" that can't even come close to my Pohan Leu Bluephin, which is made entirely by hand and is almost half the price.
 
"I still don't like micarta and exposed screws though".... Geez why would a top notch dealer of fine woods not like micarta? :confused: :)
 
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evanPGH said:
Exactly this, I really couldn't have said it better.

I've had knives approaching the four figure mark from various flavor of the month, CNC "makers" that can't even come close to my Pohan Leu Bluephin, which is made entirely by hand and is almost half the price.
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Right. like, Can anyone explain to me how "Tuffknives" are going for $1200 and the like?

Am I missing something?
 
Calhoon said:
"I still don't like micarta and exposed screws though".... Geez why would a top notch dealer of fine woods not like micarta? :confused: :)
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I love working with wood! I used to select it, cut it, stabilize it and USE it!! Not much demand for it anymore :( I hope it makes a come back!! I don't use much Micarta either. Right now the various CF's are whats in demand.
 
Coop, regarding facebook. How makers market and interact with customers is also something that is evolving. Right now all my business conducted on FB and Email. As most of you know, when the 4 of us founded the CK&G and left the USN we were banned from there. Not having access to that sales engine hurts. They have become a very powerful force in the knife industry and put on a top notch show. FB and now instagram are how I work around that. Thats just where my customers want to do business and follow what I'm doing. We left the USN for a very good reason and I would do it all over again if confronted with the same situation but that doesn't change the importance of that forum. I'm no longer participating on the CK&G because of how things have evolved. I really enjoy reading and following things as much as I can here. This is where it all began for me and AFAIC, it's still the most interesting knife related forum.
 
I don't think that a good majority of buyers care how the knife is produced. A "bad assed" look is most important, then fit and finish, then materials used. I prep everything on a CNC and make all my round parts in house on a manual CNC. I put a lot of time in hand finishing and do everything I can so my knives don't look like there were spit out on a CNC or mass produced. I only finish about 2 folders a week no matter how I make them, LOL!!!
 
neverdie36 said:
Right. like, Can anyone explain to me how "Tuffknives" are going for $1200 and the like?

Am I missing something?
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And $1200 is on the low end. They're some of the ones that make me shake my head. The Tanic looks like a cartoon knife. Send a bunch of stuff to get waterjetted & HT'd, anodize/grind/etch those when they get back, screw them together. There are certainly enough fanboys to support that market.

Have you seen the friction folders? That's an even greater anomaly. The man-crush factor is really strong.
 
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