The Knife Industry is Tacticool BS

[Drew Riley]

I would tend to agree with the "BS" statement.... to an extent. Take many of the offerings from a company like Schrade for instance. Sure, they have their fair share of practical, more "traditional" looking knives, but then that have something like this:

which would clearly appeal more to the "mall ninja" crowd, and not to someone who's actually looking for a daily user.

I would say it even goes well beyond "looks", when you get into knives in the $20 and under range. You can't tell me that many of these knives are actually made to "use", considering the steel is such that the edges last for only one or two cuts, and after any use is applied to the knife, the thing is all but falling apart.
Yet these are the knives that sell by the hundreds at knife and gun shows, because the price was right, and the knife was halfway visually appealing.

Nobody buys a knife thinking "hey, this will probably fold up on my fingers the first time I use it, and I'll have to sharpen it every 5 minutes to cut anything at all with it!", but unfortunately, that's a little closer to reality when it comes to a lot of the knives that are out there in the market (and pockets) today.

 

[csisland]

I would tend to agree with the "BS" statement.... to an extent. Take many of the offerings from a company like Schrade for instance. Sure, they have their fair share of practical, more "traditional" looking knives, but then that have something like this:

which would clearly appeal more to the "mall ninja" crowd, and not to someone who's actually looking for a daily user.

I would say it even goes well beyond "looks", when you get into knives in the $20 and under range. You can't tell me that many of these knives are actually made to "use", considering the steel is such that the edges last for only one or two cuts, and after any use is applied to the knife, the thing is all but falling apart.
Yet these are the knives that sell by the hundreds at knife and gun shows, because the price was right, and the knife was halfway visually appealing.

Nobody buys a knife thinking "hey, this will probably fold up on my fingers the first time I use it, and I'll have to sharpen it every 5 minutes to cut anything at all with it!", but unfortunately, that's a little closer to reality when it comes to a lot of the knives that are out there in the market (and pockets) today.

Does that come with neon lights also?

 

[HoosierQ]

Well No. Oh sure, there's plenty of tacticool, mall ninja stuff out there. Why, people buy it.

Here's the bottom line to bottom all bottom lines: Knives are weapons. Knives are tools. Some are one or the other, others are both. People love weapons and tools. Lot's of people love to play with weapons and tools...fondle them even. Don't fight it, it's true. Guns and power saws are just too darned dangerous to play with. I for one, just don't go there. You just cannot be a responsible gun owner and "play" with them. There is just too much responsibility there and that responsibility is a big one to your fellow man, yourself, your community, your family and yourself. You shoot your gun in a safe and responsible way. You unload your gun. You clean your gun. You inspect your gun (get a tiny little bit of fondling in here while you can!). You carefully and responsibly store your gun where it is safe and secure and/or at the ready for safe and responsible use in an emergency.

Knives? No way. Knock yourself out. Fondle to your hearts content. Go nuts even. Responsibility? Well one needs to be sure tiny hands can't get to them and chop off tiny fingers or put out tiny eyes (I have a 2 1/2 year old grandson). That's about it. You goof up and make a bone head mistake with your knife maybe you need a bandage, maybe you need a stitch or two, hell maybe you need some new shoes cause you got one less toe!!! That's about it.

So all of this tacticool stuff? Bring it on. Gets people into knives. Fills the coffers of the knife companies who can then afford to build useful products and sell them to us...so we can fondle them and hurt ourselves to our hearts content without being a threat to society.

 

[Clan Gunn]

Back to that link; what knife is pictured lower down "Best $200 (or so) knife out there", caught my eye so need to know

 

[Quiet]

I feel that, as with almost any consumer goods, the manufacturer produces what he knows, or thinks he knows will sell well. The stylistic demographics are a reflection of the consumer. Throw in a little P.T.Barnum-esque marketing and the poularity snowball-effect begins. Playing "Cowboys & Indians" (wood brass, steel & maybe horn, w/leather) as boys has now evolved to "Aliens, Transformers, Zombie Pock-lips, and Special Forces" ('Super-steel', Titanium, & special polymers, et.al.), and for most, the tool may only be for boxes, string, straps & tape, but it can be a small Walter Mitty trip into a life less boring. We fill in the holes with performance bragging rights and tales of adventurous use because hey, we're guys (mostly), and pissing contests is one of the things we do. But diversity breeds usefulness, and there's room for all; a good tool eventually shines its worth, and almost disappears when working hard. The old geeezer may embarass 'Gecko 45' by unzipping a deer with a peanut, but looking closer one might see a Titanium pocket clip on his vest.

This is a great post, man. :thumbup:

 

[Los Angeles]

I've got a friend with well over 300 watches, probably 290 of which will never, ever be worn again. But his display case is beautiful, his commitment to the preservation of history is admirable, and his knowledge and enthusiasm is incredible. Bullshit? I think not.

 

[leghog]

I've got a friend with well over 300 watches, probably 290 of which will never, ever be worn again. But his display case is beautiful, his commitment to the preservation of history is admirable, and his knowledge and enthusiasm is incredible. Bullshit? I think not.

Tacticool=BS is not about how many, but what they are/genre.

It appears much in the way of new knives and their marketing qualifies as solutions in search of problems.

 

[T. Erdelyi]

Make what you can, buy what you can't, use what you need.if you're able to take the raw materials and make yourself a blade to suit your needs by all means do so, it is one of the most satisfying things you'll ever do.

If you can't make your own your only recourse is to buy one that that comes as close to what your ideal knife is, (this can be a constantly evolving need) in the end the smart person is gonna use what he needs, certain knives are just overkill for every day chores, (a new EDC definition ) where usually the minimum knife needed for most cutting specific chores is nothing bigger than a small jack knife or small fixed blade.

Still everyone's needs are different, some folks need stainless/stain resistant blades because of the environment their knives are used in or they just plain suck at maintaining their knives. These same people might also suck at maintaining an edge, for them the super steel works because they can have a knife that requires less attention from them allowing them to keep cutting longer.

Convenience, ease of access, pocketability these can all be needs that have affected the evolution of the edged tool. I don't think just because there's a share of the market that will buy and never really use their knife for anything other than to fondle or display but it's still addressing some fundamental need at some level for them. The only people I see buying knives just based on want are people with a lot of disposable income and I don't think that's the majority of the knife community, I don't think it's fair to stereotype an entire community based on the small percentage of mall ninjas who spend their hard earned lunch money browsing Bud K catalogs and buying all the tacticool survival zombie killer knives they can get for $19.99 +S&H.

I have a lot of respect for Jeff Randall and his opinions about the industry, I have several of his products and am a member of his defunct forum both here when he had one and his current site to date. I agree with him that you don't "need" a futuristic, super steel knife with complex multiple grinds and state or the art scale material but somewhere, someone thought it would make whatever they thought they'd use it for easier. That doesn't circumvent the fact that there was a need at some point, otherwise we'd still be beating our meat off with rocks.

All my knives serve some function whether it's simply artistic aesthetics or form and functionality I need them all. Well ok maybe not the button lock auto with the digital clock in the scale, led light on the backspring and bottle opener on the tang, that was a want.

These are just the opinions and ramblings of an old man, take it for what it's worth.

 

[davek14]

I would say it even goes well beyond "looks", when you get into knives in the $20 and under range. You can't tell me that many of these knives are actually made to "use", considering the steel is such that the edges last for only one or two cuts, and after any use is applied to the knife, the thing is all but falling apart.
Yet these are the knives that sell by the hundreds at knife and gun shows, because the price was right, and the knife was halfway visually appealing.

Nobody buys a knife thinking "hey, this will probably fold up on my fingers the first time I use it, and I'll have to sharpen it every 5 minutes to cut anything at all with it!", but unfortunately, that's a little closer to reality when it comes to a lot of the knives that are out there in the market (and pockets) today.

And maybe that's why knives aren't as common in pockets, because when someone picks up an inexpensive knife easily it is crap.

I'm an "old geezer" and I remember when you could get decent slipjoints at drug stores and gas stations and most guys carried one.

Maybe those pot metal knives are what the guy meant by "tacticool marketing", not guys who carry modern tactical folders which are decent knives with decent steel.

 

[hfrog355]

TL;DR

Don't know how someone saying the industry is geared at producing things people will buy should get anyone rustled.

 

[Alnamvet68]

Don't know why someone who slams the knife industry shouldn't be a bit more gracious and grateful to the industry that in many ways supports his success; no man is an island, and anyone in the knife biz owes his success to and as a member of that global community.

 

[XxdrpxX]

Are you kidding me? You can't be a responsible gun owner and have fun??? What are 3 gun competitions? Long range shooting comps?? Cowboy quick draw? I'm not seeing people die in these events, and yes they are playing with their guns. Also ask[SUB][/SUB] the marine who told his buddy to stab his flak jacket how playing with that kabar worked out.

Well No. Oh sure, there's plenty of tacticool, mall ninja stuff out there. Why, people buy it.

Here's the bottom line to bottom all bottom lines: Knives are weapons. Knives are tools. Some are one or the other, others are both. People love weapons and tools. Lot's of people love to play with weapons and tools...fondle them even. Don't fight it, it's true. Guns and power saws are just too darned dangerous to play with. I for one, just don't go there. You just cannot be a responsible gun owner and "play" with them. There is just too much responsibility there and that responsibility is a big one to your fellow man, yourself, your community, your family and yourself. You shoot your gun in a safe and responsible way. You unload your gun. You clean your gun. You inspect your gun (get a tiny little bit of fondling in here while you can!). You carefully and responsibly store your gun where it is safe and secure and/or at the ready for safe and responsible use in an emergency.

Knives? No way. Knock yourself out. Fondle to your hearts content. Go nuts even. Responsibility? Well one needs to be sure tiny hands can't get to them and chop off tiny fingers or put out tiny eyes (I have a 2 1/2 year old grandson). That's about it. You goof up and make a bone head mistake with your knife maybe you need a bandage, maybe you need a stitch or two, hell maybe you need some new shoes cause you got one less toe!!! That's about it.

So all of this tacticool stuff? Bring it on. Gets people into knives. Fills the coffers of the knife companies who can then afford to build useful products and sell them to us...so we can fondle them and hurt ourselves to our hearts content without being a threat to society.

 

[jdk1]

Our culture tells us we are what we possess. Notice I didn't say own, as many people do not own what they possess It's a form of consumerism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumerism Look at the historical section, it's educational. It's like the guy down the street who has a Corvette, his wife drives a brand new Escalade, there's a $50k ski boat in the driveway, a jet ski in the garage, and sometimes you'll see his $30k travel trailer in the street before a trip. He's either an incredibly wealthy man wisely living in a middle-class home, or is in serious debt trying to make himself happy through material goods. Marketing companies employ neuroscientists to be sure we know that the only way we'll get the hot chicks and have good buddies is to drink this beer and drive that truck. Some knife companies follow suit and make lots of money convincing you that this blade will set you apart from the lesser outdoorsmen, or you'll be a member of the cool kid's club through ownership. In the day of the internet, I don't even have to show you I can use it, I post a pic and bam!, I'm better than you! Or at least made myself feel I am

Companies also have to sell to stay in business. A new design or material is the way to get you to buy another. It's the same reason truck companies change grills. You don't want to be the guy driving that truck with the rounded grill when everyone else has the square grill any more than you'd carry a knife with AUS8 steel when everyone knows it requires re-sharpening if used!

 

[goodeyesniper]

Hate to break it to you, but most major markets are built up on bs. "buy this newest carbon fiber racing bike, even though you have a huge beer gut." "office worker, you need this overbuilt wedge of a knife for that one day a week you open up two boxes at work."...

But, if that super lightweight bike makes fatty mcgee happy, and Joe tacticool likes a knife that didn't cut very well because "what if a nuclear bomb goes off and I have to hack through an airplane fuselage to save the president?" Then good for them

 

[Drew Riley]

I've got a friend with well over 300 watches, probably 290 of which will never, ever be worn again. But his display case is beautiful, his commitment to the preservation of history is admirable, and his knowledge and enthusiasm is incredible. Bullshit? I think not.

How much knowledge or historical preservation can you glean from a $15 overseas manufactured, geometrical oddity that many of the mass produced knives of today represent?

IMO, there's things you may collect that you won't use, and things you may collect that you CAN'T use. To each their own, and more power to them, but I think a lot of knives today are in fact in the latter category more than the former.

 

[craytab]

That doesn't circumvent the fact that there was a need at some point, otherwise we'd still be beating our meat off with rocks.

I almost spit coffee all over my computer when I read this line. Nice!

 

[K.O.D.]

Methinks this thread should be moved to Vino y Queso.

Anywho, I disagree with the OP's statement and the title of this thread. Knife manufacturers are not out there to make products specifically for knife knuts (with some exceptions). They are in the business to make money, and have to appeal to a variety of customers. To the novice "Tacticool" knives have a strong appeal. Wow look at this knife, my friends are gonna be jealous. They don't care about where its made, what steel it is, etc. The way I see it, there are 3 types of knife buyers:

1. People who just need a knife that they can beat up at work or around the house and not worry if they damage it because it was cheap in the first place.
2. People new to the knife world who will pay full retail for a knife that looks cool/overpay for a knife that looks cool but isn't worth a crap.
3. People like us who study and worship well made knives and care about steel, locks, handle material, etc.

As others said, variety is the spice of life. When I was in high school after getting into knives (upgrading from sak's) I was definitely a Tactifool. I am one no longer. Now to go order that Microtech Venomtech I've been wanting...

 

[Alnamvet68]

Humility, humble pie, and never biting the hand that feeds you goes a long way in my way of thinking. Trashing the industry, or worse, trashing customers who put in for warranty claims (even though the warranty says "no questions asked") is no way to go through life. Some things are simply better left unsaid, even if you hate the business and marginalize your customer's intelligence.

 

[ToddM]

Tacticool is just another word for marketing, and in many industries the best marketing, does not align with the best product, or best function/need etc. Several companies in the past couple decades on various forums have alluded to the fact that making/marketing knives for disconcerting customers such as those on the knife forums is counter productive to their profits and overall naive customer base.

The reality is that knife purchases for the average customer, are a fashion purchase. Years ago I used to sell knives in a major sporting goods chain, and 99/100 guys that bought a knife didn't ask about blade steel, they didn't care about lock style, they didn't check for lock rock, or how well it flipped open, or smooth pivots, they didn't evaluate how it fit in their hand, or if the blade shape/length etc. was ideal for their cutting needs, none of the things we might find important. It was simply which one they thought looked bad ass. Best case they might pick out a couple ones they thought looked cool and ask which one is "better".

Most people still don't do product research, it's improved with the internet but it's still not common. Look at Yeti coolers, there are at least half a dozen companies now that make USA made options that hold ice longer, at the same or lower price and yet the Yeti is still the industry standard, because they have name recognition and marketing. Not to say the Yeti is not a great cooler, but in sporting goods marketing and looks/design will get you further than being the absolute best functioning product in most cases. It won't make up for producing junk products, but it can easily put a mid pack product to the top of the field.

 

[Mike-Mike]

[video=youtube;Qw8KchHrAoQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw8KchHrAoQ[/video]

All you will even need is this baby!