The Next Custom Knife Trend?

I probably should keep my fingers out of this thread, but can't help putting some thoughts into the pie.

I hope to see a trend into knives that are rated for performance potenital. Blades that will take a specified level of stress, hold an edge for a specified time and sharpen with a rated level of sharpening ease. Handles that fit the hand with comfort and allow use that needs to be done.

Hopefully this summer we will be building a new shop on my place with enough room for a classroom and start a society dedicated to the high performance knife.

A dream? Yes! Can it work, I believe so. There are a lot of great knife makers who could contribute to this school of thought. We intend to work with stock removal as well as those who forge. I believe that any stockremoval man can make knives that easily exceed the performance levels mandated by the ABS performance tests.

Do you feel there is room for us?
 
Do you feel there is room for us?
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Oh yes, and that is a trend I might actually follow for once in my life. :D.
 
Ed,
That sounds great. In fact, I'd quite possibly be interested in coming out for an educational seminar if you were to offer something along those lines.

That said, I think that the high-performance blade has been, and will continue to be the one constant "knife trend" out there. As long as there have been knifemakers, makers like yourself have sought out new ways to increase the performance of their knives. It keeps the industry young and dynamic.

Performance covers countless areas of functionality, however, and many new knife trends are defined by an industry-wide focus on one specific segment of the functionality. In folding knives, one performance attribute has long been the lock-up, so for several decades now custom makers have been inventing and refining new locking mechanisms, which has, in part, led to the custom frame-lock trend that we're seeing today.

Perhaps the next trend will arise out of a renewed focus on blade-strength. Perhaps it won't. But as long as pioneers like yourself continue to explore new materials and techniques, we will all benefit from the ever-improving performance of our knives.
 
...the trend will be, smallish(<4" bladed) fixed blades, efficient for self defense purposes, and utility purposes. I don't think this is something new, but it is newly interesting to me. The more I hang around here the more I want to start making knives and this is what I think I would concentrate on at first.
 
I think the trend will be new better steels and wild grind lines on blades. The wilder the better :D
michael
 
Ed,

I'll be there! The ABS isn't all that old and its school is even newer. All it took were a few dedicated individuals with a dream. As the ABS grows it can also evolve. This may just be one of those positive directions in which it goes.

John
 
Steel products are getting better and better....
Look for some REALLY far out stuff with a core of unbelievable properties coming out in the next year or two. A lot of companies are working on it as I write this! ;)
 
Greg: I hear there are guys that will trade kitchen cabinates for knife stuff. Maybe we could work out a deal?
 
Custom knife/cell phones
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Ahh, interesting... so, instead of those little dinky antennae, you would just flip open your 4" folder. Very clever, why didn't anyone put this in my innovation thread?? You just have to work out how not to turn everyone into Van Gogh w/ one ear.

;)
 
Bali's of coure:D They're popping up everywhere, Darrel Ralph and Larry Davidson to name a few. Come pop in the bali forum sometime, you'll see:)
 
Originally posted by Wulf
I think the next trend will be... High-Tech Fixed Blades

Makers of folders and autos have been extremely creative in recent years with the new latitudes made available to them through modern technologies.

We haven't seen quite as much innovation in fixed blades.

This is partially due to the fact that their aren't any moving parts to innovate. It's a;lso partially due to the fact that a lot of people still like the traditional look.

However, I can't help but think that some makers will soon be embarking on a new era of high-tech fixed blades. How they do it, or what they do differently, I have no idea, but I bet it will be pretty cool. Who knows - maybe they'll find a way to put in a few moving parts after all :D
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I am surprised that this thread has slowed down. I think that every body would be interested in this.

A. G.
 
Darn, I should have kept up on this thread more. I missed that Ed was thinking of starting up a school for bladesmiths. What a great idea.
 
I wish you and all your new shop and students the best..it sounds
like a great concept! i was wondering about what you said...
"good stockremoval guy can easily create a blade that will
exceed the abs tests for new bladesmith"... does that mean
that one can do stock removal instead of forging to take the test?
after all..both are just a bar of steel to begin with.. and both
will end up a blade passing the requirements... isnt the art of
creating it what the test is actually supposed to reveal...creating
one from just a bar of steel and a grinder may perhaps be just as
hard as pounding a hot peice of metal flat and then shaping it..
just wondering.... ps.. if your new shop is going to be researching
the cutting edge (so to speak) of new preformance thru new methods
or technologys.. what new and cutting edge technology related eqp
will your shop have ??
 
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