The Real Jason Jacobs

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Most of these knives look like they were made from the leftover cutouts from other knives. Handles a ditto with scrap pieces glued together to make a single handle. I know a maker that makes a lot of interesting designs out of the leftovers mainly kirdashis and small knives, he pays a lot more attention to grind lines and fit and finish.

He turns this.
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Cuts and grinds rough blanks.
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And winds up with this.
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Well, gentlemen, This thread piqued my interest so I drove the 5 or so miles from my shop out to Jason Jacob's shop for a first hand look and experience. I didn't even realize he was that close until I checked out the web site. I was met by a very friendly and open Jason Jacobs who was glad to show me his entire operation. He has a variety of cutting, grinding and polishing equipment that is well used and serviceable.

He is currently using D2 plainer blades (Austria, brand new) and European Damascus (not Pakistan). In fact I was interested in the plainer blades as a possible replacement for my leather splitter blade when needed. They are excellent quality and almost identical to the blade in my splitter now, but that is another story.

He apparently has market for the knives he produces in great quantity, because if he did not he would surely quit making them. That does not seem likely. I do not get the idea that he is taking advantage of anyone with his product. It simply "is what it is" and no one is forced to buy, yet they still do. I also don't see where he is damaging the market or costing other makers any sales of their product. He just caters to a market that wants what he makes.

Therefore, since he is not hurting anyone, and is certainly not lying to anyone, my vote would be to layoff and let him continue his modest attempt to make a living doing what he likes to do. That is, unless some of you feel compelled to provide a solution for which there is no real problem.

Thanks for reading.....

Paul
 
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sheathmaker said:
Well, gentlemen, This thread piqued my interest so I drove the 5 or so miles from my shop out to Jason Jacob's shop for a first hand look and experience. I didn't even realize he was that close until I checked out the web site. I was met by a very friendly and open Jason Jacobs who was glad to show me his entire operation. He has a variety of cutting, grinding and polishing equipment that is well used and serviceable.

He is currently using D2 plainer blades (Austria, brand new) and European Damascus (not Pakistan). In fact I was interested in the plainer blades as a possible replacement for my leather splitter blade when needed. They are excellent quality and almost identical to the blade in my splitter now, but that is another story.

He apparently has market for the knives he produces in great quantity, because if he did not he would surely quit making them. That does not seem likely. I do not get the idea that he is taking advantage of anyone with his product. It simply "is what it is" and no one is forced to buy, yet they still do. I also don't see where he is damaging the market or costing other makers any sales of their product. He just caters to a market that wants what he makes.

Therefore, since he is not hurting anyone, and is certainly not lying to anyone, my vote would be to layoff and let him continue his modest attempt to make a living doing what he likes to do. That is, unless some of you feel compelled to provide a solution for which there is no real problem.

Thanks for reading.....

Paul
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That's kind of why I didn't go full bore. It looks like a deliberate business decision to make high-volume custom knives of both low price and low quality. I would still encourage them to stop sacrificing so much quality in favor of quantity, but if they're making a living on it, I guess I can't say they're wrong.

I can say I'd never buy one, but I suspect none of the members of this board are really in Jason Jacobs' target demographic.

EDIT: I think he just rubbed a bunch of us a little wrong, since his web site says they're "The best knives you'll own," and most of us looked at whatever we happened to have in our pockets or on our desks and just said "Um, nope." It's a bit like someone walking into a museum full of people admiring Monet and Picasso and Warhol and being told that the graffiti on the sidewalk outside is just as good. The graffiti may in fact be artistic, but no matter how good the graffiti artist was (and many are amazingly good), the difference in quality between the two isn't merely subjective.
 
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madcap_magician said:
It's a bit like someone walking into a museum full of people admiring Monet and Picasso and Warhol and being told that the graffiti on the sidewalk outside is just as good. The graffiti may in fact be artistic, but no matter how good the graffiti artist was (and many are amazingly good), the difference in quality between the two isn't merely subjective.
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Actually, it is. Whether Basquiat is 'better' than Warhol is purely a matter of subjective opinion.

These knives are quirky and individual - I'm not saying I want one, but I can see why some people would.
 
I thought everyone was being really hard on the guy, then I went and looked at the website. Good on him for making knives but man I would think he would make some better knives than that. The handles are the best part, I just cannot understand the design and grinds on those blades.
 
banksy said:
Actually, it is. Whether Basquiat is 'better' than Warhol is purely a matter of subjective opinion.

These knives are quirky and individual - I'm not saying I want one, but I can see why some people would.
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I used a bad example. I shouldn't have been so specific, especially because as popular as Warhol is, he epitomizes pop art.

This is more like comparing the original Elias to this woman's attempt at restoration. If the unnamed woman had painted that picture on canvas, it would be recognizably art and passable in a high school art class, but it is objectively worse than the original.

Or for knives, this would be comparing a Hinderer XM-18 to a S&W SWAT knife. They are both knives. Most people could tell you that the Hinderer is a better knife just by handling both, even if they couldn't tell you why. Most people on this forum could tell you specifically why. The S&W is probably as much knife as most people need and aims at a different market segment than the Hinderer does. But the Hinderer is objectively better.

EDIT: And I don't even like Hinderers.

I agree on the latter, although... the person I could see wanting one remains highly theoretical.
 
I just took a look at the site...There are no words that come to mind...

I think I will chalk this up as a real stretch to "to his each his own"
 
madcap_magician said:
I used a bad example. I shouldn't have been so specific, especially because as popular as Warhol is, he epitomizes pop art.

This is more like comparing the original Elias to this woman's attempt at restoration. If the unnamed woman had painted that picture on canvas, it would be recognizably art and passable in a high school art class, but it is objectively worse than the original.

Or for knives, this would be comparing a Hinderer XM-18 to a S&W SWAT knife. They are both knives. Most people could tell you that the Hinderer is a better knife just by handling both, even if they couldn't tell you why. Most people on this forum could tell you specifically why. The S&W is probably as much knife as most people need and aims at a different market segment than the Hinderer does. But the Hinderer is objectively better.

EDIT: And I don't even like Hinderers.

I agree on the latter, although... the person I could see wanting one remains highly theoretical.
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Well the work of the restorer, like the counterfeiter, is a matter of technical skill - or lack of - not of art.

I suppose what I'm saying is there are any number of perfectly executed cookie-cutter bushcraft or hunting blades on this site. They all look very much alike, and for the most part copies of what's gone before.

At least these - like them or not - have some personality.
 
banksy said:
At least these - like them or not - have some personality.
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..... so did Charles Manson, Ivan Milat, Jeffrey Dahmer, Pol Pot and Katherine Knight (a couple in there just to throw you). That does not make it a good thing... ;) ;) :D
 
Best I can tell the guy just wanted to make it clear that they were making their own knives, and out of the steel they claimed to be making them. That seems to have been confirmed. Beyond that - if you don't like them, don't buy them. No need to be a jackass about it.
 
My god after a day at work, I read this GBU forum and can't stop laughing, I'm crying and my sides hurt, I'm not kidding!!
 
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Reason: Happy Daddy is all bent out of shape.

Nope - just thought I'd point it out before you got infracted for it. People occasionally forget (or don't know) the language rules in the "open" forums.
 
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