Thoughts on my new design

I'm a fan. While it might be true that Adrian's hitting an already saturated market there are a lot of guys like me who will give things a try if they tick the right boxes, especially at an attractive price point.

I have one of his Wraiths, it's a very solid, nicely fitted knife with great ergo's, feels super in the hand. The M390 is good quality also (IMO). I'm a buy USA guy, I probably lean more that way than a lot of knife guys. It doesn't mean I won't buy knives from other countries but I will always buy USA 1st. At this point I have a LOT of USA knives and don't feel like I'm hurting anyone (including myself) when I do decide to purchase an overseas product.

Other than the knife looking like it would work well I also wanted to give DD a chance. I like his approach, he's very transparent with his designs, likes to get input from other knife guys, seems pretty genuine and is trying to make it work. Kudo's to him and anyone else that's trying to break into the knife biz.

Knife genre's have changed a lot over the last decade or so. It used to be a knife was a knife, a tool that we all needed to do some work. Now not many people really need a knife but a great many desire to own one or many. The appeal has shifted from a hard working tool to a pocket companion, sometimes a very blingy pocket companion. It doesn't mean we love our knives any less but for a completely different reason than as a 'tool'. There are a lot of knife makers who build awesome tools, and there are a lot more who build knives that appeal to other aspects or our knife love, some that are pretty useless as tools but are pretty cool as pocket companions. In today's knife market there is room for makers on both sides and a lot of us as collectors have both type of knives. Knives we love to use as tools and knives we love to carry around and show off. There's a lot of middle ground there too, cool knives that work well. Then there are those really awesome hard working knives that we paid way too much for and won't ever put to work.

I get where a lot of knife 'makers' have paid some significant dues and put many, many hours of very hard work into their craft and may see DD as a "Johnny come lately" trying to cash in on a growing market. Probably some truth in there but I have a feeling a lot of us would enjoy the creative process and utilizing the existing knife infrastructure to get up and running if we had a design we were passionate about and the obsession to follow it through even w/out a background in forging and metal work. Got to give credit where it's due.
 
Insipid Moniker said:
It looks good. Just at a glance this looks like the most practical of your designs. The blade and handle shape are both clean and simple, which I find appealing. I don't care much about ti framelock flippers at this point in time, but this seems to me like a solid entry into the market. Distinct enough to stand out, but remaining practical.
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Thank you :)
 
Insipid Moniker said:
It looks good. Just at a glance this looks like the most practical of your designs. The blade and handle shape are both clean and simple, which I find appealing. I don't care much about ti framelock flippers at this point in time, but this seems to me like a solid entry into the market. Distinct enough to stand out, but remaining practical.
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^^ This...and lanyard position is optimally better. :D
 
In my eyes the "produced in China" is not an issue in itself. The problem is rather to establish a close partnership where you keep control of what is done. A.G. Russell, Spyderco, Böker and others manage this. Yes, I know they are big brands with quite some financial heft behind. However, a knife maker (on BF's Knife Makers Market) produced a sweet little knife with flawless finish in a small serie (not more than a few hundreds) "made in China", two years ago, more or less. The knife is perfect and it even came in a nice presentation box (too much, if you ask me, but the knife is faultless). Sure, it was a fixed blade but there was some machining involved (skelonized handle) and everything was as clean as can be. Search Brian Evans on BF, it's his Companion Gen 1.
 
Mistman68 said:
I'm a fan. While it might be true that Adrian's hitting an already saturated market there are a lot of guys like me who will give things a try if they tick the right boxes, especially at an attractive price point.

I have one of his Wraiths, it's a very solid, nicely fitted knife with great ergo's, feels super in the hand. The M390 is good quality also (IMO). I'm a buy USA guy, I probably lean more that way than a lot of knife guys. It doesn't mean I won't buy knives from other countries but I will always buy USA 1st. At this point I have a LOT of USA knives and don't feel like I'm hurting anyone (including myself) when I do decide to purchase an overseas product.

Other than the knife looking like it would work well I also wanted to give DD a chance. I like his approach, he's very transparent with his designs, likes to get input from other knife guys, seems pretty genuine and is trying to make it work. Kudo's to him and anyone else that's trying to break into the knife biz.

Knife genre's have changed a lot over the last decade or so. It used to be a knife was a knife, a tool that we all needed to do some work. Now not many people really need a knife but a great many desire to own one or many. The appeal has shifted from a hard working tool to a pocket companion, sometimes a very blingy pocket companion. It doesn't mean we love our knives any less but for a completely different reason than as a 'tool'. There are a lot of knife makers who build awesome tools, and there are a lot more who build knives that appeal to other aspects or our knife love, some that are pretty useless as tools but are pretty cool as pocket companions. In today's knife market there is room for makers on both sides and a lot of us as collectors have both type of knives. Knives we love to use as tools and knives we love to carry around and show off. There's a lot of middle ground there too, cool knives that work well. Then there are those really awesome hard working knives that we paid way too much for and won't ever put to work.

I get where a lot of knife 'makers' have paid some significant dues and put many, many hours of very hard work into their craft and may see DD as a "Johnny come lately" trying to cash in on a growing market. Probably some truth in there but I have a feeling a lot of us would enjoy the creative process and utilizing the existing knife infrastructure to get up and running if we had a design we were passionate about and the obsession to follow it through even w/out a background in forging and metal work. Got to give credit where it's due.
Click to expand...

Thanks for giving me a chance and I hope you're enjoying the Wraith!
 
herisson said:
In my eyes the "produced in China" is not an issue in itself. The problem is rather to establish a close partnership where you keep control of what is done. A.G. Russell, Spyderco, Böker and others manage this. Yes, I know they are big brands with quite some financial heft behind. However, a knife maker (on BF's Knife Makers Market) produced a sweet little knife with flawless finish in a small serie (not more than a few hundreds) "made in China", two years ago, more or less. The knife is perfect and it even came in a nice presentation box (too much, if you ask me, but the knife is faultless). Sure, it was a fixed blade but there was some machining involved (skelonized handle) and everything was as clean as can be. Search Brian Evans on BF, it's his Companion Gen 1.
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The China bit was to avoid the political aspect of the end product and where its made. I am asking for an assessment of the design irrespective of if it was made by ZT or Bestech
 
Grandmaster said:
I really like that design, sign me up for one in m390
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Unfortunately I don't think i'll be doing any more M390. They were expensive to produce and I can't sell enough maybe cause of the higher pricepoint combined with being a newcomer. I will do S35VN frames and then maybe G10/D2 versions for budget.
 
Damneddesigns said:
The China bit was to avoid the political aspect of the end product and where its made. I am asking for an assessment of the design irrespective of if it was made by ZT or Bestech
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Well aware of that and indeed, I feel it's beneficial to focus on the design. Was just a heads up as you mentioned it wasn't easy to find a facility. Back to design, it is personal but for heck's sake, I hate those downwards angled handles. It is ergonomic, no doubt, but it reduces the versatility of the knife.
 
I wouldn’t buy it because I don’t buy flippers or knives made in China. That said, it’s my favorite design of yours that I’ve seen.
 
Damneddesigns said:
If you watch the reviews, I've received compliments (also at Blade west) about the ergonomics of the handles, the fashion element is a bonus.
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the profile of the handle is a 95% plus match to the Kershaw Launch 7100 Auto I have in my pocket. I have large hands and it’s comfortable handle for me. ————The Blade , I’m not a fan of the Tanto tip with a straight edge behind it because most all of the cutting ends up there on that tip, that Americanized Tanto tip, are high fashion these days. There is a lot of mystic about them. They aren’t really stronger than the traditional Japanese Tanto or a slight upswept tip. But I’m sure you’ll sell a few to the current crowd of flipper knife buyers , depending on your price point. Designing/Knife making/Cutlery has always been a brutal business .. I wish you the best!
 
I'm fine with Chinese made blades. At the same time, I prefer a longer blade that is less tall and thus takes up less room in the pocket, along with thinner blade stock for better cutting performance. Also prefer a deep carry clip.
 
Damneddesigns said:
Unfortunately I don't think i'll be doing any more M390. They were expensive to produce and I can't sell enough maybe cause of the higher pricepoint combined with being a newcomer. I will do S35VN frames and then maybe G10/D2 versions for budget.
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I'm fine with G10 but I am experiencing "D2 burnout". There is just so much of it on the market now. I'd rather see a decent budget stainless. Under $50, I've been pretty happy with Civivi's 9Cr18Mov and Tangram's Acuto 440. There's always 14C28N. Better yet, Kizer has a few competitively priced knives in N690 now. I'd love to see more of that on the market.
 
Damneddesigns said:
For some reason each and every design of mine so far has looked like A ZT to someone lol. Can't even say I drew inspiration from them cause the 0456 is the only 1 I know (and wanted to own badly)
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Personally, I don’t see a Zero Tolerance inspiration in this one. Maybe Kizer but not Zero Tolerance.
 
I like the design but I’m not interested solely because it’s being made in the China.

I would happily buy it for an increased price if it was made in NA.
 
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