To custom collectors: do you also collect production?

[TheBadGuy]

Every once in a while if I really like a model

Yeap, thats about right for me as well. I rarely purchase production knives anymore but occasionally one catches my eye. (IE. BM 635, Fallkniven's Northern Lights series, and some of Bark Rivers fixed blades)

 

[SharpByCoop]

Dammit. Now you guys are makin me jealous of those wonderful Mnandi's. Soon. very soon.

If you like knives--then there is a HUGE world of quality and gratifying cutlery, all wearing the 'production' label. For a lot less money. I appreciate there are thousands of workers who put their best efforts into their work for The Company. I respect each knife as something with a human touch. It's inescapable.

Many of the factory knives I own are paying tribute (and maybe some $) to some single maker who designed them.

I own 42 custom folders and 30 custom fixed blades. I need no qualifiers here.

My 'Factory' knives:
(2) William Henry folders (One I had engraved. It's hardly factory now)
(5) Laguiole folders
Spyderco EDC (Large Calypso)
Linder-Messer small stag knicker
(2) AG Russell Seki lockbacks w/pearl
(2) Paul Chen fantasy folders ('Starship' and Appleton clone)
Large Gigand dagger designed by my friend Dr. Fred Carter (Even HE was impressed at the handwork in this)
Okapi folder with belt sheath
K.I.S.S. tanto
Gerber 'Trendy' K.I.S.S. upscale lookalike
(2) Delta Z folders from Italy
DDR Camillus 'Sizzle'

Wish list:
Microtech LCC D/A
CRK Mnandi
CRKT Van Hoy snap-lock
Benchmade 'Benchmite'
Possible quality Gaucho knife (They all seem so cheap, but I like the styling)

I like gadget-factor knives with style.

Good post.

Coop

 

[Kohai999]

I wish that you had let me know about the Mnandi, I would have traded it for a pic of one of my Fuegens'. I just traded it two days ago for a CRK Green Beret 5.5".

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson

 

[RogerP]

Isn't that just one beautiful knife Roger
I got one of those too... and I just love it. (It comes from a great stable of course).What others did he produce??

Hey Rod,

Yes, Bailey sure turned out a nice package with the Whitewing.

Here's mine:

I got mine from Chris Carlson at www.texknife.com - you can see pics of some of the other Whitewings he had available there (I believe the're all sold now).

I know at one point Bailey was considering a Whitewing bowie, but I'm not sure what his current thinking is on that.

Roger

 

[Joss]

Just to be clear, I have several production knives. But I don't consider they're part of the collection. For starters they're burried in a box as opposed to displayed (or they're carried.)

 

[Rod Neep]

Here's mine:

Love it!! (How did you know I like Wharncliffe blades?)

I got mine from Chris Carlson at www.texknife.com - you can see pics of some of the other Whitewings he had available there (I believe the're all sold now).

Yup... and one of them from Chris (last fall) is in the photo above

Rod

 

[schluterc]

I purchased my first "handmade" knife about about 18 months ago. Since then, I've sold every production knife I have except for one (nobody seems to want to buy it!) and only purchased one new production (a strider). I've bought about 30 customs since and I'm never going back! I kind of compare it to when I got a palm pilot or a cell phone with a color screen, you just can't go back. I'm not saying that there's no really nice productions out there- there are, in fact some may be nicer and even have a higher quality than some customs, but for me, my knife purchasing has just evolved to that "next level". That first $350-$400 was tough, now $400 is average! I hate to think- in five years or so I'll probably be buying $1K+ art knives....

 

[SharpByCoop]

I wish that you had let me know about the Mnandi, I would have traded it for a pic of one of my Fuegens'.

I guess I forgot to wear my telepathic tin-foil hat again last week. My bad.... :grumpy:

Thanks. Send me the Fuegen. Maybe you'll get it back.....

Coop

 

[Chefget]

Coop is on the money; all is good

How can you not like this?

The Kershaw Boa is pretty impressive, an old ivory Micarta Al Mar is still a nice find, not to mention older PC/BM balis!

Love to pick up another Benchmark stag Rolox!

-Michael

 

[slide13]

Production knives don't do much for me anymore but I still have a BM42 because it's a great flipper and I still love the Sebenza and carry a small classic woody for my EDC. Everything else just doesn't interest me these days and that's too bad I suppose because I know there are some really good buys out there....but after you've had some nice customs (or Sebenzas) nothing else compares.

 

[Joss]

I'm not saying that there's no really nice productions out there- there are, in fact some may be nicer and even have a higher quality than some customs

I totally agree with that statement.

 

[Kohai999]

This knife is special for a number of reasons.

It illustrates most of the things that I love about production knives, and is probably my single most favorite knife. When they came out with this one, the technology was absolutely cutting edge. I think that at the time, Japan was the only country with production facilities advanced enough to do this as a production piece.

I have never seen another production knife or custom, for that matter that so meshed the East meets West concept in a knife. I was one happy camper when I got this one.

Cold Steel's MSRP was $800.00 in the early '90's when this knife was produced. That means dealer cost on it was $400.00. I got this one for $350.00. There are no separations or pits, missed welds or pattern deformations in the damascus. How else but in a production environment could knife like this be produced with that quality(at least, aesthetically) for that price?

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson

 

[PhilL]

I love knives.
I collect stag and if I like the knife I don't care if it's handmade, benchmade or production. I can't afford all of the custom knives I want and sometimes a production knife will just scratch an itch or fill a void.

I also think there are production knives that match the quality, fit and finish of some production knives. Spyderco's C27 Jess Horn and their Kiwi come to mind right off the top of my head.

 

[Thomason]

Here is my Bradshaw Whitewing I also got from Chris Carlson.

 

[Grapevine]

I have enough users already, so any knife that I buy beyond that is I consider for collecting, even if they're going to see use at some point. With that in mind, I buy both production and customs.

 

[marcangel]

Yes.
I collect Swiss Army Knives (vic only), some of the older Al Mar folders, and the occaisional odds and ends that attract my attention. Usually they have very nice material or some kind of "gadget" factor that intrigues me. One "production" knife I tend to scoop up whenever possible are the inlaid pearl knives produced by Moki. They are simply exquisite and rival the work of many custom makers. They are also often more difficult to come by than many custom knives so I don't really look at them in the same light as Benchmade, or even Wm Henry (as a side note, many of the Wm Henry knives were actually made or the part were manufactured by Moki).

However, it's getting harder for the production companies to get me interested unless it's something really unique.

 

[Megalobyte]

While I rarely buy productions, and tend to not put pics of them on my knife web page, preferring the page to be exclusively customs, I do have a few, one is a Sebenza with Wood inlays that is as perfect as a knife can be, moreso than most customs IMO, everybody should have a Sebenza, since custom or production, it remains a benchmark of quality, and the pinnacle of framelock design, and, the fact is, there are just a whole bunch of VERY cool Microtechs out there. You can buy a mint, original HALO 2 for around $275 if you're lucky, and in many ways, it is a neater knife and design than many of the customs I own that cost a lot more, I'm not crazy about most of the current MT's, but those older HALOS, Combat Talons and Nemis with the Brend blades, and a few others really do it for me, and there was a time when MT's quality and F&F was at least as good as a good custom, not so anymore unfortunately. Microtech may be heading downhill, but they sure did come out with some real winners a while back and I'll buy one here and there when I see one I like at a fair price.

 

[Danbo]

While I rarely buy productions, and tend to not put pics of them on my knife web page, preferring the page to be exclusively customs, I do have a few, one is a Sebenza with Wood inlays that is as perfect as a knife can be, moreso than most customs IMO, everybody should have a Sebenza, since custom or production, it remains a benchmark of quality, and the pinnacle of framelock design, and, the fact is, there are just a whole bunch of VERY cool Microtechs out there. You can buy a mint, original HALO 2 for around $275 if you're lucky, and in many ways, it is a neater knife and design than many of the customs I own that cost a lot more, I'm not crazy about most of the current MT's, but those older HALOS, Combat Talons and Nemis with the Brend blades, and a few others really do it for me, and there was a time when MT's quality and F&F was at least as good as a good custom, not so anymore unfortunately. Microtech may be heading downhill, but they sure did come out with some real winners a while back and I'll buy one here and there when I see one I like at a fair price.

Ari, that sounds like a bunch of fancy words to say the same thing I posted earlier. Knives are cool, factory or otherwise, and we buy whatever we want!

 

[nifrand]

I have a whole bunch of customs.I have a lot of productions.
Happy
Randy

 

[Clydetz]

My first 5 knives were customs made from my drawings. Then when I became more adept at using the computer, I started to really see what was out there! Started collecting a lot more production, custom and customized production knives. If I like how it looks or operates and I can afford it... it's going in the collection.