To the old farts of the knife world, how have you seen the world of knives change?

Slice O Life

Slice O Life

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May 20, 2021
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I would love to hear from those who have been knife hobbyists for a long time, how you have seen the knife community and knife designs change over time.
 
Back in the day we weren't so hung up on steel types. Granted there weren't as many types. But today you have to be an amateur metallergist just to have any kind of opinion. Knives themselves, their designs have been influenced by trends; tactical, bushcraft, etc,. The advent of the internet facilitates and expedites the expansion of trends and exchange of ideas, for better or worse. It all makes things very interesting though.
 
The biggest trend seems to be the move towards exotic high-end, steel alloys, for knives. Many of the newer designs seem to exemplify knives as 'pocket jewelry'. Another growing fad seems to be aftermarket add-ons for production blades. Which means changing grip-slabs, and pocket-clips. Anything, and everything that can create more market, and more generated profit. Some of these are excellent ideas, and others not-so-much. Other than that, the more knives change; the more they remain the same.
 
And some things never change. The obsession with edge retention goes back way further than the alphabet soup steels of the modern era. When someone said that a knife doesn't hold an edge, I always figured that meant that the person who said that didn't know how to sharpen a knife.

Getting a knife "Sharp out of the box" didn't used to happen all that much. I used to think that the manufacturer assumed that the user would put the edge on it that suited them.
 
Now there is more choice, more info, more customs, big shift to premium collectables, more people buying knives just to buy knives, better quality at the upper end, more expensive, more big dramatic marketing, more tribal, more people making a living off promoting knives/brands, more accessories, more third party mods, more scales, more materials choices, more styles, more lock types in folders......... basically more, more, more.


Of course the above applies to almost every modern consumer product available.
 
I see beefier, taller blades nowadays. Also comes with obtuse angles that doesn't aid the cuttin.

Not a big fan of the over built knives I guess.

I like old school stuff like below:
🤷‍♂️

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Yeah back in the 80s the liner lock was a very rare bird, as were pocket clips! Then we got liner locks and frame locks, then the axis lock, then flippers, then an explosion in steel types, then the button lock and an explosion in design variety. I think it was in the teens that sharpened prybars were all the rage, but thankfully we have since mostly returned to slicey knives that cut.
 
I feel old, I'm 40. What I say from the 90s to the 2020s is pretty crazy. I remember when very few knife steels were available, and every company made much less complex knives. I think the style back then was something to be found in Mortal Kombat games or Blade games. I didn't like anything, and didn't buy anything, in the 90s aside from a Baretta Aerolite II.

The 2000s is when knife making started to wake up and by the mid 2010s the things started to become really shocking to me. Some of Cold Steel, ZT, Spyderco, and Benchmade items really wowed me when I think back to remember the crummy mall knives the big names made back in the 90s.

Mac in NH, the Buck 110 and the Paramilitary 2 are the best production knives there are PERIOD. It's been this way for a while and will be this way for some time.
 
People didn't care about steel back then, or knew anything about it for that matter. Stainless was considered bad by most, wouldn't hold an edge. Any "real" knife had some kind of tool steel blade. There is some truth to this when comparing common 420 series steels (which comprised most SS blades back then) to high carbon tool steels. I can guarantee you that if you go ask your parents or grandparents, they will still tell you the same thing.

No one cared about the "action", just wasn't a thing. A knife had to work & stay sharp, that's about it. If you would've walked into a store & complained to the clerk that your folder isn't smooth enough, you would've been laughed out of the store!

No one cared about lock strength on folders. Most carried multi bladed slip joints. It was just common sense for folks to not use a folding knife for any hard work. That's what a real knife (fixed blade) was for.

People also didn't care so much about full tangs. Hidden stick tangs & even partial tangs were the norm. Back then they were usually annealed and as such were strong enough. No one batoned through wood, that's what a slipping maul was for. As a result blades/grinds were often much thinner then they are today, on both fixed & folding knives.

Blades were usually not that sharp when new, it was just expected that you sharpen them up before use. Sheaths were often flimsy & thin, considered expendable by many. If the sheath fell apart, you just got a new one made, or made one yourself.

Distal taper & even tapered tangs were much more common, as many blades were hand forged.

Fit & finish also was not so important to folks. Most knives were hand made to at least some degree. Slight asymmetry, forge marks, gaps and such were just a part of life. Most didn't even see it, and would call you pedantic if you would've pointed it out. Slight blade play on folders was also common.


Most quality modern knives have way better QC then old-timers. Steel quality is far superior today. But I feel that with all the fancy milling & super steels, companies sometimes forget the basics in favour of the fancy stuff. Most blades today are too thickly ground (especially on folders), tangs are basically never annealed. Shoulders, spines & choils are not rounded. You also rarely ever see differentially hardened blades any more (edge hard, spine/tang soft). With every knife being CNC machined these days, I would expect almost every tang to be tapered. But they're not.

By the way, the reason why no one missed pocket clips back then, is that people wore suits, everywhere, all the time. Suits jackets have all kinds of pockets to hold your lighter, keys & pocket knife. No need for clips. I still wear suits everywhere, I always take the clips off my knives when I carry them. Go figure.
 
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Olumin said:
People didn't care about steel back then, or knew anything about it for that matter. . .
. . .I still wear suits everywhere, I always take the clips off my knives when I carry them. Go figure.
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So when did you start looking into knives? What year?
I remember it was like you said in the early 90s for me. Then came TACTICAL knives and knives that can be sold in outdoor stores other than swiss army knives and ka-bars. I have no idea when it just went BAM we have knives like we do today, or what allows them to do what they do today with alloys and extremely well made builds.
I wear suits and dress wear a lot too. I think modern Americans are slobs.
 
KenHash said:
Back in the day we weren't so hung up on steel types. Granted there weren't as many types. But today you have to be an amateur metallergist just to have any kind of opinion. Knives themselves, their designs have been influenced by trends; tactical, bushcraft, etc,. The advent of the internet facilitates and expedites the expansion of trends and exchange of ideas, for better or worse. It all makes things very interesting though.
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We rarely knew what the steel actually was. Super keen, surgical stainless etc.
 
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