What am I missing with the Loveless knives?

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David swope

Joined
Jul 4, 2013
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Hello everyone at Bladeforums. I am a new member to this site but have browsed it for years as a visitor. One question I wanted to pose to the forum is if anyone has had any experience with Loveless knives. They seem to be good enough knives, but how are they worth so much and how has he become such a legend. I could probably name a dozen knifes makers off the top of my head that seem to me to make a superior knife that are virtually unheard of. Some are probably members of the forum. When I compare his knives and what he did for the knife making world to Bill Moran they just don't seem to compare. What am I missing?
 
Come on guys help me out here. Call me inexperienced but I am going to need you to be more specific. He did make a very nice clean knife. And I like his designs. I haven't found any other information about his knives other than they are highly collectible, he is the greatest and the master etc. What made his knives the best.
 
I never "got" Sebenza until I owned one. I always assumed that the joy was people justifying their overpriced purchase, then I had one by way of trade. I almost tried to dislike it, really, but it just clicked.

I guess I reserve that indistinguishable emotion for other knives now when I wouldn't have been able to before.

I may not be able to swing the price of certain knives (or watches, or cars, homes etc...), but I'm a little closer to understanding those that can. :)

Sorry if it still doesn't make sense. :o
 
Thanks for the post Strigamort. I am not going to buy a loveless to find out. But maybe someday I can just hold one.
 
David swope said:
Thanks for the post Strigamort. I am not going to buy a loveless to find out. But maybe someday I can just hold one.
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Again, you don't need to own an authentic Loveless knife to find out, just pic up one of the knives he inspired or created the original design for... actually, it's pretty hard to NOT do that...
 
You need to understand the time frame. What Mr. Loveless had to work with.It was not like Mr. Loveless could just go out and buy a KMG grinder and a digital programmable Evenheat kiln. Mr. Loveless made better knives than anyone in his time and if he was still with us today he would still be making better knives than anyone!Dig deeper read some more about the man!
 
Take nothing away from Bill Moran. He was an exceptional maker, designer and American Bladesmith Society Founder and Master Smith.

In the same light, there are others one can mention that had an effect on the knife word and rarely even get the recognition they deserve.

James "Jim" Bowie
Blackie Collins
Frank Centafonte
Robert "Bob" W. Lum

to name but a few.

There are also many legends still with us.

One concept made Loveless knives for me: Drop Point Hunter.

He is one of the legends in the knife world like many others mentioned and not mentioned. Each had an effect on the knife world. Though not many will have the same recognition as their peers, or many of us wont always understand why they have the recognition they do.

[video=youtube;8iFC3OhZbaY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iFC3OhZbaY[/video]
 
I apologize for being rude with just posting a thumbs up... I know that was not very helpful. Loveless was one of those makers that just got it right and it set the knife world on fire. Also one of the first to have his designs put into the production world. Something we see everyday. His designs, although they seem "simple" by today's standards, were revolutionary and coveted. It was a combination of form and function, a beauty in motion. Loveless was also one of those larger than life characters that helped form the world of blades. However, nothing needs to be detracted from Moran and the other makers previously mentioned in this thread. There are those who take a piece of steel and turn into into a knife, then there are those who take a blade and form it into a feeling.
 
As for why they demand the high prices. Pretty much for the same reasons that works of art command high prices. The name attatched, the feeling it evokes with the buyer. The rarity.

I've never owned (or held) a Loveless but many (not all) of his designs just look right. Like they "work" somehow. Offcourse if you simply want the performance and feel of a Loveless design then there are many makers who can cater to your needs.

If you want an original though....the man is no longer with us. And the supply is limited. Small supply + large demand = high price.
 
If I was a multi-billionaire, I wouldn't spend $10,000 to $30,000+ for any knife, unless the knives were made of pure gold and sold at the current price based on weight, or for a 16th century samurai sword actually used by Hattori Masanari.
 
Alnamvet68 said:
If I was a multi-billionaire, I wouldn't spend $10,000 to $30,000+ for any knife, unless the knives were made of pure gold and sold at the current price based on weight, or for a 16th century samurai sword actually used by Hattori Masanari.
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So then, why do you feel his knives command and fetch those prices? That is the question at hand.
 
David swope said:
What made his knives the best.
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Nobody is the "best".

So then, why do you feel his knives command and fetch those prices? That is the question at hand.
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You can buy an original Loveless knife for $5000. Or you can buy a beautiful Loveless-inspired knife made by someone else for $300 or less.
Is the $300 knife the same quality as the $5000 knife? Maybe, maybe not.
Is the original ten or twenty times better than the inspired version? Most certainly not.

When you buy a custom knife you are paying for the finished product, the maker's time, and the materials used. But more importantly you are paying for the maker's name - their reputation, their fame. Combine that with supply and demand - how many knives did Loveless make, and how many people want to own one of them. To buy one, you have to be willing to pay more than everyone else that wants one. Same with other collectibles, antiques, and even everyday commodities like food and gasoline. The world is a giant eBay...

It's the same reason that Babe Ruth's baseball card sells for more than Earl Robinson's (random player's name). Is Ruth's card 1000X higher quality than Robinson's, the quality of the card stock, the quality of the photograph? Of course not.
 
Thanks Bob W. good post. I really do appreciate his designs. It will be hard for me to put anyone that uses stock removal only as one of the best knife makers in the world. I am a hobby knifemaker and use stock removal as my only method of knife making but see it as an inferior method to forging.
 
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