Where is the knife industry headed?

Well I think the tactical trend will either wear it self out eventually, or collapse from eventual burnout. Personially I think that it could go back to more traditional knifes (like the Case Peanut, or other multibladed knifes)
 
The two things I see coming short term or maybe already here but not burned out yet are new blade steels and new lock designs on folders.


Mike
 
People will continue to buy many, many more blades than they need. :-) I am no exception and consider a gun show a failure unless I have at least one new blade. Sometimes I get dazzled by new locks, new steels, etc.; other times I want a Winchester or Bulldog traditional style.

Didn't our grandfathers buy a pocket knife only when the previous one was ground to toothpicks?
 


I think it will shift towards fixed blades again, or at least I hope so cuz that's all I make
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KSwinamer

Atheism....A non-prophet organization
 
Very good question, Darrel. Looking forward to reading the replies. I think the industry is heading in the direction with more custom collaboration folders and fixed blades. Factories can only do so much in terms of in-house designs, and in order to stay competitve in today's ever-growing knife industry, there needs to be something that sets Company A apart from Company B and so on. They look to custom makers for the originality of designs and no doubt - the name recognition. Used to be primarily with folders, custom collaborations are branching off into fixed blades, as evidenced with Camillus' Simonich Talon, Schrade's D'Holder and Zumbo, Buck's Carson Intrepid, and Spyderco's Moran FB01. For the exception of a few companies, most of what is coming out today is all custom collaborations. Maybe this custom collaboration thing will peter out in a few years, but as long as there is a competitive (dare I say - "cut throat"?
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) knife industry there is always a desire to innovate and the only way for factories to do this is to bring custom makers on board. and as long as custom makers interact with the factories, I hope to see more use of high performance blade materials like Talonite and the CPM steels. ATS-34 and steels like 440A, AUS-8, and 440C will continue to be in demand, but for the consumer who wants a high performance factory knife, the "top shelf" steels are what to use. Just my 2 pennies' worth
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AKTI Member # A000005
Living life "on the edge"

[This message has been edited by Dexter Ewing (edited 04-26-2000).]
 
I think it will go slightly different. More and more of the custom makers are heading towards becoming small production companies. Machinery is more available and is coming in the price range of more of the small shops. With the growth of the American knife shops, I also see less importation in the future.
Also, I see the small custom makers becoming more mainstream as to acceptance into the "arts" as the general public becomes aware of the existance of the craft.

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It's never too late to have a happy childhood!
Terill Hoffman Knife Photography http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=243110&a=1810458
 
New start up companies introducing cutting edge technology in materials forcing older more well established companies to follow suit or lose out. I think also that we will see a big Sub-Hilt revival this year.
Bob
 
Darrel,I think you will see more and more custom knife makers and factory makers working together to produce knives.I also think you will see newer and better steel being introduced into the market and smaller versions of the tactical knives that are now in the marketplace.I also think that the grinds that you see on the larger fixed and folding knives will become available with the new technology.
PS will you be at Dover this year
 
I see more ceramics and non-metal materials tested. Could be wrong, but other industries are going wild with the non-metal thing... I don't mean plastic last-ditch-survival stuff; we'll see edge-holding combined with flexibility not yet seen and other properties unheard of.

Just thinking aloud

RLR
 
1. Newer and better blade steels will rule the roost.
2. Stronger and simpler folding lock mechanisms will help drive the folder market further thru the roof.
3. Collaberations between custom makers and factories will continue to drive the cutlery industry into never before explored territory of innovation and design. Both will continue to greatly benefit from this.
4. Designs will continue on the road of "dressier tactical" designs until a saturation point with consumers is reached. That may be at least several years in the making though as this trend is just starting to steamroll.
5. Small fixed blades seem to be gaining in popularity and may continue to do so for the next several years as their inherent strengths are realised.

If our economy doesn't bottom out suddenly, The next few years should be a cutlery consumer's Nirvana with more "gotta have" products to choose from than ever before in cutlery history, IMHO, of course.
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ENJOY!

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The individualist without strategy who takes opponents lightly will inevitably become the captive of others.
Sun Tzu
 
Gotta agree with Dex. Collaborations are what sells and they make a lot of sense. The process allows some of the brightest individual makers minds do the conceptualization and prototype work.This is an advantage to the factory because they have the makers name and expertise to borrow on, without having to utilize a big in-house design team. The maker benefits from this in the short and long run.First,there are the royalties. Then as new collectors advance up to the custom level,they will be interested in obtaining knives from the makers who designed the factory pieces they have been pleased with.
The line between factory and custom knives will become even more blurred. Companies like William Henry and Speedtech have proven the in-between market is viable, utilizing batch processing,outscourcing and cad-cam manufacturing. Since the advent of cad-cam, several makers are going to the batch system of knifemaking and letting the machines do a lot of the grunt work.Seems to me that this is an example of both sides working to the same middle ground.
Another benefit of cad-cam is that it will allow more creativity and quicker turnarounds on new knife designs.The consistency of the quality will continue to rise for large and small companies alike,because of the consisent accuracy of cad-cam equipment.
The explosion of new blade and handle materials has only begun. I think there will be rapid development of ceramic materials that do not have some of the inherent weakness of current ceramics,such as brittleness and lack of flexability.
It blows my mind that Gerber is using cast titanium in their new Airframe! That concept alone could be a small revolution in the field.Lighter, stronger handles,less machining,less waste.
It is a great time to be a knife knut!
David

AKTI#A150
NCCKG
 
I think the "tactical" market needs to get smarter and go "upscale and professional". We need to see blade, training blade, carry system and training video packaged as a complete set, in "standalone" form for the non-CCW states (blade as primary defense) and as a "gun backup/retention tool" for the shall-issue CCW zones. Perhaps a third complete package for the ladies.

Marketing should be very professional and low-key versus "camo Rambos".

There's a few makers who are also martial artists or partner up with one, and could do such "complete kits" very easily.

Jim
 
With the current trend of "D/A OTF Auto's" being trained more toward the "Gentleman's Knife" market, I would hope that the laws could be challenged, and the reality of high end automatics not being "Killing Tools" driven home. Also I fully agree with Mr. March.

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Brandon
 
More thoughts - custom knives. As far as tactical folders go, we will be seeing less all-black and black handle/bead blasted blade combos. Makers like Pat Crawford, Allen elishewitz, Brian Tighe, and Bob Terzuola come to mind as far as dressed-up tactical folders go. And there will continue to be makers who will make dressed up and subdued tacticals as well. Another thing I see slowly emerging is hybrid knives - knives that blend the elements of a user knife with an art knife. Darrel's Apogee is a good example, as is David Broadwell's Springbok. this will allow the knife user to have a piece that can be carried and used daily that has a bit of pizazz to it.

Getting back to production knives, I think more companies will experiment with new locks. While the liner lock is widely acceptable and when done properly, it is a strong lock mechanism, but educated knife consumers are wanting to go beyone lockbacks and liner locks to lock mechanisms that are more stout. Take a look at the Axis Lock and the Rolling Lock. SOG has the Arc Lock, and Spyderco has the Compression Lock which is pretty much hush-hush in terms of details for now. Will the liner lock suddenly will become yesterday's news? I don't think so, as it is widely used and widely accepted today. The guys out there who can "build a better mousetrap" will definitely gain attention from the consumers looking for the latest high tech lock design.

Look for Taiwan to become a major manufacturing force to reckon with. Look at the CRKT and Outdoor Edge knives. For their prices, its hard to beat them in terms of the designs and manufacturing quality. They might not use the kind of steel we all want them to use, but you have to look at the big picture. This all means folks getting into knife collecting today will be able to comfortably afford a custom collaboration piece. Custom collaborations are no longer limited to high end factory knives.

More to come as I think of it
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AKTI Member # A000005
Living life "on the edge"
 
The only thing I would add is that I believe more knife makers are going to do "kitchen knives". If your not a knife writer that's where you do most of your cutting chores and I see more makers making knives in this direction. Also I see a lot more "ethnic" blades being made from both the custom and production end of things.

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~ JerryO ~

Cogito Cogito Ergo Cogito Sum


 
Newly available blade materials will push the evolution of edge geometry to new threshholds of performance. Phill Hartsfield has enjoyed a legendary reputation via the development of his chisel grind using A2. Now makers like RJ Martin are taking that performance a step further with some of the CPM steels. And Ed Schott's deceptively conventional looking grinds, without secondary edge bevels, have taken CPM 3V edges into the 12 degree range (included angle).

Blades with primary-grind-only bevels will replace blades with secondary edge bevels in applications where cutting performance is the primary requirement.

IMO--Will
 
I think everybody's found their every-day-carry. If they're anything like me, it's something with an Axis lock (or whatever else there is out there with a lock that resists wear), indestructible handles (be them G10 with a stainless or ti skeleton, solid aluminum, or Hubba Bubba), and some premium steel.

The immediate move will be to accessorize the every-day-carry with a fixed-blade or ten. Be them custom or production, the more the better.

Then we sit and wait. For the improved locking mechanisms, the tougher handles, the admentium blades (little rusty on my Marvel).

One day, they won't be able to outlaw blades. They'll be everywhere.

Seriously, I've personally found my pocket folder. It's not custom, but damned near, with replaceable parts and replaceable whole for that matter. Now I lean on the industry for improvements, innovations, and more bang for the buck. They haven't let me down so far.
 
1) I think that the tactical market will continue to split into two distinct markets. The first type is focused on pure performance, with little regard for aesthetics. These are purely professional knives, with flat black, grays, and camo remaining dominant. The second type is the upscale "dresser" type of tactical knife. The recent addition of optional woods and colors by some makers is the beginning, an attempt to increase sales to the traditional pocket knife buyers.

2) The Tanto point will evolve into a more rounded version. This would be a combination of today's Tanto, Spear, and Sabre Points.

3) Improvements in CAD/production will allow mass producers the ability to offer on-line knife design from start to finish at a reasonable price. The ability of customers to design and produce their own knife designs on-line will have a serious impact on some custom knife makers in the short term. Those that cannot weather the storm alone may team up with each other or be bought out by the big mass producers.

4) Every major company will have at least one proprietary steel for knife blade production.

5) Someone will find a cure for Delrin.

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Dave
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Attention: Some assembly may be required. Batteries not included.

[This message has been edited by Columbo (edited 04-26-2000).]
 
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