WE Knives is my favorite brand for a reason: The good qualities far outweigh the bad in their products. I don't have any of their G10/D2 models (is this now the CIVIVI line?), so I won't be commenting much on those, but I'll try and be as unbiased as possible in my feedback, but here we go.
I love the variety of styles and materials.
Blade steel is very important to me on a knife, and while WE tends to be more stylistic with their products than many other companies, they make sure that the steels used are more than capable of standing up to whatever you throw at them.
The handles are always made from Titanium and/or Carbon Fiber, and they continue to be innovative with what they do to it. Take, for example, the scaling on the 604. Incredible precision and look, while sacrificing nothing in terms of comfort, and even adding some grip for the tougher stuff. On top of that, they think ahead to adding Lock-bar inserts to avoid the Titanium/Steel lock-stick issue, and to prevent wear. While some may 'tire'
rolleyes
of titanium and CF, WE continues to innovate and impress me with their mixes and style of the two.
The range of choices from WE is just amazing. There are so many different models, almost all still in production, and each (aside from LE's) has anywhere from 4 to 30 color combinations. Normally this would lead me to think that production quality would drop due to diversity on the production line, but I have not experienced anything below top-tier from WE.
I love the quality.
This is heavily focused on fit and finish in my mind, but I get this overwhelming feeling (especially in the newer models) when I'm using a WE that someone made sure everything was precise. Nothing has ever rattled in any of my WE knives. Nothing's jiggled or come loose. I only ever deconstructed my first one to do an initial cleaning like I usually do, and that was because I didn't realize the standard to which they seem to be held was so high.
I mentioned blade steel above, but perhaps as important as the steel is the heat-treat that is given in production. This is something that's very difficult for a layman to pick out, but so far I believe the treats to be second to none. I have never sharpened or honed any of my WE's, and they can all still curl newspaper.
As mentioned, while I haven't purchased any of their CIVIVI knives, I have handled them, and they have the same attention to build-quality that the full line does. I appreciate that the fit and finish is focused on for these lower-priced offerings.
I love the community out-reach.
For a long time, I was an American market focused buyer. I liked the idea of fueling the U.S. economy and it gave me a mild sense of pride. I was always disappointed, however, with how many of the larger American brands seemed to ignore the community at large, perhaps only really 'taking notes' at conventions that drew a certain type of crowd. This is the polar opposite of WE. There is transparency with WE, we can see what knives and designs are coming, things aren't released OUT OF NOWHERE as a 50 piece 'sprint run', it just feels more honest and a better way to run a business. This forum is an obvious indication to a dedication to that.
I noticed that all of my WE knives that were manufactured within the last year now have Hex screws instead of the proprietary 'star' screw hardware. While I never saw an announcement regarding this change, I am convinced that it's due to the company listening to the hobbyists and community at large, and making a real, effective change. This tells me that if anything's wrong that is somehow overlooked, and the community sees it, WE will work to make it right.
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For me, WE does all of the necessities, and does them well. From here on out will be my
personal opinion and desires for future WE knives:
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I would like to see even more ingenuity.
I love flipping knives. I absolutely love them, and with WE's bearings and fit, they open so smoothly that it's almost criminal. But there are so many flippers already, even in WE's own line-up. I purchased a 618 as soon as I had the money. When I saw the Double-Helix getting released, I got so excited and just had to have one. With the innovation and design that WE has to their blades and handles, I am excited about what they can bring to the opening-mechanism game. The Double-Helix was a good start, though perhaps a bit thick, but I want to see EVEN MORE for my $300.
I mentioned before that the 604's scales are amazing. The full TI 704 (and 618) also have some incredible, tight fluting. This texturing and attention to detail makes these two handles perhaps my favorite two handled knives that I own. Still functional and durable, but absolutely beautiful when looking either from 10ft away as well as 2 inches away. More of this.
I want a recurved upswept WE. The 817, 712, 604 are mildly recurved, but not enough!!
This is entirely selfish but now's my chance to get it out there
I'd like to see more (any?) slim offerings from WE. The Vapor and Wisp came out recently, but even they're a little chunkier than I feel like they need to be, and more importantly for me I like long blades and that is not what these are. WE obviously prides themselves on having very strong locks and good ergonomics, but I believe WE could pull off make a long, slim, comfortable folding knife. 618 too thick!
Lastly, I'd like to be able to buy just the handle-scales, so I can change the color post-purchase if I wanted. This is not at the top of my list, and obviously this would be a very small market of people interested in this, but I've always wondered how easy it would be for WE to be able to offer this as an option.
Whew! I've always wanted to get that written down...
