Some Thoughts on Youtuber Nick Shabazz

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He's got his own name on his own thread here, with 15 pages of comments.
89K subscribers on Youtube.
He's certainly carved out his own niche, and appears to be having a great time with his hobby.
We are exact opposites; he appears to be a city scientist, I've been a farrier for 43 years.
I get the biggest kick out of when he mentions "hot spots." LOL
My hands are swollen, bleeding, and calloused like boot leather; I don't get hot spots!
I like him.
 
He is just another YT knife guy. I'm not a huge fan since my interests have moved from urban/suburban folders to outdoor fixed blades.

I got bored with folders, and I just carry a 3.5" Gen 6 XM18 or Benchmade Contego with carbon fiber scales as my EDC. I've got a couple small assisted Benchmade gentleman's knives for business meetings, but otherwise that's all I need in a folder.

Nick is entertaining, but I don't take any reviewer's opinion as gospel anyway. And frankly, knives are mainly tools to me and I just don't have that many uses for a folder other than random stuff I could do with almost any competent knife, such as opening packages/boxes, cutting apples, and possible self defense.

Outdoor fixed knives are presented with a MUCH more diverse and difficult environment and uses, that's why I find them more interesting.
 
I’ll admit, I do like his videos for the most part, they are helpful mainly seeing sizes and opening and closing actions. Having said that, some of my dislikes are generally dislikes for most knife reviews. I think it’s silly when a complaint is that a knife is “too heavy” because it’s an ounce larger than another knife. Another thing I think is a little useless is when he talks about the balance point...I’m not throwing my knives and where they balance is meaningless to me.
 
VermontEdge said:
So having just received my first CRK knife I've been spending some time over on that sub-forum and I've seen a couple threads discussing YouTuber Nick Shabazz. I've seen a lot of criticism launched at him and I just thought I'd start a thread here to discuss my feelings about him as a reviewer and member of the knife and bladeforums community.

Knives are a personal thing. For some people they're a hobby, for some people they're a tool, and for others they're a means of self defense. Personally speaking, I use a knife all the time at work (I'm a distiller) and carry higher end knives the rest of the time so I guess I'm somewhere between a user and an appreciator.

Given my situation I find Nick Shabazz to be an invaluable resource and member of this commmunity. I think that his videos and reviews strive to discuss all aspects of a knife and, in doing so, every kind of knife user. You'll often hear him point out a detail of a knife and say "this doesn't matter to me, but it might matter to you". This attention to detail and consideration of what either people look for or value in a knife is, in my opinion, part of what makes Nick so great. I often find myself agreeing with him or at least finding value or an interesting perspective in what he's saying. Rather than stating his opinions as facts he really strives to stay objective and keep opinions as opinions and facts as facts.

Nick doesn't come across as an intense prepper or survivalist or super soldier. Instead he comes across as a knowledgeable guy who is passionate about knives and has good taste and an incredible eye for detail. He's entertaining, charming, witty and helpful. I genuinely appreciate his presence in the community and I just wanted to start this thread to say so. That is all.

Keep it up Nick!
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VermontEdge said:
So having just received my first CRK knife I've been spending some time over on that sub-forum and I've seen a couple threads discussing YouTuber Nick Shabazz. I've seen a lot of criticism launched at him and I just thought I'd start a thread here to discuss my feelings about him as a reviewer and member of the knife and bladeforums community.

Knives are a personal thing. For some people they're a hobby, for some people they're a tool, and for others they're a means of self defense. Personally speaking, I use a knife all the time at work (I'm a distiller) and carry higher end knives the rest of the time so I guess I'm somewhere between a user and an appreciator.

Given my situation I find Nick Shabazz to be an invaluable resource and member of this commmunity. I think that his videos and reviews strive to discuss all aspects of a knife and, in doing so, every kind of knife user. You'll often hear him point out a detail of a knife and say "this doesn't matter to me, but it might matter to you". This attention to detail and consideration of what either people look for or value in a knife is, in my opinion, part of what makes Nick so great. I often find myself agreeing with him or at least finding value or an interesting perspective in what he's saying. Rather than stating his opinions as facts he really strives to stay objective and keep opinions as opinions and facts as facts.

Nick doesn't come across as an intense prepper or survivalist or super soldier. Instead he comes across as a knowledgeable guy who is passionate about knives and has good taste and an incredible eye for detail. He's entertaining, charming, witty and helpful. I genuinely appreciate his presence in the community and I just wanted to start this thread to say so. That is all.

Keep it up Nick!
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I like Nick’s reviews a lot. In fact, if I’m considering purchasing a new knife, I’ll try to find a Nick video review of it before I make the purchase. I can remember a couple times where his reviews made an impact on my purchase decision. He has a good sense of humor too and I find his accent actually entertaining.
 
He talks funny, but is insightful most of the time. I don’t always agree with what he has to say, but he talks funny, so I stay entertained. :D
 
Sigguy said:
I enjoy his reviews. Seems like a guy who loves knives and wants to share his feelings about them. Nothing wrong with that.
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He also does reviews on other products such as, believe it or not, mechanical pencils. And, he does a good review on them too. And he does it with good humor and that New York accent of his!
 
I enjoyed him on the recent knifenuts podcast. He really won me over. I guess I never gave him a solid chance before. But now I’m a fan.
 
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Generally, just about every one of his videos have at least one info tip for everybody.
takes a little getting used to his voice. All in all, " THE NICK " is pretty cool and a help,
especially novices like myself.
 
If we would do a knife reviewer review he would come out as a gem and he would be the Slysz Bowie of knife reviewers.

I am Swedish and do not want to be rude to US people but I do appreciate that he speaks without the "uuhm" & "eeeeh" and is not constantly repeating what he just already explained 5 times just a minute ago (sorry guys but this drives Swedes nuts).
 
I’ll share a few random thoughts in no particular order.

-it took some time to get used to that accent (they usually get on my nerves) But I’m getting OK with it. I believe it’s a Philadelphia accent.
-As others here has suggested I do think the accent is fake. For some reason he’s taking great pains to conceal his real identity, which seems very odd.
-Nick seems like a very odd fellow. Which I think he would agree with wholeheartedly.
-I get the impression he has a PHD. He’s certainly not dumb despite his frequent attempts to convey humility.
-He reviews a lot of stuff I’m not interested in, but when the material he puts out intersects with my own interests I generally do watch his videos and find them both entertaining and informative.
-for a channel of his subscribership, his production value is laughably low. Come on Nick… Invest in some decent lighting, backgrounds, etc. I get the impression he still records all his videos from his phone too.
 
The fact is, he lays it all out logically, explains his biases. Sums up at the end and you appreciate the viewpoints. Regardless of whether you share them.
 
Couldn't resist but to add my own personal opinion about M. Shabazz, or other knife youtubers in general (I apologize in advance for all the grammar errors).

Nick Shabazz is a Youtuber with a big follower base, but although he stays very clear with his review procedure, I can't help but think that he is still being used very efficiently as a showcase window by knife producers. To be honest, I think that it must be hard to stay objective when a company like Protech sends you a luxurious one of a kind knife dedicated to you. And his videos teaching you about life lessons sound pompous to me.

Still, his disassembly videos are invaluable and taught me a lot about knives anatomy. These also have a certain charm of not being staged, and I really like when he's struggling with a problem before finally finding the solution.

For Youtubers in general, I find hard to take seriously someone who talks 20 minutes about a knife without cutting anything with it. As an example, there is this Youtuber who constantly films himself in outdoor situation with all the accoutrement of a bushcrafter. He made 3 reviews of the Bombshell without using the knife once. On the other hand, you have this guy called Neroknives who does knife reviews, uses them in all kind of ways, but also teaches you about various aspects of knives in general (edge geometry, sharpening...). Still, he has much less followers than a slice & dicer or some bird shooters.
 
Mister_Punchy said:
Couldn't resist but to add my own personal opinion about M. Shabazz, or other knife youtubers in general (I apologize in advance for all the grammar errors).

Nick Shabazz is a Youtuber with a big follower base, but although he stays very clear with his review procedure, I can't help but think that he is still being used very efficiently as a showcase window by knife producers. To be honest, I think that it must be hard to stay objective when a company like Protech sends you a luxurious one of a kind knife dedicated to you. And his videos teaching you about life lessons sound pompous to me.
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Yep, that's always a worry. I try my best to be upfront about what goes on in terms of loans and when I'm able to purchase something unique (like that Pro-Tech you're referencing), and I do my best 'not to let that affect the nature and quality of my review', but ultimately, you have to be the judge of whether I succeed. I talk about this a lot in my video on why I'm not a full-timer (
), which I'll warn you, might be a bit close to a "pompous life lesson video" for you. :p

Mister_Punchy said:
Still, his disassembly videos are invaluable and taught me a lot about knives anatomy. These also have a certain charm of not being staged, and I really like when he's struggling with a problem before finally finding the solution.

For Youtubers in general, I find hard to take seriously someone who talks 20 minutes about a knife without cutting anything with it. As an example, there is this Youtuber who constantly films himself in outdoor situation with all the accoutrement of a bushcrafter. He made 3 reviews of the Bombshell without using the knife once. On the other hand, you have this guy called Neroknives who does knife reviews, uses them in all kind of ways, but also teaches you about various aspects of knives in general (edge geometry, sharpening...). Still, he has much less followers than a slice & dicer or some bird shooters.
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I'm glad you like the disassemblies. One interesting thing is that I get roughly an equal number of comments and bits of feedback saying "Thank god you don't do boring on-screen cutting tests" and saying "I can't take you seriously because you're not doing on-screen cutting tests". So, I can't win :D The nice thing is that these days, there's a YouTuber for damned near anybody out there. Glad you found some folks whose work you love, and I encourage you to share them widely with your friends, family, and forumites. The hardest part of being a smaller channel is getting eyeballs, and passionate viewers of smaller channels can help that in a big way.

Thanks for the feedback!
 
After reading again my post, I find that I was the one being pompous in my way of stating things. You are indeed very clear about everything happening on your channel and that's a beautiful thing. To be honest, while I stopped watching your reviews quite some time ago, I still always click on your disassembly videos. And I think that your series promoting local knives stores were an excellent idea, especially in those difficult times. In the end, I don't think you should say that you can't win. It is not possible to please everyone, but it is possible to please yourself by doing what you like, and I think you really succeeded in that point.

In general, I stopped watching video reviewing knives and mainly focus on videos explaining things related to knives in general (heat treatments, sharpening, cut tests...) and I stay very clear of any top ten videos. Review videos tends to make me want to buy more knives while the latter kinds make me understand and appreciate my knives more.
 
I like him. His videos have helped me with a couple of purchases and have given me a little insight of what to look for in a quality knife. It's pretty cool that he shows how to maintain a knife as well. One of the things I appreciate the most is that he reviews knives of every price range often showing the real value of some of my knives maybe no more than purely intrinsic.
 
I would not be in the knife hobby had I not discovered Nick Shabazz. At this stage of my life, I was seriously (desperately?) searching for something of interest that allowed me to devote some time and derive a modicum of satisfaction from that investment. I happened upon Shabazz and my entire life has been positively impacted by that chance encounter. For that I'll be forever grateful!
 
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