Who are the truly great "Instagram makers"?

vanadium

vanadium

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Apr 5, 2003
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I started a thread (and epic wiki-style top post) about "high end production makers" a while back, and the topic of "Instagram makers" inevitably seeped into the discussion. I steered it away from those makers at the time, since I wanted to keep the discussion tight, but it was clear that people here have a lot of interesting knowledge and insight about the IG scene.

So that leads me to this thread. Who are the truly great "Instagram makers"? By this, I mean makers whose community and business largely revolves around Instagram, and whose knives are bought and sold primarily by the collectors and dealers who make IG their main home.

I'll start with a maker who seems to have emerged from IG, and whose "Specter" knife is now being lauded as a potential game changer by some people: Holt Bladeworks. I think he's now done two runs of this knife, and people are happy. Most notable is his use of a Nadeau-style detent, which seems to be well executed. Some Specter fans were irrepressible in the last thread!

Who else? Who are the greats? Who are the emerging greats?

And, how do people feel about IG's role in the knife world? Are IG knives their own subculture? How does the IG knife world connect to the BF and USN worlds?

Big topics, I know. ;)
 
IMO IG is just another platform, it has no less or more legitimacy than the forums. Yes it gives the maker more control over critics, since they can block or delete as they see fit, but it is still on the buyer to be cautious.

There are a ton of great edc fixed makers on IG, Tactical Pterodactyl Knives, Brian Brown Knives, and Wanderlust Blades are some of my favorites, especially TPK. Here is a pic of my TPKs, a Brian Brown Taka, and a Wanderlust Nomad.

Charlie Mike Charlie Mike Thanks for the like, your another great, mainly IG guy. I could do with less crap posting tho just not my thing...
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I’d say Charlie Mike and Backwoods Customs are two of my favorites on IG. The whole reason I started an account was so I could buy a Backwoods.

Both makers are honest, reasonable, and probably polar opposites.

I’m put off by a lot of the high end makers, especially the whole custom flipper fad, that I see dying off in a few years.
 
VernonRemington said:
I’d say Charlie Mike and Backwoods Customs are two of my favorites on IG. The whole reason I started an account was so I could buy a Backwoods.

Both makers are honest, reasonable, and probably polar opposites.

I’m put off by a lot of the high end makers, especially the whole custom flipper fad, that I see dying off in a few years.
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Bill at Backwoods is awesome! How did I forget about him...sorry @bacustomknives !
 
I follow a couple guys that make some pretty awesome fixed blades. They look nicer than a lot of these "custom" knives made by well know makers, and for the same or less money.
 
I like Gareth Bull’s knives. There are lots of makers putting out unique and beautiful stuff using Insta as a platform. He seems to mostly operate through Instascam. (Jk, I have no legitimate complaint against insta. Just the kids around here are mad annoying with that and snapchat) Too bad he doesn’t friggin answer Instagram or Email.

There are many times I run into a new knife maker’s stuff online and find out he only has a presence on instagram. As long as more good knives are being put out in the aether that is more knives for us to enjoy.
 
I agree with tactical pterodactyl knives and charlie mike of CMFTW knives.
One of my personal favorites is Gavko Knives, he started on YouTube and eventually came to IG. Makes some sick folders. I miss his badass fixed blades. He only does folders now :(
 
We're kind of in a subset of the whole IG thing. Most of the knives we make we sell to working cowboys, ranchers etc. Since we make a lot of other things for this lifestyle IG works well for us. So our page features a lot of other gear besides knives and a lot of pictures of our items being used in real life. We make a lot of different holsters, belts, sheaths, tack, chaps etc. So we're not just a knife maker on IG but we do sell a lot of knives through IG. We've got quite a few followers (11.6 K) which ain't bad for an old guy that doesn't even have a smart phone. My daughter set IG for me and posted for me for quite a while but when she moved off to college she set up my tablet for me and taught me how to post. So here we are now. Ya can click on the Instagram link in my signature line if cowboy stuff and cowboy knives interest you.
 
Rubens titanium and tools is pretty cool. Grmsmo drop shut action. Had to get one and love it for its action. Handle and blade shape are not really great for edc though and the Grmsmo is a much more refined knife. But alas a good maker on that platform. The spector via holt is far more refined at around a similar cost iirc.

Charlie Mike said:
I killed my previous IG account because it just felt overwhelming... 8400 followers... Too big. Made the bigkittyftw private and only open it up to use #knifesale for a wider audience.
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Man I loved your feed but when I was at work or in public and the good stuff pops up, it's a bit embarrassing. Only reason I don't follow anymore.
 
Great topic imo, because for me IG took over 90% of my knife discussion over the past 5 years- not on purpose at all, it just grew organically. I also think it’s very interesting to see it’s progression as a genesis for makers and collectors to connect and do business where neither existed without IG. I also watch IG makers like Lee Lerman (Isreal) share pics and vids conveniently during builds which bring $10k in auction, almost entirely on IG. Occasionally there is Facebook group crossover, but like so many people today I simply will not use Facebook at all for anything.. and thanks to the amazing presence of knife collectors and makers who “live” on IG, I don’t have to.

Like MySpace evolved from a popular social site into a band/music site, all of these cyber places are merely malleable cogs in the bigger system. I foresee IG going the same way in 5 or 10 years as we accidentally stumble into the next era. For now though, I’ll enjoy my 15 minutes of fame that I never won on any forums in 20 years :lol: :D
 
vanadium vanadium - I'm one of the proponents of Holt that you mention (proud owner of Specter #26) and I actually didn't realize they were that active on IG until recently. I found out about them through Joe posting here.

But that is a conundrum for new makers, though - how do you get your name out? Being a new knifemaker is effectively being CEO of a startup - you're not only doing manufacturing, but financing, marketing, sales, and post-sales support to the community. Very few people in the world have the skills to do all of that effectively, especially if it's just a part time job for them. That's why you end up with a lot of talented makers getting bad reputations because they don't handle the non-manufacturing aspects well.

A lot of makers keep it "in the family", so to speak, where one person handles manufacturing while another (spouse, sibling, child, etc.) handles the customer relationship aspects, and that seems to work well quite often. Holt does that, with I believe Angey doing most of the emails and marketing (including IG posts) for them.

At the same time, I have run across talented knifemakers that hardly anyone has heard of, because they don't do marketing. One example is Brandant Robinson, a small part-time maker in Utah. He does everything in house without CNC, including his own heat treats, and does great work at a spectacular value, and does absolutely no advertising. I first reached out to him after seeing one of his pieces for sale by maker on AZCK, but other than that his Instagram account and other marketing channels are completely unused. I've tried to get him to get a knifemaker account here to advertise, but he hasn't - either due to a lack of time or just not being that interested in the marketing side of being a knifemaker.

So, yeah, I do think Instagram and sites like BladeForums are invaluable for new makers getting their name out. If not for channels like that, how else would someone like Joe Holt get recognized? Maybe if he was lucky he'd be able to get his knives listed on BladeHQ or something, but then they'd be lost in the shuffle of ALL the knives BladeHQ has, and he wouldn't be able to offer customization, which is a very large part of what makes the Specter so awesome.
 
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