Why knife manufactures don't give us what we want?

As others have mentioned; if one isnt happy with the plethora of production knives, one can always go the custom route.

SpySmasher said:
This post makes me wonder just who exactly is the dumb-as-rocks moron in that dialog.
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Ill give you a hint; it aint the (well respected) Glessers.
 
Tommy-Chi said:
There are several manufacturers that have me miffed, but I'm a very small segment of their sales. I don't think they care at all, yet I completely realize that my wishes are not simple to do, or cheap.

I've emailed the CEO, VPs, and even joined their forums and dropped on them what I was looking for and never heard a peep back.

They are either blind morons and cannot see the potential or they are as dumb as rocks.


KA-BAR/EK
- I asked them to manufacture a fully exposed tang KA-BAR fighter out of S35VN...or heck, whatever, just better than 1095/440C and a rat tang.
- I asked them to rerun an allotment of EK knives in S35VN again.

SPYDERCO
- I asked them to create a Custom Shop, as done by many other top tier knife manufacturers, and slow the use of sprint runs. This would allow them to sell a knife with 2 or 3 different steels and handles for 6 months to a year...as opposed to selling 500 knives and never selling that knife again. This allows buyers the opportunity to save and buy the knife they want. That would result in more esoteric steels getting in to the hands of clients.
- I asked them to please make more fixed blades, and with nickel/brass single hilts. Most of their fixed blades have handles slapped and glued on and I want a better knife using their awesome blade steels. I'm going to buy whatever I have too, but the knives are dangerous. If your hand slips...it will be down on the blade!
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Please don't call respected manufacturers and members names. It is unbecoming.

Ironically, despite your complaints of not getting what you want from a production company, spyderco has the most varied product line of all the major manufacturers. If you can't find what you want with them, then I like the idea of you going custom.

And as for them adding a metal hilt to their fixed blades, that would be a no go for me as I don't like them. Seems that spyderco is doing it right in my eyes :thumbsup:

Looks to me like they know a bit about designing, making, marketing, and selling knives. They seem to be doing okay. Sorry they haven't adopted your business model (I'm not that sorry because of the hilt thing, I wouldn't have bought a southfork with a metal hilt; and Phil Wilson, he knows a bit about designing a knife as well) but I trust they know what they are doing over there at spyderco :)
 
Case Knives is starting production on a new run of Barlow knives. I have griped about how I don't like the design of these new ones. A traditionally styled Barlow Knife has a stamped bolster and does not have a shield. This is how Case used to make them, but they have followed newer trends of shielded, plain-bolstered Barlows. Only offered in tru-sharp steel, not cv steel that I prefer. Perhaps it's a cost saving thing, or it's a decision by the marketing dept.

Now, I could call them "blind morons who cannot see the potential or they are as dumb as rocks" (and I may even mumble it under my breath) but posting that would be silly (and rude). What I want, and even what a bunch of like-minded knife collectors who post on knife forums want, may not be what a manufacturer believes will be profitable. Sure, I can say that they should do something, but I'm not the one taking the financial risk. I give my input and suggestions, but I do it without insulting an American company that is managing to stay in business while others have failed.
 
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Eh. The more I contemplate this entire thread the more the sense of entitlement on display bothers me. Despite the endless whining of this forum, we are living through the absolute golden age of knife collecting. There are more knives now of every style available to more people from more makers than literally ever before.

Enjoy it.
 
plue said:
Artificially limit supply. Increase the perceived demand per unit. Increase prices.
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Somewhat true IMO-I think Hinderer has decided to make the Ti scale a specialty item rather than a regular offering. It has been around as long as I can remember but has always been a hard to find item(smooth ti in particular) that sells out immediately or only available if you buy a full knife. You never know with Hinderer though-they like to sell things :). At one time the 3"knife was almost as hard to find.
Listening to knife forum members is not a good business model IMO. We always want more. We have what you sell now want something different. They play into this, but have to keep it under control or it becomes all sprint runs and we complain about price and availability-we are complainers by nature.
The companies we have been talking about are the winners in the knife making game and got there by doing more right than wrong. If I were them I would continue to follow my instincts. It seemed to work so far.
 
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I don't think it's so much the manufacturers not giving us what we want. It's the manufacturers releasing a highly-desirable product and it just sells out super fast, that's all. This is akin to one of Aesop's sour grapes fable. Haters gonna hate! :D

Happy New Year everyone!
 
Could always take up knife-making. Then you may discover why they do things the way they do. If confident enough in your parameters you might even consider ordering several hundred of a custom configuration and reselling them. Make sure you have a state resale certificate and all that, of course, though! ;) If you're right, they should sell like hotcakes, eh? :)
 
craytab said:
Please don't call respected manufacturers and members names. It is unbecoming.
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Particularly so when one is being miffed for not getting what they want. When children do that, it's called a tantrum.

Manufacturers manufacture what their customers want. Not what one guy sending "sternly worded" emails wants. Its how they stay in business. Maybe include that you wiil hold you breath until you get what you want next time.

Crimoney Veruca. Did people not get what the toy they wanted for the holidays? Wah.

I want a rainbow unicorn that poops cinnamon rolls!!!!
 
marcinek said:
Particularly so when one is being miffed for not getting what they want. When children do that, it's called a tantrum.

Manufacturers manufacture what their customers want. Not what one guy sending "sternly worded" emails wants. Its how they stay in business. Maybe include that you wiil hold you breath until you bet what you want next time.

Crimoney Veruca. Did people not get what the toy they wanted for the holidays? Wah.

I want a rainbow unicorn that poops cinnamon rolls!!!!
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Here's the next best thing.
 
Tommy-Chi said:
There are several manufacturers that have me miffed, but I'm a very small segment of their sales. I don't think they care at all, yet I completely realize that my wishes are not simple to do, or cheap.

I've emailed the CEO, VPs, and even joined their forums and dropped on them what I was looking for and never heard a peep back.

They are either blind morons and cannot see the potential or they are as dumb as rocks.


KA-BAR/EK
- I asked them to manufacture a fully exposed tang KA-BAR fighter out of S35VN...or heck, whatever, just better than 1095/440C and a rat tang.
- I asked them to rerun an allotment of EK knives in S35VN again.

SPYDERCO
- I asked them to create a Custom Shop, as done by many other top tier knife manufacturers, and slow the use of sprint runs. This would allow them to sell a knife with 2 or 3 different steels and handles for 6 months to a year...as opposed to selling 500 knives and never selling that knife again. This allows buyers the opportunity to save and buy the knife they want. That would result in more esoteric steels getting in to the hands of clients.
- I asked them to please make more fixed blades, and with nickel/brass single hilts. Most of their fixed blades have handles slapped and glued on and I want a better knife using their awesome blade steels. I'm going to buy whatever I have too, but the knives are dangerous. If your hand slips...it will be down on the blade!
Click to expand...

So, to read this, shows extreme hubris on your part. A man named Sal has a dream to create a line of knives. Against most odds he becomes successful. He employs people and creates a successful brand name. In your eyes this person is a moron. Since, as far as I know, you have not created a knife company. So Tommy Boy, if Sal is a moron, what does that make you?
 
For the record, long ago, I created a bunny cage with the Spyderco logo as the bunny hutch hole. I posted it jokingly that Sal needs to create a line of bunny hutches. Tommy boy is asking Sal to create Spyderco bunny hutches now and he is dead serious. Tommy, it is a free country. Create the knife company you want to, and the knife designs you want.
 
marcinek said:
Maybe include that you wiil hold you breath until you get what you want next time.
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This gave me a severely needed chuckle. Thank you!

Back on topic, occasionally knife manufacturers do listen to consumer enthusiast rabbles. One recent example that comes to my mind is, of all people, Sal Glesser eliciting (or at least listening to) feedback on the D’Allara 3. Some of that might be taken into account if a D’Allara 4 ever comes along.

If I’m not mistaken, the entire Spyderco Amalgam was submitted by a previously unknown individual. Talk about listening! My guess is the design was submitted by Mr. Lai with a large amount of respect and humility.

ETA: WValtakis WValtakis , the Violet meme made me lol! Thanks guys!
 
Well if the stuff is selling out at the drop of a hat then I posit that the knife manufacturers are giving us what we want.

He who hesitates is lost.
 
I had a sprint run d2 paramilitary and I lost it! Gaaaah! For the OP, we all want something we do not have, til we have it, then the “meh” factor sets in. Collecting never has an end game, except your kids get boatloads of cool knives when you pass on. Do your due diligence and communicate to the manufacturers and hopefully they respond back with some sort of answer. If the request goes unanswered, I can see where feelings may be hurt, but, it is quite possible that company has holes in their customer service process. That is on them. They have no obligation to follow demands of their customers in one off fashion. Ok, enough of my diatribe, time to get the dogs to the dog park. I am getting sick of reading myself. :D
 
I wish that the major manufacturers made more manual opening modern knives. This year (2018), I purchased the Benchmade Mini Presidio II even though it had metal slabs and no scales of any sort. I generally pass on the scaleless moderns. This one impressed me with both the size and function.

Yes, I know CRK offers such, but at a price point I am generally not willing to pay.

I'm not familiar with all of ZT's offerings, but something sized like the 0770 and manual opening would be a great choice for me. I don't want to make them manual by un-assisting an AO knife. Just refuse to do that as I risk not ending up with what I hope and be unhappy that I screwed up the knife. Only Spyderco makes knives such as this. I don't need flippers, but I have a few that I like.
 
Well in this day and age there are more Brands .. more models than ever before ... and the market for knives just as any other is driven by what sells.

Now I love alot of the new knives that come out and I spend my money on the ones I like the same as the rest of us knife knuts ...

now are there things that I would like to see offered in a bit different style or with different options?... of course ... but I don't expect a brand to cater to my wants ... but if you have some serious thoughts ...post them on the makers forum in a way that is constructive and not calling them morons might help ...

most companies knife makers included see and hear consumer ideas but they have to weigh out if it will be a big seller or just fill a small niche in the market ...

I would say Spyderco may do this better than most ... but at the end of the day Sal and his crew have forgotten more about designing knives then most of us will ever know ...

now if you want a very specific item there are so many talented makers ... many even here on our loved forum ...
and they would be happy to work with you to build you the exact knife you want ...

One reason I got so into Carother Performance Knives was not that Nathan just did exactly what someone wanted ...but he does put things out and gauge how people react and then he and the CPK team tweak and refine and test more and by the time they release a new pattern it is dialed in exactly for what it's made for ...

so "we" can't dictate to large companys what to put out but there are options and you soending your money on what you like drives the market ...

if you just have to have x ... y ... and z in a knife ... contact a custom maker and you'llnot only have exactly what you want ...but you may have the only one like it.
 
91bravo said:
Do you really think knife manufacturers are going to change their business models just to suit YOUR individual wants? Really?
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yes and I demand it or ill stop buying knives. that will put a real hurtin' on them.:rolleyes:


sarcasm aside. I'm amazed they make as many versions/variations as they do to appease so many of us. that said I still like to throw my 2 cents in sometimes. cant hurt to ask on the boards here. worst can get is a no or not answer.
 
jbmonkey said:
yes and I demand it or ill stop buying knives. that will put a real hurtin' on them.:rolleyes:


sarcasm aside. I'm amazed they make as many versions/variations as they do to appease so many of us. that said I still like to throw my 2 cents in sometimes. cant hurt to ask on the boards here. worst can get is a no or not answer.
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Hold on...
wahmbulance.jpg
 
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