Your recent opinion on Nick Shabazz ?

C

Chapp

Joined
Mar 28, 2018
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He's mostly seen as your good guy Greg of the knife world and his reviews seem to gather some attention. I know he wasn't really liked at the beginning but people seem to have mellowed a bit about him recently. What's your take about him ?
 
He is also a contributing, good natured member on these boards. There is a thread as indicated above. I personally think it would be better to post there, but it is entirely up to the Mods how to handle this.

Nick can take the lumps, as evident in that ongoing thread, but I see him more as a fellow forum member than YT’r. I don’t watch much YT, but I have watched some of his videos and I like the guy, to be honest. He doesn’t take himself too seriously, which is rare in this age of narcissistic self-promotion by an ever growing plethora of distinctly mediocre individuals.
 
I like his reviews and he seems like a good guy overall. I often disagree with him, but I don't get bent out of shape over it because reviews are subjective, he does what a reviewer should do though, objective facts and personal gripes. And his disassembly videos are great.
 
Chapp said:
He's mostly seen as your good guy Greg of the knife world and his reviews seem to gather some attention. I know he wasn't really liked at the beginning but people seem to have mellowed a bit about him recently. What's your take about him ?
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I watch abt half of his videos all of the way...see the first 3min of everything. Primarily he has horrible taste in knives, and does not like blades that are over 3 inches in length. That notwithstanding, when he gets it right, and reviews excellent knives, he's one of the best channels to watch on YouTube.

The random jacka** who is well known in the knife world calls out effective self defense weapons as "MURDERY" which is bad for the industry and innocent using a knife to defend himself against scum.
 
Love his format and his humor. He is always my go-to reviewer for EDC knives. After owning a number of knives he’s reviewed, I have a better feel for how to make use of his reviews. I do feel like he’s getting a little less critical recently. Maybe he’s just being more selective in what he reviews. That said, I think he went a bit easy on the Kapara, letting things slide that he’s dinged other knives for.
 
I've watched his reviews and over time have discovered that I generally do not share his POV on knives.

However, he provides a useful service which I hope he's compensated for by Youtube. He's also a BF participant, who is able to maintain his sense of humor and perspective despite suffering the slings and arrows directed towards him here and elsewhere on the Net, which earns him high marks in my book.

Update:

While my opinion of Nick's contribution to the knife "community" hasn't changed significantly, I must say that I was very disappointed in his Feb 2019 "review" of the CRKT Provoke which, according to Nick, would make a GREAT carpet cutter but apparently isn't good for much else.

The "review" was obviously scripted to be humorous and was done "tongue in cheek" but The Provoke is a serious knife and knife and its designer deserved better treatment than that IMO. Take a look and judge for yourself: Nick Shabazz on the CRKT Provoke.
 
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sgt1372 said:
he provides a useful service which I hope he's compensated for by Youtube
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Demonetized along with every other reviewer of "dangerous weapons" etc. He gets financial support for the channel via Patreon.

He also had a series called "Knife Gripes" for Knife News. I think that series is one of the greatest services anyone's done to the industry in a long time.
 
I like watching his reviews and disassembly videos. I frequently come to different conclusion than he does about what we like... but that's fine. His videos show me things I probably wouldn't see (both in terms of opinions and knife "innards") if I didn't watch some of his vids.
 
I personally never understood the appeal of his reviews. He doesn't use the knives in his reviews, he is very biased and opinionated on many talking points (for example: his stance on (against)"pocket peckers" and how much he prefers small, urban/office EDC knives). He often comes off very "soft" when talking about traction/jimping on a knife also. His bias/preference on many knife features are so blatant and predictable, that I will often know what he will say about a knife just by looking at it, before I even watch the video. I get the feeling he overall doesn't use knives very much and have found his videos lack any insight or information.

However, he does seem like a decent a guy and I have used his disassembly videos in the past.
 
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Heirphoto said:
Watching his reviews taught me two new descriptive knife terms, "Murdery" and "Stabby"
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Both of which epithets amuse me. His coining of ‘murdery’, or at least it was new to me, is one of the reasons I like the guy. I used to scrape people off the street and stabilise them in ambulances on the way to hospital, so ‘stabby’ is a word I knew already. Lots of stabby youths in London, where I live. It’s something of a tradition, sadly. A perpetual cycle.

“I count religion but a childish toy, And hold there is no sin but ignorance. Birds of the air will tell of murders past. I am asham'd to hear such fooleries!”

- Christopher Marlowe, playwright. Born 1564, stabbed to death in a London Tavern 1593. Elizabeth I introduced the first knife restrictions in my city.
 
Tommy-Chi said:
The random jacka** who is well known in the knife world calls out effective self defense weapons as "MURDERY" which is bad for the industry and innocent using a knife to defend himself against scum.
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He does for a reason, I suspect at least 95% of the people who watch him regularly would get stabbed by their own knife in a knife fight. So he advocated (rightly so) to instead invest in running shoes and avoid a fight whenever possible, and if you get in a fight as a layman who isn't trained every blunt improvised weapon is better than a a folding knife.
That being said, the rest of the conversation probably doesn't belong here. I do however agree that @NickShabazz could do away with the counter productive terms ala "Murdery" and "Stabby", and use something more neutral.
 
I’m actively restraining myself from writing a book in reply form. I’m going to use bullet points to keep myself in check.

1. People I respect, who have interacted directly with him, have great things to say about his character.

2. As a long time knife guy recently getting into reviewing, I have to say that Nick has been a hell of a resource through his reviews and his “behind the gems” video.

3. He’s articulate, detailed, unafraid, and often entertaining. I don’t think any reviewers are better at putting the review sample in the viewers’ hands, so to speak. For people who are using reviews to make informed buying decisions about things they can’t handle before purchasing, I think he’s one of the best resources out there. Opinions aside, he is going to describe a lot, and point out things most do not.

I’ll leave it at that.
 
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