Your recent opinion on Nick Shabazz ?

Of all the "Talking Hands" on Youtube (my own term for the faceless, tabletop reviewers), he is probably the best. He is very thorough and picks up on things that I would never notice. That said, as someone who started carrying pocket knives in the late 1970's, our perspectives are very much apart and I don't agree with a lot of his "hang-ups".

The thought of using a nail nick seems to bring him great emotional distress. FYI Nick, your fear of gunk building up in the nail nick is just not a thing. Besides, who would stick a knife through the side of an oil can and then immediately use the knife to spread some cream cheese on a bagel without cleaning it first. I get the impression that many of his hang-ups are just hypothetical to him in a sense that he hasn't actually experienced the supposed problem/con by using the knife. Pocket peckers are a good example. Do they really have such a negative impact in daily use?

I also don't take his opinions on the blade steel seriously. I could be wrong, but he seems to just parrot what is touted in the various forums (or Cedric Aida Gear tests). I don't get the impression that he actually uses a single knife long enough to ever need to sharpen it in his working environment, regardless of the type of steel. The whole steel performance thing has gotten out of hand recently and the vast majority of people (not knife nerds) who buy knives around the world, don't give the type of steel a single thought and seem to get by just fine. It's just a knife nerd thing.

On the other hand, thumbs up for not showing videos of yourself making feather sticks in your backyard.
 
When it comes to any reviewer of any product, I appreciate consistency. Even if you don't agree with the POV of that reviewer, if you know where they are coming from you can benchmark off them. Nick is consistent in his perspective which I appreciate. I like Benchmades more than he does, so I don't take his critiques too much to heart on that brand, and when he does dole out praise, that goes double in my mind. Not only is Nick's perspective consistent, but his approach is as well which allows you to get a feel for a product even if you don't agree with the outcome.

As others have stated, his disassembly videos are very helpful. Often it isn't anything special, but he has more out there than anyone else I have found and it gives a great baseline.

It has been mentioned before, but I will say it again... not everyone is a bushcrafter or a self defense specialist. I personally am not not looking to spend a week in the wilderness with on my knife and a kilt, nor would I ever look to a knife to defend myself. Quality, subtle knives that are well built is what I am into. It's why I like Nick (and why I like Ben from BladeHQ).
 
I find his reviews useful since I took up this job at the Vasaline factory!

People have different taste and no single reviewer is going to represent the entire knife community. The one thing that bugs me about Nick is his admiration with everything Spyderco! Sal can not put out a bad design even if it’s horrible. The Spyderco Slysz bowie is a perfect example. Has gave it all this praise and everyone rushed out to buy one. My opinion it was a dud. But they sold out after that!!
 
evilgreg said:
Wait, are you saying you prefer knives to be thick behind the edge? Out of curiosity, why? Is it a style choice thing or a some sort of need for extreme durability or what? Not trying to pick a fight here, really, I'm just curious.
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Not necessarily. To be honest I forget the specifics of his reviews that hit me as "This guy and I don't have much in common as far as our desires/needs/wants/uses for knives".
Very few knife reviewers appeal to me.
Doesn't mean that they're bad or wrong or any of that.
Flippy, floppy, sexy shiny stuff doesn't mean much to me, I'm a tradesman.
I'm not trying to marginalize his input in any way.
Anyone can walk away from his reviews with a better idea of what a particular knife is.
Good on him.
 
I watched him when he started, but after awhile his reviews just became too formulaic and predictable for me. He seems to appeal to a very specific demographic of knife enthusiast that are new to the hobby or not that experienced with a variety of knives. I don't really pursue other opinions about knives I want at this point though and I would honestly love a YT channel that just showed customs I can't afford lol. Never thought I'd miss ole J Skeltons "reviews" :rolleyes:.
 
NickShabazz said:
You might appreciate some of Doctor Frunkey's work. He does a lot more custom stuff, and has a strong passion thereabouts. But custom knife reviewing is *hugely* expensive.
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I would have a hard time going an honest critical review for a knife that cost hundreds of dollars and knowing that a single person put hours of work into that single knife.
 
kickert said:
I would have a hard time going an honest critical review for a knife that cost hundreds of dollars and knowing that a single person put hours of work into that single knife.
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That's a big part of the reason why I don't do much custom reviewing. It's a tough thing to do, and although some custom makers sure seem to earn it, I hate to be the guy lobbing bombs at artists. Plus, even if I find the best knife in the world, I can't exactly recommend everybody go out and get it.
 
Nick you are my favorite knife reviewer. But too be honest I only watch the good and the great part of each video unless it's something I'm really interested in. I would like to see the review and disassemble all in one video, and keep it as short as possible.

I would also like to see you test a knife now and then. I loved the video where you had the Mudd knife buried.. Cut cardboard, sharpen a stick just test them..
 
vanadium said:
You must be thinking of someone else. The only overpriced prybar ever on the channel was a Medford and it was comedy episode. I've never seen him bring out any knife for comparison later in a video, not even once, ever.
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Personal opinion, but every time I see that Graham Razel come out as an example of "now, this is a fine thing to carry" it negates everything else in the video. Like I said, I likeNick, I subscribe, but I'm admittedly more an an Advanced Knife Bro groupie... which probably negates everything I've said previously, ever.
 
Dfunk1210 said:
I simply bring this up in regards to you and your vids because you did in fact coin the term
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Nick didn't invent "thin behind the edge". How far back should we look in the archives? 2001 good enough?

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There are also probably a thousand Cliff Stamp posts advocating for thin edges, not to mention books that go back decades.

Coyja said:
Personal opinion, but every time I see that Graham Razel come out as an example of "now, this is a fine thing to carry" it negates everything else in the video.
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I can't even remember the last time the Razel made an appearance on the channel. And when he did used to take it out, years ago, it was for a size comparison. Come on, now.
 
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12Bravo said:
I think the "thin behind the edge" is a product of two things. First, it is what is in right now. I remember not too long ago where many companies where making thick overbuilt knives. I think the pendulum is swinging back and people want thin knives. Everything comes back into trend, hell bell bottoms are back in style. Second, I think more people are educated on knives. With so many reviewers making videos it makes it easy for people to take in information. The video format is an easy, quick and pleasurable way to take in a lot of information quickly. Personally I like a knife to cut well and that is where I tend to navigate to when purchasing a knife.
I like Nick's review, he can articulate those pesky little things that bug you about a knife into a concise point of view. The disassembly videos are great, to me it is akin to opening the hood of a car and admiring what makes it all work.
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I'm not sure what had set it off, but a number of years ago there was something of an explosion of new enthusiasts joining the community and with that came a lot of preferences motivated by a lack of understanding the reasonable capabilities of knives, and a lot of them feared thin geometries 'cause they thought it meant the blades were delicate. Makers loved the enthusiasm for beefy, thick geometries 'cause it meant less grinding, meaning profitability could be increased by keeping prices about the same as prior designs, but with less work involved, and this helped push the market in that direction. Now most of those prior newbies have some actual experience under their belts and have been getting comfortable with thinner knives and pushing the bounds of what they can get away with without causing damage to the knife and being pleasantly surprised by how much they can handle.

In the course of my research on axes at one point I stumbled across an old Irish agricultural journal from around the turn of the century that was discussing design variables and considerations with axe geometries, and the author used the phrase "edges, generally, should be as thin as is consistent with requisite strength", and that really neatly summed up the dynamic for me. Context of use determines the required parameters of the tool, including strength in various ways, but for cutting tools that geometry should be as thin as possible for that particular context without crossing the line into "fragile" territory for that given use.
 
He's not for me. It's hard to take any review seriously when the reviewer hasn't had the product for more than a couple hours and does zero coverage of use. A lot changes when you actually start using a knife versus just fondling it and flicking it like a toy.

He also will rant about steels and handle materials at certain price points and how they are "ok" but he'd like to see better. Better in what way? If you don't use knives enough to run them full dull and resharpen them and understand the performance of the actual knife how can you be qualified to doll out such opinions? If you're just going to base it on other's people's edge testing, well that's weak at best but it should be clearly stated that the reviewer has not run the knife to dull and back. Ease of sharpening, corrosion resistance, heat treats, etc. are all factors in what each of us views as excellent steel value.

In my book, this fuels the general public's opinion of such "sub par" materials which in turn forces makers to use new stuff and then prices go up and people complain and the Chinese jump in and people complain and on and on. When, in reality, most folks would never know the difference between VG10 and S90V. Let alone ever need S90V in a folding pocket knife.

But, I wish him well and more power to those who like his work.
 
Thanks for the well-wishes. Two things to reply to, though:

Eli Chaps said:
He's not for me. It's hard to take any review seriously when the reviewer hasn't had the product for more than a couple hours and does zero coverage of use. A lot changes when you actually start using a knife versus just fondling it and flicking it like a toy..
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Absolutely, I'm not a super hard user. But note that unless I declare otherwise in the video, everything on the channel has at least a day or two of carry in my everyday life. So, it does all of the (admittedly light) tasks involved in being my pocketknife, usually boxes-and-envelopes fare, occasional wire-stripping. I'll also make a point of running it through some cardboard (even if that doesn't come up), and do some other light testing (which i don't mention or show, usually). So, it's a bit more intensive than you make it sound, but certainly, not 'six months of carry' reviews. I wish I could do those more often.

Eli Chaps said:
He also will rant about steels and handle materials at certain price points and how they are "ok" but he'd like to see better. Better in what way? If you don't use knives enough to run them full dull and resharpen them and understand the performance of the actual knife how can you be qualified to doll out such opinions? If you're just going to base it on other's people's edge testing, well that's weak at best but it should be clearly stated that the reviewer has not run the knife to dull and back. Ease of sharpening, corrosion resistance, heat treats, etc. are all factors in what each of us views as excellent steel value.

In my book, this fuels the general public's opinion of such "sub par" materials which in turn forces makers to use new stuff and then prices go up and people complain and the Chinese jump in and people complain and on and on. When, in reality, most folks would never know the difference between VG10 and S90V. Let alone ever need S90V in a folding pocket knife.
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I think we agree more than you think. I wrote an article about this very issue in KnifeNews sometime back that sort of lays it out with a bit more nuance. Also, at the moment, I badly need to sharpen my Ti-Lock and FRN chaparral. :)

That said, I also believe that as prices keep spiraling up, materials need to as well, and modern metallurgy by-and-large improves knives. If you're going to sell me a $200 pocketknife, it'd better be at the forefront of several flavors of science. We're so far past 'basic utility' in the $100+ knife world that I think things like better wear resistance or stainlessness or toughness are not unreasonable to request.

Anyways, thanks for the well-wishes, and I hope you find some reviewers out there who mesh well with your own views.
 
His reviews are great. I say more power to him regarding Spyderco.
 
Nick works hard to make videos. I disagree with some of his opinions, but I always find his videos valuable. Doing what he does takes time and dedication.

Anyone who doesn't like how he does what he does should do it themselves. I mean that seriously. Having more folks talking about knives can only help people find the type of opinions they're looking for, and increase exposure to collecting.
 
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