Knifejoy Exclusive...Slysz Bowie??!!

[TkoK83Spy]

I got mine, it's a pretty cool color blue. It's a lot slimmer than I expected, though tall so it's still pretty hand filling. I'll be honest though... it doesn't blow me out of the water and will be difficult to compare with a CRK. Maybe I've been a spoiled by those recently over the past few months though.

[Buddafucco]

Mine came today. The handle feels kinda like a slim, metallic, choil-less PM2. The anodizing must have been done on a Friday. There's a strip of blurple under the clip that I'm pretty sure is the color the rest of the frame was supposed to be. It seems like a solid knife though. I'm excited to take it for a spin, I hope things need cutting tomorrow!
In case anybody was wondering... the clip and screws are steel according to my magnet.

[kobold]

Is it better than the Swayback?

[PiterM]

So... what's not to like? :D

[TkoK83Spy]

Mine came today. The handle feels kinda like a slim, metallic, choil-less PM2. The anodizing must have been done on a Friday. There's a strip of blurple under the clip that I'm pretty sure is the color the rest of the frame was supposed to be. It seems like a solid knife though. I'm excited to take it for a spin, I hope things need cutting tomorrow!
In case anybody was wondering... the clip and screws are steel according to my magnet.

Mine has that as well. It also looks like the clip was on the show side or something at one point, it's a more greyish color. But, then has I handled the knife a bit more last night while watching tv, getting a feel for it I noticed that mark has began to blend in with the blue.

[AlexRus]

KnifeJoy just announced on the Instagram there will be OTHER RUNS of the Slysz Bowies :)
https://www.instagram.com/p/COfu4aJDjs_ ... lqmmakscw6

[Cl1ff]

I personally enjoy the look of this iteration significantly more than the old.
History repeats itself and I’m sure people will warm up to it after the unexpectedly sour-tainted initial reception.

[abbazaba]

Any ideas why can't I find Knifejoy on Instagram? I think I'm doing something wrong.

[AlexRus]

Any ideas why can't I find Knifejoy on Instagram? I think I'm doing something wrong.

Here you go :)
https://instagram.com/knifejoy?igshid=stl7iqysdqj8

[abbazaba]

Any ideas why can't I find Knifejoy on Instagram? I think I'm doing something wrong.

Here you go :)
https://instagram.com/knifejoy?igshid=stl7iqysdqj8

Thanks. Apparently it doesn't know I'm over 16 years of age, and that is why it is being blocked. I can't find anywhere to change that. Thanks anyway!

[TkoK83Spy]

Just finished watching the KeithKevinKen video on this knife...calling out Shabazz calling this knife "the Sebenza killer" KKK says " The Slysz Bowie couldn't hold the Sebenza's jock!" (around the 3:30 mark) Hahahahah!! WOW...I honestly didn't expect him to come down so harsh like that. I have to agree thus far since having mine since yesterday, but wow. What a statement!

[murphjd25]

Just finished watching the KeithKevinKen video on this knife...calling out Shabazz calling this knife "the Sebenza killer" KKK says " The Slysz Bowie couldn't hold the Sebenza's jock!" (around the 3:30 mark) Hahahahah!! WOW...I honestly didn't expect him to come down so harsh like that. I have to agree thus far since having mine since yesterday, but wow. What a statement!

LOL I had to go find it. That’s hilarious but true.

[Cscottsss]

KnifeJoy just announced on the Instagram there will be OTHER RUNS of the Slysz Bowies :)
https://www.instagram.com/p/COfu4aJDjs_ ... lqmmakscw6

I saw that, in a year.....

[Cscottsss]

I'm hoping the next run in a year will be a different variation than the ano'd blue.

[aquaseafoamshaman]

KJ has the perfect opportunity to sell the next batch at $420.69 due to inflation and stuff.

[normal]

Just finished watching the KeithKevinKen video on this knife...calling out Shabazz calling this knife "the Sebenza killer" KKK says " The Slysz Bowie couldn't hold the Sebenza's jock!" (around the 3:30 mark) Hahahahah!! WOW...I honestly didn't expect him to come down so harsh like that. I have to agree thus far since having mine since yesterday, but wow. What a statement!

I will stick with my SB. I don't like Sebenzas. The SB fits my preferences alot better and feels better to me than any CRK I have handled. Every time I check out a CRK I buy something else. Lol. Thankfully it is a good time to be into knives.

[fixall]

Mine came in today. I'm enjoying it very much. I do think it's priced too high though. I think TkoK83Spy nailed it with the $275 - $325 price point. There is a lot of competition once you get to the $350+ price ranges, and to be honest, I just don't think the Slysz Bowie is all that competitive. I see a lot of people asking for how it compares to a Sebenza, and to be honest... It just doesn't. It's still a great knife that I will enjoy having in my collection.

The fit and finish on mine is fantastic. The grind is beautifully done, as is the anodizing. I knew going in that titanium that has been anodized blue has some color shift with moisture, and I actually enjoy the look.





Compared my Sebenza.


This is the knife I think the Slysz Bowie most compares to in my collection. The Massdrop Keen.


And just to give you an idea of what $400 can get you... A ProTech Malibu in 20CV/milled titanium/mother of pearl.


Love the Bowie. $400 is too much.

[Lumpy620]

I've been carrying mind the last few days since it came in Monday. This was my first experience with the SB, having not had handled the original. Some random thoughts in no particular order:

From a design standpoint, I like it a lot. Ergos work very well for my hands, carries super slim.

In general I really like Bowie/clip points for detail work and general utility. Used it for removing some tags on new clothes, cutting zip ties/pallet straps/shipping packages at work and all around general stuff, and it performed exceptionally well.

Fit and finish is usual Taichung quality. Out of box action was glassy smooth, drop-shutty and probably sommothest I've had OOB in recent memory. Lockup was 55% or so OOB and after a bunch of opening/closing cycles, hasn't seemed to budge at all.

The Ano is consistent except near the presentation side near the clip hole. Not drastic, but noticible. Gets dingy looking real quick from the oils on my hand, but wipes off well enough, and has held up to my Zippo bouncing around on the bottom of the pocket near it.

Is it a Sebenza killer? Verdict is out on that one for me. I sold my 21 a couple years ago when funding some other purchases, and haven't handled any in recent memory, so I'd have to get another one in hand to try and give an opinion.

I GREATLY prefer the Swayback design from a aesthetic standpoint, and functionally, for me, they are a tie. I think for the next week, I'm going to alternate between my Bowie or the Swayback, and see what else I come up for as conclusions.

$400... Is it worth it? Well, I look at my Swayback, and I'm having a hard time saying yes, since having acquired it open box for $215, I like it enough after using it I would pay the usual $275 for it. That being said, I don't regret my purchase of the Bowie for a second.

[TkoK83Spy]

Carrying this the past couple days, interesting how the change in color of the anodized titanium seems to have stopped, compared to the first couple days while handling it.

[ugaarguy]

... Let's do some HYPOTHETICAL math, as I have no idea what the actual numbers are.

So, a company wants to have a run of knives made that retail for 400 dollars a piece.
Lets then hypothetically say it costs them half of that for each knife, 200 dollars.

$200 x 600 knives is $120,000 for a run. That's A LOT of money for a small business to front. Even if they stand to double their money. Also consider if they pay upfront, it can take MONTHS to get the knives made and get them sold. Again that's serious cash to float for that long.

Hypothetically for a run of 1,200 knives? $200 x 1,200 knives.... Just shy of a quarter million $240,000 up front.

And I'm gonna pick on Nick a little more here, what if Batman says this knife isn't a gem? You could bankrupt your business with one wrong move.

I want companies to place larger orders too, but I don't think they are placing smaller orders to artificially create scarcity. I really think it's a cashflow and a capital risk issue.

Having worked the retail side of the industry, and still having friends who are pretty involved in the industry, wholesale for premium brands is typically about half of MSRP, not half of MAP. I've posted this before to explain why I think the MAP price allows smaller retailers to make a fair, but not huge, profit stocking regular production Spyderco knives and why having to pay up front for all the pieces for each run of an exclusive is such a risk. Sal has replied that my math is a good ballpark estimate.

This SB exclusive is a little harder to gauge, since I've not seen an official MSRP, so we don't know if the $400 price was what would be MAP under more normal circumstances. If we assume that $400 is MAP that would be an MSRP of $571.40, for a wholesale price of
$285.70. Maybe these SB exclusives were sold at a bit higher markup, but I doubt Spyderco could sell them at $200 each and make a profit themselves.

All that to say, you're spot on. It's a huge financial risk for a single retailer to commission an exclusive, and that risk gets even bigger with higher prices models. KJ doing 600+ SBs that they have to sell all of is a different category of risk than MGE wholesale paying for a run of 1200+ teal S90V Para 3 LWs that can be spread out across all the dealers that buy from them. Certainly KJ is reaping the rewards of this risk, but from here out they have to try to predict when demand will be met for a knife that sells for $400 as they reinvest some of that profit in each further run.