1. Fidgeting with a knife. I grew out of my fidget phase in middle school. I don't understand the appeal of opening and closing a knife repeatedly unless you're trying to break in a new knife.
2. Sharpening choils. The reason they seem utterly nonsensical to me is simple. If you measure the heel of the blade on a knife without one, the area that might not be sharpened as well is smaller than the sharpening choil. Plus they snag on stuff easily. It's so weird to me how popular they are, because it's so much worse than having 1-3mm of edge not as sharp as the rest.
Make it make sense to me, lol.
3. Cleaver style blades on folders. Can't see any advantage vs a wharncliffe.
4. Bead blasted blades. Why? It makes perfectly corrosion resistant steels rust like they're O1. I'll never buy another one for the rest of my life after having bead blasted bladed folders rust within a few hours of carry time.
I agree with the fidget stuff. I love the way the compression lock works and it brings me joy when I open and close it if I’m using my knife but to sit around and do that all day is weird. I’ve read comments in knife reviews where the most important aspect of a knife is “fidget factor.”
skinny scales don't make sense to me because they make knives less ergonomic and take away from the original design lines.
dressing knives up for instagram. modding is one thing but some of these people are just looking to make their knives cute and that's weird. although i suppose it's a better use of money than tatting up your body.
flipping.
constant price increases among production makers.
the knife trend that bugs me the most though is that less and less people are carrying them and laws are getting more strict. it blows my mind that people see me with a knife and wonder why i would ever need to carry such a thing other than to murder someone with it. the cutting tool is such a simple and important survival tool that no one should be without one. but we live in a microwaveable, perforated plastic world where we're so comfortable and soft that people can actually move through life finding no need for one.
Small lanyards with decorative beads. I get the use of a lanyard that your hand fits in. But the fancy little string and bead remind of something I can’t say on here .
Last edited by Mrj on Sun Jul 16, 2023 7:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
All the requests for a translucent yellow Mini Manix salt make me shake my head. That sounds so ugly, lol.
skinny scales don't make sense to me because they make knives less ergonomic and take away from the original design lines.
Agreed 100%. I don't get the skinny scales trend at all. They feel bad. If you want an un-ergonomic knife that has a straight bar shaped handle there are plenty of other companies making them stock.
dressing knives up for instagram. modding is one thing but some of these people are just looking to make their knives cute and that's weird. although i suppose it's a better use of money than tatting up your body.
Yep. Paying $30+ for some screws that are a cute color that matches your bespoke flashlight and your "field notes." What notes is your *** taking in "the field?" Oh yeah don't forget the matching tactile turn bolt pen. Because fishers $20 pens aren't good enough for you, gotta get a $120 case for the exact same pen cartridge, lmao. Replacing the plastic ball bearing cage on a Manix when the number of people that have broken a black cbbl cage through normal use is less than 5? Modding for enhanced functionality is one thing, but some folks seem to view their pocket knives as a template for playing dress up
Unboxing videos on YouTube grind my gears alot. Id appreciate them more if a retailer put a section of rope in the box and the owner made a few cuts on camera to discuss ergos based on some use. Instead of air cutting an imaginary rain forest.
"Nothing is built on stone; all is built on sand, but we must build as if the sand were stone."
Unboxing videos on YouTube grind my gears alot. Id appreciate them more if a retailer put a section of rope in the box and the owner made a few cuts on camera to discuss ergos based on some use. Instead of air cutting an imaginary rain forest.
Brilliant!
- Al
Work: Jumpmaster 2
Home: DF2 K390 Wharncliffe/DF2 Salt H1 SE and K390 Police 4 LW SE/15V Shaman
Dream knives -
Chinook in Magnacut (any era)
Manix 2 XL Salt in Magnacut
A larger Rockjumper in Magnacut SE
Cable-tie wave mods. Makes me cringe everytime I see them.
Wacky forced patinas. I appreciate a natural patina that developed over time and honest use. It is a badge of honour. I get the opposite impression from a forced (fake) patina.
Factory bevels somehow surviving waaaay after purchase. It tells me the knife is not used to cut with, or that the owner has a very low expectation of the knife's cutting ability and edge performance. That is just sad in my view.
Hans Favourite Spydies: Military, PM2, Shaman, UKPK Others: Victorinox Pioneer, CRK L Sebenza 31, CRK L Inkosi
Sharpening notches, easily the most common reason I don't buy a lot of knives from a lot of brands. I can make exceptions for a lot of things that I may not love, but I simply refuse to buy a knife with a notch or dip in the ricasso or whatever it's called. The only time I break this rule is for vintage models I may want or if those older models get a sprint run I can't say no to, but then these are also used a lot less anyway.
Sharpening choils don't make sense to me either. I'd rather have an unsharpened (or less sharp) area if needed, rather than a notch to snag material.
I don't understand the appeal of the frame lock. With a relief cut on the outside, it's a place to snag when pocketing the knife. It requires extra attention when opening the knife so as to not put pressure on the bar and, finally, it changes, at least subtly, the shape of the handle when open. I much prefer other lock types.
DLC - it serves no positive purpose other than cosmetic. Knife will still rust, DLC will scratch with hard use, DLC picks up marks that you need to clean off, tip repair would ruin the DLC and so on.
Again just my opinion but other than making a knife look neat, which I admit it can, it doesn’t do much else.
Small lanyards with decorative beads. I get the use of a lanyard that your hand fits in. But the fancy little string and bead remind of something I can’t say on here .
Those aren't lanyards, they're fobs. They can be used to improve your grip on a small handle, although I suspect most just use them as decoration.
Throwing shade on fellow knife aficionados. Who cares what other people do as long as nobody is getting hurt? We have enough division in our culture these days.
"...it costs nothing to be polite." - Winston Churchill
“Maybe the cheese in the mousetrap is an artificially created cheaper price?” -Sal
Not a knife trend but I guess I don't I understand this thread? Seems to have already morphed from “trends we don’t understand” into “trends we personally want to vent about.”
Does anyone actually want to understand these trends they claim not to understand? I cant help but to feel like any justification for the “trends” in this thread is just going to be refuted or dismissed. Feels like another dogpile to me.
The knife trend I don’t understand is why some people feel the need to dictate how other people spend their time and money. I guess it’s not exactly a trend specific to knives but I don’t understand why so many knife people cant just mind their own business.
Unboxing videos on YouTube grind my gears alot. Id appreciate them more if a retailer put a section of rope in the box and the owner made a few cuts on camera to discuss ergos based on some use. Instead of air cutting an imaginary rain forest.
Last one I watched on Instagram I was more interested in the knife that opened the box than the new knife
Im a vegetarian as technically cows are made of grass and water.
Not a knife trend but I guess I don't I understand this thread? Seems to have already morphed from “trends we don’t understand” into “trends we personally want to vent about.”
Does anyone actually want to understand these trends they claim not to understand? I cant help but to feel like any justification for the “trends” in this thread is just going to be refuted or dismissed. Feels like another dogpile to me.
The knife trend I don’t understand is why some people feel the need to dictate how other people spend their time and money. I guess it’s not exactly a trend specific to knives but I don’t understand why so many knife people cant just mind their own business.
to a degree, the fads affect us all. what gains in popularity ultimately steers makers to alter to the market. if the market is praising things that don't make sense, it potentially hurts people that actually care about and use their knives.
look at what happened to serrations when a certain youtuber decided he didn't like them and a huge following of people decided they weren't any good. fortunately, spyderco continues to make them, but serrated edges took a pretty good hit for a long time based on someone's subjective opinion.
that might not be the best example, and there are definitely going to be some complaints that are less meaningful, but voicing a contrary opinion about some trends isn't necessarily a bad thing.
I agree with the fidget stuff. I love the way the compression lock works and it brings me joy when I open and close it if I’m using my knife but to sit around and do that all day is weird. I’ve read comments in knife reviews where the most important aspect of a knife is “fidget factor.”
I'm happy to know I'm not the only one who thinks this way. It's just head scratching to me to watch people review knives and add in the fact whether a knife has "fidget factor" as whether or not it is good or bad. I couldn't care less if the knife flings open and closed fast, I just want it to be functional and work!
DLC - it serves no positive purpose other than cosmetic.
I’m with you for the most part. A vast majority of my knives are satin/stonewash/etc. The cosmetic features are what i use my very few DLC blades for. I have a couple of smaller St Nick’s models that are stupidly inoffensive, draw no attention and just dont look “dangerous” to the general public. So if I’m gonna be in Newport or on Cape Cod for work, I’ll often carry one of those.
Crucarta: Shaman (x2), Manix 2, Lil Native, Delica, GB2 & PM2
Notable: 52100 and Cruwear Millie. “15v-arta” Shaman. REC Manix. K-carta Endura, P4, Dragonfly and Delica.
Favorites: Shaman, Sage 5 lightweight, Sheeps Caribbean, Manix, Endela and all things Stretch
I wouldn’t say these are trends, they’re just personal preferences that were created for different options to have, you can either enjoy them or don’t. I don’t think anyone’s forcing these be the some of the biggest and most crucial parts of the knife hobby. I personally like sharpening choils, they look nice, and aid very well at not accumulating any inconsistencies at the bottom of the edge. But I don’t think every knife needs them either. to suggest they shouldn’t exist at all and have no purpose to the people who do enjoy them, doesn’t make sense to me.
I know a lot of these comments are tongue-in-cheek, but I've never gotten making fun of peoples' tastes in collectible items, (which knives are for most people in these forums). I see knife designs and tastes that make me shake my head, but somebody (more than one) are loving each of these things, so I figure - let them enjoy it. For instance, if a person said he hates polka-dotted handles and a couple of others laughed and agreed, the guy who loves his polka-dotted handles will probably never mention his knife again, and might harbor a bit of resentment for those people.
But one thing that seems kind of weird to me is the knife reviews that only mention how good a knife is at opening a cardboard box. Most of the time I use a cheap box-cutter for those tasks.
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Brilliant!
Spyderco enthusiast with way too many to list. 
