Oso Grande, discontinued models & the Brouwer
Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2023 10:06 am
Although I'm sure many people are familiar with the retailer Oso Grande Knives, I had never heard of them until the other day, when I discovered that they still had Brouwers for sale at the standard retail price of $186. I could hardly believe my eyes--Brouwers have been sold out for a long time at the knife stores I frequent--and immediately bought one. I was going to come here and post something like, "hey, if you're looking for a Brouwer, Oso Grande has them!" but...they don't anymore. It appears I got the last one, which is a bummer because I might very well have bought a second one (more on that presently). However, Oso Grande does still have a number of discontinued models in stock; I noticed the Mantra 2, Foundry, D'Allara, Serrata, Vrango, Opus, titanium Chaparral, and that Manix sprint run with the CPM-154 and S90V blade. There are probably others, but those were just the ones I saw and knew were no longer in production. Figured I'd mention this in case anyone was looking for a discontinued model they'd slept on, like I did with the Brouwer.
Speaking of which: why no more Brouwer? Yes, I understand fundamentally the answer is because the return didn't justify the cost, but it seems like the issue couldn't have been as simple as people not liking the design, or not buying enough of them. The Brouwer is a great little knife, and judging by how quickly it sold out when it was in production, and how much they go for these days on ebay--when there are any actually listed--it was and still is a popular model. And finally now owning one myself, I can see whay: the moment I took it out of the box I thought "this feels like my small Sabenza." Sure enough, the dimensions are almost exactly the same, which I find to be the perfect size for a smaller knife, and if perhaps it's not quite as solid as the slab 'o titanium that is a Sabenza, the Brouwer's retail price was less half that of the most basic, unadorned small Sabenza. The Brouwer is also about the size of the Chaparral, but with that titanium frame lock, the Brouwer feels much more substantial. It also seems like it would he an excellent platform for some sprint runs or exclusives, which have never been done as far as I'm aware. I'd love to see (and would pay a high price for) a Brouwer dressed out with the BladeHQ M4 blade and natural G10 show scale, a Knife Center Cru-Wear blade and smooth black G10 scale, St. Nick's 4V and red G10, or maybe a BladeOps Elmax and dark grey G10. Or how about a sprint with a Rex 45 blade? The small, thin blade would be great in Rex 45. Maybe paired with a a carbon fiber scale, or ultem--that would look cool with the skeletonized liner visible through the scale. So yeah, I really like the Brouwer, much more than I anticipated or I would have bought one a long time ago, and I'm belately quite sad that the platform is no longer in production. And I now have the problem of deciding whether to actually use the Brouwer I bought or keep it pristine in the box as a collection piece. I might just have to buy another one at exorbitant ebay prices so that I don't have to decide.
Speaking of which: why no more Brouwer? Yes, I understand fundamentally the answer is because the return didn't justify the cost, but it seems like the issue couldn't have been as simple as people not liking the design, or not buying enough of them. The Brouwer is a great little knife, and judging by how quickly it sold out when it was in production, and how much they go for these days on ebay--when there are any actually listed--it was and still is a popular model. And finally now owning one myself, I can see whay: the moment I took it out of the box I thought "this feels like my small Sabenza." Sure enough, the dimensions are almost exactly the same, which I find to be the perfect size for a smaller knife, and if perhaps it's not quite as solid as the slab 'o titanium that is a Sabenza, the Brouwer's retail price was less half that of the most basic, unadorned small Sabenza. The Brouwer is also about the size of the Chaparral, but with that titanium frame lock, the Brouwer feels much more substantial. It also seems like it would he an excellent platform for some sprint runs or exclusives, which have never been done as far as I'm aware. I'd love to see (and would pay a high price for) a Brouwer dressed out with the BladeHQ M4 blade and natural G10 show scale, a Knife Center Cru-Wear blade and smooth black G10 scale, St. Nick's 4V and red G10, or maybe a BladeOps Elmax and dark grey G10. Or how about a sprint with a Rex 45 blade? The small, thin blade would be great in Rex 45. Maybe paired with a a carbon fiber scale, or ultem--that would look cool with the skeletonized liner visible through the scale. So yeah, I really like the Brouwer, much more than I anticipated or I would have bought one a long time ago, and I'm belately quite sad that the platform is no longer in production. And I now have the problem of deciding whether to actually use the Brouwer I bought or keep it pristine in the box as a collection piece. I might just have to buy another one at exorbitant ebay prices so that I don't have to decide.