Rick Hinderer is breaking ground for an improved, expanded facility. A grinding company I know reports they see a multitude of Hinderer blades for grinding after heat treatment. Perhaps Rick wants to keep it all in house. I have seen at least one potential misfire. But in all honesty, the question remains, was that a real ZT Hinderer or did a Chinese knock-off get picked up by the distributor?
Starting now and finished by January 2015 Zero Tolerance will drop their distributors in favor of factory direct to brick and mortar stores. I hope I’m wrong. Some people claim that this generates exclusivity and protects their stocking dealers from Internet sales. Benchmade went this route several years ago and there are plenty of new Benchmade on EBay. I think this causes them to just lose market shares.
Shadow Tech is working on a folder and hopes to have it ready by the 2015 SHOT show in January. If not SHOT certainly by the Blade Show! It almost seems a natural progression to start with a simpler fixed blade and then progress to the more complicated folder. I suspect the market for folders is larger than that of fixed blades. Most of us carry a folder every day, but the fixed blade makes our co-workers nervous.
Stag prices have increased and custom knife makers are already increasing prices. It seems unfair, but they have to replace a consumable with a pricier version.
No comments:
Post a Comment