Knife Related Publications

Well, since this is my Soapbox I guess it;'s OK for me to preach.

I would like to tell you what I think of most of the current knife related publications.

Knife Magazines

Like the Car Industry when I refer to Knife Magazines I'm pretty much reffering to the Big Three:
BLADE
Tactical Knives
Knives Illustrated

Now some of you already know this so please forgive me if I am preaching to the Choir. But I feel the need to tell folks there is a White Elephant in the room and while some may not care nor want to see it there might be just one who will benefit.

The focus of knife Magazines is not to inform you the reader of too terrbily much, it is to Sell. Sell, Magazines, Advertisment Space, the idea that newer is better... oh and Knives.

The Knife manufacturers are paying these Magazines good money to advertise as well as ccasionally paying them to write an Article or Review on their latest offering. The Magazines then pay the Writers, (you didn't think the Writers worked for free did you) and so it goes..

Mostly what you can expect from any of these Monthly publications are glowing reviews of the latest and greatest from all the big names (and even some of the smaller names that realized what was going on and decided that in order to increase Sales they must run with the big dogs).

Oh, the writers may toss in some bits of information to insure the Reader knows of their Cutlery related information prowess - but by and large the main objective is to get you seperated from your Cash - ie. for you to purchase the knife they are reviewing /using at that time.

If you have been to my Website at Fort Henry Custom Knives you will know that I currently only subscribe to one Monthly knife related publication and that is Knife World. I feel that K.W. is as unbiased as a publication can be and they offer Articles whose basis is actual research by the Authors - often several years of research. I have written for Knife World and can attest to the research involved.

Here is a challange, go to your local Barnes & Noble and take a look at the Knife related Magazines there. Then Call or email Knife World, ask them for a Sample issue - tell them that VINCE sent ya and decide for yourself.


Annual Knife Publications

Here I will refer to the Knive's Annuals series.

I have almost the whole collection with only 2 vacancies of the early publications. The earlier Editions had informative Articles of Knife Content, each delivering in depth accounts of knives from a Historical perspective, a Geographical perspective and from a users perspective.

In several ways the only Positive I can mention in the last few years was the "all color" advancement. Starting with the 2005 Edition the Knives Annuals have continued to degrade in quality knife journalism and broad pictorials of knives of every kind.

The "articles" have fallen to almost exclusively propoganda type glowing critiques featuring whoever the latest Hot/Trend Makers are (both prod and Custom) - often these are written by a Maker who inserts their own work into the Article while still giving accolades to their Buds. I will admit to an occasional exception - like the article "The perfect Survival knife" by James Ayres 2006, or even shockingly two articles in the 2009 Annual - "Dining Knives in the Folds of Sashes" by Leslie Clary and "Confederate Edges Weapons" by Edward Crews. However, the majority of Articles still swim in the stream of Sales/Promotion.

The Knife/pictorial content has drifted into this same current as the Articles - the same Popular few Makers being featured year after year. These Makers often having multiple knives featured in many different sections. There are even cases where the same picture of the same knife is used in different categories from one year to the next.

With the advancement of moving the publication to all color there seemed to be an underlying drive to feature more and more Art than knives. Handles containing intricate detailed scrimshaw, canned Nitre treated Damascus patterned blades, thousand year old dyed handle materials and sci-fi designs sculpted in colorful Anodized Titanium. Almost completely absent are "standard" grade custom cutlery offerings that were at one time the meat and potatoes of the Annuals. Rare is the picture of a custom, affordable Hunting knife made by a Stock Removal maker that is actually made to be used (there are one maybe two exemptions in this arena I can think of). There is room in this publication for ALL knife pictorial Chapters, not just Art that happens to have an Edge.

One of the things that most readers were most aggrieved by - which was the wrong name being attached to the wrong pictures - in the 2007 & 2008 Annuals seems to have been corrected in 2009.

I will not give or withhold a recommendation, it is up to each of us to decide whether something is worth the money we spend. I will leave you with my opinion of the current publication and you can decide for yourself.

Please visit my website at - www.forthenrycustomknives.com