Im glad Nick did this review. if anyone can influence a brand, it's gonna be this man, and I really hope they listen, because he gave them some seriously sound feedback, and I think he really captured the attitude of a lot of us in the knife world who have reacted to not just this knife, but all of the knives that James Brand has produced. I don't want to hate them, but I do find myself insulted by their pricing.
@@8BitQuasar people do , I think the point is that the price is absurd for what you can get for the same price. You could get 3 zts for the same price.
I really don't think they're missing the price point, I think they're objectively ignoring it. My best understanding is that they want to build a luxury brand name, and pricing their products substantially higher than the competition is part of their strategy. While I think they could make more money pricing their products competitively, they're also certainly differentiating themselves by being overpriced. They are making themselves unique. I think it's a great social experiment to see if you can forcibly produce a luxury brand name.
I would agree and while I think that it’s great that they’re reaching out to people who aren’t in the knife community and agree with Nick’s assessment about all of the good that comes with that, I get the feeling that they’re more interested in potentially overcharging people who don’t know that you can get just as much quality for a fraction of the cost from better established companies that don’t exclusively market on Instagram.
I think the price is more offensive knowing that James brand doesn't have nearly the prestige to command it. Everything else james brand produces/commissions is pretty substandard. The idea they claim that this is $200 more valuable than the reate name is just silly.
Yeah in the $400s this would be a knife I sell other knives to get ASAP. I love the few Reates I have and the only integral still with me is a little Rike Thor4s, and I love kind of squarish, rounded knives like the Kizer T1 and this. Under circumstances where it wasn't $600 I could see it being worth sending away for a hollow grind and anodizing, to have as the ultimate barbeque knife. A wedding knife maybe? is that too loaded a phrase?)
I see no problem with the price. Either TJB sells the knife well, or it does not. Is it too expensive? I would say $500 is a more reasonable price, but whatever. I am more concerned with so many people getting upset that the price is high. It’s simple, just don’t buy it an move on with your life. Why waste time getting upset or offended because they are asking so much? Nice review. I bought one and sent it back because I was happier with my two Quiet Carry Drifts for day-to-day use.
Friend of ours bought a James brand knife a while back. I thought it was pretty nice for what I figured was a $75-100 knife. He then told me the price and I introduced him to my Sebenza, lionsteel TRE, and ZT 0630 which all cost about the same. His next knife was a SpydieChef. Apparently James Brand heavily advertises on Mens fashion blogs/forums which gets them a lot of traction.
"They're using Reate knives..." I was thinking it looked like a Reate, which is why I liked the aesthetics, but I think I would just buy a Reate at lower price point.
100% this. Tactile Knife pricing makes total sense considering they make everything in-house and in the U.S. All that, at half the price of that james brand knife.
Not only do you have a better price point, but just looking at the advertising, they have this sort of "welcome to the wonderful world of knives!" feel, just like Quiet Carry. With The James Brand, I keep saying it: they casually put down everything not made by them and say they're worth it because they say so. There's just an air of arrogance surrounding their marketing. I guess the closest comparison might be Cold Steel 7-8 years ago in terms of the "just shut up already" factor (though ironically, I like some Cold Steel designs thanks to Andrew Demko's design shining through as well as, also ironically, a great price point).
@@j.w.greenbaum The one that still gets me is their barlow style knife. They have the gall to call it "The People's Knife", like it's for everyday blue-collar workers, when the damn thing costs anywhere from $180-275. The people's knife my ass. You could get a GEC Barlow for that price on the secondary market--a knife that is has ties to historical cutlery businesses and is hand-crafted in the U.S. by seasoned knife-makers.
@@ryejack As someone who has a GEC Tidioute Cutlery Gunstock in red jigged bone, I have to agree. If you're gonna go with a slippy, GEC gets you more than just a knife. Great craftsmanship, 1095 CroVan, easy to sharpen, just beautiful. My only traditional, but I love it.
He mentioned it was made overseas. Since it employs the same bs language that knives from China use, “designed in USA”, I can only assume it’s a Chinese knife.
The problem is there’s a lot of people with a lot of disposable income that got into EDC as a hobby during the pandemic and are willing to drop money on stuff like this just because it’s expensive. While the price is absurd, they also don’t have much incentive to do anything different since these are sold out everywhere.
I was lucky enough to get one at their military discount price and I love the knife. It's very similar in size and feel to my Eutsler DUK V2, which was $800 (for basically the most plain version). I agree that it's priced a bit high but I wouldn't hesitate to call it a $500 knife (which is basically what I paid for mine). It's one of the best executed production integrals I've owned and I've owned quite a few.
I’ve not seen those bearings before from reate. Are those milled vs pressed? Is James brand missing the price a new thing? The chapter in s35vn is $295. Finally $600 is into custom/ small batch range. Just isn’t justified unless it’s a slysz Bowie in xhp :-)
In general, this knife really appeals to me; although I would have liked the transition from blade to handle at the spine to be a bit cleaner, with matching curvature at the seam. At 350 bucks, I'd be all over it. At 600, even looking at the thing makes me feel dirty.
This could have been the knife that really cemented the James brand in the enthusiast community. Instead they distanced themselves even further by charging too much for their first great knife. You could get an inlay sebenza or a shiro neon zero for more or less the same price. It was very disappointing.
My opinion stands the same as I saw you unbox this knife. It's gorgeous, it's so well done, the action, the integral, the minimalism. I genuinely really like it, maybe by my first James Brand knife! I can't justify the price though, I spat my coffee at first at the price during your unboxing, I was honestly willing to maybe consider at the 350-high 400s range as my potential mid higher end knife. To me, 600 is insulting.
I appreciate that you are willing to give them the benefit of the doubt with their marketing, but I would counter that their entire strategy relies upon them targeting people who don't know any anything about knives and therefore are much easier to take advantage of. This has been their strategy from the start. It's in their name - they are building a brand. The reason they don't participate in the knife community is that doing so would risk bursting the bubble they are trying to build around their target consumer. People got upset because they designed an appealing knife, and then priced it 50% higher than anything similar on the market, so many of us took that as them effectively giving us the finger - "Here's a really cool knife we made that we know most of you knife nerds won't buy at these prices". But you are right - at the end of the day there are tons of other cool knives out there, so there's no reason we need to spend money on this one. And they really don't care at all because they had no trouble selling every one they made at those inflated prices. That is fundamentally how capitalism works.
I VERY STRONGLY agree with the above. Their marketing is the complete antithesis of, and yet has the same extremely arrogant takeaway that Cold Steel's advertising from 7-8 years ago did; you know, where you just wanted to say "shut up already". Cold Steel ultimately changed--reasons being they were using good materials at a good price point, had access to a pretty good knife designer in Andrew Demko, and because their target demographic had a lot of overlap in many cases with the average knife guy. Used to be the Code 4 was the cheapest pretty good knife you could get in S35VN. But the demographic The James Brand is going after seems to value sticker shock *and* looks over function, meaning they can't really ever be forced into the mainstream as Cold Steel was. More irony: as was stated below, relative to similar knives, I agree that the Barnes might actually be the BEST value they've put out compared to what kind of effort went into the knife produced. I've handled The Chapter and The Duval, seen The Carter behind glass, and some grad student let me *look* at his The Folsom without touching it (way to live up to a stereotype). The Chapter strikes me as analogous to a low-end WE framelock; maybe if you did a Ti framelock Banter with a really odd pocket clip. The Duval literally struck me as a CIVIVI Lumi (the one Justin Lundquist did for them) with a different blade shape and no pocket clip. The Carter struck me as similar to one of the new SOG designs, only with a weird, out of place thumb disk that is REALLY in the slicing path, and The Folsom reminded me very much of a downsized Spyderco Tenacious, only with somewhat better blade steel (CTS-BD1) and a really poorly-thought-out thumb hole (I had my bone stock, S30V Para 3 in my pocket that day and showed the kid how to do a Spydie Flick, thinking the knife could handle that, but apparently, the hole isn't sized right for it...he even got it down where he could almost flick it, but not quite).
@@Omniseed If I ever run into the guy again, I will. Most of the people I run into who carry knives are either in Bible Study or shooting pool (I know that sounds weird, but I don't play for money). This was a guy who was unfortunately not too good at pool, though if he tries again when I'm at the tables, I'll pass it along. I guess what one does with a CRKT Pilar III, then.
@@j.w.greenbaum it's a favorite method for me, I learned it on the Mistral and a few others with low profile or otherwise awkward blade apertures, and now I prefer it the the spydie flick. In general I wrap my index finger almost around the pivot to reach the first two bones straight down at the hole, grabbing it with the side of the finger. It lets me easily tailor the amount of gumption in any given throw, and hole access becomes an almost total non-issue.
@@Omniseed Funny; that's exactly what I do with the Pilar III. Just never thought of doing it with a Spydie, though I immediately grabbed my PM2 to try it on and sure enough, worked like a charm! Thanks!
I had one of these, was a very nicely made knife. Never got around to the review because I ended up selling it due to chasing a grail. The knife was definitely worth it at the price I paid ($480) with a military discount, but at $600 I'm out.
For me, the lime green thumb stud is the single most compelling visual feature of this knife. Considering all the design work, I can’t believe the clip isn’t ambidextrous.
I really dont understand the high-end knife world, they either look like something you would get out of a gas station, or like the most generic 50$ knife you could come up with (albeit with better fit/finish). They also tend to negelct us lefties for the sake of visual appeal. while i only carry fixed blades, the best folding knife you can get is an Osborne 940, and at 200$ thats puching the limits of what im gonna spend.
Yeah I remain perplexed that I like the stud color but I very much did right away. Blue would have been death by boredom after years of ti+blue, red eh not quite, maybe orange could have worked, plain silver/steel would have been super boring, gold would have seemed cliche and tired, I could see a nice true green. But I think this was a bold choice that really sets it off as an accent. Change to gold and it loses a lot of pop immediately. I never would have even tried out this color on paper though - it wouldn't have seemed to match the otherwise elegant design theme but there it is.
@@primeministersinister625 The 940, to me personally, is one of the ugliest robot banana knives I’ve ever seen. I dislike almost everything about its appearance. Functionally it’s a great knife.
Still waiting for someone to make the knife equivalent of the Royal Oak. A lovely designed knife with 7Cr13Mov blade for a mere $30,000. Give the lovely marketing people at James Brand a couple of years and they might get there.
yup. been scratching my head on their pricing since they put out their very first knife. Granted, they have come a very long way since then, but the one thing that has remained constant is the unwarranted price tag. If they were a company that has been around a very long time, and has proven themselves a bit more....Well actually I would probably still complain, but the fact that they are a newer brand...it just rubs me the wrong way, and although I have found some of their designs attractive, I have not felt compelled to buy one due to that audacious sticker.
Lots of clever design features. Beautiful clean design overall. I think the watch community will be familiar with the type of brand positioning and pricing tho from the Daniel Wellington brand. The shame is that James Brand actually make quality knives , but use that type of market ‘disruption’
I really like the looks of this knife and it is obviously very well executed. If it were a full flat ground sheepsfooty thing with an opening hole rather than a thumbstud and cost $400 I would be having a hard time not pulling the trigger on getting one. Thanks for doing the review.
I am glad to hear their quality has gone up by having Reate make things for them. at their pricing, I think I'd like a maximalist aesthetic over the James Brand's minimalist looks. aside from the nice packaging, it looks like there isn't much there. if it had the fancy packaging and the excess for excess' sake style of the reate jack 2 or some of Elijah Isham's fancier designs, it'd make more sense to me.
Liong Mah released an integral, the L1, this year for $600. Vero, even with BesTec did his isotope for $550. I feel like this is an “integral” reason for their thoughts on pricing
@@NickShabazz I wasn’t trying to say any of these prices are justified. Was just making observations on current integral price trends. James Brand definitely isn’t alone
On my Barnes, none of the markings show (blade steel or serial number). Maybe they took your critique and slightly redesigned it. I just purchased mine in June 2024. Thanks for the great review!! ;-}. MM
I don’t know why any “knife people” would be honestly considering The James Brand at this point. They are clearly not making and marketing products for us. There are lots of other brands (Quiet Carry, Monterey Bay Knives, Tactile) that make similar knives for knife people rather than influencers and lifestyle people. I’d rather support those brands that support us (and I do).
I suspect part of the high price is a result of a very very small production quantity commitment over which the design and tooling setup costs can be spread. Too bad that such a nice design will be out of reach for so many.
I was pretty negative on this one in another review, but you highlighted a few design features that other reviewers hadn't, like the way you access the clip screw and the internal lock bar cutout. That said, I'm still not on board with the price. I can't say specifically what the right price point would be, but maybe around 35-50% less comes to mind. That would make it much more compelling to me.
I find it fascinating that people will pay $260 for a S30V Shaman all day long even though they bitch about the price yet when it comes to something like this, it's flat-out hate. Let's be honest, 90% of the 'community' wouldn't purchase a knife at this price point no matter the brand. Every reviewer says the same thing about the Barnes, color and placement of the studs aren't ideal for them but other than that, they absolutely love this pocket knife. After I got one of these in hand, it's up there with the best production knives in every way. Another thing everyone is saying is they would pay $400 but that's it. Then those same people will go out and spend that other $200 on 2-3 more knives to have in their collection, never use and will eventually sell at a loss on Bladebinge.
Thanks Nick, your reviews are always amazing. I think these guys are a case of ‘expensive = exclusive’. An example of (over) pricing as a way of placing themselves in a certain sector of the market. Meanwhile, lots of nice details but overall the knife leaves me cold because at a glance it’s not a very inspiring design.
@@NickShabazz true and that might go to the core of alot of the backlash they receive from the community , I don’t think James Brand wants to aim for us
I saw the price of this yesterday and was sure it was a typo, Nope. I've seen some "James" commercials and looked at all of their offerings and now this. They are obviously targeting non-knife yuppies that would call the cops on a real knife person with a "scary looking" black coated Spyderco in-line at Starbucks. These are the same people that will never shop for another knife thinking they've got the best knife ever made, at a great price.
James Brand has always had issues with pricing, and it's a shame because most of their stuff has been formidable, quality-wise. It's clear their designers have some great insights, given the details on this knife. If they could reel it in a bit on their prices I feel like their knives could truly run with the top dogs in the industry. Also, I'm sure I'm in the minority but I think the green thumb stud on this is pretty handsome. It gives it a bit of a Star Wars look.
Man I was wondering how they did that stop pin... That triangle looked to me like just a detail similar to the area beneath the clip... But dam that's smart... Too dam bad I don't have the budget for this knife... It's so pretty and well designed/engineered
It's a beautiful knife and I would love to own one however, I think maybe people feel like the price is undeserved as far as what they put into it. It's not a hand made knife. This knife at $325-$375 would have been the dream area and it wouldn't be any less premium.
I also own this knife and I do love it but I agree 600 was way to expensive but I didn't really care I wanted one they should have left out the wood box and coin and dropped the price
I would love to own one of these, but there is zero chance that I will buy one. I figure that's what creates backlash. It's a really cool knife that deep down people want to experience but that price is downright prohibitive for what it is.
It's fascinating to me that people think 600 is a lot for an integral. I know they've gotten far cheaper, but I remember, about 10 years ago, when the cheapest Intergral I could find was 1800$. Personally Idk whether I think it's over priced, or if we've all just gotten used to really affordable prices.
600$?! hell no, for that price i can get 2 peña x-series (also made by reate), a cr in damascus, a customized olamic or a used motorbike. plus that lime thumb stud is just..eww! (other than that the knife looks boring but o.k.).
It will be an interesting social experiment as this type of pricing is basically what Swiss watch brands do. It's better only because it's more expensive!
I'm not going to be a hater and say anything rude, but I do find the price to be insulting as a knife enthusiast. It automatically disqualifies what I may have previously considered trying out at a reasonable price.
I've never agreed with something this much in my life. The price is waaay off base. It's pretty audacious to charge that much for a knife that's made by an overseas (albeit great) oem with these materials. You put some timascus or mocuti in there and then you can start to justify the price. Or if you have Chris Reeve levels of experience and craftsmanship I might get it a little more as well. But James Brand is a little wet behind the ears for them to come out the gate charging like they're knife making royalty. It's very unfortunate because at 350-400 this is a GREAT knife.
I love this knife. I would definitely buy if it weren't for the price. While Reate is great, for $600 I'd rather put my money toward an American made product.
You nailed it. A friend who just got his most expensive knife--a Shirogorov Neon--made the remark that "it's like they're saying 'we're the BMW of knives' without having the actual track record of BMW."
Thank you! The only way I would ever own one would be for you, or someone else, to give me one. You can't please everybody, so you got to please yourself, Mr. Absurd.
From what I know of it, there is absolutely nothing functionally wrong with this knife. It's a Reate integral with a different name and a very good friend has the original J.A.C.K. I have no doubt of the quality. The ugly, at least to me (and I speak from firsthand experience living in a college town with locals diametrically opposed to the college kids), is one specific thing that The James Brand does with their marketing. Nick, when you said "it's great that they're getting people outside the knife world into knives", I take that statement and I think more along the lines of Quiet Carry and Tactile Knife. The James Brand's advertising--and I have been shown plenty of it--basically does not give a rip if you get into knives; they just want you to keep buying THEIR brand and nobody else's. Basically, this is like Cold Steel's old advertising in function (they never name brands or knives, in fairness, but they do tell you how all their stuff is superior), only going for a different demographic. And right as rain, I've shown people my Quiet Carry iQ, my Chris Reeve Large Sebenza 21, my Spyderco SpydieChef, my Hiroaki Ohta and Kansei Matsuno custom friction folders, and some of Elijah Isham's work (especially my WE Arrakis...)--stuff that either would bring an outsider in or would scratch the itch for "expensive=good"--and one very ugly trend I'm noticing is that while you have maybe 40% of the people saying "that's great, I think I'll save some money on my next knife!" (these people are usually locals who went to the local university or undergrads), you get a majority of people just locked into the brand name (the grad students and some undergrads). They don't want "knife x", they want "The James Brand x", and their fallback is--yes--The James Brand's marketing. From my understanding, The James Brand advertises in a lot of men's fashion outlets and does a lot of the stuff Shinola does with their watches. In other words, this is a company that wants you to, unlike Tactile Knife or Quiet Carry, but again, actually a lot like Cold Steel used to be. That is, to remain perpetually aloof of other knife brands and to ignore pricing because they say so. THAT, to me, is an ugly business model.
James Brand: "Hey lets send our knives out to reviewers to get more advertisment" Knife Reviewers: "James Brand is ass haha lol" James Brand: *Hurts itself in its confusion*
You'd think for the amount you pay for those they would have a flipper nub on the lower part, and some rounded gimping on the top of blade. Nice closed handle and beautiful belt clip.
So I’m usually only interested in knives that I can carry and use. I love this knife but that price, not something I’d carry everyday. I know that’s not what the company is going for but it would be cool if they made one in the $200 range for edc. I’d do that all day lol.
James Brand is acutely aware that price itself can't play a huge part of the marketing/branding influence, this is a tried and true marketing method, and it's absolutely working on fools who are happy to be parted with their money.
I despise TJB's marketing. It's 2012 Cold Steel, only for hipsters; the amount of crapping they do on other brands is a disgrace. With that said, there's nothing wrong with this as a knife, and also, from this day forward, I will never have a bad word to say to about it, only the company that marketed it. My father walked in on me watching this review, and since August of this year, he's had Parkinson's disease. He also had bladder cancer, which is in remission (though it's apparently very easy for it to come back), and severe arthritis in his upper right arm. He can barely talk above a whisper, needs to hold onto the railings and walls, and needs to be helped up and down the stairs, and at one time, my knife collection was *our* knife collection. He cannot even open the blade on his beloved 1975-manufacture Victorinox 91mm Standard (precursor of the Spartan), purchased in Switzerland with the original box and receipt, now as he slowly loses the use of his right arm. So asks me "son, what's the deal with that knife? Ugly thumb stud, beautiful knife." So I explain all that went on, everything with The James Brand, basically gave him the whole history. "So it's a Reate. It's a good knife and at a bad price?" I said yes. And then Dad threw me: "try getting a coupon code, but it's yours." I asked why. "Because they've jumped the shark, it'll be history, and it'll always be controversial. When the prices drop after they're discontinued, they'll get eaten up. When they do, that's the end; nobody's going to part with them. Consider it my gift for helping me. It's a Reate integral, and I hate the J.A.C.K. 2.0's looks, so I could never give you that." As a gift from a man who sees the end of his life in sights; a man who has shaped me in all things and taught ME to be a man, it goes from pretentious snobbery to a knife I will always treasure. As my father once told me long ago, "it's never really the item that determines how much you like or dislike it. It's how you get it." I got the shipping notification earlier, and when I did, I actually shed tears. Thank you Dad. I won't do you wrong or let you down.
In Canadian dollars this thing sits around $825. A new large Inkosi sits just under 700. A Chaves (which is also produced by reate) is $550. Is that integral James worth another ~$300? Better be a grail. It's sexy tho.
I actually like the lime green thumbstud . Different color than what you see on other knives also love the looks of it but as others said price kills it for me for a China made knife.
I was about to pull the trigger on the Carter... I thought it was a tad expensive but I love the design. And then they pull stunts like this. I too find myself insulted by their pricing sometimes. It feels like people outside of the community get scammed/exploited...
The only reason people give this brand shit is that they are not part of the knife community, there are a lot of other knives that are part of the knife community that are way overpriced, but everyone refuses to mention it, because they rather give James brand shit. James brand knows what they are doing, they know who they want to cater to.
I think the price primarily comes from James very clearly trying to establish themselves as a lifestyle brand, which is a whole different price ballgame than normal mainstream EDC. There's a premium to that simply to demand the a place in that space, in a bizarre more money is better kind of way.
![เปิดบ้านสุดหรู "เเจ็ค the ghost" ลั่นถ้าป๋องกพลลำบากผมเลี้ยงเอง!! l [Nickynachat]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1xbW4vULqGc/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you, James Brand, for making the Sebenza look affordable.
Me: maybe i'll get the Barnes!
(sees price)
A second sebenza it is!!
Sebenza is better too
Well, at least now their making overpriced American shot for hipsters instead of overpriced Chinese shit.
Im glad Nick did this review. if anyone can influence a brand, it's gonna be this man, and I really hope they listen, because he gave them some seriously sound feedback, and I think he really captured the attitude of a lot of us in the knife world who have reacted to not just this knife, but all of the knives that James Brand has produced. I don't want to hate them, but I do find myself insulted by their pricing.
If you don’t like the prices, don’t buy them.
I find it funny people are insulted by a brand's pricing. If you don't like it, just move on. It's really not a big deal.
@@8BitQuasar people do , I think the point is that the price is absurd for what you can get for the same price. You could get 3 zts for the same price.
@@8BitQuasar same could be said about your comment about his opinion.
@@8BitQuasar You sound like a tiktok flexer
I really don't think they're missing the price point, I think they're objectively ignoring it. My best understanding is that they want to build a luxury brand name, and pricing their products substantially higher than the competition is part of their strategy. While I think they could make more money pricing their products competitively, they're also certainly differentiating themselves by being overpriced. They are making themselves unique. I think it's a great social experiment to see if you can forcibly produce a luxury brand name.
Starbucks already did this.
That's probably true, yes. But I don't think it makes it immune to scrutiny or comment.
I would agree and while I think that it’s great that they’re reaching out to people who aren’t in the knife community and agree with Nick’s assessment about all of the good that comes with that, I get the feeling that they’re more interested in potentially overcharging people who don’t know that you can get just as much quality for a fraction of the cost from better established companies that don’t exclusively market on Instagram.
@@ekirenrut while by % this is a valid comparison, the 00’s involved create a drastic difference.
Yeah f that. It ain't worth it. Nice knife tho
"Calm your pivots" will inevitably work its way into my idiolect. Thanks, Nick.
I dropped that nuggets of wisdom on my kids just the other day. 😆
I think the price is more offensive knowing that James brand doesn't have nearly the prestige to command it. Everything else james brand produces/commissions is pretty substandard. The idea they claim that this is $200 more valuable than the reate name is just silly.
He did the same thing with a timex expedition watch. Charging over 200$ extra for his name. I laughed my ass off.
Yeah in the $400s this would be a knife I sell other knives to get ASAP. I love the few Reates I have and the only integral still with me is a little Rike Thor4s, and I love kind of squarish, rounded knives like the Kizer T1 and this. Under circumstances where it wasn't $600 I could see it being worth sending away for a hollow grind and anodizing, to have as the ultimate barbeque knife. A wedding knife maybe? is that too loaded a phrase?)
I see no problem with the price. Either TJB sells the knife well, or it does not. Is it too expensive? I would say $500 is a more reasonable price, but whatever.
I am more concerned with so many people getting upset that the price is high. It’s simple, just don’t buy it an move on with your life. Why waste time getting upset or offended because they are asking so much?
Nice review. I bought one and sent it back because I was happier with my two Quiet Carry Drifts for day-to-day use.
Friend of ours bought a James brand knife a while back. I thought it was pretty nice for what I figured was a $75-100 knife. He then told me the price and I introduced him to my Sebenza, lionsteel TRE, and ZT 0630 which all cost about the same. His next knife was a SpydieChef. Apparently James Brand heavily advertises on Mens fashion blogs/forums which gets them a lot of traction.
Where are you finding Sebenza for old ZT money?
NAILED IT! Exactly what James Brand needed to hear.
"They're using Reate knives..."
I was thinking it looked like a Reate, which is why I liked the aesthetics, but I think I would just buy a Reate at lower price point.
Tactile knife co seems to shine in comparison. And, you get to support a small US company as well. Keep the fancy box, don’t need it.
100% this. Tactile Knife pricing makes total sense considering they make everything in-house and in the U.S. All that, at half the price of that james brand knife.
Not only do you have a better price point, but just looking at the advertising, they have this sort of "welcome to the wonderful world of knives!" feel, just like Quiet Carry. With The James Brand, I keep saying it: they casually put down everything not made by them and say they're worth it because they say so. There's just an air of arrogance surrounding their marketing. I guess the closest comparison might be Cold Steel 7-8 years ago in terms of the "just shut up already" factor (though ironically, I like some Cold Steel designs thanks to Andrew Demko's design shining through as well as, also ironically, a great price point).
@@j.w.greenbaum The one that still gets me is their barlow style knife. They have the gall to call it "The People's Knife", like it's for everyday blue-collar workers, when the damn thing costs anywhere from $180-275. The people's knife my ass. You could get a GEC Barlow for that price on the secondary market--a knife that is has ties to historical cutlery businesses and is hand-crafted in the U.S. by seasoned knife-makers.
@@ryejack As someone who has a GEC Tidioute Cutlery Gunstock in red jigged bone, I have to agree. If you're gonna go with a slippy, GEC gets you more than just a knife. Great craftsmanship, 1095 CroVan, easy to sharpen, just beautiful. My only traditional, but I love it.
He mentioned it was made overseas. Since it employs the same bs language that knives from China use, “designed in USA”, I can only assume it’s a Chinese knife.
The problem is there’s a lot of people with a lot of disposable income that got into EDC as a hobby during the pandemic and are willing to drop money on stuff like this just because it’s expensive. While the price is absurd, they also don’t have much incentive to do anything different since these are sold out everywhere.
People spending their money as they deem appropriate, I don’t see the problem.
I was lucky enough to get one at their military discount price and I love the knife. It's very similar in size and feel to my Eutsler DUK V2, which was $800 (for basically the most plain version). I agree that it's priced a bit high but I wouldn't hesitate to call it a $500 knife (which is basically what I paid for mine). It's one of the best executed production integrals I've owned and I've owned quite a few.
The price says something about James Brand but also tells you a lot about the purchaser. This comment is from a Rat 1 perspective.
I’ve not seen those bearings before from reate. Are those milled vs pressed?
Is James brand missing the price a new thing? The chapter in s35vn is $295.
Finally $600 is into custom/ small batch range. Just isn’t justified unless it’s a slysz Bowie in xhp :-)
In general, this knife really appeals to me; although I would have liked the transition from blade to handle at the spine to be a bit cleaner, with matching curvature at the seam. At 350 bucks, I'd be all over it. At 600, even looking at the thing makes me feel dirty.
About one of the most entertaining knife reviews I've seen. Thank you!
Love how you’re honest about any knife you try out and review. 😎🤙🏻
BTW nick, I just bought a Barnes and they changed the text so it doesn’t show when the knife is closed or open. You made a difference!
This could have been the knife that really cemented the James brand in the enthusiast community. Instead they distanced themselves even further by charging too much for their first great knife. You could get an inlay sebenza or a shiro neon zero for more or less the same price. It was very disappointing.
But where else can you get baby-shit-green thumb studs?!
My opinion stands the same as I saw you unbox this knife. It's gorgeous, it's so well done, the action, the integral, the minimalism. I genuinely really like it, maybe by my first James Brand knife! I can't justify the price though, I spat my coffee at first at the price during your unboxing, I was honestly willing to maybe consider at the 350-high 400s range as my potential mid higher end knife. To me, 600 is insulting.
I appreciate that you are willing to give them the benefit of the doubt with their marketing, but I would counter that their entire strategy relies upon them targeting people who don't know any anything about knives and therefore are much easier to take advantage of. This has been their strategy from the start. It's in their name - they are building a brand. The reason they don't participate in the knife community is that doing so would risk bursting the bubble they are trying to build around their target consumer. People got upset because they designed an appealing knife, and then priced it 50% higher than anything similar on the market, so many of us took that as them effectively giving us the finger - "Here's a really cool knife we made that we know most of you knife nerds won't buy at these prices".
But you are right - at the end of the day there are tons of other cool knives out there, so there's no reason we need to spend money on this one. And they really don't care at all because they had no trouble selling every one they made at those inflated prices. That is fundamentally how capitalism works.
I VERY STRONGLY agree with the above. Their marketing is the complete antithesis of, and yet has the same extremely arrogant takeaway that Cold Steel's advertising from 7-8 years ago did; you know, where you just wanted to say "shut up already". Cold Steel ultimately changed--reasons being they were using good materials at a good price point, had access to a pretty good knife designer in Andrew Demko, and because their target demographic had a lot of overlap in many cases with the average knife guy. Used to be the Code 4 was the cheapest pretty good knife you could get in S35VN. But the demographic The James Brand is going after seems to value sticker shock *and* looks over function, meaning they can't really ever be forced into the mainstream as Cold Steel was.
More irony: as was stated below, relative to similar knives, I agree that the Barnes might actually be the BEST value they've put out compared to what kind of effort went into the knife produced. I've handled The Chapter and The Duval, seen The Carter behind glass, and some grad student let me *look* at his The Folsom without touching it (way to live up to a stereotype). The Chapter strikes me as analogous to a low-end WE framelock; maybe if you did a Ti framelock Banter with a really odd pocket clip. The Duval literally struck me as a CIVIVI Lumi (the one Justin Lundquist did for them) with a different blade shape and no pocket clip. The Carter struck me as similar to one of the new SOG designs, only with a weird, out of place thumb disk that is REALLY in the slicing path, and The Folsom reminded me very much of a downsized Spyderco Tenacious, only with somewhat better blade steel (CTS-BD1) and a really poorly-thought-out thumb hole (I had my bone stock, S30V Para 3 in my pocket that day and showed the kid how to do a Spydie Flick, thinking the knife could handle that, but apparently, the hole isn't sized right for it...he even got it down where he could almost flick it, but not quite).
@@j.w.greenbaum if you can't quite spydie flick it, try the side of the index finger!
@@Omniseed If I ever run into the guy again, I will. Most of the people I run into who carry knives are either in Bible Study or shooting pool (I know that sounds weird, but I don't play for money). This was a guy who was unfortunately not too good at pool, though if he tries again when I'm at the tables, I'll pass it along. I guess what one does with a CRKT Pilar III, then.
@@j.w.greenbaum it's a favorite method for me, I learned it on the Mistral and a few others with low profile or otherwise awkward blade apertures, and now I prefer it the the spydie flick.
In general I wrap my index finger almost around the pivot to reach the first two bones straight down at the hole, grabbing it with the side of the finger. It lets me easily tailor the amount of gumption in any given throw, and hole access becomes an almost total non-issue.
@@Omniseed Funny; that's exactly what I do with the Pilar III. Just never thought of doing it with a Spydie, though I immediately grabbed my PM2 to try it on and sure enough, worked like a charm! Thanks!
I am so happy to see you did a review on this I keep eyeballing this knife
Thank you for sharing your honest in depth review.
I had one of these, was a very nicely made knife. Never got around to the review because I ended up selling it due to chasing a grail. The knife was definitely worth it at the price I paid ($480) with a military discount, but at $600 I'm out.
We need to make a new drinking game called, "It's a beautiful thing":... Every time Nick says that, you do a shot.
I passed out 4 minutes in... lol
For me, the lime green thumb stud is the single most compelling visual feature of this knife. Considering all the design work, I can’t believe the clip isn’t ambidextrous.
I really dont understand the high-end knife world, they either look like something you would get out of a gas station, or like the most generic 50$ knife you could come up with (albeit with better fit/finish). They also tend to negelct us lefties for the sake of visual appeal.
while i only carry fixed blades, the best folding knife you can get is an Osborne 940, and at 200$ thats puching the limits of what im gonna spend.
Yeah I remain perplexed that I like the stud color but I very much did right away. Blue would have been death by boredom after years of ti+blue, red eh not quite, maybe orange could have worked, plain silver/steel would have been super boring, gold would have seemed cliche and tired, I could see a nice true green. But I think this was a bold choice that really sets it off as an accent. Change to gold and it loses a lot of pop immediately. I never would have even tried out this color on paper though - it wouldn't have seemed to match the otherwise elegant design theme but there it is.
@@primeministersinister625 The 940, to me personally, is one of the ugliest robot banana knives I’ve ever seen. I dislike almost everything about its appearance. Functionally it’s a great knife.
Still waiting for someone to make the knife equivalent of the Royal Oak. A lovely designed knife with 7Cr13Mov blade for a mere $30,000. Give the lovely marketing people at James Brand a couple of years and they might get there.
yup. been scratching my head on their pricing since they put out their very first knife. Granted, they have come a very long way since then, but the one thing that has remained constant is the unwarranted price tag. If they were a company that has been around a very long time, and has proven themselves a bit more....Well actually I would probably still complain, but the fact that they are a newer brand...it just rubs me the wrong way, and although I have found some of their designs attractive, I have not felt compelled to buy one due to that audacious sticker.
And in the uk James site they want £599 !!! I mean W H A T ? That’s nearly $800 come on!! They can get stuffed.
Lots of clever design features. Beautiful clean design overall. I think the watch community will be familiar with the type of brand positioning and pricing tho from the Daniel Wellington brand. The shame is that James Brand actually make quality knives , but use that type of market ‘disruption’
Good review and good honesty
My brother's name is James Barnes. Ha! Nice knife. May have to go crazy one day and snag it for him (if he starts behaving, that is...).
I really like the looks of this knife and it is obviously very well executed. If it were a full flat ground sheepsfooty thing with an opening hole rather than a thumbstud and cost $400 I would be having a hard time not pulling the trigger on getting one. Thanks for doing the review.
Great knife,great review...you said everything...
Great review !
I am glad to hear their quality has gone up by having Reate make things for them. at their pricing, I think I'd like a maximalist aesthetic over the James Brand's minimalist looks. aside from the nice packaging, it looks like there isn't much there. if it had the fancy packaging and the excess for excess' sake style of the reate jack 2 or some of Elijah Isham's fancier designs, it'd make more sense to me.
Great review spot on- Id venture out to other brands such as this if the price made sense. The price does not this should be 249 or 299 all day.
Yes to the thumb stud. Oh, god yes! That is the only thing creating any visual interest. It works so good.
Liong Mah released an integral, the L1, this year for $600. Vero, even with BesTec did his isotope for $550. I feel like this is an “integral” reason for their thoughts on pricing
And yet Lionsteel has been doing integrals for a decent price for years.
To be fair, I'm going to drag the L1 for the same pricing issue in an upcoming review. :)
@@NickShabazz I wasn’t trying to say any of these prices are justified. Was just making observations on current integral price trends. James Brand definitely isn’t alone
On my Barnes, none of the markings show (blade steel or serial number). Maybe they took your critique and slightly redesigned it. I just purchased mine in June 2024. Thanks for the great review!! ;-}. MM
Clovis point in the coin inside the box, nice touch!😍
Good lord it sounds absolutely AMAZING
I don’t know why any “knife people” would be honestly considering The James Brand at this point. They are clearly not making and marketing products for us.
There are lots of other brands (Quiet Carry, Monterey Bay Knives, Tactile) that make similar knives for knife people rather than influencers and lifestyle people. I’d rather support those brands that support us (and I do).
I suspect part of the high price is a result of a very very small production quantity commitment over which the design and tooling setup costs can be spread. Too bad that such a nice design will be out of reach for so many.
A chris reeve for 200$ less is a better option for sure.
Usually referred to as a “challenge coin.” Best Regards Nick
Im wondering if you take it apart, and find missing parts, do they void your warranty because it was disassembled?
"Ohhh DO look Muffy! I believe it's from The James Brand! Simply marvelous, don't you think?"
Ahem, waaay too hipster for me...
I carry one next to my cashmere handkerchief whilst sipping cold pressed Peruvian non gmo earth stable coffee
@@jlogue751 namaste!
@@jlogue751 Cashmere kerchiefs!?! Off the rack, no doubt. I never...
@@ShepherdsSheepdog very plush. No cap for reals
I was pretty negative on this one in another review, but you highlighted a few design features that other reviewers hadn't, like the way you access the clip screw and the internal lock bar cutout. That said, I'm still not on board with the price. I can't say specifically what the right price point would be, but maybe around 35-50% less comes to mind. That would make it much more compelling to me.
“This is of course created by a computer” I almost spit my drink out laughing! The only guy on youtube that can review a knife and still crack me up.
I find it fascinating that people will pay $260 for a S30V Shaman all day long even though they bitch about the price yet when it comes to something like this, it's flat-out hate. Let's be honest, 90% of the 'community' wouldn't purchase a knife at this price point no matter the brand. Every reviewer says the same thing about the Barnes, color and placement of the studs aren't ideal for them but other than that, they absolutely love this pocket knife. After I got one of these in hand, it's up there with the best production knives in every way. Another thing everyone is saying is they would pay $400 but that's it. Then those same people will go out and spend that other $200 on 2-3 more knives to have in their collection, never use and will eventually sell at a loss on Bladebinge.
$600? Reaaaallly? Would anyone buy this over a sebenza?
The minute someone buys this knife-the price of it will immediately drop to
I don’t think they will make this one cheaper. They will either come with an aluminium/D2 version for $400 or a Damasteel version for $800
I laughed out loud at the Aluminum / D2 part but then thought “wait its James brand so yes, yes they will”.
Thanks Nick, your reviews are always amazing. I think these guys are a case of ‘expensive = exclusive’. An example of (over) pricing as a way of placing themselves in a certain sector of the market. Meanwhile, lots of nice details but overall the knife leaves me cold because at a glance it’s not a very inspiring design.
considering its sold out everywhere , they made a sound business call
Yep, that may win them a lot of money, but it’ll keep them out of the knife community.
@@NickShabazz true and that might go to the core of alot of the backlash they receive from the community , I don’t think James Brand wants to aim for us
I saw the price of this yesterday and was sure it was a typo, Nope.
I've seen some "James" commercials and looked at all of their offerings and now this. They are obviously targeting non-knife yuppies that would call the cops on a real knife person with a "scary looking" black coated Spyderco in-line at Starbucks. These are the same people that will never shop for another knife thinking they've got the best knife ever made, at a great price.
James Brand has always had issues with pricing, and it's a shame because most of their stuff has been formidable, quality-wise. It's clear their designers have some great insights, given the details on this knife. If they could reel it in a bit on their prices I feel like their knives could truly run with the top dogs in the industry.
Also, I'm sure I'm in the minority but I think the green thumb stud on this is pretty handsome. It gives it a bit of a Star Wars look.
Man I was wondering how they did that stop pin... That triangle looked to me like just a detail similar to the area beneath the clip... But dam that's smart... Too dam bad I don't have the budget for this knife... It's so pretty and well designed/engineered
It's a beautiful knife and I would love to own one however, I think maybe people feel like the price is undeserved as far as what they put into it. It's not a hand made knife. This knife at $325-$375 would have been the dream area and it wouldn't be any less premium.
I also own this knife and I do love it but I agree 600 was way to expensive but I didn't really care I wanted one they should have left out the wood box and coin and dropped the price
Does it come in a lefty? 😞I’ve looked at a few of their other knifes and just couldn’t justify the purchase price for how I use my knives
I would love to own one of these, but there is zero chance that I will buy one. I figure that's what creates backlash. It's a really cool knife that deep down people want to experience but that price is downright prohibitive for what it is.
I never thought about the fact that the coin was drawn up on a computer. That hade laughing lol.
It's fascinating to me that people think 600 is a lot for an integral.
I know they've gotten far cheaper, but I remember, about 10 years ago, when the cheapest Intergral I could find was 1800$.
Personally Idk whether I think it's over priced, or if we've all just gotten used to really affordable prices.
Looks like a nice $200 knife. If lionsteel can make an integral for their price then this seems comparable.
Just had a new thought. Are they going after the segment owned by Sebenza?
I checked and it's sold out. There are plenty of people who don't care about price. I'd buy one if I had money. Probably why I don't!
600$?! hell no, for that price i can get 2 peña x-series (also made by reate), a cr in damascus, a customized olamic or a used motorbike. plus that lime thumb stud is just..eww! (other than that the knife looks boring but o.k.).
It’s actually $650 right now. $699 for the black version, and $1250 for a damasteel blade
It will be an interesting social experiment as this type of pricing is basically what Swiss watch brands do. It's better only because it's more expensive!
I'm not going to be a hater and say anything rude, but I do find the price to be insulting as a knife enthusiast. It automatically disqualifies what I may have previously considered trying out at a reasonable price.
I've never agreed with something this much in my life. The price is waaay off base. It's pretty audacious to charge that much for a knife that's made by an overseas (albeit great) oem with these materials. You put some timascus or mocuti in there and then you can start to justify the price. Or if you have Chris Reeve levels of experience and craftsmanship I might get it a little more as well. But James Brand is a little wet behind the ears for them to come out the gate charging like they're knife making royalty. It's very unfortunate because at 350-400 this is a GREAT knife.
What is your thoughts on k390 steel could anyone give me some info on it.
Ever since I first saw this, my opinion has never changed: sexy.
I love this knife. I would definitely buy if it weren't for the price. While Reate is great, for $600 I'd rather put my money toward an American made product.
If it was made in USA and had Magnacut them heck yea. 600 all day 😉
I'd probably be tempted if it was 400 and came in a lefty model. Guess I'll stick with my BM Anthem, which I bought used for 350 or so.
They're trying to pull an Apple/Leica/Rolex/etc...except Apple/Leica/Rolex were among the originators/innovators of the products they sell.
You nailed it. A friend who just got his most expensive knife--a Shirogorov Neon--made the remark that "it's like they're saying 'we're the BMW of knives' without having the actual track record of BMW."
Some things will never go digital, that was pretty funny lol.
Thank you! The only way I would ever own one would be for you, or someone else, to give me one.
You can't please everybody, so you got to please yourself, Mr. Absurd.
I can get for Ritter Hogues for this money.
From what I know of it, there is absolutely nothing functionally wrong with this knife. It's a Reate integral with a different name and a very good friend has the original J.A.C.K. I have no doubt of the quality. The ugly, at least to me (and I speak from firsthand experience living in a college town with locals diametrically opposed to the college kids), is one specific thing that The James Brand does with their marketing. Nick, when you said "it's great that they're getting people outside the knife world into knives", I take that statement and I think more along the lines of Quiet Carry and Tactile Knife. The James Brand's advertising--and I have been shown plenty of it--basically does not give a rip if you get into knives; they just want you to keep buying THEIR brand and nobody else's.
Basically, this is like Cold Steel's old advertising in function (they never name brands or knives, in fairness, but they do tell you how all their stuff is superior), only going for a different demographic. And right as rain, I've shown people my Quiet Carry iQ, my Chris Reeve Large Sebenza 21, my Spyderco SpydieChef, my Hiroaki Ohta and Kansei Matsuno custom friction folders, and some of Elijah Isham's work (especially my WE Arrakis...)--stuff that either would bring an outsider in or would scratch the itch for "expensive=good"--and one very ugly trend I'm noticing is that while you have maybe 40% of the people saying "that's great, I think I'll save some money on my next knife!" (these people are usually locals who went to the local university or undergrads), you get a majority of people just locked into the brand name (the grad students and some undergrads). They don't want "knife x", they want "The James Brand x", and their fallback is--yes--The James Brand's marketing.
From my understanding, The James Brand advertises in a lot of men's fashion outlets and does a lot of the stuff Shinola does with their watches. In other words, this is a company that wants you to, unlike Tactile Knife or Quiet Carry, but again, actually a lot like Cold Steel used to be. That is, to remain perpetually aloof of other knife brands and to ignore pricing because they say so. THAT, to me, is an ugly business model.
James Brand: "Hey lets send our knives out to reviewers to get more advertisment"
Knife Reviewers: "James Brand is ass haha lol"
James Brand: *Hurts itself in its confusion*
Why does everyone hate fluorescent green? Now that the zombie bullshit is over, I was hoping some more edc gear could have this color.
You'd think for the amount you pay for those they would have a flipper nub on the lower part, and some rounded gimping on the top of blade. Nice closed handle and beautiful belt clip.
The lumbersexual fantasy brand name and ethereum logo on the pocket clip are each worth $100.
So I’m usually only interested in knives that I can carry and use. I love this knife but that price, not something I’d carry everyday. I know that’s not what the company is going for but it would be cool if they made one in the $200 range for edc. I’d do that all day lol.
James Brand is acutely aware that price itself can't play a huge part of the marketing/branding influence, this is a tried and true marketing method, and it's absolutely working on fools who are happy to be parted with their money.
This looks like a Kizer T-1 "homage" except for the fact that the Kizer's lines and thumb stud look MUCH better!!! :)))
I despise TJB's marketing. It's 2012 Cold Steel, only for hipsters; the amount of crapping they do on other brands is a disgrace. With that said, there's nothing wrong with this as a knife, and also, from this day forward, I will never have a bad word to say to about it, only the company that marketed it. My father walked in on me watching this review, and since August of this year, he's had Parkinson's disease. He also had bladder cancer, which is in remission (though it's apparently very easy for it to come back), and severe arthritis in his upper right arm. He can barely talk above a whisper, needs to hold onto the railings and walls, and needs to be helped up and down the stairs, and at one time, my knife collection was *our* knife collection. He cannot even open the blade on his beloved 1975-manufacture Victorinox 91mm Standard (precursor of the Spartan), purchased in Switzerland with the original box and receipt, now as he slowly loses the use of his right arm.
So asks me "son, what's the deal with that knife? Ugly thumb stud, beautiful knife." So I explain all that went on, everything with The James Brand, basically gave him the whole history. "So it's a Reate. It's a good knife and at a bad price?" I said yes. And then Dad threw me: "try getting a coupon code, but it's yours." I asked why. "Because they've jumped the shark, it'll be history, and it'll always be controversial. When the prices drop after they're discontinued, they'll get eaten up. When they do, that's the end; nobody's going to part with them. Consider it my gift for helping me. It's a Reate integral, and I hate the J.A.C.K. 2.0's looks, so I could never give you that." As a gift from a man who sees the end of his life in sights; a man who has shaped me in all things and taught ME to be a man, it goes from pretentious snobbery to a knife I will always treasure. As my father once told me long ago, "it's never really the item that determines how much you like or dislike it. It's how you get it." I got the shipping notification earlier, and when I did, I actually shed tears. Thank you Dad. I won't do you wrong or let you down.
Hey bro thanks for sharing...brought tears to my eyes!
Brad
@@bdjmeredith Every time I use it, I think of Dad telling me "go get it". Some things money can't buy.
In Canadian dollars this thing sits around $825. A new large Inkosi sits just under 700. A Chaves (which is also produced by reate) is $550. Is that integral James worth another ~$300? Better be a grail. It's sexy tho.
I actually like the lime green thumbstud . Different color than what you see on other knives also love the looks of it but as others said price kills it for me for a China made knife.
Jim Dandy review!
I thought the price was reasonable when I thought it was 100% American made from a small company. 600 is crazy for overseas made....
I was about to pull the trigger on the Carter... I thought it was a tad expensive but I love the design. And then they pull stunts like this. I too find myself insulted by their pricing sometimes. It feels like people outside of the community get scammed/exploited...
Overpriced though it is, it’s an exquisite knife to look at.
Bailed when he said $600, I’m perfectly happy with my Ruike P801.
For $600 I expect perfection. The clip at the top of the knife has a gap where the two holes are. It’s not flush.
The only reason people give this brand shit is that they are not part of the knife community, there are a lot of other knives that are part of the knife community that are way overpriced, but everyone refuses to mention it, because they rather give James brand shit. James brand knows what they are doing, they know who they want to cater to.
I think the price primarily comes from James very clearly trying to establish themselves as a lifestyle brand, which is a whole different price ballgame than normal mainstream EDC. There's a premium to that simply to demand the a place in that space, in a bizarre more money is better kind of way.