New Reference Book - Canceled

[Tom19176]

I too have all the books, and would buy a new one, but I do believe that there is only a small interest in book buying. Bill, do you have any sense of how many Italian autos are made each year? Or at least how many Leverlettos have been made since they started manufacture? I only ask this to get a sense of volume at least on the production level.

[whippersnapper]

I'm not trumpeting the 'buy the books mantra' because I own a book store, I am doing it as I would love to see our hobby continue in the future, however it has been 8 years now since we've had a new book on the subject appear - SoI. This new book that was canceled was something I was looking forward to as an update. I know of only one other volume that is being planned but will be down the road a bit yet.

Shag, have you subscribed to the http://sharperdeal.biz/newsletter/ ?

[Shag]

I too have all the books, and would buy a new one, but I do believe that there is only a small interest in book buying. Bill, do you have any sense of how many Italian autos are made each year? Or at least how many Leverlettos have been made since they started manufacture? I only ask this to get a sense of volume at least on the production level.

Now that would be interesting to know, even an approximate number!
When you see what some of the knives get for pricing, you do wonder how many of them are made per month? Do the prices reflect the quantity made or are the prices merely arbitrary?

That then leads me to wonder how many multi-thousands were made over the years in all of Europe before the 'knife hysteria' hit a lot of the countries, you wonder where all those knives went?

[whippersnapper]

to wonder how many multi-thousands were made

'knife hysteria'

I think you are greatly over estimating quantity and demand.

[Bill DeShivs]

By my estimate, there are probably 15K Leverlettos out there.
I think you would be amazed at how many stilettos are made. My semi-educated guess is over 100K per year.

[whippersnapper]

I believe the Leverletto numbers, but would never have guessed a 100k stilettos a year.

[Shag]

to wonder how many multi-thousands were made

'knife hysteria'

I think you are greatly over estimating quantity and demand.

Having been in Europe a few times and seeing knives all over as compared to here, I think I may be fairly close to my estimate and I'll stand by it. Germany alone has approx. 35% of the population of the US. I think that you forget how many people live in Europe, the population of all of Europe is about 3.6 - 4.0 times* the size of the US, with the liberal knife laws they used to have, I am sure of the heavy sales of autos as they were just considered a 'knife' nothing special there, over all the years. People would buy a stag handled auto the way we would buy a cheap plastic-handled pocket knife here to put into a jacket or coat.

Don't forget Germany has been making auto-knives since pre-1900 and in huge numbers since after WWII. Add on all of the other European countries that produced them over the years and you've got a pretty fair sized pile of steel that's floating around somewhere in 4-12 oz packages. Where exactly are all of them? They can't all be worn out and/or sitting in drawers and attics?

The 'knife hysteria' quote should have had 'anti-' in front of it in light of all the stupid knife restrictions which have come in over there now in places like Spain, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, etc, etc.

By my estimate, there are probably 15K Leverlettos out there.
I think you would be amazed at how many stilettos are made. My semi-educated guess is over 100K per year.

Oh yeah! Nailed it! Thank you Bill, sorry Whip you've been whipped!



* = (depends on datsbase used)

[BTB0923]

Oh yeah! Nailed it! Thank you Bill, sorry Whip you've been whipped!

Wow, I wasn't aware this thread had become a competition.

[Shag]

Oh yeah! Nailed it! Thank you Bill, sorry Whip you've been whipped!

Wow, I wasn't aware this thread had become a competition.

OK, I'm going to write this up to you maybe not knowing my style of posting, or you misunderstand the intent of my post or something else, since I have no idea where you got that indication from. I can be serious if need be, but many of my comments are made in a light-hearted, kidding style - exactly the way I get things across when I converse. Whip and I have never had a single issue in my time here and I have sent him quite a few PMs over that time.

A comment which I follow with the tongue-sticking out smilie, means obviously that it is meant in a joking, humorous manner. See this guy --> that's the one which I always use and I also used in my post above.

Some people use the winking one --> , I use the tongue one as it was used on the first forum I was ever on, to indicate precisely what I mentioned it did.

Clarification enough, I hope?

P.S.: BTW, this --> in my posts means a friendly comment, topic, etc.

I think that's everything explained now.

Some people forget that misunderstandings can happen easily when all the media you are dealing with is plain text, so it's always better to check than jump to a wild conclusion which can cause bad feelings. As I always say, PM me, if you have any comments, questions, concerns.

[BTB0923]

Chalk it up to me being in a bad mood and having to read your suuuupppeeeerrrr lengthy posts. sorry

[Shag]

Chalk it up to me being in a bad mood and having to read your suuuupppeeeerrrr lengthy posts. sorry

No problem at all! I know that I do tend to have long posts, for which I apologize. I do however edit them down in size several times before pushing 'submit', so you are seeing just the 40% or so that it originally was. Plus, as I said text cannot convey tone or intent.

It's a holdover from having to give VERY clear, detailed and lengthy, try-to-cover-every-possible-angle orders to sub-contractors on projects. I used to just say - install X. Since they were contractors, it seemed reasonable that they'd know what they were doing. Oooow, bad mistake. I have to walk them thru step by step of every single piece that needs to be installed to finish project X. That's now how I post, sigh.

I did cover this issue in my 'Introduce Yourself' thread and I work on it all the time, sometimes more successfully than other times.

[Bill DeShivs]

Some years ago, a noted knifemaker friend went to Maniago on a tour of the knife factories. One noted auto maker told him his production was 85,000 per year.

[whippersnapper]

No problem here Shag, I don't mind being wrong. I also hand out my share of criticism and ribbing, so I expect to get my share back. Most people don't always get my sense of humor either.

[Shag]

No problem here Shag, I don't mind being wrong. I also hand out my share of criticism and ribbing, so I expect to get my share back. Most people don't always get my sense of humor either.

You have to have a sense of humour if you're in any online forums I find.

The numbers Bill gave are amazing, just think what they must have been back when there was a lot more demand for these and a lot less restrictive knife laws on the books in Europe.

As I asked, where are all of them? Somewhere there's a real treasure trove of these babies.

[autoknife]

Some years ago, a noted knifemaker friend went to Maniago on a tour of the knife factories. One noted auto maker told him his production was 85,000 per year.

I would have to wonder just how truthful that knife maker was being considering that even if they work 365 days a year that is over 230 knives per day on average. Considering that most are a 2-3 person operation that seems unlikely. It might be a small white lie just like how all the makers claim to make all the knives they sell!