There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
Like many others, I have been following Ray on Instagram for awhile - he’s always posting cool photos of his latest work-in-progress..and lots of photos of his dogs too, which sometimes inspire the names of his custom knives (like MinPin and Yorkie). I first got a chance to meet Ray and check out his work in person at the USN Gathering in October 2017, and I knew right away that his designs would translate well into production. They are immediately recognizable, super-clean, and really a joy to hold.
Ray is known for his elegant simplicity and precision machining. To bring his designs to life, WE Knife seemed like the obvious match. You can see from the photo below how closely they were able to replicate Ray’s work in production. Ray is known for milling grooves and holes into the handles of his blades, so we wanted to capture those elements as well. However, Ray makes everything by hand, and we wanted to capture that in the production version of this knife while taking advantage of the capabilities of CNC machining. You can see this reflected especially in the curved shape of the Groove model; you may see grooves on the handles of Ray’s custom knives, and you will certainly see curves, but you will not see curved grooves. Using CNC milling for this production, we were able to create that shape to match the curvature of the handle.
And now for the housekeeping notes:
* Blades will only be serialized on this first pre-production drop, which is limited to 1200 units. * Members who join before 10:00pm PT on May 31st will see their orders processed and cards charged on May 31st. Members who join after this time will see their orders processed when the drop ends. * Our Estimated Ship Date is October 26th, 2018.
Thanks for checking out our latest collaboration with WE Knife and our first with Ray, I hope you like it as much as we do!
Carry On -- Jonas
HUZZAH! Many thanks for getting this done, definitely gonna be participating in this drop :)
Nice knife though. Really attractive; I like the sparse Laconico styling; I like the lanyard hole; I wish the clip was reversable and i didn't have to pick a side, because I'm obviously a normal, non-sinister person, but I like that clip out of my damn hand when I'm using a knife, so I usually switch it to the presentation scale. No, my knive is not going to accidentally deploy in my pocket. I'll live with the clip on this one though. I REALLY like the all Ti construction.
Is that a hardened steel insert I see there on the end of the frame lock, I hope?
If you don't have a special product designed for you, that just means you're with the majority of people that can use the normal product. These companies aren't trying to insult you or something by trying to help out the smaller groups. Again, not trying to be mean or anything, I just genuinely don't understand why you're so offended. Hell, most of the lefties I know agree with you and just want a reversible pocket clip. That seems like the optimal situation here. So I'm agreeing with you there.
Also agreed on the design, it's really nice and simple, I've always loved Laconico designs. The bronze finish looks fantastic too, so that's definitely what I'll be going with.
*Feel like adding this in: This knife seems like an odd case to me, because it's not even a "lefty" knife, just a "righty" knife with a "lefty" clip. Why not just make it with a reversible clip? I dunno, just my thoughts. (I see some of the comments further down the page talk about the show side being cleaner without the holes for a reversible clip. Fair enough I guess, still feel like the options should just be reversible or non-reversible, rather than lefty or righty. Just my opinion though, I generally tend to value function first over form though.)
Secondly...I feel a bit bad saying this...my post was completely facetious. Just a bit of humor; me adopting the role of a clueless, self-centered, everyman (I'm actually only two of those three things). You yourself pointed out the central irony: pretty much EVERY product that isn't made for a niche demographic is designed to appeal to and accomodate middle-class, middle-aged, white males; and even moreso, ones who are right-handed. The biggest "tells" I put in to try to make sure no one took me seriously were the line about my disdain for people who couldn't walk expecting help from some sort of magical rolling chair; and also the over-the-top claim of being the "forgotten demographic", with a melodramatic "sniff" at the end, like I was crying. I'm sorry the satire wasn't clearer.
I took the time to reply because your post was, as I said, very diplomatic and I daresay even compassionate to someone who, if he really held the views he/I expressed, would rate as a grade A idiot, and grade A+ asshole (and that was part of the joke). I surely wouldnt have been as patient as you were in trying reason with that person; I would have called him some names and moved on.
So again, my compliments for being better than that, and because Id hate to think of a decent person becoming even a bit more cynical because of some smart ass thing I wrote, I thought it best to clarify, and assure you that there isn't some idiot running around (that we know of) full of self pity because he thinks he's loosing out to the vocal lobby of lefties.
And to be honest, I completely missed that comment about the "magical rolling chair" when I read through it. Looking back though, that should've made it pretty obvious. And it's funny as hell. haha Well regardless, thanks again, have a nice day!