Age in Relation to SAK Collecting

Over the weekend I read an article in a prominent knife magazine, discussin the future of the knife industry that began by stating that younger folks go for tactical type knives, middle aged folks are still into tactical knives but also collect some high end customs, and the older fellas out there are mostly into traditional slipjoints and other designs. 

My take, for what it's worth, on the industry as a whole, is that utility is back "in" and that SAK collecting is a growing and thriving section of the market.  In fact, judging by the number of knife based tools and tool based knives that were released this year, the utility factor is going through the roof, and I believe all segments are responsable for that, and that the tactical knife, while still the mainstay of the knife industry, simply does not have the same appear that it once did.

Of course I may be biased since I deal mostly in the "utilitarian" section of the market, what with SOSAK, SOSAKOnline, SAKWiki.com, and Multitool.org, but I still feel the facts are hard to ignore.  For example, Wenger has issued more new models and revamped old ones in the past year than they have in the previous ten.  Victorinox has shifted their design ideas away from adding electronics, and back to crafting ever improving knives, Leatherman is releasing new models like crazy, Spyderco has re-issued two versions of the SpyderWrench, SOG is updating a line of tools that has been virtually untouched for ten years, Columbia River Knife and Tool (CRKT) has entered the tool market, and Surefire, the flashlight company has entered the knife world with a flagship model that has numerous SAK like functions.

It seems to me that utilitarian designs are taking over, but maybe, in that author's defense, we are spread out too much to have been defined in that article!  I won't comment on a few of the "shots" that the author took at the 'net's impact on th eknife industry... "faceless people trading insults..."  indeed....

So, I thought it might be neat to see what age groups we have represented here, so we can celebrate our diversity and not get pegged down as everyone else apparently is!