Who is super-bidding on 84mm on eBay? Stop it!

[DavZell]

Man, the 84mm Victorinox knifes are going for big bucks tonight!  ~3-400+ on the two I was interested in.

Us paupers haven't got a chance.

[Enginears]

Pauper here as well. I am watching the auction for the small field master with LNF just to see how crazy it gets this week. 

[Myron]

You must be referring to that Huntsman with LNF, among others?  I didn't bid on it, but I was watching it for a friend.  I predicted it would go for between $250 and $400. 

[BPRoberts]

I took a poke at a few LNF knives earlier this year, but they all got too rich for my blood. Would love if Vic could find a way to bring them back, I really like having a nailfile on my knives, and there's plenty of real estate on the back side.

[proletenstahl]

I gave up on US eBay a long time ago for anything 84 mm other than advertising scales.

[marlowe221]

I took a poke at a few LNF knives earlier this year, but they all got too rich for my blood. Would love if Vic could find a way to bring them back, I really like having a nailfile on my knives, and there's plenty of real estate on the back side.

I have a hard time seeing Victorinox bringing back the LNF. But I could see them making the Compact version of the hook with the file on the back standard across the 91mm lineup.

[BPRoberts]

I wouldn't say no to that either...

[Enginears]

I have a hard time seeing Victorinox bringing back the LNF. But I could see them making the Compact version of the hook with the file on the back standard across the 91mm lineup.

Hopefully there is no chance of them discontinuing the compact/84mm line/combo tool/file hook completely for  the sake of focusing on the spartan based 91mm knives along with 58, 93 and 111mm on the vic side.  They don’t seem interested in compact based things like Yeoman variants, and since they have 85mm Delemonts with files perhaps the Compact is just a hindrance to streamlining their production.

[DavZell]

You must be referring to that Huntsman with LNF, among others?  I didn't bid on it, but I was watching it for a friend.  I predicted it would go for between $250 and $400.

Yes, I was looking at the two LNF 84's.  I hope the prices recede after the holidays.

[BPRoberts]

I can't see why they'd axe the Compact/84s (didn't we just have a panic over this?) over the 85s. They only kept them as a carry over from Wenger. With Wenger being out of business for over a decade and a half at this point, I feel like there can't be that much brand loyalty left over by people who wouldn't be willing to switch over to Vics. They also use more unique parts (scales and locks, plus some of the tools) vs the hook variant and the combo tool (which is shared with some other knives).

Do agree it's odd that the Yeoman got the axe. Not a knife I personally carry, but I see the appeal of it. I'd like to see them make a "Cyber Compact" with the bit driver. The Cybertool S (Cyber Spartan) never really did it for me, but giving it scissors would make it a lot more palatable.

[marlowe221]

No, I don’t think they will discontinue the 84mm line, or at least I hope not!

But what I would like them to do is put the Compact’s version of the hook on every model with a hook. I just said the 91mm line because the Compact is 91mm so the hook with a file on the back is a part they are already making!

[Enginears]

  to the future existence of a cyber compact and the filehook being applied to all. I would love a filehook on my climber.

[Altis]

... and there's plenty of real estate on the back side.

Hopefully there is no chance of them discontinuing the compact/84mm line/combo tool/file hook completely for  the sake of focusing on the spartan based 91mm knives along with 58, 93 and 111mm on the vic side.  They don’t seem interested in compact based things like Yeoman variants, and since they have 85mm Delemonts with files perhaps the Compact is just a hindrance to streamlining their production.

If you think they might discontinue something, or just in general if there's a model / toolset you like and may want backups, my advice is to just get them when you can since they seem to discontinue models or lineups like the 74mm despite being very popular sellers.

[DavZell]

I wonder what the actual cost would have been to repair or replace the 84mm scissors making machine.  It seems odd that it would be that cost prohibitive in the long run considering the "stature" of Vic scissors in the EDC world and value to everyday consumers.

[marlowe221]

I don't believe the "whoops the 84mm scissors machine is broken for 30 years" story. Especially not in the post-Wenger acquisition era.

I'm sure Victorinox has all the sales data they could ever want. They know which models are selling more than others, which are more expensive to make than others, etc. I suspect that they eventually found that the main competition in the market for many of their models was... their other models!

So, I can definitely see them trimming down their product line up over time. And then they acquire Wenger whose primary product line is 85mm. I suppose they could have eventually discontinued all the formerly-Wenger models we now call the Delemont collection (they have discontinued a good chunk of them at this point already). Of course, by the time Wenger was acquired quite a few 84mm models had already been discontinued over time. But I'm sure there were some interesting decisions that had to be made there, in terms of avoiding competing with themselves.

So at this point, at least as long as the Delemonts are in production, I'm not sure they will bring back 84mm scissors models. I love for them to do it, don't get me wrong. But again, they are probably trying to avoid the 84mm line competing with their own 85mm line.

I think it would be really interesting to see sales figures year over year. We know that the Classic SD is the biggest single seller, followed by the Spartan, Huntsman, and.... probably Climber though I'm not sure in what order those would go in. But I would be very curious to know what some of the "less famous" models do in terms of sales every year.

I don't know. I'm sure the scissors machine did break at some point -  most industrial machines break and are repaired many times. But I simply cannot believe that it hasn't been repaired for 30 years because it's too expensive to fix the machine. Maybe it's too expensive to fix the machine compared to what the company believes the return would be on putting some 84mm models with scissors out there. But they fix machines all the time. Repairs, maintenance, and replacing various machines are just basic costs of any manufacturing business.