EverydayCommentary: Vosteed Psyop 299 Review

Gentrification occurs when less affluent housing is replaced by more affluent housing. It is a trend that many cities in the US fight against, despite the phenomenon being a natural process of wealth accumulation. Historians have found evidence that the forces of gentrification worked even in Ancient Rome, which given its centrality in the world at the time, is not surprising. What is more surprising is that as far away as what is now Great Britain experienced gentrification in and around its Roman outposts—there is a 3rd century villa that replaced a series of small shops in London.

The forces that lead to replacing slums with high end housing also impact the knife market. The Sebenza Barrier is something I have written about before, but it is basically the idea that the Sebenza, as a benchmark in the knife world, creates an impact on the prices of other knives. Those more than the Sebenza are probably purely for enthusiasts. Those less than the Sebenza are for more mainstream folks. But the price of the Sebenza has gone up in recent years. ALL knives have gotten more expensive. It used to be that a $1,000 production knife was exceptionally rare. Only Rockstead consistently played in that sandbox filled with gold. But now there are dozens of $1,000 production knives—from Rockstead, Custom Knife Factory, and Shirogorov, among many others. But just like the top of the market has gotten bigger, so has the bottom. The Ozark Grail is a pretty darn solid knife for less than $10. In many ways the knife market is like the hollowing out of the middle class. There just aren’t that many good $100-$150 knives.

Enter the Voted Psyop 299 with its odd $139 price tag. This is a really impressive offering for the money, easily hanging with $300 knives. But getting to that price point took a few compromises. Were they the right compromises to make? Let’s score it up and see.

I was curious where he was going with that opening paragraph. I remember when the Psyop came out. I covered it in Knife News. Always nice to learn more about a knife you only know from press material.

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