Are expensive knives worth it?

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Wolverine666 said:
You’ll note the phrase “never say never” in my last post. Your “example” is why. There could always be some sale , liquidation or other uncommon situation where something (a knife in this instance) is marked down more than it normally would be. And yes , I believe that for the most part (not always) , the higher the price , the better quality is expected. I’m also well aware that whatever people are willing to pay (say for a hot commodity) is what the market will dictate.

Anyway , despite your best attempts , my stance on the subject still stands. Opinions are fun😃
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You're just tap-dancing is all... Anyway I'm thankful I don't have to depend on my own opinion in this case... ;)
 
Wolverine666 said:
Haha , no need to get rubbed the wrong way , fella. People disagree all the time. And it’s no different here. I hope you and your opinion have a super Sunday 😁
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I'm not upset in the least. Quite the contrary. I'm rather amused. There are objective truths in this world -- even when it comes to knives. Sadly that's something which is lost on many... 😉
 
kobold said:
My biggest nightmare is to be stabbed with a knife with an inferior steel like D2 and other ingot steels! 😱 :D
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John Bobbit’s wife Lorena used a Cutco kitchen knife in 440A stainless. It’s just a bad situation all around. A guy losses his treasured member and someone actually purchased Ron Popiel’s knives.

RIP, Ron. You could have sold a used car to the Amish.
 
Stahlmann said:
I'm not upset in the least. Quite the contrary. I'm rather amused. There are objective truths in this world -- even when it comes to knives. Sadly that's something which is lost on many... 😉
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Are you still going with this? Jeez , let it go already. If I’ve gotten you this worked up over the price of a knife , I hate to think how you’d react to someone with opposing views on religion and politics. Haha but if you feel the need to argue just for the sake of arguing then so be it. I’m here all day.
 
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S Stahlmann I’m not going to argue about it, but I make my living testing things. I want to say that there’s nothing objective about people’s opinion about price vs quality, except that their opinions are objectively subjective.

you could make the conversation about knife performance and then set up a bunch of tests that demonstrate what a knife should be able to do… but even there there’s lots of opinions about what makes a good performing knife, or what a knife should be able to do. Example: How much edge retention is enough edge retention?

Add in the question, “is it worth the money?” and we’re doomed to subjectivity.

Gravity? Yup, universal truth. Conservation of mass? You bet. Knife quality vs cost is absolutely not.
 
Stahlmann said:
I'm not upset in the least. Quite the contrary. I'm rather amused. There are objective truths in this world -- even when it comes to knives. Sadly that's something which is lost on many... 😉
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You still lack an understanding of what the word 'objective' means. I will, however, extend you a hint. It doesn't mean that your opinions are somehow magically facts because you've chosen to abuse that particular word to justify them.
 
Insipid Moniker said:
You still lack an understanding of what the word 'objective' means. I will, however, extend you a hint. It doesn't mean that your opinions are somehow magically facts because you've chosen to abuse that particular word to justify them.
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you’re right, but in fairness to Stahlmann true objectivity is a very hard thing to grasp. Even scientific studies, run by legitimate scientists, struggle with objectivity. Subjectivity is a sneaky bastard.

to put it another way, when we hear new facts we would be more correct to assume there’s subjectivity ingrained in it somewhere than to believe it’s purely objective. Only by accepting verisimilitude can we ever advance our understanding of anything scientific.

When someone stipulates quality vs cost is at all objective my eyes roll up into my head.
 
EngrSorenson said:
you’re right, but in fairness to Stahlmann true objectivity is a very hard thing to grasp. Even scientific studies, run by legitimate scientists, struggle with objectivity. Subjectivity is a sneaky bastard.

to put it another way, when we hear new facts we would be more correct to assume there’s subjectivity ingrained in it somewhere than to believe it’s purely objective. Only by accepting verisimilitude can we ever advance our understanding of anything scientific.

When someone stipulates quality vs cost is at all objective my eyes roll up into my head.
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I would actually argue that it's fairly easy to grasp what 'objective' means, it's just very difficult to nail down objective information. My issue isn't that he's attempting to put a hard measurement to something that's difficult to achieve precision with, but that he's attempting to use the word as a bludgeon about matters of pure opinion. One is entirely understandable, the other simply requires a grade school level understanding of fairly simple vocabulary.

You may have missed when he was attempting to claim matters of etiquette and whether or not something was rude had an objective measure. This seems to be a common rhetorical tactic he uses and, while I suspect I'm on his ignore list as I pointed out one of his stories stretched the bounds of credulity, I'm still going to point out when someone wildly misuses a concept to try to silence their critics.
 
Insipid Moniker said:
My issue isn't that he's attempting to put a hard measurement to something that's difficult to achieve precision with, but that he's attempting to use the word as a bludgeon about matters of pure opinion.
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Few folks have your command of the language. I agree with you- I was just trying to soften the beating. We kind of closed on him like a bear trap with teeth made of hard facts.
 
Insipid Moniker said:
I would actually argue that it's fairly easy to grasp what 'objective' means, it's just very difficult to nail down objective information. My issue isn't that he's attempting to put a hard measurement to something that's difficult to achieve precision with, but that he's attempting to use the word as a bludgeon about matters of pure opinion. One is entirely understandable, the other simply requires a grade school level understanding of fairly simple vocabulary.

You may have missed when he was attempting to claim matters of etiquette and whether or not something was rude had an objective measure. This seems to be a common rhetorical tactic he uses and, while I suspect I'm on his ignore list as I pointed out one of his stories stretched the bounds of credulity, I'm still going to point out when someone wildly misuses a concept to try to silence their critics.
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Outstanding post. If you don’t write professionally for a living , you should 👍
 
What Mors Kochanski famously said "The more you know the less you carry." could be applied here: "The more you know the less you pay." Knowledge about blade geometry, sharpening, steels, heat treats, materials, makers and so on, will make it unlikely that we buy something overpriced and end up selling it later, because it is actually lacking in some way.

The first step, of course, is knowing what we want (need) and this is where hype and pretty pictures are working against us, making us want what others want, or making us want what others want us to want.
 
Something being expensive is always a subjective opinion and so is the answer to the question of the OP. A ZT0562cf might be expensive for Person A But inexpensive for Person B, or expensive in 2015 But inexpensive in 2020 for the same person. Also, the answer depends on what factors of knives a person consider when buying: performance, aesthetics, materials, quality and f&f, reputation of the maker, country of origin, etc: just some of them or all of them?
 
Quiet said:
It seems like every time you post, you're always trying to make it sound like your opinion is some big view that "many" share. This is called projection, and it's embarrassing. You sound as though you're attempting to justify your inability, or disinclination to spend money on knives.

What's more telling is what you don't say: "Difficulties arise when I try to justify my opinion that people couldn't possibly feel "pride of ownership" because I don't feel it myself."

As I said, embarrassing.
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Maybe he should have used the word “some” rather than “many”. Maybe rather than “justify” the more appropriate interpretation would be the verb “ explain” when restating his opinion.
Perhaps the pride of ownership is produced by marketing rather than real world use. I ve read people, whose opinions I respect on this forum, state that their hunting/bushcraft knife needs are well handled by a Rat 1. Other respected members use a CRK for their daily manual labor work knife. Other than durability, I not sure what the difference would be from a practical use standpoint. Aesthetics?
My most expensive knives have been an xm18 and a Sebenza. While these are undoubtedly well made, I have difficulty justifying the price difference between these and the Recon1 and American Lawman. I guess I m just lucky to have such unsophisticated tastes in knives (and watches, and clothes and most things). My wife and friends know I m a cheapskate!!
 
sharp_edge said:
Something being expensive is always a subjective opinion and so is the answer to the question of the OP. A ZT0562cf might be expensive for Person A But inexpensive for Person B, or expensive in 2015 But inexpensive in 2020 for the same person. Also, the answer depends on what factors of knives a person consider when buying: performance, aesthetics, materials, quality and f&f, reputation of the maker, country of origin, etc: just some of them or all of them?
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Agree.
 
kobold said:
What Mors Kochanski famously said "The more you know the less you carry." could be applied here: "The more you know the less you pay." Knowledge about blade geometry, sharpening, steels, heat treats, materials, makers and so on, will make it unlikely that we buy something overpriced and end up selling it later, because it is actually lacking in some way.

The first step, of course, is knowing what we want (need) and this is where hype and pretty pictures are working against us, making us want what others want, or making us want what others want us to want.
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Well said.
 
I believe the the majority of experienced knife users on this forum recognize that there is a diminishing return of qualty for the money paid as knife prices increase. However, what is important is ones perception of his knife. Sometimes that is increased by a higher price.
 
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