Buying a lot of Knives vs 1 Expensive Knife -Philosophy?

powernoodle said:
But even "quality" is completely subjective, right? Quality can mean smoothest opening, in which case a CRKT Ripple or Sebenza are players. Quality might mean edge retention, in which case D2 steel might rise to the top. Other guys place a premium on cost or value, which are no less a qualities than are the other measures of what makes a good knife. Its how we arrange our list of qualities that determines our purchase, and we arrange that list subjectively. That's why a cool knife to me may be a crap knife to someone else, and vice versa.
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I don't recall saying what I feel is quality is what everyone else should feel is quality, so I agree.

I own quality 8 dollar knives, and quality 350 dollar knives, and I know that is a much narrower range than many, many others here.

And the 8 dollar ones provide me as much enjoyment as the 350 dollar ones. (Maybe more, because I'm more prone to use them!)
 
Virtually everything i own is higher dollar stuff, because i like old world craftsmanship, hand made works of art. Forge welded "damascus"... etc... There is a huge difference between something that is rolling off a production line and something that bears a makers name, blood, sweat and tears.
 
I started buying large quantities of cheaper knives and wound up selling them all off for a few really high end knives. I went from 35+ knives in the 50-275 range to under a dozen knives in the 350-800 range.

Totally worth it. I had so many knives but would only consistently carry a small handful and figured if that was the case I would rather have a small handful of really really nice knives and carry the vast majority than have a ton of knives and never carry most of them.

I think eventually I would like to get my collection down to 5 or so knives but it would be tough. Doubt I'll ever go much further over the 12 that my William Henry box can hold.
 
Bigfatts said:
But if you're like me, I've bought and sold more knives than I can count or even name and it's gotten to the point where it takes something special to excite me.
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Psst. Don't tell anybody. Same here. Not excited by much in the knife world lately. Except for that stupid Vic Classic of mine. Boring little generic thing is the best, handiest knife ever.

But I'm always looking!
 
I'm somewhere in the middle.
I prefer to keep a stable of ten or so knives in the $100-$200 dollar range. This way I get pretty close to the quality of the higher end knives, plus the opportunity to try exotic steel alloys.
 
I don't like it but this is the truth. And I suspect with many of us. I'm now down to (outside of the kitchen) a spyderco or benchie if I am in the yard and I need to get rough a little rough with my hedges. :D But outside of that the only thing I'm killing is maybe my apple for lunch, a stray thread on my pantsuit, maybe a taped up box or two. So I have whittled it down to an Opinel, a trapper in my bag which I think I'm going to replace with a peanut pattern in my pocket as it's not very threatening. Everything else is just for kicks and fun but certainly not needed. Does kind of makes me sad. But also on the bright side, I am now more picky about what I am buying as I have really narrowed down what works for me.

At the end of the day the chase is all relative to your perspective. I.e. A G shock watch might be nice to you, but someone might think a Breitling is the Bomb which is crap next to an A Lange Sohne which is crap next to the guy with the Patek Minute Repeater. You could be proud of your Mercedes but in certain cities in the U.S. a Mercedes is the car service car. Some dude might have an R8 or a Bentley. In the end its like what someone said, its what makes you happy. Cheap knives and expensive knives are all fun as far as I'm concerned, I've even likes a couple that were questionable in quality!

marcinek said:
I certainly don't mean to imply that any other knife-buying philosophy is wrong! :thumbup: I'm just at a point where, honestly, the knives I use most are my Vic Classic and my chefs knife (and my Leatherman). I don't need much more than that. And I'm probably covered for just about any other scenario.

That said, if some shiny, sexy, sharp thing catches my fancy enough....I'll buy it if I can afford it (and even sometimes if I can't).
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Scurvy092 said:
I started buying large quantities of cheaper knives and wound up selling them all off for a few really high end knives. I went from 35+ knives in the 50-275 range to under a dozen knives in the 350-800 range.

Totally worth it. I had so many knives but would only consistently carry a small handful and figured if that was the case I would rather have a small handful of really really nice knives and carry the vast majority than have a ton of knives and never carry most of them.

I think eventually I would like to get my collection down to 5 or so knives but it would be tough. Doubt I'll ever go much further over the 12 that my William Henry box can hold.
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What he said!
 
I carry the same folder every day. I like it. The S30v blade thickness is heavy enough to do some work; the blade is about 3 1/2" long, and titanium slabs. (Although G10 slabs work just as well) It feels solid in my hand and the lockup is good.
What else is there, other than braggin' rights, and I don't care much about that.
I may have others, as they come and go for trade or sales, but they don't mean much.
Sonnydaze
 
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I've got a NIB Mini-grip in my car's emergency kit. My rationale is that if things go down and I need something to cut a hose (which probably would never happen) I want a good knife at the ready in an emergency. Then again, I know somebody on the forum will think an axis lock is garbage and poo poo on it, lmao. What I really should be doing though, is basically stick stainless Opinels all over the place where I need knives. Such a good little cheap knife! Every time I grab for mine I get a little excited. I'm pretty sure its like a $12 knife too!

dudeinthacanoe said:
Thats interesting! I dont use my 20$ knives, they are packed away in emergency kits or as back ups... etc... I use my good knives! lol
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Would you rather have 25 cars that were worth on average $10,000 each or would you rather have 2-4 cars in the 50-100k range?
 
I'd rather have one or two higher-end production knives in the $200-400 range than a dozen $30 knives, as I don't do the rotation thing very well. At the same time, I have little use for collection pieces from custom makers, either. I was thinking about this earlier today for some reason when I was looking at my EDC Spyderco Techno. While it's far from the best, I'd much rather drop a pile of cash(for me) on a new mountain bike or kayak over a custom knife that would never see any use. And all those $20-30 knives just take away cash from something else I'd really rather have.
 
My philosophy is that I buy only knives that interest me. If a knife does not reflect a given quality (as perceived by me) then I'm not interested. If I find the cost of a knife to be too high (as determined by me) I'm not interested. This has worked for me in that I have every knife I want, and I get the pleasure of foraging for the next knife of interest void of remorse.
 
For me the problem with expensive, top-end knives is that I have a strong hunch they all lie waaaay out on the diminishing-returns part of the goodness curve. That is, every little improvement in fit, finish, and materials costs the buyer disproportionally more than at the lower end.

Given the existence of inexpensive knives (Mora, Opinel, Rough Rider, etc., etc.), I simply can't justify to myself spending gobs of cash on the upper end knives. As many have said here, they all cut.

But then I'm a knife user, not a collector. Collectors can (and will) spend what they like for reasons that are good enough for them. Me, I'm always more impressed when I find a cheap knife that punches above its weight, and these are found down at the low-price end.
 
Scurvy092 said:
Would you rather have 25 cars that were worth on average $10,000 each or would you rather have 2-4 cars in the 50-100k range?
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I'll take the four cars for $400,000 total and sell them, and buy one nice reliable SUV for 40K.
I used to be decent with math.
 
I fit in the "own ten $40 knives rather than one $400 knife" group. Though I have more than 10 knives. I wouldn't carry a $400 knife but I'm happy carrying and using sub-$40 knives.

Now what I really wish is that I actually had about ten $40 knives instead of the 80 or so knives ranging in value from $25 to $100. I really need to sell off a bunch.
 
AreBeeBee said:
For me the problem with expensive, top-end knives is that I have a strong hunch they all lie waaaay out on the diminishing-returns part of the goodness curve. That is, every little improvement in fit, finish, and materials costs the buyer disproportionally more than at the lower end.

Given the existence of inexpensive knives (Mora, Opinel, Rough Rider, etc., etc.), I simply can't justify to myself spending gobs of cash on the upper end knives. As many have said here, they all cut.

But then I'm a knife user, not a collector. Collectors can (and will) spend what they like for reasons that are good enough for them. Me, I'm always more impressed when I find a cheap knife that punches above its weight, and these are found down at the low-price end.
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Isn't that how everything is? Your $50,000 Patek is not going to tell time any better than your $8,000 Rolex. And your $8,000 Rolex certainly isn't going to tell time better than your $20 Timex. By buying more expensive knives, you are not only enjoying your hobby, you are supporting niche businesses, and if you purchase customs, supporting the life of those makers - who coincidentally are the ones doing collaborations for your cheaper knives, like Hinderer does for ZT, Ken Onion does for Kershaw, etc etc.

I have both cheap and expensive knives, and use them all. If I'm going out late at night or somewhere where I could lose a knife, I carry a cheaper one.
 
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