Cheap knives

JTB_5

JTB_5

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I’m curious about the reasons knife folks buy cheap knives that we know will have quality control and durability issues. I’m not asking about solid quality inexpensive knives like Mora, SAK, or Opinel, which (from what I understand) are both “cheap” and well made. I’m asking about gas station type stuff or sweat shop foreign stuff, if that makes sense.

My Dad was a man who would buy cheap because it was cheap, but my mom always brought what she thought would be fine or last rather than what was cheap.

I tend to favor my mom’s way of thinking over my dad’s, but I’m curious to see other folks’ reasons for going cheap with knives. If you are like me and don’t enjoy buying cheap knives, you can chime in, of course, but I’m trying to get some perspective that I don’t have.

So, why do YOU buy cheap knives?
 
I used to by cheap in my younger years, mainly to save a buck. These days I try and go for the best I can afford, since dependability and quality construction take precedent over price.

As this pertains to knives, cheap has never 'cut' it for me. They have never been just a tool, but something I've always enjoyed owning and using, so craftsmanship and aesthetics are important.

An exception to this has been with the Rough Rider brand, who's low price and ostensible quality construction rekindled my interest in the world of traditional knives.
In this case I was attracted to 'cheap' because it gave me access to the kind of knives I wanted at a time when I couldn't afford anything better.

Since then, I've purchased four knives from GEC and my definition of quality has expanded drastically, and I could never settle for less again.
 
I bought two cheapie Chinese made Barlow knives and gave them to my nephews.
Fifteen bucks each, and they were serviceable, with decent blade grinds, solid with decent action, and were well put together but poorly finished.
I bought them just to see how good they'd be, and the plan to give them away was an excuse to buy a couple of knives.

I 'finished' one of the knives: filed the liners, thinned the overly thick handles, smoothed the rough edges. All the stuff that the piece worker can't do because he's blasting through mountains of them in a shift.

If necessary I could carry one of those cheapies right out if the box for a while and be happy enough.

Michael
 
JTB_5 said:
That's a different question! I think there is a debate there, but I'd rather try to understand why folks are willing to pay for cheap knives first.
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Not much to debate. If a guy buys a cheap "gas station knife" and uses the crap out of it and replaces it when it's broken, good on him, but what evidence is there to debate he is "knife folk"?
 
jwb01 said:
My grandfather taught me that there is a difference between cheap and inexpensive. Cheap, to him, refers to quality and inexpensive refers to price. You can overpay for a cheap item and sometimes get quality that is inexpensive.
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^That.

And along that line of reasoning, I'd never knowingly pay for a 'cheap' knife at all. If I perceive it to be of poor quality, i.e., mystery steel or manufacturing seemingly unburdened by robust (or any) QC policy, etc, then I'm not going to waste my money, even if that's only a couple or three dollars.

On the other hand, there are some very good 'inexpensive' knives out there. And finding and using them is a pure joy. A good working knife that didn't cost much is essentially worry-free.
 
Pretty much the only inexpensive knives I own are Rough Riders, and they are decently made. I have a couple of Marbles Chinese knives, which I believe are made in the same factory, and are also quite decent. They all come sharp, and with good W&T, and very acceptable F&F for their price point.

While at the large knife store with the big blue roof, I looked over 2 or 3 dozen of the bone handled Taylor Schrades, and couldn't find one I wanted to take home, even for $15. I've tried Steel Warrior and Ocoee River without much satisfaction, so haven't bought any more.

If I want to try a new pattern, or have a backup in a pattern I like for a beater, then I go with RR. Good quality, and no drama if I lose it or damage it. Here is an example: a Case #75 pattern clone in brown sawcut bone. A very hard working large stockman in stainless steel, that I paid $12 for.
KOeVuZ8.jpg
 
Well, first off, the person who buys a cheap gas staton knife is most likely NOT a knife nut. He's just some working guy who in the course of his day needs to strip some wire, or open a box, or cut something. He may even sharpen the knife on a cement step. He may even use it as a screw driver, pry tool and if he breaks the tip off he just shrugs and says to himself "well, now it makes an even better screw driver".

To some people, the knife is a cheap disposable item to be used hard and tossed in the trash when it's done. He doesn't care. It's like a .99 cent screw driver from the dollar store. A knife is by it's nature a tool that time will use up. If it gets used a lot, it will have to be sharpened. If you sharpen it a lot, it will end up looking like those knives we see where the blades are ground down to toothpicks by years of use, and probably being sharpened on very rough/aggressive mediums like grinding wheels and cinder blocks.

To us, the knife obsessed and fanatical knife nuts, we can't fathom such behavior. But keep in mind that we are less than 1% of the worlds society at large. Most of the rest of the world doesn't give a hoot about knives except as a tool that is needed to process food, or do a job. To them, any piece of semi sharp steel that can be honed up on a river rock or cement step is good enough to do want they want. I've seen a construction worker at Wheelus Air Force Base in Libya hone his Douk-Douk on the edge of a dirty shovel, an old Italian lady outside Aviano Air Force Base in Italy hone up her old butcher knife on the stone steps in front of the house getting ready to make dinner. For them in that part of the world, they were doing want was needed. But to them, we would look like obsessed fools spending money on not just one knife, but multiple knives that we don't need, while they make do with just the one old knife they have.

Unfortunately we have so much disposable income that we as obsessed knife nuts that have raised the knife to a cult worship item, we would never understand how someone would just buy one cheap knife to go through the day with. To some poverty level farm worker or restaurant worker, a 3.99 special is good enough. He's looking at us buying a 100 dollar GEC wonder knife of the month and thinking we're dog nuts. It's all in who you are and where you are in life.
 
Someone who needs a knife but loses stuff is likely to purchase the least expensive versions of inexpensive knives, but not cheap. I'm not that person*, but I know them. However, I can't say I've known anyone who purchases cheap knives, though obviously they must exist.

* I do buy Case--if that counts as "cheap"--but I like Case knives and they work for me.
 
I wouldn’t expect to find anybody who can answer the OPs question here. Everyone here is an enthusiast to a greater or lesser degree. I like cheap knives, but I don’t like junk.

For years, most of the knives I owned came out of the Brookstone or LL Bean catalog. In essence, I fell for the marketer’s carefully crafted pitch. I bought Opinels, SAK’s, a Vic Mauser GAK, and the Tapio Wirkkala puukko. Every one was priced well. None has disappointed me.

Rough Riders drew me because of their price. I bought a couple to find out what all the buzz was about, and found them for the most part to be quite nice, much, much better than the price would suggest. I bought more. They kindled an interest in traditional knives, and I have since bought several Cases, and a couple of GECs.

These days, when I buy a knife, my purpose is mostly investigatory. I have bought some other ten dollar Chinese knives and found some not so great (Frost Steel Warrior), others quite decent (Colt, Marbles). I remain hopeful that I might turn up an undiscovered treasure, as Opinel once was for me.
 
I often wonder what the old timers of say the middle of the last century, you know those looking for a good, functional everyday tool for a good price, would have made of a Rough Rider knife: given the choice between that and an Imperial or a Richards for example. I would argue that they would have sold in their thousands. I'm a big fan of Richards knives, they undoubtedly have an everyman quality and are full of nostalgia for me as the knives I coveted in the newsagents window as a boy. But if, alongside side those knives, there would have been the Rough Riders and the Colts of today, with their quality, variety of patterns and use of quality materials, all for a comparable price or possibly even cheaper, I would definitely have gone for those.
Untitled by Blake Blade, on Flickr
Untitled by Blake Blade, on Flickr

I still collect both these makes of knives, out of nostalgia and for their relative quality. :)
 
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leghog said:
Not much to debate. If a guy buys a cheap "gas station knife" and uses the crap out of it and replaces it when it's broken, good on him, but what evidence is there to debate he is "knife folk"?
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I think my original question has raised a different problem, as your reply and a couple of others' replies have discovered, which is "who are knife folk."

For my purposes, I'm not really interested in what not-knife-nuts are thinking. They have their own uses and such, but I'm more interested in people who are interested in knives as collectable items, but who also find pleasure or use in buying knives that are inexpensive and poorly made (i.e. "cheap").

I think a lot of the responses have answered that well. I can count several reasons so far (forgive me if I miss any):

1. To check out a pattern before spending a lot on it.
2. To find a "hidden gem" that has good quality for the price.
3. To give to children who may not care for the knife well (or perhaps people who don't collect knives, but use them)
4. To have a knife that can be used for tasks that might damage a knife that you don't want damaged.

Thanks for the responses so far!
 
JTB_5 said:
1. To check out a pattern before spending a lot on it.
2. To find a "hidden gem" that has good quality for the price.
3. To give to children who may not care for the knife well (or perhaps people who don't collect knives, but use them)
4. To have a knife that can be used for tasks that might damage a knife that you don't want damaged.
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The only time that I knowingly bought a cheap and poorly made knife was one that I actually did buy at a gas station. It's kind of a scaled down knock off of a Buck 110. Basically the same design but only about 3 inches closed.

I bought it because it was right there at the cash register and I thought it would be a suitable knife to toss in my toolbox that I keep in the garage. I rarely use it but have on occasion when I needed a knife in a pinch and already had my toolbox opened.

As I was typing this I decided to go out and get it so I could snap a pic. I had assumed it was made in China but much to my surprise, it's made in Pakistan. I had no idea that I owned a Pakistan knife.:eek:

This thing has been in my toolbox for the better part of 20 years. The gas station that I bought it at was demolished a long time ago.

IMG_3926.JPG
IMG_3927.JPG
 
when I was a kid I used to buy the cheap stuff. It's all I could afford, scrimped the allowance and lunch money change together for a knife. It was a fix. Won't deny it. The more I looked the more I wanted to buy. And when you start to look at the higher dollar stuff and can't afford them you try to get the next best thing. The cheapest one that looks like it. Even the stuff in the junk shop would do. I remember tearing a two bladed Reindeer Trapper to make a single blade when I was around 14-15. Steel Warrior, rough rider, overseas schrade sometimes were purchased even up until college times. Then after college and finding a job, I found GEC, and had money for stuff. Then it was more about not knowing about quality, and making impulse purchases. Now I know to do more research about the things I buy.
 
I agree that there is a major difference between "cheap" and "inexpensive".
I would also point out that it is not unheard of to buy an expensive knife, and still have issues with poor quality. As can be seen in some of the threads here.
Price is no guarantee of quality.
I buy mostly Rough Riders. They are inexpensive, but high quality. Of the 30 or so that I own, only one (a large Coke Bottle with white bone covers) had a physical defect. There was a small crack in the bone at one of the cover pins. A little sandpaper and super glue took care of that "defect".
I do not expect perfection on a mass production knife. Contrary to popular belief, production knives made prior to GEC, regardless of brand, did not always have flawless fit and finish. (From what I've read here, even GEC has had some fit and finish issues on a few of their examples) Of course prior to (I would guess) the mid 1980's most knives were bought as tools, not as a collectable. Hence minor gaps between the back springs and liners, or the covers and bolsters were ignored - if even noticed. Things like blade play, and a heavy pull were a bigger deal than a minor gap or three.

gaj999 gaj999 I have a couple of the Rough Rider large Sunfish. (Two of the Outdoorsman smooth tobacco bone, and one Zombie Nick) You will not regret getting one. Even though they are a large and wide knife, they do not "print" in your pocket, even if you are wearing a suit.
If you are looking at the small sunfish/Elephant Toenail, I can tell you the main blade is not too bad on the pull. The secondary blade? Plan on using a coin or pliers. The one I had, on a scale of 1 to 10, had a pull of around 14 on the secondary blade, and a 7 or so on the main.
I traded it off. I don't like fighting with my knife to open it.
 
JTB_5 said:
I'm more interested in people who are interested in knives as collectable items, but who also find pleasure or use in buying knives that are inexpensive and poorly made (i.e. "cheap").
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Those who are interested in knives as collectible items, but who find pleasure in use or buying knives that are expensive and poorly made are much more interesting as a group. I can understand people that are trying out a pattern or buying for the young purchasing inexpensive items that may have flaws, but I am baffled by the number of threads that appear for high end knives that have serious flaws.
 
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