Interesting thread.
Truth. Is there any such thing as absolute truth? We all have out own truths and there is a lot of overlap, but also much room for disagreement about what is true.
STeven quoted the following in the OP:
You and STeven have some pretty refined tastes (again not "class" but style), I'm glad not all collectors are that way, some us would not stand a chance.
All the best, Mark
On this topic, my truth is the following.
I believe that custom knives have evolved beyond proving their worth simple on the basis of functionality a long time ago. Maybe 40 years ago when Bob Loveless was out in Lawndale, California making knives with better designs and seeking and using better steels, a "benchmade" knife provided a level of performance that one could not find in mass produced knives. IMO, those days are long passed, along with the exciting tales of the amazing benefits of edgepacking. And yet at the exact same time that the performance gap between custom handmade knives and mass produced knives (whether they be factory knives or "midtech" knives) has narrowed to next to nothing, the price differentials have shot through the roof. I believe that it is cheaper and easier today to find high performing knives with excellent steels at lower prices than at any time . . . maybe ever.
Put more bluntly, I do not need a $1000, $2000, $5000, or $8000 knife to meet all my cutting needs - and I sure don't need several of them. I can get that for several hundred dollars at most.
That is a long way to say that in my truth, there MUST be something extra beyond mere functionality to merit a handmade or custom knife commanding prices that are 10, 30, 40, 100 times those of mass produced knives which in so many cases so damn good.
From things I read, I suppose that for some folks that "something extra" is tied up in some kind of romantic idea of the sole knifemaker, toiling long hours into the night in his shop, pounding the steel, polishing the blade, hours and hours of hard work and sweat . . . pouring his/her heart and soul into each blade. There is I guess some kind of satisfaction and pleasure in owning a "one-of-a-kind" knife that you can imagine was made with "old school" techniques. That is sweet, but that doesn't do it for me. DSFDF.
For some other folks, that "something extra" is clearly its perceived ability to appreciate in value and be sold tomorrow (or even later today) than it was purchased for earlier today. But I do not flip knives and I personally rarely ever sell a knife. I am not in it for profit (not that there is anything wrong with that!). So for me, that is not it.
In my truth, that "something extra" is found in extreme attention to detail, fit and finish, superb artistic embellishment, high quality materials, and that all aspects of the knife are superlative. The proportions should be correct. The grind should be right. Needless to say the blade should be sharp and without visible inclusions in the steel. The solder joint at the guard (if there is a solder joint), should be smooth, thin, uniform, and without gaps. Everything should be aligned correctly. The guard should not be canted or off axis with the blade and tang. If is engraved, for the kind of money I am spending the engraving should be excellent. If there are screws or pins, they should match in color and alignment.
That is not to say that every knife I have purchased has achieved that standard. They haven't. And when I have obtained a knife by a custom order and it fell short of that, it has been disappointing . . . but not the end of the world. But as I get older and as my collection has filled out, it becomes harder and harder for me personally to justify purchasing another knife for thousands of dollars and adding to my collection unless it meets those standards - or "refined tastes" if you want to call it that.
Anyway, that is my truth I doubt it is exactly anyone else's, but I am sure there is some overlap with the truths of more than one other collector. I would love to hear the truths of the top collectors with the best six and seven figure (and more) collections who never or almost never post here, because I think maybe I could learn a lot from their truths.
