Difference between a $100 knife and a $500 knife?

If you are really careful in your selection, you can find a $200 folder that's "almost" as good as one for $400. But it takes a lot of lookin.
 
Sonnydaze said:
If you are really careful in your selection, you can find a $200 folder that's "almost" as good as one for $400. But it takes a lot of lookin.
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Doesnt take a lot of looking actually, ZTs are all in the 200+ range and they are almost as good as the 400+ one, sometimes with even better material.
 
A 500$ knife is probably not gonna be functionally better than a 100$ knife, you just get a fancier knife.
Currently with the way modern tactical folders are going, the creator of the knife likely spent 350$ worth of work turning 150$ worth of material into a pocket brick with decoration machined into it along with some custom machined lanyard beads and a super fancy pocket clip.
( may not be the case 100% of the time, but certainly is a very common trend )
 
Sonnydaze said:
If you are really careful in your selection, you can find a $200 folder that's "almost" as good as one for $400. But it takes a lot of lookin.
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I've experienced this on a few knives over the last few years; I had a Benchmade 581 that was just perfect in all regards; centering, action etc. Flawless really. Paid $115 for it secondhand here and it was LNIB. My last Strider SNG (roughly $400 into it) on the other hand had a ton of lock rock and just didn't seem up to par with the last identical model SNG I owned FWIW.

I've owned three Gayle Bradley's (one gen one and two gen 2's) that cost me $115 - $135 each and all were amazing in terms of fit and finish, lockup and action. Compared to a LNIB box older s30v Seb 21 which had only seen a small amount of pocket time but was beyond butter knife dull (extremely rounded edge but the blade had no signs of use!) and the action on it was abysmally slow and with a lot of drag. It was $375.00 I think...

Not hating on the above higher end knives at all I merely wanted to share my own experiences. :o:cool:


I do believe there are many knives right around the $200.00 especially when buying secondhand here on BFC for example that may make spending $500.00 unnecessary.
 
There are a whole lot of knives out there at every price. What any knife is worth is only that what someone is willing to pay. Its also a market too, so some of it is what the maker can get away with. Others make for their pleasure and may under value their work. Or ask too much. Lots to the equation like marketing costs, taxes, material costs, machinery, expertise, and labour costs. Economies of scale too.

Every knife has some luck built in. Will it last the week or several lifetimes? Hopefully the higher the ticket price the more in it. Any knife can get borrowed, lost or be stolen.

I bought a CRK Project II twenty odd years ago; then it was the equivalent of a $400 knife. Thats less than $20 a year. Its still a pleasure to own and use. For $400 today there are probably better made and better materials to be had. 20 years time there will be better still.

Basically can you get $400 of pleasure owning such an item? Much of the value might be the story behind it: the maker, the style, the street cred, the way its made, all sorts. It might be just collectable. It might be just fancy. Reputation goes a long way.

There can be robotic knives made to near perfection with hardly any human input. Or have a knife chiselled out of a block by hand to perfection. Your call where you put the value on either. The rest is disposable income and I can think of other stuff at $100 or even $400 not worth that. Think what we spend on cars that don't last long. A good knife is a pleasure and if it has the luck in it will last a long time and be a joy.

Lastly, I put high value on the knives that have had an adventure with me. Like old friends sometimes.
 
Hickory n steel said:
A 500$ knife is probably not gonna be functionally better than a 100$ knife, you just get a fancier knife.
Currently with the way modern tactical folders are going, the creator of the knife likely spent 350$ worth of work turning 150$ worth of material into a pocket brick with decoration machined into it along with some custom machined lanyard beads and a super fancy pocket clip.
( may not be the case 100% of the time, but certainly is a very common trend )
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And how is this different from a similarly-priced traditional knife? (Other than a pocket clip.)
 
The only difference is what importance you place on an object & how much you're willing to spend.Something like the difference between a Timex vs Rolex. Either will tell time accurately, but a Rolex will do it with style. A Timex or G-Shock is fine with me. On the other hand, I have no problem spending almost $500 on a Sebenza, when a $25 flea market knife has a sharp edge too.
 
A $500 custom knife, is different than a $500 Benchmade, THAT is for sure.

With a $500 custom knife, you get the attention to detail, quality materials. There is nothing like a custom knife. The price is in the materials, the time that the maker takes to make the make the knife. Titanium isn't cheap, nor is a knife makers time.
 
marcinek said:
And how is this different from a similarly-priced traditional knife? (Other than a pocket clip.)
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If your referring to the jigged bone handle scales , they use a jigging machine to do it, and even if they do it by hand it takes much less effort to work than titanium does.
For 100$ the knife you buy will be a perfectly fine edc working knife, beyond that what you get for 500$ wil purely be aesthetic and non crucial refinements to fit.
With traditional folders, jigged bone scales are a subtle touch and can help add grip.
But with the modern trend, they do things that are ridiculous. They spend too much time machining random patterns into an expensive tough to work material for handles clips and beads, and using a lot of it resulting in an expensive ridiculous looking pocket brick.
So the difference is that traditionals usually incorporate more subtle design elements, while tactical folders usually incorporate ridiculous in your face design elements.
You can get a traditional folder that's better for less.
 
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T.K.C. said:
A $500 custom knife, is different than a $500 Benchmade, THAT is for sure.

With a $500 custom knife, you get the attention to detail, quality materials. There is nothing like a custom knife. The price is in the materials, the time that the maker takes to make the make the knife. Titanium isn't cheap, nor is a knife makers time.
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I agree with you assuming you like titanium which I don't. Time and valuing labor is something that will vary. I popular knife maker will do pretty well from an hourly basis but a less popular maker is probably working for the equivalent of minimum wage and mostly for the love of it. One needs to build up a certain reputation and a "name" is worth something to most. As with most self employment, you get what you can money-wise.
 
$100 typically means it's got the "1st kinda cool" - It works for its intended purpose.

$400 typically means it's got the "2nd kinda cool" - It makes you happy as it works for its intended purpose.

And that's the difference... besides the $400.
 
Hickory n steel said:
If your referring to the jigged bone handle scales , they use a jigging machine to do it, and even if they do it by hand it takes much less effort to work than titanium does.
For 100$ the knife you buy will be a perfectly fine edc working knife, beyond that what you get for 500$ wil purely be aesthetic and non crucial refinements to fit.
With traditional folders, jigged bone scales are a subtle touch and can help add grip.
But with the modern trend, ...
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Your answer to the question "What's the difference between a $100 knife and a $500 knife?" still appears to be "Modern knives are ugly."

It's a valid opinion, but hardly answers the question .

Maybe you could try answering this.. "What is the difference between a $100 traditional and a $500 traditional?"
 
If it is a handmade knife you are likely to have at least $100 just in material cost without factoring in compensation for the makers time.
 
marcinek said:
Your answer to the question "What's the difference between a $100 knife and a $500 knife?" still appears to be "Modern knives are ugly."

It's a valid opinion, but hardly answers the question .

Maybe you could try answering this.. "What is the difference between a $100 traditional and a $500 traditional?"
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4 flippers
 
marcinek said:
Your answer to the question "What's the difference between a $100 knife and a $500 knife?" still appears to be "Modern knives are ugly."

It's a valid opinion, but hardly answers the question .

Maybe you could try answering this.. "What is the difference between a $100 traditional and a $500 traditional?"
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The fact that it's probably hand made and one of a kind is probably the only real difference , because slipjoints have small parts that need fairly precise fit and it's harder to get it right and have repeatability that's why they cost more.


If both were production knives, the only differences would probably be material ( like fancy steels, or precious metals for bolsters with hand engraving )
There's a certain point where things can't get functionally better, and I think that something like a gec is probably as good as it gets. Beyond that nothing else that you get is necessary for an edc work knife.

By the way I didn't say that modern knives are ugly, but the current trend with custom knife makers is basically just ridiculous looking pocket bricks with titanium handles.
 
Maverick44 said:
... I'm just curious exactly what about those knives makes them worth that much.
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Like others have previously stated, you usually get better F&F, quality control, exclusivity (serial #'s) etc.

For me, it's simple.

Since the majority of my knives are Benchmade's, I'll use my favorite in this example (530/531 Pardue).

I REALLY have to love everything about the regular production model first. Ergos, size, weight, technical specs, blade profile, etc. Then enough time has to pass that you REALLY know this love is for real and it's not just a flame, lol.. Then some more time will pass and you will begin longing for an upgrade in materials for said knife. Something that performs a little better than 154CM, feels a little nicer than Grivory or G10, something a little more special, for an already great knife. More waiting, wishing, and day-dreaming.

And then.. the model of your day-dream(s) hits the market looking sweeter than what you even envisioned. That's when I'm willing to dish out money in the $500+ price range.

Two of my examples, 531-131 & 531-132.. Not only did I get two versions of an already great regular production folder that works for me - I got the bump in materials, extra attention in F&F/QC, polished, convex edge, and numeric exclusivity. Some might say, "why spend that much for a Benchmade?" Or the classic, "I could get a waaaay better custom for that amount for a production folder." To which I'd simply reply, because that knife is special to me, just like your custom is special (for whatever reason) to you.

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But quality and only cry once... but never buy hype.
 
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