Diminishing Returns

People have pointed out many times on many threads that at a certain price materials can no longer remotely justify the cost (although there are exceptions of course). Materials and labor can oftentimes not come even close to what a knife sells for. But you have to add in R&D, cost of the shop (rent, equipment either owned or being paid for) etc. etc. So yeah, at a point you say "Wow, I'm paying for lots of things other than materials." Intangible qualities, reputation, exclusivity/rarity. Anyway, very few knives I own at this point can be justified by cost of materials. I bought them because I liked them, and no one makes a knife similar enough that I like enough that I could have paid less for.
 
Reitwagen said:
Two knives are necessary, one for work and one for Sunday-go-to-meeting.

On the topic, beyond Victorinox and Morakniv, I start to pay for what I want more than what I need. I imposed a threshold of $100 a few years ago and have only crossed it once since then.
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I have two folders myself—one EDC and one knife for dressy events or when I just want to change it up. But let’s be honest, the second one is not needed truthfully; it’s a want. I’ve carried my EDC knife every single day since I got it a little over a year ago. If you break down the numbers, it’s cost me less than 30 cents a day and as I keep carrying it that monetary number continues to decrease. Now my special occasions knife spends most of its life sitting in the safe because I already have an EDC. It was roughly $45 more but an argument can be made since it doesn’t get used near as often the diminishing return gap is significantly larger than just $45. My EDC knife I’ve carried for approx 400 days straight so far. Will I even carry my dressy knife 400 times over the course of my life? Remains to be seen of course, but odds are no. Thus in my case diminishing returns starts at the second knife.
 
You make a good point Gator, but...well, there's no nice way to say this, you're wrong.;) I really do need a dress knife, a work knife, a Buck 110 (that goes without saying), an Otter Messer, a few knives to keep in the truck, the old Imperial Barlow that I keep in my desk...
 
This is very subjective. If the metrics is confined to geometry, then anything costing more than an Opinel or Mora is past that point. People collect knives for a multiple of reasons. Some people enjoy the feel of certain handle materials over others. The look of the material does it for others. Super performance is yet another dimension for others. Only the owner can set that point they are spending more than they are getting in return. For me, I enjoy light slices knives with comfortable handles. I also prefer fine grained steel you can easily sharpen and shave your face with. 1095, 52100, 14c28n and AUS 8 are my go to steels. Fuzzy Micarta, Stacked leather, Jigged Bone, Reperine C, and FRN are my preferred handles. My preferred price is to trade as few of hours of my life as possible.
 
Don’t really think about diminishing returns in regards to hobbies.......if I like it, can afford it and it will bring me joy......I’ll take it.
I play pool with a $4,000 hand made cue.
I have 3 $2,000 air rifles.
Most days carry a Sebbie or an Advocate for a work knife.
Are they worth it??? To me?? They sure are.
The cue is an extension of my arm and hits like an absolute dream. Been using it constantly for the past 12 years and the bitch looks brand new.
The air rifles will put 10 pellets into a hole smaller than a dime at 50 yards.....again & again.
The knives are solid as a rock and take all the abuse I can throw at them.
 
In order to determine if a return is diminishing you need to setup up some kind of framework in order to quantify the cost and return. The thing is if you can't measure cost and return in the same units then you have to convert to match one to the other. A dollar amount for cost can be compared with the dollar amount for return. A dollar amount for cost cannot be related to time unless you have a conversion rate, i.e. 5$/hour. The problem with knives is that the return can be framed abstractly which makes the conversion rate very subjective and results contentious.
 
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