Do you buy cheap knives anymore?

I really enjoy my CRKT folding razel. The serrations are great, and the edge has yet to dull. You can find one online for $50 no problem. I got mine on eBay for half that.
 
I like to look at the expensive knives, just for the ooohs and ahhhs. but, when practicality (for me) sets in I fon't go over the $50 mark. I use my blades and most are edc/personal protection knives that don't sit in storage...I try and have them all in edc rotation. my martial arts instructor (ptk & barako knife) once told me that the more expensive a blade is, the more the koolness factor dies down. and that the best/koolest blades are those quality/useful knives you can find for a good low price. since then I have rarely sprung over $45 for a knife.
 
i wouldn't say a $50 knife is cheap, and I think the spirit of collecting knives is to collect the design, not the material. since almost all knife makers can use a better material to make the price higher, but it's hard to get a better design that makes ppl buy it.
 
Seems like I still will spend under $50 on a SAK that I like, and recently I've bought a few nice Spyderco's in that price range. But I'm a convert to the theory that you get what you pay for. Such as a Sebenza, Hinderer, ZT, etc. I have a few of those as well.
 
My small collection of knives is about 150 pieces, near half are customs, Microtech, Striders, Sebbies and so on. But I still buy cheap knives like Byrd Cara-Cara 'cause I like to have a tool for what I will not care. I prefer to use cheap knives for EDC.
 
Chinikaylo said:
now I think a knife is of poor quality in some way if its below $50. Am I being unreasonable?
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Yes.

There are many knives under $50 (and even under $20) that are good quality, capable of lasting for decades of normal use.

Chinikaylo said:
Do you buy knives that are around or under $50?
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Yep, quite regularly. I recently bought several and I'm sure I'll buy more.

Chinikaylo said:
Are there any particular examples of good knives for around this price?
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Yes, hundreds at least.

I have recently bought:
Mora Bushcraft Triflex ($20)
Mora HighQ Allround Carbon ($10)
Mora HighQ Allround Stainless ($11)
Victorinox Ranger ($25 shipped)
Victorinox Trekker ($25 shipped)
Victorinox Farmer ($25 shipped)
Victorinox Cadet ($15 shipped)

I also own and love my Ontario RAT-1 locking folder ($26)
and I have 4 Opinel folders. (dearest was ~$13)

I would also buy Condor machetes which by all reports are great even though they are often under $20.

I hate junk knives and junk anything else for that matter, I don't like to waste my money on crappy products. But while most cheap knives are junk, not all cheap knives are junk.

A Sebenza might be quite a lot tougher than a carbon steel Opinel, but I know which one I would put my money on as being the better slicer. And for real hard use I would rate a $20 Condor machete as the tougher knife compared with a Sebenza. Of course I am not going to carry a Condor machete in my pocket, I'm just saying that for particular tasks you can often find a great knife at a great price.

Sargent 666 said:
I fully understand having a nice knife, bike or car but it doesn't mean that inexpensive and cheap are the same thing.
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And anyone that doesn't think it is possible to buy a Toyota under $5000 and then run up over 100,000 miles of driving over a few years without spending bugger all more than routine maintenance costs - well they just don't know much about how reliable cheap cars can be.

With my expensive (over $50) knives I didn't spend much either. My BK-7 & BK-9 cost about $70 each and they are plenty tough enough to handle 'hard use' knife tasks. MY ESEE Lite Machete cost under $60 for the knife, under $80 including sheath - that's for 18" blade & micarta scales. My HI Ganga Ram is my dearest knife at $95 - that's a 15" hand made knife that came with a scabbard, chakma & karda.

In summary:
I like cheap, I like value, I don't like junk.
Cheap & crappy? no thanks.
Cheap but good - ooooh, nice, value for my dollar.
 
I'm kind of glad I have never been able to afford an expensive knife. I read all of the reviews, look at all of the pictures and think how nice it would be to own a Sebenza etc...

Then I look at the knives in my edc rotation. They all work perfectly fine. They're all sharp. Most were bought used. They make me happy. I've never even held a $200 or $300 knife so I, thankfully, don't even know what I'm missing.

God bless anyone in a position to buy the knife of their dreams or simply their first choice.

I'm just glad there are knives available to all levels of quality and affordability.

In the mean time, I'll continue to read the reviews, look at the pictures and wonder "what if" while I sharpen the knives I do own.

What a great country.
 
I like to think that I avoid purchasing expensive knives versus buying cheap knives. The most expensive knife I've bought is a Benchmade Kulgera, and I still only plaid $100 for that.

I think that there's an emphasis on price and material when talking about the value of knives with a lot of people here on the forums. I'm the same way with some things honestly; I mean I have my certain price match I have to meet to buy liquor, but I even bend that on occasion to try one out.

Personally I like to buy knives with good craftsmanship for decent prices, because I tend to like that balance of characteristics more. I mean, premium materials are one thing, but if I can find a slipjoint congress with very nice fit and finish that's only 440 for $13, why shouldn't I buy it exactly? To me spending $100+ on some of the 1095 congress patterns I've seen is the more risky, questionable venture and the more likely to leave me disappointed.

I think that $300 is about the most that I would ever spend on a knife, and even that would have to be like a special present to myself kind of thing. I regularly check out knives on the $50-$100 scale, and sometimes I'll look in the bottom ranges like $10-$20 just for deals. As far as the $20-$40 range, those seem to be the knives with the least amount of craftsmanship:price ratio going for them.
 
I buy less than $50 knives all the time, mostly from Victorinox. I like super steels as much as the next guy, but for EDC I found that design often trumps material. The blade is not the most used tool in my EDC line up, so wear resistance is not nearly as important as the form factor (size, opening mechanism, locking mechanism, edge type, etc.). Besides, I kinda enjoy sharpening my knives anyway.

I recently bought a $22 (shipping included) Victorinox Sentinel because I have a use for the front serration, it's a one-hand opener, and it doesn't look very tactical.
 
I only consider value and if I like it. Like many others, if I like it and it suits the need I would consider any brand or price tag. Good materials and comfort are the most important thing, they don't have to be exotic just functional. I would not own any knife for long if it did not have a usefulness. No safe queens here. I use anything from a $5 Opy to a $300 custom fixed blade and they all serve a purpose.
 
All my knives are under $50, some of my favorites are
-Spyderco Delica
-Kershaw leek
-Opinel #8
-various SAKs
 
I think the most I have ever paid for a knife is just shy of $500. That was my tacticool phase (~1995-2002 or so -- lots of Striders, Chris Reeves, Microtechs, and the like). Since then, I've come "full-circle" and I now carry mostly slip-joints and moras. Some of them are still custom/semi-custom, but my most recent purchases have been a few newish Frost/Mora fixed blades (~$30 each)...though I did "splurge" on a S90V/CF Para2...

YMMV -- but for me, I find I am doing more (and am happier) with less. Once you get over thinking about how cool a particular knife is, or about your knife functions as a status symbol (so you can chest-pound about owning it on the forums), you will focus again on just how they cut/work and realize that many overlooked knives are more than up to the challenge. Perhaps the biggest thing I have done in recent years is to turn away from thick blades (a.k.a. "sharpened pry-pars") and re-embraced thin slicers...
 
I've tapere off too and ony have one expensive knife now - I chose the Hinderer XM-18 over a Sebenza for my expensive knife. I'm out of collecting for good. I'll only buy one if I really need to have it and :

My Folders:

XM-18 3.5" flipper Gen. 3
Benchmade 710
Benchmade 940
Spyderco Military G-10 plain edge
Spyderco Endura 4 G-10 FFG steel lined
Spyderco Centofante 3
Cold Steel Recon 1
Cold Steel Large Voyager Clip
Cold Steel Large Voyager Tanto
Kerhsaw Leek SS Framelock - (really love this little S30V assisted opener)
2 Sanrenumu 710's (one for office mail - the other for living room cutting jobs)

I sold a boatload of folders and thinned out the herd in 2010 - now all of my folders get pocket time and that feels good... ;)

I have more knives than I'll ever need and that feels good too. The addiction has finally been broken! :D
 
I don't think of myself as cheap - I shop for value. The most expensive knife I own is a mini-Grip that I paid $62.00 for. I bought a Blur blem for $38.00 which turned out not being a blem at all. And, I recently bought two Buck Vantage Pros (large) for $20.00 each at the Bass Pro outlet. I'll also catch clearance stuff once in a while. It makes the hunt much more fun and if I lose a $20.00-$30.00 knife I will not feel as bad as I would if I lost a $400.00 knife.
 
In folders I think edge holding and fit and finish are the most important qualities. While a tenacious has good fit and finish because of the edge holding I wouldn't find it very useful. My most used edcs are my paramilitary, m4 milli, m390 710, cts-xhp manix2, and zdp-189 delica for work. I tried using a bm vex for work for awhile but found its edge holding frustrating for bigger jobs, and while it locks up well and was built very well the edge holding just put it in the drawer when compared to my other folders. This is also the reason while I really like the F/F and design of the Umnumzaan, I probably won't get one. If it was made with S90V, it would be at the top of my list. I find the best for my use are in the $100-$220 dollar range, I find I don't use/buy $50 knives when I have better (IMO) knives already available to me. (Why drive a Honda Civic when you have a Bentley and Lamborgini in the garage?)
 
Of course... I picked up a couple Boker Magnum folders recently... Very nice knives for cheap. Like, fast food cheap.

The Great Knight is actually a very nice knife for the price...

I am saving up for another ER though. They have me hooked :)
 
I usually purchase below $100 but have been known to fly up to $600. My latest and greatest are the Spyderco Gayle Bradley in M4 and a couple of the ZDP-189 Walker designs.
Cheap knives are still sometimes worth it, like some of the Sanrenmu (710, 939 in particular) knives - but generally I avoid them unless it's a cool knife I can gift (i.e. Kershaw) or a good beater (Byrd and the Spyderco Tenacious, etc).

Functionality-wise, I think you get diminishing returns once you hit the $60-$100 range and above.
Sebenza, customs and such is more about the perceived quality (lower tolerances) and/or uniqueness in manufacture/design/etc. So currently I don't really see anything I really want other than maybe a CRK Insingo, Large Sebbie 21, or maybe a Mnandi in the $300+ price range.
 
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