Do your Expensive EDC’s stay at home? Or do you carry less expensive EDC’s?

I really love well made budget knives, and having worked in gritty environments loaded with abrasives and gunks, I just kind of inherently understand the value of matching up your tool set to your intended activity and place of use.

I definitely take care not to bring knives that are aesthetically exquisite to places I know will damage their finish or where I'd have to do serious calculus to figure out if I should use it at all.

I wouldn't say I don't use them, but let's be real, wouldn't you prefer a basic stainless clip to take a series of scratches and a gouge or two over a nicely anodized titanium one? Would you prefer to repair an inexpensive blade or something with a ton of wear resistance after finding a staple in a questionable strap?
 
droddy386 said:
OK - getting more specific - If you had a >$3,000 NO Shirogorov $800-1500 YES, would you carry it and use it to cut things up YES, regrind it Sharpen- or would you just bring it to gun shows to flip it off?

[pry with it NO, take the risk of hitting a staple in a box YES, dropping it on concrete NO, can't get it repaired in the country YES, etc. other concerns?]
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See inside quote
 
Rotate through various EDCs from ~$50 to ~$500. Live in MA but end up in RI a lot, which has a 3" limit. So if I'm going to RI, or anywhere in MA that I have any concerns about, I carry the $50 3" folder since it won't hurt too much to lose or get confiscated.
 
Bike Doc said:
Hi all. Bike Doc here.
I was wondering who leaves their expensive knives home and carry alternatives? I am impressed with some $60 well made knives I’m not afraid to use.
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First of all: Any knife that regularly stays at home is not an EDC. Whatever you put into your pocket every time you put on your pants is an EDC. Otherwise, it is a closet queen.

However much it costs, if it is with you every day, it is your EDC.

When shopping for an active duty Marine about to "surge" into Iraq in 2004, I bought him both a Randall #16-1, Special Fighter and a Chris reeve Green Beret. Not fully informed by my own experience (none), I made choices based on reputation alone. Price was a secondry considertion. In-country, one or the other of them lived strapped to his plate carrier or on a drop-leg rig for weeks at a time whenever his platoon was outside the wire.
 
VorpelSword said:
First of all: Any knife that regularly stays at home is not an EDC. Whatever you put into your pocket every time you put on your pants is an EDC. Otherwise, it is a closet queen.

However much it costs, if it is with you every day, it is your EDC.

When shopping for an active duty Marine about to "surge" into Iraq in 2004, I bought him both a Randall #16-1, Special Fighter and a Chris reeve Green Beret. Not fully informed by my own experience (none), I made choices based on reputation alone. Price was a secondry considertion. In-country, one or the other of them lived strapped to his plate carrier or on a drop-leg rig for weeks at a time whenever his platoon was outside the wire.
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Partially agree, but there are more categories than EDC and "Closet queen". We can have users that don't leave the house, or users that don't go to work, but don't sit in a closet or a safe...
 
VorpelSword said:
First of all: Any knife that regularly stays at home is not an EDC. Whatever you put into your pocket every time you put on your pants is an EDC. Otherwise, it is a closet queen.

However much it costs, if it is with you every day, it is your EDC.

When shopping for an active duty Marine about to "surge" into Iraq in 2004, I bought him both a Randall #16-1, Special Fighter and a Chris reeve Green Beret. Not fully informed by my own experience (none), I made choices based on reputation alone. Price was a secondry considertion. In-country, one or the other of them lived strapped to his plate carrier or on a drop-leg rig for weeks at a time whenever his platoon was outside the wire.
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Siigghhhh (fumbles for the bottle) Take a shot, everyone.
 
Great thread, it took me over a year of fiddling with a Small Sebenza at home until I finally got the nerve to carry it and that changed my whole world of carrying “expensive” knives from then on.

My actual EDC history and progression

8-12 years old - SAKs, Case
12-23 - cheap Chinese knives, SAKs, gas station knives
23-35 - Benchmade, SOG, Kershaw, and cheap Chinese knives and gas station knives
35-38 - Benchmade, Spyderco, ZT, Kizer, SOG
39-40 - CRK!!!, Benchmade, Spyderco, WE, ABW, Kizer (cheap Chinese knives again)
41 - CRK, Hinderer, Spyderco, Rockstead, TRM, Quiet Carry
42 - Sham, CRK, JG Scout, Shiro, Rosie, Rockstead, Microtech, Koenig, TRM, Grimsmo Rask, Hinderer
43 - Sham, Rosie, CRK, Shiro, Grimsmo Rask

Sham is my #1 EDC now for almost a year, it’s kicked almost all other knives out of my pocket as my daily choice and it’s got some serious competition. It’s that damn good in my opinion for my EDC needs and preferences. Large CRK Inkosi is my #2.
 
John Phillips said:
Great thread, it took me over a year of fiddling with a Small Sebenza at home until I finally got the nerve to carry it and that changed my whole world of carrying “expensive” knives from then on.

My actual EDC history and progression

8-12 years old - SAKs, Case
12-23 - cheap Chinese knives, SAKs, gas station knives
23-35 - Benchmade, SOG, Kershaw, and cheap Chinese knives and gas station knives
35-38 - Benchmade, Spyderco, ZT, Kizer, SOG
39-40 - CRK!!!, Benchmade, Spyderco, WE, ABW, Kizer (cheap Chinese knives again)
41 - CRK, Hinderer, Spyderco, Rockstead, TRM, Quiet Carry
42 - Sham, CRK, JG Scout, Shiro, Rosie, Rockstead, Microtech, Koenig, TRM, Grimsmo Rask, Hinderer
43 - Sham, Rosie, CRK, Shiro, Grimsmo Rask

Sham is my #1 EDC now for almost a year, it’s kicked almost all other knives out of my pocket as my daily choice and it’s got some serious competition. It’s that damn good in my opinion for my EDC needs and preferences. Large CRK Inkosi is my #2.
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Great progression. Tells us all where to go to cut to the chase. ;)
 
I carry good ones that I could care less if they get scratched up... personally I love ZT's and it would be a rare day I didn't have a ZT if I leave the house. Now, the first time I paid $220 for a ZT 0452CF I didn't want to scratch it up I am sure, but nowadays those are my GO-TO utility knives... not beaters, but they are not custom slip joints or something irreplaceable. If I want to dig in the dirt I will use a MORA or a shovel.

Chinese liner locks are not good enough for me to EDC, but it is personal preference.
 
I'm having a little difficulty with the subject line. If "expensive EDC's stay at home", doesn't that take them out of the EDC category entirely? I'm assuming that EDC means "every day carry."
 
Choctaw Dan said:
I'm having a little difficulty with the subject line. If "expensive EDC's stay at home", doesn't that take them out of the EDC category entirely? I'm assuming that EDC means "every day carry."
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No no you are entirely correct. Knives that stay home get rubbed with cloth diapers. They are not in fact EDC.
 
Bike Doc said:
Hi all. Bike Doc here.
I was wondering who leaves their expensive knives home and carry alternatives? I am impressed with some $60 well made knives I’m not afraid to use.
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If you aren't carrying it every day, how is it an "every day carry"?

My two EDC knives are a Victorinox Rambler and a Gerber Harsey AirFrame First Production Run Fine Edge, the same combination I've carried every day for about 20 years. Before the AirFrame, my EDC was a Gerber International Harsey Air Ranger, which cost I think about $35 new, some 25 years ago, when they came out? The modern version is the Spartan Blades Talos, which costs about $100, now.

Considering the fact that the modern equivalent to the Gerber Harsey AirFrame is the Spartan Harsey Folder, I'd say that the AirFrame qualifies as an "expensive knife". The Spartan versions are a bit higher spec, of course, being 20 years newer, but the design is largely the same, except with a frame lock instead of a liner lock. The Air Ranger is still in production, but where the original version was Made in Taiwan ROC with AUS8 steel and machined 6061-T6 aluminium scales, the current version is made in mainland PRC with G10 scales and pot metal blades. Probably OK for a nephew's or niece's first knife, but beyond that, I wouldn't bother.

I think, IIRC, that I paid about $150 for my two AirFrames, secondhand but in like new condition, via eBay about 20 years ago. The other one is the "1 of 1000" limited edition with the aluminium scales, and I only carry that one for dress-up, because it's much lighter than the titanium one I EDC, and if I need to clip it under a cocktail dress, it doesn't weigh my lingerie down so much. The Rambler will go in a formal evening clutch without taking up too much room.
 
As far as I can remember, every daily-carry knife I've ever had was inexpensive. Were I to go out to the garage and look, I'd find a mixture of Kershaw, Gerber, SAK, MIL-K, Leatherman, and others. I paid no more than $100 or so for any of them; most were considerably less than that. (This does NOT always apply to knives I depended on in the outdoors, e.g. my Gerber BMF and original LMF.)

For the past several years my EDC has been an orange Leatherman Juice S2. It has performed every task I asked of it, and it fits neatly into the watch pocket of my jeans. They're out of production now, so any decent examples are likely to be quite pricey. IIRC I bought it at an REI store for less than $100.

As I posted earlier, an old proverb reminds us that "Better is the enemy of Good Enough."
 
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