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

It's funny, i often say i am going to use my expensive ones then grimace at the thought. I use them, but I sometimes don't abuse them.

Then last friday I come into the shop and the staff is laying contact paper on the shelves to try and dress up some rust spots. My brother is there helping them, and I head to my office. I hear them chatter and fuss with getting the paper to stick straight, then I hear a "snick" then a "snack" then some rustling as they set the next piece. Then a "snick" a cut and a "snack". I head out there and my brother is using the Ultratech I gave him to cut contact paper to fit the shelves. At first I was like, "Wh...why?" and then I realized that the knife was doing exactly what it was supposed to do. The job was getting done, and it was seeing more action in the that one day than it did riding in my pocket off and on for 3 years.

Its fine to use a knife.

I have forced myself to use mine more. I don't own any safe queens, but I will admit to grabbing a cheapy before I wail on a knife that is clearly designed to be used hard but cost $500.
 
My daily carry equals a paycheck after benefits and taxes deducted. I carry. I collect. I use.

I have beater, cheaper knives too.
They are ones that might equal half a paycheck, but their QC sucks, so I don't carry them as EDC.

[I don't gift, return or sell knives with horrible QC. They represent expensive lessons that I never forget!]
 
Quiet said:
I have plenty of knives I don't carry because I just like owning them, and honestly, I have hundreds more knives than I'll ever need for the rest of my life so it's no big deal. I am not a minimalist. Also, as a member of the Laptop Class, my cutting needs on a daily basis tend to be few. Hell, many of my knives were bought simply because I liked them and wanted to own them, not because I necessarily needed a new cutting tool.

That said, if I have a dirty cutting job, no, no I'm not using an expensive knife when a cheaper Cold Steel or Opinel will break down those boxes, and my nice stuff doesn't get scratched up.
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I agree with everything this guy said. Well put , Quiet 👍
 
As usual, I'm in the distinct minority in threads like this.

I carry a very small # of the knives in my collection, just 3-4, which average around $200 in price which is in the average range for the roughly 375 knives in my collection, and I do not use any of the knives that I carry to do anything more than open an envelope or cut off a thread

On the other hand, I own many other knives, most of which are quite cheap & most of which are kitchen knives, box cutters & SAKs that I have no problem using.

I find no conflict in this dichotomy. 🤷
 
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Everything gets used. I have a couple of knives that are really special to me that I keep for special occasions. Most days find a spyderco sprint, CRK, or Spartan in my pocket.
With that said, If I know I have a day of laying on concrete under a car or really rough use I tend to go with the Endura or Hinderer that I use as beaters.
The others can handle it but why grind my Umnum between my 265lbs and the concrete if it doesn't have to.
 
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I'll add an addendum. I have a few that don't get carried anymore. I don't like traditional knives and have a big Case lockback I carried in middle school and high school until I got first one hand opening knife. My late father gave it to me. I have another Case an old friend gave me for my 40th birthday.

I have an Alan Davis custom I carried when I first got it (off the exchange) but the clip doesn't have very good retention so it never leaves the house. When I'm spending the day inside it gets carried and used, but otherwise it sits.

The last one I did carry for a while, but after losing it briefly it made it my only safe queen. It's a Matt Bailey model 2 flipper my mother gave me. I was in the hospital, incoherent, but the page for it was still open on my phone, she saw that when she visited me. It means a lot as though I was admiring it online I had no way to afford it.
 
If it's in my EDC then it gets carried ED. I don't have real expensive knives in my rotation but I have some Spyderco sprints and exclusives that to replace some of them would be over $200. If I know I'm going to be doing something especially dirty with the knife then I will carry a knife I have for that purpose.
 
I don’t have any EDC knives. The “E” in EDC is “everyday” and I rotate through my knives. No knife comes close to everyday unless I put a time limit like “Last month I carried the same knife every day.” I do have several non-knife items that are carried daily with no rotation.

To sort of answer the OP’s question: I do have some knives that I ended up not using due to the insane increase in the secondary market value . It felt like I was throwing money away. However, a handful of those get used as well.
 
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