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Expensive knives aka safe queens?
- Thread starter maverick3981
- Start date
It's an individual "thing". i have lots of knives of all sizes from China, av. cost about $12. they are good and fun users and most are attractive/solidly made too.
i also have customs(FBs & Folders) that cost in the $500 range. i use them; they are fun to use too.
i have a few customs in the $1000 range. So Far, i haven't used any of these.
i don't think price matters as much as "are ya havin' fun ?"
Knifers love almost any well made knife. if your enjoyment is looking at and fondling it; FINE !; that's how you get enjoyment from your knives.
if using brings you satisfaction and enjoyment; that's fine too.
as long as you enjoy playing with knives, who cares about price. the "market place" has lots of good knives from $10 to ~ $20,000+, so enjoy whatever you can afford and care to spend. the 'low end' pricewise, is so low, anybody can play. it's not a competition.
roland
i also have customs(FBs & Folders) that cost in the $500 range. i use them; they are fun to use too.
i have a few customs in the $1000 range. So Far, i haven't used any of these.
i don't think price matters as much as "are ya havin' fun ?"
Knifers love almost any well made knife. if your enjoyment is looking at and fondling it; FINE !; that's how you get enjoyment from your knives.
if using brings you satisfaction and enjoyment; that's fine too.
as long as you enjoy playing with knives, who cares about price. the "market place" has lots of good knives from $10 to ~ $20,000+, so enjoy whatever you can afford and care to spend. the 'low end' pricewise, is so low, anybody can play. it's not a competition.
roland
I only have one knife over $100 that I haven't used yet...because I've lacked opportunity.
Now, that's not to say what kind of use they'll get. My knives are lightly used, so I don't mind carrying the expensive ones, but I'd use them even for medium duty. If I need heavy duty, I grab a beater.
Now, that's not to say what kind of use they'll get. My knives are lightly used, so I don't mind carrying the expensive ones, but I'd use them even for medium duty. If I need heavy duty, I grab a beater.
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Its not that I can't replace it, its I'm 15 with no job, so a 30-40 dollar knife is rather expensive in my eyes and if I lose it or scratch it up >.< im not going to be happy.
BlazenGem
Gold Member
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hey im similar age as you but whats life without enjoyment?
You could always find some great deals or do trades based on value till you trade or make your way up.
The knives I own (I'll say there are about 60) range in value from about $10 to about $1000. The majority of them would be valued between $300 and $500 each.
The ones I carry and use regularly mostly fall into that 3-5 category. Really, what I carry most are Sebenzas and smaller Busses, so maybe that bumps it down to 2.5-5.
Value is kind of a funny thing. I'm looking at it as what any given knife would go for here, on USN, TF, etc. in a WTS add. What someone else like me would be reasonably willing to pay for the knife.
Value has basically nothing to do with my likelihood of using a knife. Most of my knives are bought with the idea they at least could be users, so there really aren't any queens in the true sense - no $10,000 art projects. I have a mint FFBM that I've never gotten around to beating on, and now I kind of like it clean. Maybe the best example would be my MT's. I have a Brend CT3 that was purchased as kind of a letter opener - it lives primarily in storage. But its not a terribly valuable knife, at least not fiscally.
Then there are a few $20-ish knives I've been given as gifts. I guess the bug has just never bit to carry them.
I expect it would cost 8 or 9 hundred to replace my Pack Rat with one in comparable condition, but I carry and use that it was meant to be used.
Perhaps ironically, Im reluctant to carry my 110, because Ive had it for about 30 years and its got a fairly high sentimental value but its one of my el-cheapos in terms of replacement value.
Guess I dont get the thing with people being reluctant to use $200 pocket knives. I mean, what do you typically spend on a vacation with the wife and kids? Hell what do you spend on a date? Even if the date is just $50 (cheese-ball) it only takes 8.5 of those to offset my Large Regular Sebenza. I can say for certain Id rather have the knife than the dates. Good Lord, the thing will stick with me forever, stays sharp, never talks back, comes out to play on command and its not getting fat.
I can definitely understand someone thinking that $400 is too much to spend on a pocketknife, but buying one and being afraid to use it is just pathetic.
Also, as is the case with cars, guns, watches, houses and a host of other stuff, what a given person spends on knives is not simply a function of his income. Some people have to work pretty hard for a $400 knife. Some people buy them like toilet paper. In my mind, the greatest potential expense associated with a $400 carry knife would be the cost of buying it and then *not* carrying it.
The ones I carry and use regularly mostly fall into that 3-5 category. Really, what I carry most are Sebenzas and smaller Busses, so maybe that bumps it down to 2.5-5.
Value is kind of a funny thing. I'm looking at it as what any given knife would go for here, on USN, TF, etc. in a WTS add. What someone else like me would be reasonably willing to pay for the knife.
Value has basically nothing to do with my likelihood of using a knife. Most of my knives are bought with the idea they at least could be users, so there really aren't any queens in the true sense - no $10,000 art projects. I have a mint FFBM that I've never gotten around to beating on, and now I kind of like it clean. Maybe the best example would be my MT's. I have a Brend CT3 that was purchased as kind of a letter opener - it lives primarily in storage. But its not a terribly valuable knife, at least not fiscally.
Then there are a few $20-ish knives I've been given as gifts. I guess the bug has just never bit to carry them.
I expect it would cost 8 or 9 hundred to replace my Pack Rat with one in comparable condition, but I carry and use that it was meant to be used.
Perhaps ironically, Im reluctant to carry my 110, because Ive had it for about 30 years and its got a fairly high sentimental value but its one of my el-cheapos in terms of replacement value.
Guess I dont get the thing with people being reluctant to use $200 pocket knives. I mean, what do you typically spend on a vacation with the wife and kids? Hell what do you spend on a date? Even if the date is just $50 (cheese-ball) it only takes 8.5 of those to offset my Large Regular Sebenza. I can say for certain Id rather have the knife than the dates. Good Lord, the thing will stick with me forever, stays sharp, never talks back, comes out to play on command and its not getting fat.
I can definitely understand someone thinking that $400 is too much to spend on a pocketknife, but buying one and being afraid to use it is just pathetic.
Also, as is the case with cars, guns, watches, houses and a host of other stuff, what a given person spends on knives is not simply a function of his income. Some people have to work pretty hard for a $400 knife. Some people buy them like toilet paper. In my mind, the greatest potential expense associated with a $400 carry knife would be the cost of buying it and then *not* carrying it.
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This one is no safe queen as many others in my EDC rotations.
Original Picture before HARD USE
Gotta love them Case CV Soddie Jrs
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OK, post number three in this thread... I guess I can give "real" answer now
I agree with rprocter and tsiloics 100%
I also find it hard to not carry nice knives. I could not let a Spyderco, Sebenza, Strider, Hinderer... Ect... Sit in my knife display. It's not a problem for me to take a $800 Damascus Sebenza and pull it through the fattest thickest cardboard box I can find. Not made of money, but I consider this knife thing a hobby. Hobbies cost money, as little or as much as you want.
This goes from fishing, to drag racing... and all in between.
I get the same pumped feeling when a new Spydie is in the mailbox Vs a Hinderer XM. I love using them all. My fun comes from "use," watching the knife age, learning the steel, sharpening, learningthe designs (to choil or not to choil... G-10 Vs Ti vs Micarta). Ect.
Stick around here a while and I think you will see there are a TON of $400-$900 in use everyday here. Some on the job cutting open a bag of cement if needed, some prying paint cans open if need, some being beat on just for fun. (check out th Busse forum
)
I agree with rprocter and tsiloics 100%
I also find it hard to not carry nice knives. I could not let a Spyderco, Sebenza, Strider, Hinderer... Ect... Sit in my knife display. It's not a problem for me to take a $800 Damascus Sebenza and pull it through the fattest thickest cardboard box I can find. Not made of money, but I consider this knife thing a hobby. Hobbies cost money, as little or as much as you want.
This goes from fishing, to drag racing... and all in between.
I get the same pumped feeling when a new Spydie is in the mailbox Vs a Hinderer XM. I love using them all. My fun comes from "use," watching the knife age, learning the steel, sharpening, learningthe designs (to choil or not to choil... G-10 Vs Ti vs Micarta). Ect.
Stick around here a while and I think you will see there are a TON of $400-$900 in use everyday here. Some on the job cutting open a bag of cement if needed, some prying paint cans open if need, some being beat on just for fun. (check out th Busse forum
)
...my sentiments exactly...i do give exception to those TRUE collectors of knifes who pay top $$$ for knifes as works of art...i understand art investments...
stabman
Gold Member
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ME!
I feel like a retard if I spend $400 on a knife and then DON'T use it.
Why spend the cash if you ain't gonna use it?
Friggin people buy the latest greatest "tactical" or "hard use" knife, and then they just open envelopes with it and cut air. Annoys me for some reason.
I'm not going to use my Umnumzaan to dig out tree roots, but I'll cut fiberglass with it, and stuff like that(breaking down boxes, etc.).
OK, post number three in this thread... I guess I can give "real" answer now
I agree with rprocter and tsiloics 100%
I also find it hard to not carry nice knives. I could not let a Spyderco, Sebenza, Strider, Hinderer... Ect... Sit in my knife display. It's not a problem for me to take a $800 Damascus Sebenza and pull it through the fattest thickest cardboard box I can find. Not made of money, but I consider this knife thing a hobby. Hobbies cost money, as little or as much as you want.
This goes from fishing, to drag racing... and all in between.
I get the same pumped feeling when a new Spydie is in the mailbox Vs a Hinderer XM. I love using them all. My fun comes from "use," watching the knife age, learning the steel, sharpening, learningthe designs (to choil or not to choil... G-10 Vs Ti vs Micarta). Ect.
Stick around here a while and I think you will see there are a TON of $400-$900 in use everyday here. Some on the job cutting open a bag of cement if needed, some prying paint cans open if need, some being beat on just for fun. (check out th Busse forum
Take the drag racing example. Even if youre just crapping around with a little recreational bracket racing, thats one set of tires, some other wear parts, a few tools, some travel and fuel 2 or 3 grand a season, easily. Thats in the neighborhood of 7 Sebenzas right there.
Looking at it from the other direction, lets say you carry the Sebenza, and just use it as Chris intended not beating it through pipes, but also not babying it like a fool. So you make 5 cuts per day, and then you cycle it an additional 5 times, for a total of 10 cutlery events per day. My oldest Sebenza is about 10, so that would be a potential total of 10 x 356 x 10 = 36,500 CE. Lets assume some rotation time and round down to an even 30K. Hell, lets assume heavy rotation and air travel, and round down to 20K. So $305/20K = about 1.5 cents per CE and Im still just getting to know the knife. Ask me about a set of race tires I recycled 10 years ago.
Like most people on here, I am definitely not anything like wealthy just a middle class white boy with a wife and no kids. As a matter of fact, we both quit our jobs last year to start a new business, so its been fun waking up for the past 13 months or so, wondering if were still going to own our house the next week. Point being, my entire recreation budget for the past year has been $75. 50 bucks for one tire swap at the shop, and a $25 pair of running shoes when the local sporting goods place went under. Hasnt affected my predilection to carry my knives in the slightest.
Lets say I own a total of 25K in knives. Thats about enough to pay our domestic bills for 4 months. What good is it going to do to sell them? I can take these knives to the grave or I can continue to live at home for a whopping 4.5 months? Please.
If one can afford to screw around on the Innerweb, one can afford a $200 EDC, and if thats *all* one can afford in terms of knives, I respectfully submit that carrying it is probably ones best bet for economical recreation.
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My Crusader Forge VF-01, that I am constantly whoring
Paid plenty for it when I couldn't really afford it, and have been punishing it ever since:
Paid plenty for it when I couldn't really afford it, and have been punishing it ever since:
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i use my " good " knives for work. " nice " knives for weekend, holiday, going out to eat.....etc. does that make sense ?
I have maybe 10 "nicer" knives and all but 2 are >100. I have a S90V military and a 1st edition large Manix that I paid $175 each for. I have ~$120 into a ZDP 189 E4 that I sent to Tom Krein. BM 943 was ~$130. Every last one of them gets used plenty. No abuse, but those knives have to perform at a fairly high level. All of them do and a few dents and scratches don't bother me a bit.
It all depends on what you are willing to spend on what you want. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that hundreds of people spend more than $175 on partying every single weekend of their lives. Good for them, they are getting what they want. I drop $500 on serious work boots, that will last for years, well, I got what I want. I get a $175 pig-sticker and carve up whatever needs it, I got what I want.
Guy who buys a $30 Buck 110 @ Wallyworld and cuts everthing I cut, good for him too, he got what he wanted.
It all depends on what you are willing to spend on what you want. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that hundreds of people spend more than $175 on partying every single weekend of their lives. Good for them, they are getting what they want. I drop $500 on serious work boots, that will last for years, well, I got what I want. I get a $175 pig-sticker and carve up whatever needs it, I got what I want.
Guy who buys a $30 Buck 110 @ Wallyworld and cuts everthing I cut, good for him too, he got what he wanted.
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Just for fun
This knife was not a week old (got it brand new from CRK) when a quick repair had to be made on the side of the highway. Had to pry/lift a turbo hose back onto the return pipe, and retighten a hose clamp. Damn near broke the Vic Rambler using it longways to tighten the clamp.
The Large Micarta 21 got a little dirty, when I got home later a little dish soap and a relube and she was as good as new :thumbup:
This knife was not a week old (got it brand new from CRK) when a quick repair had to be made on the side of the highway. Had to pry/lift a turbo hose back onto the return pipe, and retighten a hose clamp. Damn near broke the Vic Rambler using it longways to tighten the clamp.
The Large Micarta 21 got a little dirty, when I got home later a little dish soap and a relube and she was as good as new :thumbup:
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