- Joined
- Jun 23, 2012
- Messages
- 43
I understand that you usually get what you pay for. If you buy a $10 kitchen knife, its not going to be as good as a mostly hand made Shun kitchen knife for $140.
But for $100 or so, you should be able to buy a good quality fixed or folding knife made with good quality steel and good quality components. But there are other so called custom knives that cost $600 - $800- $1000 or more for a fixed or folder. Here's where we may have a disagreement about what is the definition of the word "custom". Just because a company is small, and they make less of a certain standard style of knives than the larger companies do, doesnt mean that their knives are customs. It seems to me that any product that is sold and produced in a set style, regardless of price, it is NOT custom IMO. Custom is when you special order a certain style or you pick certain non-standard options for a product. But I also dont consider something to be "custom" if you are picking from a standard list of options. In other words, when I bought my new truck several years ago, I chose a few options for it like A/C, CD player, sliding rear window, towing package, 4x4, etc. But since I chose those 'options', does that make my truck a "custom" truck. Absolutely not! What I did was choose from a list of standard options. If I had contracted with Dodge to extend my truck bed to 10 feet instead of the usual 8 feet, which is not a regular option, then that would make it custom. If I had them paint on a one-off paint job, then that would be a custom paint job. If I had them paint it with a standard optioned color, then it would not be a custom paint job, right?
So the same holds true for knives, flashlights, guns, etc. If I buy a knife out of a catalog that comes with a pseudo or even real Damascus steel type blade, but that blade is standard for that style knife, then that knife is not a custom. If they didnt make a Damascus blade, but I was wealthy, and I "custom ordered" them to special make a Damascus blade, then that would make it custom.
The reason I bring up the definition of the word custom, is because I see it being thrown around far too loosely and far too often these days, in order to justify charging higher prices for other wise standard products! So over the last few years, I've looked up knives here and there, but I'm not a collector or anything(Yet!). What I see sometimes are knives that are sold by smaller companies for a LOT of money, and they are sometimes called customs, even though the same model is sold to everyone who orders it, meaning that it is a standard style, not custom.
I own some Shun classic kitchen knives. that is one of their their higher end knives. They are made of higher end VG-10 steel, which isnt the absolute best steel, but its up there in the top 5-10% compared with most other kitchen knives on the market from USA and Europe.They are mostly hand made, with some machining as well. They are fairly time consuming in that they must dip them in a different grade of stainless steel like 34 times, then then hand ground to expose those varying layers, making it look Damascus like. They have great wood handles, etc. But they dont cost $600 -$800 - $1000 each. I paid $130 for an 8" chef's knife. Granted I got it for about $40 less than retail.
So why does a fairly small, fairly basic designed folder or fixed blade knife cost $600-$800 or more? I know that top knife steels cost more, but not THAT much more..... Arte they really THAT much better than a good quality $100 knife?
I can see it if the producer is hand forging these knives, and repeatedly folding the steel over and over to get hundreds of layers of steel to give it that final Damascus grain, but most of these expensive knives cant claim that much work, not nearly!
**Note: I am NOT casting any doubts or dispersions on anyone who buys expensive knives, because I have spent lots of money on hobbies and collections. I collect LED flashlights, and I now have about 12 that I've bought just in the last 10 months! I've spent around $900 on them, so I'm not in any way disrespecting anyone or any knife manufacturer who make or collects these things. I've certainly spent money on non-crucial stuff in my life! I'm just interested in figuring out the expense of some of these top knives.......
But for $100 or so, you should be able to buy a good quality fixed or folding knife made with good quality steel and good quality components. But there are other so called custom knives that cost $600 - $800- $1000 or more for a fixed or folder. Here's where we may have a disagreement about what is the definition of the word "custom". Just because a company is small, and they make less of a certain standard style of knives than the larger companies do, doesnt mean that their knives are customs. It seems to me that any product that is sold and produced in a set style, regardless of price, it is NOT custom IMO. Custom is when you special order a certain style or you pick certain non-standard options for a product. But I also dont consider something to be "custom" if you are picking from a standard list of options. In other words, when I bought my new truck several years ago, I chose a few options for it like A/C, CD player, sliding rear window, towing package, 4x4, etc. But since I chose those 'options', does that make my truck a "custom" truck. Absolutely not! What I did was choose from a list of standard options. If I had contracted with Dodge to extend my truck bed to 10 feet instead of the usual 8 feet, which is not a regular option, then that would make it custom. If I had them paint on a one-off paint job, then that would be a custom paint job. If I had them paint it with a standard optioned color, then it would not be a custom paint job, right?
So the same holds true for knives, flashlights, guns, etc. If I buy a knife out of a catalog that comes with a pseudo or even real Damascus steel type blade, but that blade is standard for that style knife, then that knife is not a custom. If they didnt make a Damascus blade, but I was wealthy, and I "custom ordered" them to special make a Damascus blade, then that would make it custom.
The reason I bring up the definition of the word custom, is because I see it being thrown around far too loosely and far too often these days, in order to justify charging higher prices for other wise standard products! So over the last few years, I've looked up knives here and there, but I'm not a collector or anything(Yet!). What I see sometimes are knives that are sold by smaller companies for a LOT of money, and they are sometimes called customs, even though the same model is sold to everyone who orders it, meaning that it is a standard style, not custom.
I own some Shun classic kitchen knives. that is one of their their higher end knives. They are made of higher end VG-10 steel, which isnt the absolute best steel, but its up there in the top 5-10% compared with most other kitchen knives on the market from USA and Europe.They are mostly hand made, with some machining as well. They are fairly time consuming in that they must dip them in a different grade of stainless steel like 34 times, then then hand ground to expose those varying layers, making it look Damascus like. They have great wood handles, etc. But they dont cost $600 -$800 - $1000 each. I paid $130 for an 8" chef's knife. Granted I got it for about $40 less than retail.
So why does a fairly small, fairly basic designed folder or fixed blade knife cost $600-$800 or more? I know that top knife steels cost more, but not THAT much more..... Arte they really THAT much better than a good quality $100 knife?
I can see it if the producer is hand forging these knives, and repeatedly folding the steel over and over to get hundreds of layers of steel to give it that final Damascus grain, but most of these expensive knives cant claim that much work, not nearly!
**Note: I am NOT casting any doubts or dispersions on anyone who buys expensive knives, because I have spent lots of money on hobbies and collections. I collect LED flashlights, and I now have about 12 that I've bought just in the last 10 months! I've spent around $900 on them, so I'm not in any way disrespecting anyone or any knife manufacturer who make or collects these things. I've certainly spent money on non-crucial stuff in my life! I'm just interested in figuring out the expense of some of these top knives.......
