Have you ever been looked down upon regarding knives by those who have no clue?

My friend's brother, who's a few years younger than me, was watching me skin a squirrel with my Izula 2, and he commented on how bad my knife was. He and somebody else were talking about how awesome Gerbers are and how much better they are than other knives. I was carrying my Izula 2 and Mini Grip (The usual pair) and i couldn't stop thinking how stupid they sound to a knife nut. They are into firearms and know more about that than i do, but when it comes to knives, I got em beat. I just laughed it off and continued skinning squirrels, trying not to say anything too blade snobby haha.
 
NikkiR said:
All the time. I'm a blonde haired blue eyed woman in my 20's. I was at a gun show and had a man proceed to tell me what the legal carry length was....wrong. What the laws on auto's were, wrong again....and then try to sell me some cheap, un HT knife. Usually I take these comments with grace and shrug it off....but this man was extra prickish. So I quoted some penal code, showed him my ZT, and was on my way.
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We need more of you in CA
 
NikkiR said:
All the time. I'm a blonde haired blue eyed woman in my 20's. I was at a gun show and had a man proceed to tell me what the legal carry length was....wrong. What the laws on auto's were, wrong again....and then try to sell me some cheap, un HT knife. Usually I take these comments with grace and shrug it off....but this man was extra prickish. So I quoted some penal code, showed him my ZT, and was on my way.
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I wish I had a dollar for every time someone has tried to incorrectly educate me on Rhode Island's knife laws. What amazes me most was that a cop once quoted the law to me incorrectly, going with the absurd "three finger" rule (because a state would really have something that ambiguous on the books) in regards to my Burnley Kwaiken. As for people that I have met that were semi-interested in knives, I don't bother trying to explain to them the merits of knives more expensive than S&W garbage.
 
NikkiR said:
All the time. I'm a blonde haired blue eyed woman in my 20's. I was at a gun show and had a man proceed to tell me what the legal carry length was....wrong. What the laws on auto's were, wrong again....and then try to sell me some cheap, un HT knife. Usually I take these comments with grace and shrug it off....but this man was extra prickish. So I quoted some penal code, showed him my ZT, and was on my way.
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You need to talk to my girlfriend, convince her that knives are for girls too...
 
I used to hang in a gun show from time to time, and all I can say is, it's filled with the largest concentration of bitter, know it all, underachievers I have ever laid eyes on. I actually "hung" out with these guys after shows and such...I have never met a group of folks that actually hated the group of people they wanted to profit from more. I think they made aluminum siding guys look like angles.
The worst "looked down on" moment for me, was almost 2 years ago, at a Flea Market in New Hampshire. The wife and I loved going there, and having a ball. I set up at least 2 or 3 times a summer, just as an excuse to spend half a day there...anyways, I have a HI Kukri on the table, and a young man, who recently watched "deadliest warrior" on TV asks me about it. I explain the basics, made in Nepal, spring steel, yada yada yada....
He thanks me, and an old man standing next to him, tells him I am "full of crap" and that all Kukri's are from India, just like the Gurkha Warriors..all from India. They walk down the lane of tables chatting away, about how I don't know my butt from a hole in the wall.
Oh well. I thought about trying to set them straight, but what could I do other than use the damn Kukri to fix them up a bit...I mean really, some folks are just to dumb to actually deal with.
I have guys at work that know I am a knife nut actually brag that they don't need a knife and never carry one, and I ask, do you ever ask to borrow one, they always think a second, then smirk and say, well sure I do....WTH is this world coming to anyways.
 
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I've had both good and bad. I haven't been to a lot of shows, but the bad have been pretty much at gun shows. You can tell which people will hassle or try to scam you just by looks/disposition/products most of the time. Pretty similar to above stories. Also had a lady get straight mad at me when I explained to my girlfriend that dual six inch blades on the same end of a folding knife serves no real purpose.

On the other hand, I've met some extremely friendly and knowledgeable people at a couple shows too. Also, everyone I work with carries a knife, but none carry high end knives. By high end, I mean more than twenty bucks. Still, they all are interested in and like all the different knives I use at work (especially my boss). I think people who actually use their knives and aren't trying to turn a deal naturally tend to recognize a quality tool.
 
NateReed said:
Coworker: My knife cuts circles around yours!. Pulls out crappy Smith and Wesson with serration and tries to cut cardboard.
Me: Pull out ZT 550 and cut up an entire box in front of his eyes
Coworker: Well, I need to sharpen mine...
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Not recently, but I've had that happen in the past. People claiming their knife is better because of some "feature" like black teflon making it cut better or other such crap.
I've had the reverse happen as well. Back before I joined Bladeforums my knife was some Kershaw linerlock with rubber inserts (don't remember name/model). Not a great knife, and it didn't hold an edge long, but I could get sharp enough to shave by freehanding with the ceramic sticks I pulled from one of those horrible X shaped sharpeners. At that time I was interested in getting a "real" knife, so whenever I saw a customer with a knife clip, I'd ask them about it. One guy showed me his knife which I later ID'd from memory as a Benchmade or Emerson CQC-7 (thumb disc, no Wave), and naturally bragged about it and how expensive it was and blah blah blah. The knife was duller than the first hour of "The Deer Hunter". Not just dull, but badly damaged. I told him he needed to sharpen it, and he just said that he can send it in for that. Numerous other times I've handled other people's Benchmades/Spydercos/Kershaws, etc that were so dull that they shouldn't technically be called knives.

So, no, it's been a while since anybody's looked "down" on me for the knife I was carrying, but plenty have looked at me sideways when I tell them how much they cost.
 
I was on a construction job site. Saw a fellow with a pocket clip.
He pulled out his Smith and Wesson tactical whatever and told me how it was so much better than my Spyderco Tasman Salt
I didn't even bother to try and correct him, those types are beyond learning.
 
HwangJino said:
Funny when knifenuts never heard of ZT or sebenza.

'Brah, its all about crkt'. No offense to crkt owners just a lot of kids think crkt is cream of the crop.
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A lot of kids think that? Really? Around here, if you're not at least fairly seriously interested in knives, you will never even have HEARD of CRKT. You don't find them at Walmart, you don't find them at Academy, you don't find them at any of the gun shops I frequent, you certainly don't find them at gas stations...the only way to get one is to find it online, you sure won't be finding them in stores. Gerber and SOG are really easy to find, Bucks are fairly common(esp the 110), Kershaw has some presence(and ZT, but only at gun shops), but CRKT is non-existent here, certainly not what the kids think is cream of the crop.
 
Nope, it hasn't happened yet as far as I can recall.


Seems to me it's a pretty rude thing for to suddenly tell a stranger how much "better" their knife is, or how bad the other person's knife is.
 
Nope I've never had anything like that happen, but I have had people try to"educate"me, but they're always full of it. Then they asked what I carried. I pulled out my Kershaw tilt, and then they left me alone. :)
 
My normal EDC is a sheath knife, and a custom, and it's pretty (well it is). So people usually don't have much for me after:

"What kind is it?"

"It's a Koster"

"I've never heard of that company"

"He lives in Arkansas."

"Oh."
 
Its usually the people with the crappy knives that think they have gods gift to blades, most of my friends have the crappest tacticool frost cutlery crap and try to tell me how long they hold an edge and how i got ripped off paying 40$ for a tenacious..
And one time i was at a gun/knife show here in montgomery and this one booth had a bunch of low end pistols i noticed he had a knife with a 600$ price tag, i didn't recognize it so i asked about it , he proceeded to tell me it was made by someone in the bin laden raid and might even had been used in it and that it was made from 400 series stainless. I just handed it back and walked away. It was some drop point push button auto with like a quarter inch of blade play and no markings. It could've been a old custom in a state of disrepair with a bs story but i doubt it....
 
Nimick said:
My normal EDC is a sheath knife, and a custom, and it's pretty (well it is). So people usually don't have much for me after:

"What kind is it?"

"It's a Koster"

"I've never heard of that company"

"He lives in Arkansas."

"Oh."
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Are you saying your folding knife is a custom Koster? Or just the fixed blade?
 
All the time..... ;)

Usually in reference of some cheap carbon steel knife that can do what XXXX high wear resistance steel can do or beat it....

The steel doesn't matter, that cheap carbon steel knife will beat it... :rolleyes:

I don't respond, not worth the time and effort and let them have their fantasy.... :rolleyes:
 
Maybe it is a regional thing. I see a lot more snobbery here than I ever have at a gun show, and I have been to hundreds. My town is a blue collar town and if anything, is probably more cosmopolitan than it has ever been right now.

Folks here appreciate nice toys, great craftsmanship, fine products and such, but most really appreciate things that work.

I have personally drawn the snorts of derision on this forum by saying that I prefer stainless over carbon blades these days on my work knives. Oddly, there are many in one particular forum here that SWEAR they have never seen a carbon steel knife rust unless it was neglected and abused. Conclusion being it was my fault. Probably, but after carrying work knives in the trades now for 40 plus years, I feel like I am entitled to my opinion without too much criticism or scoffing...

I see folks that dismiss other guy's knife purchases by telling them they bought the wrong knife.

I see folks that when asked a specific question about a couple of knives that work in their budget, received outrageous suggestions. "I am trying to decide between a Buck 110 and a Bob Dozier folder from Kabar. Can anyone help me?" "Sure, save your money and buy a Sebbie and forget about it."

I bought a Cold Steel American Lawman a month ago based on a recommendation by a knife maker here on the forum. It is a great knife. Not the best I own, but a real serviceable work and camp knife. But bring it up, and you get little on the knife (except the steel snobs that think CS is using the wrong steel) but a whole lot on the owner that folks can't wait to slam. The knife maker that suggested I try one was concerned enough about the uproar that our correspondence was done off line after I contacted him.

What I find outside of here is more about ignorance of a subject more than anything. This is a forum of knife devotees, collectors and true fans. All seem to have their preference and they wear their feelings on their favorite brand on their sleeves.

I am not that sensitive, nor do I have the time or will I make the effort to concern myself with the opinion of someone I don't know. When I run into ignorance of a subject, I usually just move on. Everyone has their area of expertise, and I don't expect everyone to have the same interests, or amount of information on a subject that I do.

Walking away with a smile on your face is a mighty fine way to handle the folks that offend you.

Robert
 
What?!?!!? A vendor at a gun show who know more than you do?!?!?!? Say it ain't so!!!!!! ;)


Sorry, but I just found it funny. I also found the "cheap Chinese ones" comment ironic considering he was selling you a undocumented Filipino blade forged during the Viet Nam War at a high price. He might as well said: "I don't have and knives to sell you unless I can take you for all you're worth."
 
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