High end knives ruin the rest?

G

Gideons

Gold Member
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Dec 9, 2015
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1,517
Hey BF,

For a long time I have been on the fence about purchasing a XM-18. I currently love the knives I own. A ZT 0560BW, ZT 0566BW, ZT 0630ORBLK and ZT 0350TS. These knives I would consider like the high end mass production knives... and I'm wonder once you take that next step... does it ruin the knives you use to love? In the future will it make all other knives seem subpar and thus ruin them?

-Gideons
 
Nope. They all have their place. Nothing is ruined, but if a person really, actually pays attention to detail they might realize that CRK is still king of the high enders.
 
No. I went from CRK back to my Manix 2 :D. Saved $300 and like it more, go figure. :thumbup:
 
No for me also.
Each one I have is special in some way. And I carry, & use, all of them.
Joe
 
Over the years I have sold most of my nice production knives to buy nicer stuff.
I still buy nice production knives occasionally. If I had more money I would have kept them all.:D
 
Not unless the new high end knife you buy is a superior tool and the previous one is of poor quality. Such is usually not the case with me. No Chris Reeve knife is going to make me hate an SAK or a custom puukko make me hate a Mora. All these are good knives. And some high end knives are really not any better at all than their more affordable brethren.

Zieg
 
Pffft no. Try the opposite! I have a few knives that are very rare and irreplaceable, and because of that I can't bring myself to beat on them. So I find myself carrying and trashing my less expensive (and easily replaceable) knives far more often.
 
I find that the mid end of production ruins the high end knives to me. Once the "better" more expensive knife shows up I struggle to find where the extra money went. The value point for me is consistently in the $100-$300 range. No matter what I've tried I end up back in that mid-range production price point for the knives that get carried.
 
What everybody else said so far. I enjoy my cheapies just as much as my higher end ones. Victorinox is a good example. I know people who only collect customs and still have vic or two in there.
 
Moxy said:
Pffft no. Try the opposite! I have a few knives that are very rare and irreplaceable, and because of that I can't bring myself to beat on them. So I find myself carrying and trashing my less expensive (and easily replaceable) knives far more often.
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Exactly how I feel about the 0560BW, primarily because ever since the knife was cancelled I liked the knife so much I don't want to damage it lol. Which kinda ruins the point of the knife... since I don't want to use it or hard use it... ironic.
 
Gideons said:
Exactly how I feel about the 0560BW, primarily because ever since the knife was cancelled I liked the knife so much I don't want to damage it lol. Which kinda ruins the point of the knife... since I don't want to use it or hard use it... ironic.
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If you can somehow force yourself to use it though its definalty worth it. My main edc now is a orange/dlc pm2 sprint, and it feels great to use whatever knife you own with no strings attached.
I used to be like that with discontinued, sprint, LE's, etc.
I keep telling myself that life is only so long, and there's alot of knives out there to try :)
 
Not for me.
I prefer my Spydiechef over Umnumzaan, which I still love as much as PM2 and Boker Exskelibur I.


Miso
 
Gideons said:
Hey BF,

For a long time I have been on the fence about purchasing a XM-18. I currently love the knives I own. A ZT 0560BW, ZT 0566BW, ZT 0630ORBLK and ZT 0350TS. These knives I would consider like the high end mass production knives... and I'm wonder once you take that next step... does it ruin the knives you use to love? In the future will it make all other knives seem subpar and thus ruin them?

-Gideons
Click to expand...

Don't fall for the marketing hype. There is a purpose for every tool and often simple and basic works best.

n2s
 
Going up in price has raised the bar for which knives I'll tend to carry, but it hasn't impacted the price to the extent that the OP is probably thinking about. When I first joined BF, I would have been perfectly happy with a $25-$40 knife, but I wouldn't have liked a <$10 knife outside of a used SAK or Opinel. I've bought knives in the ~$1200 range and now I'll tend not to carry knives that cost less than ~$90. This has less to do with going up to $1200 and more with the noticeable increase in quality once you get to the $90-$150 mark. I've sold off many of the knives in the higher end that I've owned and now my more expensive EDC folders that I carry regularly cost between ~$200-$250. I also just placed an order for a $1400 folder, but I highly doubt that will prevent me from really liking my current EDC rotation.
 
Personally for me, it did. Not going to CRK or Hinderer though... Once I stepped into CKF, Reate, Shirogorov and Begg Knives... I couldn't go back.
 
I enjoy all of my knives, regardless of their cost. It really depends on my mood and what I feel like carrying. For instance, today I've got a Microtech Scarab Executive in my pocket but for the last few days I've been using an Opinel #8 and enjoying it very much.

I guess it's a very personal thing.
 
I haven't crossed the $1000 barrier yet, but have 4 Shiros, 6 CRKs, a couple Hinderers, and a few others within that range. None of those stop be from buying and using less expensive knives. The more expensive models have perhaps raised the bar for price and quality at the bottom end to the $150 and up range, but I buy Benchmades, Spydies, ZTs and others on the Exchange for less if I can get them in nice condition.

I have only one true safe queen, a perfect large 21 bocote Sebenza, which cost about a third of my Shiro F95T, which was bought new and is a user. My gateway knife was a Tenacious and I have three of those, two in harder-to-find colors that I don't use to keep nice. I can't say I like those any less than knives that cost 20-30 times more.

Fit & finish and quality of materials, design, and construction are essential for me in any knife, but are available across a broad spectrum of price and makers.
 
Only knives the good stuff has ruined for, me is the ultra cheap junk knives. If a knife is built solid, has steel I can get sharp, I'll use it.
 
Look at some of Chistensen Knifeworks stuff and tell me again what high end is!!! Wow! That ruins it all!!
 
Nope, from me, as well.
While I haven't stepped up to Shiro level, I have CRK, Hinderer, and Strider...all of which I have used and carried, and now find themselves packaged with the other knives I really don't carry all that much. (I keep about 6 modern folders out & available; but it's generally the same two or three that get carried.) Every once in a while, I'll decide to put a few of the extras away & pull out some different ones; and I might even pocket them for a couple days...but then the big 3 reclaim their places, and the others sit until I put them away again. Reading this, common sense tells me I should sell about 20 modern folders (leaving myself some variety for when it is wanted/needed); but they're mine, and I like having them. Besides, why put myself in the position of having to replace them out of regret?
 
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