High end pocket knives

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RICHARD BYARS

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Sep 26, 2016
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If someone was willing to give you 700 to 1000 $'s that could only be spent on one knife...... after thanking them, what would you buy.
 
I would go peruse whatever was available from Arno Bernard or CRK until something really caught my eye.
 
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A thousand Dollars for a folder?

There are plenty of high quality usable knives from premium makers fore less than a grand. I would have a hard time using a thousand dollar knife the way I do my EDC or any other user in my knife box.

Pocket knives? I really don't know if I'd want a thousand dollar pocket knife. It would be easy to get to a grand with one of the gentleman's gems from William Henry knives, but they are too small for my liking. Perhaps a CRK Sebenza converted to automatic. Might bump the upper limit there. Maybe one of the Darrel Ralph Madd Max folding daggers. I'd prefer one of the originals, but a current production automatic would be nice (but not an EDC).

And so, at $1,000 I would be looking for fixed blade that is a closet-queen. . . .one that I would expect to appreciate in value. That price point is a little low for an investment quality knife, but that would be my first thought.

I am not sure about this, so research would be necessary. . . .I am thinking Randall Made might be one option. One could option the heck out of one of their offerings, pay for it and wait out the 4-5 year delivery time (is it six long years now?). The result would be a factory sealed, "New in Box, MINT" knife that has never seen the light of day, never handled etc with factory edge . . .you get the picture.

That is one thought. Another path might be looking for one of the discontinued Cheis Reeve one-piece knives. They seem to hold value, but $1K might not be enough.

A custom knife would be another way to go. Again, research on who to engage and what is trendy vs what is a lasting value in collectable world would be in order. I have never gone this way and so don't really have a good handle on it.

But there are plenty of high quality knives for daily carry and daily use that come in at well below the kilo-dollar price point, so an attempt at investing would be my way to spend thousand USD in a knife.
 
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If it’s gonna be a user, I’d look for a CRK Inkosi with micarta inlays. Whatever blade shape you like.
 
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I guess that I had a busy year in 2025 (moved). I did not buy a single knife until after Christmas. Since Christmas I bought a Sharp By Design Apex Flipper with Damasteel because I wanted something in my collection with Damasteel. I also bought a Koenig Mini Arius. I plan on buying a Spartan Harsey when I find the one I want at a price I like. The issue is I also want something in my collection that is upper tier quality. I have looked at the following knives, but really can't make up my mind. I have some nice knives, but the Koenig mini Arius is the most expensive I have so far.

Machinewise Senora
Herman Knives Sting or Slim
Hog House Model T gen 2
Arno Bernard imamba with exotic handles
 
Some of the options that come to mind;

Chris Reeve Large 21 with a unique graphic and a Devin Thomas Damascus blade. One of the greatest folders ever made (CRK 21s) and it will more than likely go up in value over time which is a bonus.

CRK Wilson Combat Inkosi(but those might be well over $1,000 now)

If they want something subtle and simple but still top tier folder, Shiro F3 plain full Ti or really any other Shiro at the $1000 price point would work.

A2 knives out of South Africa makes one of the smoothest flippers I’ve ever experienced, I picked up their A11 model at Bladeshow for $900 and still cannot believe the quality, fit, execution and the action is possibly the best I’ve ever experienced.

Any Rockstead with their Mirror finished DLC blade. The mirrored DLC blade is polished so perfectly, it’s hard to describe until you see it in person.

Shamwari knives are outstanding have a come back down in pricing. Another top action in the entire knife world and carry friendly.

Hinderer BPU Eclipse
 
Lors of great knives in that area
Love my Pena mula
Just bought a Gareth Bull Shamwari that is excellent
Never can go wrong with a Sebenza, and for that you could get one of the older discontinued models
And so on
 
Differences in opinion are what make the world go around. When it comes to the relative desirability of pocket knives, everyone's opinion has validity.

With that said, I respectfully question that a CRK folder bought today will exceed the MSRP of the same or similar CRK knives in the foreseeable future.

That Magnicut is their go-to steel in 2025 does not preclude the introduction of a better performing steel in the future . . even .at a higher relative price point. It is my opinion that folks will be willing to buy the newer wonder blade over the the then "vintage", pre-owned knife with the "old" steel. CRK
is making and selling as many of their folders as that can consistent with maintaining their high standard of crafstmanship.

With al these knives already in the hands of CRK aficionados (myself included) , I just do not see a "vintage" knife selling for anything higher than a current model unless there is a significant problem with the new production . . .not like with CRK.

When the one-piece line was discontinued, the resale price of existing specimens skyrocketed. This was because the known universe of that line of knives had become finite over night. If the line had been continued, but in a different steel, that would not have been the case, as folks wanting a one-piece hollow handled knife would have flocked to the newer, higher performing steel.

We can see this in other premium knife makers too. To be sure, there are Randall Made knives that have some special provenance that makes them an investment, but for an in-catalog knife in regular production, any vintage knife on the re-sale market will not exceed the current MSRP for that model with the same options.
 
Kody Eutsler: DUK or DUKling
SPK: Lamia
Prince Customs: Protean
OZ: Roosevlet
Hawk Knife Designs: Talon
Holt: Pick your poison
Skiff: Pick your poison.
HMC: Transient 3.2 or 2.9
Rockstead: Pick your poison
Brown Knives: Mini FSD or FSD-I
Blaurock Blades: BRB4 or BRB4XL
REK Knives: PM3 reblade or Shaman rebalde
Bull Knives: Shamwari

Others too, but that is a good start.
 
BP Green said:
I find that for me knives in the $300 - $500 region hit the sweet spot more so than at 1k. So that’s actually not a bad way to go. But that’s not what he asked for.
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Ok, I should have added the Demko Seax if you have to spend more. I think a lot comes down to what lock you like best.
 
There's a funny thing related to the aesthetics of expensive knives that effects how I feel about them.

Averaged over years, I mostly carry three CRKs - a small Insingo Sebenza, a large drop point Sebenza and a large Insingo Inkosi. I have other expensive folders, but mostly consider them art pieces and don't carry them. They have that "too nice to use" feel. I've avoided buying knives like that the last few years - as much as I like them, they're money sinks that sit in a box.

The Hawk Talon I got this year is an exception. It is the most expensive knife I've regularly carried, I love it, and it doesn't feel "too nice" at all, somehow.

A big part of it is the feel of the ornamentation - at the same time I marvel at gorgeous fine detail work on, say, a Skiff folder, I think about how it would look with a dent after dropping it. Somehow a Sebenza seems to get more attractive with wear, while highly worked, "classy" knives seem to demand being left on display. There might be some class thing going on there too - high-labor ornamentation just seems incompatible with some of the things I do to knives, it has that "lighting cigars with $100 bills" feel.

Or at least this is how it works in my head; I'm not claiming it makes logical sense.
 
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