How often do you see 'higher end' knives out in public (other than in your own pocket)?

Nameless Gas Station Knives: Everywhere
Budget Brands (Kershaw, CRKT, Buck, etc): Frequently
Knife Brands (Spyderco, Benchmade, ZT, etc): Uncommon
High End Knives (Emerson, Microtech, CRK, etc): Very Rare
Custom Knives: The White Whale

When at Blade Show the first group becomes a White Whale with Budget brands being less frequent and everything above becoming more common by at least twice as much.

 

My girlfriend's step father pulled out an old spyderco endura from the 80's from his pocket. I said 'nice knife'. He said 'Thanks, I think its called a Spyderco' lol

 

never unfortunately. One time I went to the local knife store (really big store) and one of the employees which happened to be the manager asked me "is that a shirogorov?" and it lit my face!!! I was smiling ear to ear and proceeded to show it to him

 

The closest to a high end knife I’ve ever seen outside of my pocket is a tiger stripe Zero Tolerance carried by our wood shop technician. Our Print Services technician carries a Spyderco, but that doesn’t count because I gave it to her as a gift.

 

That's a hard nope for me as well.

 

Often I see customs whether one of mine or somebody else's. However, I live in a world where custom/handmade abounds, saddles, bits, spurs, leggings, tack etc. So seeing a custom knife isn't that unusual. It's fun as a maker to go someplace and see somebody ya don't know wearing one of your knives. Did a thread a while back on it. Kind of fun if cowboy stuff interests you:

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/tour-of-horsewright-knives-at-the-pro-am.1528947/

 

Where I work (in IT) a lot of the guys carry something. Cold steel, Spyderco, Kershaw, CRKT, and Benchmade. Also, our head of security carries an M4 Benchmade Contego but he used to be in the FBI and is probably 55 years old.

Outside of work, I've not seen much, other than at the gun range I go to. One of those guys carries an XM-24, another carries a Benchmade Rift, and one carries a ZT 0566 in CF. We all BS about guns and knives when I go to the range so I've gotten to know the guys and they are a good group of dudes.

 

I actually had to liberate pocket knives and concealed carry pistols temporally as an armed guard working in the courts.It was interesting to see what people that did edc carried. Lots of Gas Station stuff. Very seldom was there anything we'd consider high end. Never have once seen a CRK or Hinderer in the wild including all the Leos of any flavor.It was mostly Buck,Case and lots of SAK's . The occasional Spyderco or Benchmade I'd enconter would most likely be active duty military. Leos high end that even had one would be mostly Gerber or CRKT fare. I'm working for another agency now and overhead two Leos just yesterday evening discussing one of them delivering a baby when the Mom was injured in an accident . He had no knife to remove clothing and borrowed nail clippers from someone on scene.

 

I've only seen a Sebenza out in the wild and it was before I knew what a Sebenza was.
The owner of the knife told me it was a "Sebenza" I remembered the name when i joined the forum back in 04.

 

I see Spydercos and Benchmades fairly frequently. Highest end I've ever seen was a guy carrying a Microtech while I was shopping for wedding bands. By far I see gas station knives the most.

 

I've never seen anyone in my part of SoCal carrying anything we as Knife Knuts would consider high end / custom.
The most exciting blade sighting I've had this year was a Spyderco PM2 in CF sitting on my phone system contractor's desk.

 

Unfortunately never. I met a guy one time who said he had an Endura but he was scared to carry it because it was too nice.

I’ve had a couple of guys see my knife and say,
“Wow, you have a Benchmade, those are nice”

But that’s about it.

 

Rarely BUT was impressed when my local plumbing guy had a Strider in his pocket... And yes - he is a Blade forums member

 

Only at work. There is one guy here who is knife nut. (Mostly Spyderco, several Buck, Kershaw, ZT, and one microtech). He has gotten a few coworkers to get 1-2 spyderco's.

Another guy is friends with a custom maker and has sold a bunch of custom fixed blades at the plant.

I've never seen anything higher end outside of that. Tons of guys carry knives around here, they just aren't very nice.

 

Loads of people here have Leatherman's that they got when going into the army. Quite a few SAK's. Never seen anything particularly better than that though. Was in a camping store today. The knife cabinet was straight out of tacti-silly world.

 

I was in QT the other day. Standing in line -I noticed there was a Pirate on this guys pocket clip. I said, “If that is an Emerson I will buy your coffee.” He smiled and said, “It is a Sheepdog and thank you!”. It was a beat to hell, well used Emerson. That is the first and only above average knife I have ever seen “in the wild”.

 

Never. Occasional Gerber or Kershaw clipped to a pocket, and some Buck 110s and Leatherman's on the belts of guys "in the trades" but that's really it.

I'm nuts. It's the only thing that keeps me from going crazy.

 

I recently moved, and noticed my realtor carried a ZT.

 

Never see anything above Buck or Old Timer/Uncle Henry in a belt sheath.
I also see a few multitools of some sort in a belt pouch. (Probably an "off brand" from Lowe's, Home Depot, Auto Parts Store, or Big Box, since most(?) Leatherman's have a clip, and not a pouch.)

I very rarely see a pocket clip. As for what the clipped knife is? I don't know. I can't ID a knife from the clip.
The OHO knives I see in the stores are "No Names", CRKT, Ontario, and Spyderco.

 

Not so many actually....
SAKs are commun, but otherwise I have only seen a benchmade, a spyderco, a kershaw and an extrema ratio.
Recently a CRKT....

I think the only high end kife I have seen over the last couple of years was a Bastinelli.