how on earth...

SpartanSaint

SpartanSaint

Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
970
I see tons of threads regarding our knife addictions, and It's nice to see people have the bug worse than I, but it begs to question:
how on earth do you afford them?!

Meaning basically, what do you do for a living? What kinda knives have you got? And what tricks do you pull to stretch your spending money?

I'm 20 years old. I bought my first high end knife last June, a bm 940 in d2 while I was a part time bouncer-- $8 an hour, no tips, 10 hours a week. Man I had to scrape to get that thing but I sure was proud to get it.

Lately I've been working with vulnerable adults in a group home setting full time. And have since gotten a sebenza tanto, tsek m390, bedlam, 53, Paul defender, sharpmaker, hogue which I traded for a ritter grip and a sog thing

What about you guys?
 
haha... I grew up pretty poor myself. My first knives as a kid were mostly $2 kitchen knives I bought at GoodWill, made sheaths for them out of cardboard and duck tape.

You just gotta try to save money in other areas of your life in order to afford the things you really want. For instance, I was always a tight a$$ with my money when it came to alot of things. I don't spend money on cigaretts, I hardly ever eat out, don't buy overpriced alcohol at bars, don't spend $30 every weekend going to movies, don't buy absurdly overpriced cloths..... etc, etc.

I bought my first "expensive" knife when I was 15, I worked all summer detasseling corn (hot nasty job), my parents were broke at the time and could barely afford to keep shoes on my feet..... but I took the money I made and went to the local knife shop and threw down almost $200 on a customized Buckmaster navy seal "survival" knife! My mother wanted to kill me!! But to my blade obsessed mind it was worth every penny.

Basically you just gotta be thrifty and even a little stingy when it comes to some things, so that you can afford other things.

Now I am in my mid thirties, married with kids, My wife and I both work in the electronics production field and gross around $100K a year. Definately not millionaire money, but enough that I can afford a few toys here and there, (I think I own somewhere around 5 or 6 grand in knives/swords). I'm still a stingy tight a$$ about alot of things, but that enables me to spend money on the hobbies I am passionate about, (mostly knives and cars)

....Don't worrie dude, you are young and have plenty of time to amass a welth of un-needed collectable junk! :)
 
Last edited:
I think it comes down to a few things:

* How much your income is (the more the better for knife buying)

* How serious of a knife collector/hobbyist/user a person is (Amazing how much people can scrimp and save for their addiction :D)

* How a person prioritizes where their money goes (ya know, taking your kids college fund and buying that Sebenza...)

Myself, not being especially rich, and having 3 children and a respectable degree of responsibility, I only own low to mid end production knives. Someday I'll be able to afford some nice customs :D
 
I'm also twenty years old and a college student. In recent years I have stopped buying lower priced knives and started buying higher end knives, I usually only get two or three new knives a year. My collection includes CRKs, Striders, a Hinderer and a few customs. The way I am able to pay for my knives is by doing without a lot of things, most noteably a car, I do without a car because it is unnecessary where I live since everything I need is within walking distance and if it's not I can take the train, the thousands of dollars I save by not having a car and the expenses that go along with it allows me to support my addiction.
 
Former poor boy with an electrical engineering degree, married to a former poor girl with an education degree. Through a financial conservative lifestyle and the fact that I am a compulsive saver, along with an MBA which led me to make some wise investment decisions, I am now retired with considerably more money than a refuge from a family of cotton mill hands could reasonably expect to end up with. Honoring one's maker doesn't hurt either. My tithe has been the one single largest item in our budget (which shows real quick that we didn't live extravagantly.)

Never believed in debt. Never bought anything other than a house with borrowed money. Drove cars an average of eleven years. Basically lived a Dave Ramsey lifestyle before anyone ever heard of Dave Ramsey.

Now, if I want a knife or a gun, I buy it. I can buy pretty much anything I want, as long as I don't entertain unreasonable, extravagant wants. My wife takes the position that my knife and gun hobbies are an investment in my continued mental health and well-being.

Of course, what is implied in all of the above and what I have found to be true, is that it is a huge financial advantage to have married the right woman.
 
Of course, what is implied in all of the above and what I have found to be true, is that it is a huge financial advantage to have married the right woman.

Amen to that, brother.
 
How do I afford it? I live cheap. My "house" is a thirty+ year old mobile home that has been paid off for eighteen years. My "new" car is a 1995 model, also paid off for years. All my credit cards were paid off and shredded more than a decade ago. I'm single and have no children, and knives are my entertainment.
 
The nice thing about working for a family business is that the boss tends to be generous :D

I am 23 and finishing up my schooling. Every summer I have worked for my parents and lived at home. Since I don't have to pay for any necessities like food and housing, I can save my money. Once in a while I buy a knife I like or new computer game--over time, the collection grows.

On average, I think I buy a new knife every two months and keep knives for about a year before selling. If I want something, I buy it, not unlike MikeH. The important thing is not to want every fancy new knife that comes out.
 
For me it boils down to saving and having a decent paying job. I used to buy about 1 knife a month when I started collecting, but now that I'm into more expensive knives, it's only 1-2 per year. I actually sold off quite a few knives a couple years ago, which in turn freed up more $ for new knives. We also try to be fair about things like tax refunds, with a bit of "mad money" going to both me and my wife, and the rest toward bills. FWIW, the craze to buy lots of knives did settle down after few years, which also helps. Once you have a few hundred knives just sitting there and not being used, you start to question the sanity of it. :rolleyes:

- Mark
 
Well I'm in my early 40's (only been married for two years) , my wife and I have a combined income into the 6 figures and only a house payment. We buy our cars used, and all our toys (sleds, ATV's) used. Most of my knives, guns and flashlights have been bought by starting out low and trading, selling etc to get up into the higher end items. My tastes go towards customs in knives, and flashlights and I'm just stepping into the custom 1911 market. Now when I was single I was into drag cars and offshore powerboats...so pretty much anything is less expensive than those hobbies.
Take your time, and consider each purchase .. is it really something you want.
 
Interesting thread.:thumbup:
I'm just blessed to have a decent job. It took a lot to get to where I am now, but the struggles were worth it. When I was in college I worked fulltime. While most everyone else was out partying, I was at work. I had my fun, but I kept focused on the long term. Buying, selling, and trading works.
 
I work 2 jobs, also was in an auto accident 4 years ago where I got put into therapy for 8 months...I sued the guy ;) Every time I grip my knifes in hand I have pain elsewhere, but its worth it...:p
 
Chocula said:
The nice thing about working for a family business is that the boss tends to be generous :D

I am 23 and finishing up my schooling. Every summer I have worked for my parents and lived at home. Since I don't have to pay for any necessities like food and housing, I can save my money. Once in a while I buy a knife I like or new computer game--over time, the collection grows.

On average, I think I buy a new knife every two months and keep knives for about a year before selling. If I want something, I buy it, not unlike MikeH. The important thing is not to want every fancy new knife that comes out.
Click to expand...
Similar, though I'm getting a grip on exactly the type of knife I want from ergonomics, handle material, lock type, blade steel, and all the way down to the blade grind.

Plus, knives are essentially my only hobby, I have no car, and I walk to work($10/hr, 40 hrs/wk). It also helps to identify which knives you don't use and sell them off. Also pretty much wear the exact same set of cloths every week(some of which are getting shredded). Oh, and I don't smoke :D.
 
I'm 23, in grad school full time, and I work two jobs to cover rent/bills/food/whatever.

Honestly, I'm able to buy knives because I don't spend my money on other things. I rarely go out to eat, since I cook almost everything I eat from scratch--and this alone saves me huge amounts of money.

Seriously, if a lot of people just sat down at a spreadsheet and looked at their food related expenses, they would probably poo themselves at how much they spend just on food; and, frequently on food that is both less tasty, and less healthy than what a competent cook can make for a third of the cost.

Stop buying espressos/lattes at coffee shops. Learn how to make your own. Stop buying ~$8-10 fast food meals. Stop buying ~$12-18 dinners out. Learn how to make your own meals for $2-4. Hell, I've already had 4 shots of espresso, darjeeling tea, a shrimp and green bean salad, and an omelette burrito today. For dinner I'm going to make vermouth braised chicken with lemon dill couscous and broccoli. All in all I will have spent about ~$12 for food today...

Can you say that you have ever gotten that at a restaurant for $12?

Money like that adds up quick, and after all my other expenses are paid, I can afford to buy a Sebenza every three or so months...
 
I live off my VA compensation for service connected disability. I also make a little bit of fun money modding knives and making leather sheaths. The wife is almost a CPA so together we bring in around $80k. We are 29 and 26. Keep in mind I own 7 knives.
 
I might also mention that I'm left-handed, and I have weird thumbs that bend over 90 degrees backwards. After going through several $120+ knives (Spyderco's, Benchmade's) I finally was able to conceptualize what constitutes a good, ergonomic knife for ME.

The combination of these things makes my list of desirable knives very small. After spending a few years buying a new knife every month or so, I figured out what I like in knives, so now I only buy three or four a year. I've only bought one knife this year, but I have been getting into trading knives recently.

Also, it may very well be useful to pick up a Sebenza/Umnumzaan or something of the like. Everytime I get the hankering for a new knife I pick up my Sebenza and compare them. Very few knives have stood up to that test.
 
I work. In exchange for work, I am given several monies. I use some of these monies to buy sharp things.

Some folks' idea of a good time is to spend tons of money on smokes, booze, gambling, strippers, crazy expensive cellphones, the latest top-of-the-line computer gear, whatever. Instead of spending money on those things, I save it spend it on knives instead. Keep in mind that nearly all of my knives fall well within the $100 range, and my collection has never gone above a dozen blades at one time.
 
I'm an engineer in my late 50's with my kids now in their 20's. I've carried and used knives on a daily basis as tools for ~ 50 years. I went for a number of years buying maybe one knife every couple of years because my children needed stuff.

Since I see them as tools, I'm not into high end fancies. I have a couple that are worth over a hundred, but that's because I bought them decades ago and they have become collectible.

Nowadays I buy a new knife (less than $100) every few months. That's enough to satisfy the itch and still have enough to pay my bills.
 
I make $50,000 yr. Wife makes somewhere around that amount too. 3 boys, college money, health insurance, 6 yrs left to pay on the house. I have too trade other knives for new ones and/or work overtime.
 
I treat knives like I do everything else, if I want something I save up for it.

I pay cash for all my knives when I buy them because I refuse to go into debt for my hobbies.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top