Andrew.
That is not a big deal and nothing to be concerned about. There have been times in my life when I would not want to be spending 30 bucks on a knife.
Enjoy what you are comfortable with. As soon as you stretch expenses to purchase a knife, even if it is a traditional one
you can pretty much count on that decision not being a good one. To be honest I get more enjoyment from the friends that have come about from what is a hobby to me than the knives.
I am in a position now where I am able to buy a nice knife now and then, but some of my favorites still are ones given to me by my dad and friends. When it is time to think about more expensive knives, you will know it and even if that time never arrives you are only missing out on a thing. Trust me the people in your life and your future are more important.
This is perhaps the most eloquent explanation I've ever heard, and put so beautifully.
It's true, the people in your life are so much more precious than things. I had a nice collection of Randall's, Ralph Bone, Don Hastings, and other custom knife makers of the 60's. When I was young and single I had great disposable income. Then I met this cute little gal on a pistol range. Over the next few years I learned about everything in life I didn't know. This tiny little person arrived, then another, and a third one after that. My knife collection days came to an end, and I wrapped up my knives and stored them away. I stored them because they had for a while actually lost my interest. My time and income went to raising these little people, and it was a fascinating trip. My family became my entire world, and reason for being. When the time came, I introduced my kids to camping, and hiking, and the outdoors. When they were old enough, I unwrapped the collection and they handled them, and it was fun to see who reacted to which ones. Only one child took to knives in the same way I had been. The others were 'meh'. My oldest boy turned out to be a SAK fan, and my daughter is a borderline SAK person.
When I did my great downsize, I gave them all a chance to have anything they wanted. They told me to go and sell the custom collection and take a second honeymoon trip with Karen. So I sold off all the expensive customs I had collected before I had met Karen, and I didn't miss any of them. They had long ceased to have any importance to me, because my wife and kids had far surpassed my interest in knives. Or guns. The knives that did have special meaning to me was the run of the mill knives of moderate cost I had accumulated as a family man. When my grown daughter Jessica saw the yellow sodbuster I used to carry, she got misty eyed over the memory of the two of us sitting in the woods on a camping trip, and I making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while sung the 'banana knife' as she called it when she was a little girl. I gave it to her. My youngest son, Matt, was not interested at all in the custom fixed blades, but cherishes the boy scout knife I gave him when he joined the scouts.
So there you have it, some of the best knives you have may well be the moderate to low priced ones because of the memories you build into it with your family. Your kids may never appreciate the GEC that you collect and never use, but that Case jackknife that you make them the perfect hot dog stick with will become a family treasure. Don't feel like you have to have an expensive knife, after all, the knife will become what you make of it with the people that really matter in your life.
Carl.
