I know you've had this happen~ Knife Etiquette struggles - My short story

[barrabas74]

I get your point about the cost of the guys toolbox and tools, but to him that is his livelihood and he see's the value every single day through years of use and knowing what works. I am sure you can appreciate he isn't there on a knife level. I used to think my Winchester Featherweight was all I needed, then I found Cooper arms....well its kind of the same with Busse and other high end knives. Most of us wont see the value everyday through "use" like a mechanic does with his tools. Its all about perspective. We see the value in the times we use the tool and appreciate how well it performs and looks/feels and find value in enjoyment for our purposes. I hope this makes sense.

 

[Murman]

I'm spoiled I guess. I bought a Randall 18 for cost of $275 new off ebay when I was 19 (1999). Prepping for Y2K lol. So I've always had expensive knives.

That said, in a TEOTWAWKI situation no more quality steel will be produced, so it behooves one to have at least one good knife. In the less extreme, there could come a time through injury, disability or job loss where one can no longer afford high end knives, so again it's worth having at least one to keep for yourself.

Typically when people balk at the cost of gear (I hear the same about rifles, optics, ect - Like guys who will spend thousands on a hunt but won't pony up an extra hundred for a good scope and miss that big buck. ) I ask them how much they spend on things like life, health, auto, and home insurance. For most of us it's over a couple grand a year easily. Then I ask, if that stuff makes sense to you, doesn't it make sense to spend $500 on the off chance that there will come a day that you will need a knife to perform, no excuses? I think if you look at hurricanes, fires, mudslides, ect there's a decent likelihood that no matter where you are it could happen. Wouldn't you hate to be found dead trapped in your basement with a broken Gerber? Just think of it as another form of insurance.

 

[Murman]

however I do ensure my own clumsiness and buy cheap knives for the tackle box. more than one have ended up in the drink.

 

[Ladams19]

I have an old SOG from Desert Storm part I and it is a decent blade. Still got it somewhere, never really carried it. It was too big but looked cool at the time. Honestly we mostly carried Cold Steel or Gerber in LRSU. After a time I mostly just carried a Leatherman for the tools to use with my como equipment and serrated edge Spyderco for cutting myself loose from a tree or if the ghilli gets stuck on something and they do all the time. When you look like a bush you tend to catch as much as a bush does. You tend to lose blades and anything else not firmly attached, so I am not too aware of anyone spending much on a EDC blade. Unless you were kicking in doors you really did not carry a long blade, it was just extra weight to hump around. I did not kick in doors, we were the pukes off a click doing overwatch. In LRSU (LRRP for you older guys), we were designed to travel light, silent, and fast, if the weight was not needed it was not taken, we observed and reported intel. You would always know the new guy from a mile away with that big knife attached to his web gear lol. That big blade starts getting heavy after about 10 to 15 miles out lol.

 

[Ryker]

I remember when $100 for a knife seemed outrageous—we all have to start from somewhere, I guess.

The first time I spent over $100 was on a Benchmade for $140. A few years later I was carrying it at work and a customer noticed and said "Is that a Benchmade?" Proudly, I replied, "Yes". He said "And you carry that here!?" I casually said "Yeah, that's what I bought it for." He kind of grimaced, shook his head and went on about his business. I'm sure he was surprised I would carry it there because of the risk of loss. Anyway, fast forward 13 years. I wonder what he would think of the Peter Rassenti SNAFU I carried out to dinner last night? It's all about perspective.

A guy told me he had a 100 knife collection a while back, so I told him I'd like to see em. He said he'd bring them the next day, so I brought a few Busses to show him. When I saw him the next day he explained he had 100 $5 knives he had bought on a TV infomercial and started telling me how great they were and how I needed to buy one at cost. I thought to myself these knives are all crap, but I didn't say anything and pulled out a Tank Buster to show him. He looked at it, asked me how much it cost. I told him, then he proceeded to tell me I was a lunitic. I'd had enough by then so I held one of his knives down on a work bench with a piece of wood and chopped it into multiple pieces. Then I handed him $5 and left. I guess we were both right.

Probably not good knife etiquette, but I felt way better after.

LOL! I wouldn't have had the balls to do that but I love it, hilarious.

 

[Ladams19]

A guy told me he had a 100 knife collection a while back, so I told him I'd like to see em. He said he'd bring them the next day, so I brought a few Busses to show him. When I saw him the next day he explained he had 100 $5 knives he had bought on a TV infomercial and started telling me how great they were and how I needed to buy one at cost. I thought to myself these knives are all crap, but I didn't say anything and pulled out a Tank Buster to show him. He looked at it, asked me how much it cost. I told him, then he proceeded to tell me I was a lunitic. I'd had enough by then so I held one of his knives down on a work bench with a piece of wood and chopped it into multiple pieces. Then I handed him $5 and left. I guess we were both right.

Probably not good knife etiquette, but I felt way better after.

Oh the look on his face must have been priceless. I doubt it even marred the finish on a Busse lol.

 

[tuica]

Good way to handle that situation. Baby Steps? Yep. Started with the LMF2. Still have it and like it. Then an RMD for $125. Three years later, the floodgates have been opened (for awhile). Thankfully none have my friends have advised that I seek psychological help when I show them the SH1 for which I paid a sum higher than their mortgage payment.

 

[bubbaskyjacker]

I'm spoiled I guess. I bought a Randall 18 for cost of $275 new off ebay when I was 19 (1999). Prepping for Y2K lol. So I've always had expensive knives.

That said, in a TEOTWAWKI situation no more quality steel will be produced, so it behooves one to have at least one good knife. In the less extreme, there could come a time through injury, disability or job loss where one can no longer afford high end knives, so again it's worth having at least one to keep for yourself.

Typically when people balk at the cost of gear (I hear the same about rifles, optics, ect - Like guys who will spend thousands on a hunt but won't pony up an extra hundred for a good scope and miss that big buck. ) I ask them how much they spend on things like life, health, auto, and home insurance. For most of us it's over a couple grand a year easily. Then I ask, if that stuff makes sense to you, doesn't it make sense to spend $500 on the off chance that there will come a day that you will need a knife to perform, no excuses? I think if you look at hurricanes, fires, mudslides, ect there's a decent likelihood that no matter where you are it could happen. Wouldn't you hate to be found dead trapped in your basement with a broken Gerber? Just think of it as another form of insurance.

This is the logic I used when buying a expensive tactical tomahawk, don’t really need it at all.

Until I do.

 

[hydeinmind]

I think you are lucky to get to talk knives at work or at all L63! I guess it must come up semi regular maybe based on where yawl live and who lives so close? But I rarely get to talk knives with anyone anywhere ever lol. In fact, no one I know loves knives as much as I do. Every time I talk knives w someone in person usually after a few minutes their eyes start glazing over. Or the subject of conversation changes to something more main stream and my eyes start glazin instead of theirs haha. I rarely if ever tell anyone in person what I own or what I've spent in knives because they don't get it. This is why I'm on here, the Busse Forum on BladeForums! You all get it!

 

[Leonardo63]

I'm getting lot out of this and I think, when it comes to this subject, I'm not going in to the cost aspect of it because it just doesn't register. Then, if they are really interested, they will do their own homework and figure it out on their own like everyone must at some point, if they are truly interested. I've never been honest when they ask because everyone seems to want to go right to price- which is such a bummer because that's actually the least interesting part to me.
Ryker's post about the SNAFU is a good supporting statement to this point, I had no idea what or who it was and no clue of cost- I have a helluva appreciation for it now because I put in the effort to figure it out.

 

[UNRL Ghandi]

I got tired of my buddy buying a bunch of cheap knives because they looked cool, so I gave him a SWATMANDU, then a BGTG, and now I have a BG Park Ranger to give him tomorrow on our way to a gun show (late Christmas present). Sometimes you just have to force people to have nice things. I don't even want to think about all the Busse's I've given to my brothers for the same reason. But I need my TEOTWAWKI peeps to be packing Busse.

 

[Murman]

I got tired of my buddy buying a bunch of cheap knives because they looked cool, so I gave him a SWATMANDU, then a BGTG, and now I have a BG Park Ranger to give him tomorrow on our way to a gun show (late Christmas present). Sometimes you just have to force people to have nice things. I don't even want to think about all the Busse's I've given to my brothers for the same reason. But I need my TEOTWAWKI peeps to be packing Busse.

I wish I could be that kind of friend.

 

[barrabas74]

I'm getting lot out of this and I think, when it comes to this subject, I'm not going in to the cost aspect of it because it just doesn't register. Then, if they are really interested, they will do their own homework and figure it out on their own like everyone must at some point, if they are truly interested. I've never been honest when they ask because everyone seems to want to go right to price- which is such a bummer because that's actually the least interesting part to me.
Ryker's post about the SNAFU is a good supporting statement to this point, I had no idea what or who it was and no clue of cost- I have a helluva appreciation for it now because I put in the effort to figure it out.

I like that you said that about price being the least interesting thing. We are knife nuts and price is secondary or tertiary to a lot of things like performance, looks etc. If your around like minded people then steel, handle material, F&F are most important. They want to know what you paid in case you got ripped off or got a deal.

 

[Leonardo63]

I think you are lucky to get to talk knives at work or at all L63! I guess it must come up semi regular maybe based on where yawl live and who lives so close?

Hey, you know how farm guys are, all hunters, like knives because they are tools to them that serve a purpose - The comments are still funny, I have the FMV8 dagger as wallpaper on my comp and one guy I work with comes up today and sees it and says "So I see the Busse but where' the body?" .... kind of a city kid even though it's my bosses son, he never spent any time around the biz - Talking to him about guns or knives is like talking to me about 16th century french literature - eye's glazing over in 1.5 seconds LOLOLO!!!

 

[hydeinmind]

Hey, you know how farm guys are, all hunters, like knives because they are tools to them that serve a purpose - The comments are still funny, I have the FMV8 dagger as wallpaper on my comp and one guy I work with comes up today and sees it and says "So I see the Busse but where' the body?" .... kind of a city kid even though it's my bosses son, he never spent any time around the biz - Talking to him about guns or knives is like talking to me about 16th century french literature - eye's glazing over in 1.5 seconds LOLOLO!!!

Yeh but you know them cheep ass farmers.... ahem.. I mean, frugal businessmen LOL, you tell them you spent $400 on one knife, but it’s one of the best in the would, and they look at you like you speakin Greek and tell you why spend $400 on a knife when a $40 knife will cut things just as well type of BS haha then pull out there $4 one they got for free with their last JD tractor purchase and tell you how long they’ve been carrying that one and how great it is lmao ... you laugh but you know!

 

[Leonardo63]

then pull out there $4 one they got for free with their last JD tractor purchase and tell you how long they’ve been carrying that one and how great it is lmao ... you laugh but you know!

I could see you would have to get something extra with a red one but green ones? Naw man, no need for shiny baubles to avert their attention from that compromise they signed their life away for LOL!!!

 

[Ryker]

I'm getting lot out of this and I think, when it comes to this subject, I'm not going in to the cost aspect of it because it just doesn't register. Then, if they are really interested, they will do their own homework and figure it out on their own like everyone must at some point, if they are truly interested. I've never been honest when they ask because everyone seems to want to go right to price- which is such a bummer because that's actually the least interesting part to me.
Ryker's post about the SNAFU is a good supporting statement to this point, I had no idea what or who it was and no clue of cost- I have a helluva appreciation for it now because I put in the effort to figure it out.

Thank you for the appreciation, seriously. I hope I didn't come across as too much of a knife snob. My point was just that as we progress farther into our knife addictions and cross certain thresholds, some things suddenly becomes a "maybe", then a "I think I can", followed by "F it, let's do it", and finally it's commonplace. Whatever those limits are, they're different for us all. FWIW, if the 37 year old version of me went back in time and told the 17 year old version that he would someday have knives that cost $1,000+, I think the 17 year old would have rioted. YMMV.
I'm enjoying this discussion.

 

[Leonardo63]

Thank you for the appreciation, seriously. I hope I didn't come across as too much of a knife snob. My point was just that as we progress farther into our knife addictions and cross certain thresholds, some things suddenly becomes a "maybe", then a "I think I can", followed by "F it, let's do it", and finally it's commonplace. Whatever those limits are, they're different for us all. FWIW, if the 37 year old version of me went back in time and told the 17 year old version that he would someday have knives that cost $1,000+, I think the 17 year old would have rioted. YMMV.
I'm enjoying this discussion.

knife snob? LOL! Not in the least - It was just a fact pointing out it's such a large category of interest, just how I see it, your contribution was made with an intent and that's what I'm all about -expanding the mind - Before I jumped in here last spring if someone would have told me in a few months I'd have thousands wrapped up in knives I would have said "get the fk outa here your insane" LOL! and that's just reality- But, I studied, learned and said, "Yeah I can dig it, this is where it's happening" and I've enjoyed it with not a single regret! (other than not ordering that CS Snow Hole like a dumbass-still praying for a cancel but it's not looking good for me)
I appreciate everyone's input and time to contribute and to be honest, it's all for my benefit to be wiser so I can say "want $600 for that? hell that's a great deal!" ... ever thought I'd be there? hell no! HAHA! Your line of "maybe" ... "I think I can" ...."F'it, lets do it" ... you nailed it with superb eloquence! Exactly how I nailed the nuked dagger ~ pretty much a quote of what went through my head that night

 

[TheMtnMan]

I love myh Busse knives, will always keep buying em, as often as I can. But some times it' kind if funny vomparing them, for example I just recently bought a Stink Farm Boss chain saw. And it cost almost less then some of my knives lol and twice less or more than some of my knives.

 

[shinyedges]

I had a farm boss for a few years, I cut wood from my property to heat our house/water with an outdoor wood stove. Served me well.

I cut large trees frequently and it held up. I ended up going a little bigger to the 362cm because it's a little faster out there in the woods.

Rest assured, your farm boss is a champ!

I love myh Busse knives, will always keep buying em, as often as I can. But some times it' kind if funny vomparing them, for example I just recently bought a Stink Farm Boss chain saw. And it cost almost less then some of my knives lol and twice less or more than some of my knives.