Is the Rockstead knives, specifically the Rockstead HIGO-X-IW- worth $1190.

Mike45ACP said:
In any hobby, whether knives, cars, or whatever you run into the law of diminishing returns. To build a mustang to run 12 second 1/4 miles, no problem with a 1000. bucks and a little work. To run 11 second 1/4 miles better get a dump truck load of $$. 10 seconds, better mortgage the house.

Mike
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You're absolutely right on. But the 10s club is pretty exclusive and the visceral feeling is completely insane vs 12s which feels quick but nothing exciting.

Same for higher end knives. Rockstead is stunning in the hand, smooth as glass, and the lock up sounds like a bank vault. They wouldn't have a following if a lower priced competitor offered the same for less price. That's the risk here for owners. Some new entrant that can work with that steel and mirror polish to the edge. A Marfione mirrored finish easily adds $1200 to the same model.
 
To say a 12 second ride isn't exciting would come as quite the surprise to a LOT of people, but I agree that 10's are a different (and very frightening) world. Knives are probably a decent comparison, as to say a 12 second knife (Hinderer, CRK) wouldn't impress many would be incorrect for all but 1%(+ or -). That 1% however does get a little excited at the 10 second level (Rockstead).
 
I currently drive a Ford Taurus with a bike, kayak rack on top, maybe that's why I carry lower end knives :) I could probably do a 10 second 0-60......maybe ;-)

Mike
 
Mike45ACP said:
There's never a right or wrong to these questions. Is it worth it to me? No way, there's no way I can justify 1100. on any knife. To the next person, hell yes it's worth it. Look at the fit, finish, steel, and design! From just a utilitarian standpoint I think anyone would have a hard time justifying it. Of course from strictly a "use" perspective anyone would have a hard justifying any knife over a hundred bucks, and I've got plenty over that.
In any hobby, whether knives, cars, or whatever you run into the law of diminishing returns. To build a mustang to run 12 second 1/4 miles, no problem with a 1000. bucks and a little work. To run 11 second 1/4 miles better get a dump truck load of $$. 10 seconds, better mortgage the house.

Mike
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Actually, not quite true. The current gen Mustangs (and the Coyote 5.0 models from 2011-2014) will run 12's stock. 11's are possible with a tune.

Everything else, spot on. :thumbup:
 
I have handled Rockesteads and they are superbly made knives. But at the end of the day they are production knives to me and as such will be used so the mirror polish isn't a big deal. The real deal breaker for me is I like to sharpen my own knives that's why I spent $1000 on a wicked edge to do just that, and I would not want to even put a rockstead on my wicked edge for fear of potentially chipping that 65 rockwelled blade.
 
So as someone who recently acquired a Hizen, I would say so far it has been worth the money I paid. Admittedly, I did manage to get a great deal on it ($520 with the warranty intact), but I think the level of refinement in the blade and overall design is definitely worth the money over my Small Sebenza as much as the Sebenza was worth the extra money over the Spydercos I own. Obviously a lot of people can't justify the cost of a Sebenza either, but this is how I rationalize it.

Ever since I got my Hizen I've been looking through my collection and identifying all the blades I won't miss anymore, and selling them will hopefully help me recoup a substantial fraction of the cost of the Rockstead. As someone with some amateur machining and fabrication experience I'm also someone who really appreciates nice fit and finish and tight tolerances, and I'm willing to pay the premium for that because I have firsthand experience with how much extra work it entails. I don't really use my knives that hard, so I'm not too worried about not being able to sharpen the blade. Projecting from my experience so far, it seems like I'll probably go a year at least without noticeably losing sharpness. If it gets dull I can try my hand at BluesBender's sharpening technique, or just send it in for warranty service.

At the end of the day, there's no denying that it's a lot to pay for a knife. But I think anyone who is spending time on this forum has decided that they're willing to pay more for some aspect of a knife that most people don't care as much about. I've decided that the better tolerances and meticulous blade finishing are worth the extra cost over less expensive knives. I think this is just something everyone has to decide for themselves.
 
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Good post 50an6xy06r6n. No one needs to justify what they pay for a knife to anyone on this forum. That's something they've got to decide for themselves. Also even though I have a hard time spending over 300 on a knife I've spent well over that on just sights for some of my handguns. I can justify that in my own mind......go figure.

Mike
 
Good opinion 50an6.... Is that some kind of welding code?

The tolerance, finish and materials is what I love about Rockstead. Here's my Hizen today.

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I'm looking at one, but its out of stock. Ok, which is the better steel. It appears Rockstead has a number of knives with different steels from XYRZ at 65hrc to SS and ZDP at 67 hrc. Is there a difference in the quality of the blade. There is in the price. Rockstead also offers a number of handle types, but I'm more interested in the blade.
 
Davor said:
I'm looking at one, but its out of stock. Ok, which is the better steel. It appears Rockstead has a number of knives with different steels from XYRZ at 65hrc to SS and ZDP at 67 hrc. Is there a difference in the quality of the blade. There is in the price. Rockstead also offers a number of handle types, but I'm more interested in the blade.
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Take a look at page #5 of the Rockstead knowledge thread. There is a lot of discussion regarding the 2 types of steel in there.
 
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