It’s interesting how much fun one can have in a hobby at any price point

D

DangerZone98

Joined
Dec 7, 2019
Messages
3,545
Just randomly noticed that my Father mainly carries his CRKT Clever Girl that we picked up a few months ago. Now I’m not bashing on this particular knife at all; I like the Persian style blade shape and the feather weight despite its size. He owns nicer Spydercos that come in better steels and US made custom knives, but the CRKT still gets plenty of EDC time.

I don’t own any expensive pieces myself, but I also find myself enjoying my budget knives as well even if I have others with technically superior specs. Some days, it’s my Cold Steel mini Bowie with its ‘laughable’ 8Cr steel, or my super cute Mora Eldris that handles 99% of my knife needs if we exclude food prep.

I suppose the point I’m trying to make, if my wordiness can be forgiven, is that there’s enjoyment to be found from your impulse purchase you drunkenly bought one night all the way to the crown jewel in your collection. The budget and nicer pieces in the collection can stand side by side. Supersteels are nice to have, but they alone don’t tell the whole story. Specs are certainly worth paying attention to, but they do not guarantee enjoyment.

What ‘budget knife’ has stayed with you all this time? What’s the upscale piece that stands out above the rest?
 
I think now especially we have more decent budget options with all these Chinese makers popping up. There are some really impressive finds if you look a little off the beaten path. I remember reading something about how modern luxury sometimes has less to do with the cost of the object and more to do with having the free time to search out and find something obscure that few others have. My most recent example is Twosun's kitchen knives. Some of them have original designs, 14C28N steel, G10 fiberglass handles with mosaic pins, and regularly go for $30 new at auction. I'm amazed at how nice they are for the price, partly because not a lot of people know about them.
 
There are definitely some very nice ‘budget’ knives that look and function beautifully, and can do most of what ordinary people need from a knife. Some of my cheapest knives are the most fun to fidget with. Two cheapies that come to mind are my Kershaw Atmos and Oknife Mini Drever that some nights I almost subconsciously flip open and closed for hours watching late night tv. I also have a CRKT Attaboy that gets a lot of fidget time at my home work desk.
 
I get your point, but took a different tack, holding my 1986 SAK climber until I was able to afford a CRK small PJ Sebenza in 2003. It was the best knife decision I ever made. That CRK was my only daily carry for many years and is still in my rotation. If I could only have one knife, it would be my choice. The SAK was sadly lost five years ago, but I replaced it with a SAK Compact I occasionally carry. It’s the only budget knife I carry.

Fast forward 20 years, and I still don’t have a lot of money for knives. My collection has grown, but will soon shrink to no more than four fixed blades (all Fiddleback forge) my four small Sebenzas, and my CRK Mnandi.

Any future purchases will likely be CRK Mnandi’s (I have two on order, the wait list is insanely long). I’ve thought about more expensive knives for key milestones, but keep coming back to the CRK price point being my limit. Maybe I’d feel differently if I had more money.

So, I guess my answer would be SAK for the budget knife that has stayed with me over the years; CRK small PJ Sebenza for the stand out above the rest choice. I’ll add CRK Mnandi as a niche player. It’s a great office/dress knife. Really, I could be quite happy with just those three.
 
Last edited:
I’ve been enjoying knives since I was 6 years old. My collection used to fit in a shoe box. Yard sale finds. Worn or broken knives people gave me etc. The entire box wasn’t worth $5 but I could go thru it clean them oil them sharpen them. Fit tiny pieces of wood into broken handles. Super glued in place.

Lots of enjoyment and knowledge from that old shoe box.
 
Bob Denman said:
There is no "wrong way" to collect knives...


... other than to NOT collect them!
Find your own comfort level. 👍
Click to expand...
Well.... I suppose if someone's way was buying clones/counterfeits and pretending they were real.... it would be the wrong way lol
 
JPD1998 said:
I've been buying knives since the 1970's and can honestly say that the some of the more expensive knives I've bought don't bring much more joy than lower cost knives.
Click to expand...
Indeed,
in the 70s I had two knives. A buck 110 and a shrade Lb7. No Internet (obviously) only shotgun news and guns and ammo were my sources for information. Or a sears catalog, But they worked just fine for me. Most everyone that had sweat on his brow had one. Maybe a case now and then. Some think I'm living in the past. Perhaps it's true?
 
stevejams said:
Big fan of USA made kershaws. I usually rotate between a leek and skyline (maybe a couple others ;)) at work and it gives me great happiness to use them hard knowing they’re both capable and inexpensive blades
Click to expand...
Skyline is a good, light, capable knife, I still got mine. Hard to beat it. I still use it when I'm wearing light clothes. When it is hot and humid which if you ever lived in the tropics it's like that 11 months a year. I was disappointed with the skyline XL. Kershaw made a big mistake on that one. Geopolitical screw up.🤔
 
I bought my brother in law a Buck Marksman for $60 at a knife show (unused, no box). It is a crazy fun knife to fidget with, I wish I could get one in a PM steel. It falls shut better than almost any knife I own or have owned. Cut myself good because I wasn't expecting it. I know my brother in law probably won't use it all that much, but he does a lot of construction type stuff around the house and the only other knife he has is my dad's Kershaw Launch 8 which is exactly designed for heavy use.

As I've mentioned before, I've mostly moved on from production knives. I have my heavy users but everything I've bought in the last year for the most part are for fidget factor and uniqueness.

I did just get a Yojimbo 2 in Cruwear off of the exchange and Frankenjimbo'd it.
 
I've also found that my enjoyment of a knife doesn't particularly go up exponentially due to it's price. I think my enjoyment goes up more as a function of it's overall quality and fit and finish. I don't know why I'm so opsessed with fit and finish, but for some reason I am. All those nice little even chamfers and curves, things are symmetrical, even grinds, even jimping etc. Luckily for myself, and everyone else, you don't really have to spend a lot of money to get great fit and finish. Sometimes I think I get more enjoyment out of a really well done budget folder in fact, and I'm definitely a lot more comfortable using it for all the hardcore nasty jobs. I have a couple more CRK level knives that I really want to get in the future, but after that I'm thinking about switching to more of the synthetic scaled Kizer level of price, the Civivi price, right around there. I've found great enjoyment from that category of knives price wise.

Here's a great example of a pair of knives that have been great companions for me and given me more enjoyment per price than the vast majority of my knives.
Kizer.jpgKizer1.jpg
 
K.O.D. said:
I bought my brother in law a Buck Marksman for $60 at a knife show (unused, no box). It is a crazy fun knife to fidget with, I wish I could get one in a PM steel. It falls shut better than almost any knife I own or have owned. Cut myself good because I wasn't expecting it. I know my brother in law probably won't use it all that much, but he does a lot of construction type stuff around the house and the only other knife he has is my dad's Kershaw Launch 8 which is exactly designed for heavy use.

As I've mentioned before, I've mostly moved on from production knives. I have my heavy users but everything I've bought in the last year for the most part are for fidget factor and uniqueness.

I did just get a Yojimbo 2 in Cruwear off of the exchange and Frankenjimbo'd it.
Click to expand...
I do not like a buck Marksman.
The problem I ran into was the adjustment screw stripped. And I didn't like the way the lock worked. It was one of my first knives that had ball bearing pivots. I could see how you could cut yourself really easy. After I got it fixed I gave it to my son-in-law. It just wasn't for me but he loves it.
 
Recently got a rat 1 n 2. Super impressed, really don’t need anything more than them, excellent knives, action and f&f for the price!

Now for the wants, my favorite pieces are my Les George mefp Talos and WnC Talos. Absolutely love them! They’re the wants I had to have and consider myself fortunate to have found em!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top