More money more problems?

All of my striders (3) have developed lock rock. $1375 for knives that don't lock up solidly. That's why I'll probably never buy another one.
 
Lol true just another reason to keep "collecting".... An expensive knife should perform like an expensive knife; no problems
 
When it somes to performance for the price, Benchmade Blue Class is hard to beat.
A knife just being a knife, my $90 707 does everything my small Sebenza can and more.
I love my Seb and other custom knifes, but I don't EDC them.
 
Mixture I couldn't agree more... Although the black class ain't to shabby either... My last BM purchase was a 275 adamas... What a great knife d2 has never let me down
 
J Skillz said:
My original post wasn't so much comparing brands it was more curious to why my higher end knives seem to have more issues out of the box then my lower / average knives... For what is considerably high price and even out of the question to pay for a lot of users, I feel like my product should be trouble free without having to spend much time working on it.. bottom line is different expectations for different people although the knives mentioned ended up being great users after a little elbow grease.
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Has it ever occurred to you that more expensive knives are built to tighter tolerances, and tighter tolerances tend to produce increased friction?

From what I can see perusing these forums, the relationship between amount paid for a knife and the buyer's expectation for that knife tend to be exponential rather than linear.
 
Once again....you're comparing apples to oranges.

More expensive Axis lock type knives will be better than cheaper axis lock knives.

More expensive framelocks will (in general) be better than cheaper ones.
 
Lol that's the thing... There not better for me... I don't understand this whole apples to oranges deal but my point was that my less expensive knives perform just as well if not better then my double in price knives ... the more expensive knives need to be taken apart multiple times in broken in
 
J Skillz said:
Lol that's the thing... There not better for me... I don't understand this whole apples to oranges deal but my point was that my less expensive knives perform just as well if not better then my double in price knives ... the more expensive knives need to be taken apart multiple times in broken in
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People parrotting the phrase "apples to oranges" over and over again is their way of a) telling you that it's not fair to compare two different knives based on the effectiveness of their locking mechanisms or whatever, and b) of dismissing your question out of hand.

There is a lot of value to the idea that, yeah, it would be unfair to compare (for example), my Manix 2 and my American Lawman and say something like "Well my Manix 2 is really smooth and easy to use and locks up tight, but my American Lawman is really stiff and I can't flick it out, therefore the Lawman sucks and the Manix 2's awesome". In that case, it's not fair of me to say that the Lawman sucks just because it's not as easy to use as the Manix - in this particular case, that's just because the Triad lock is on the Lawman is inherently less smooth and maybe even less easy to operate than the CBBL on the Manix 2. That doesn't mean it sucks, because the Triad lock makes up for it in other areas (by being freakishly strong, for one, and some people might just prefer the more traditional lockback-style lock). In this case, the knives are probably just too different to make that kind of narrow (ie: based on the feel of the locking mechanism alone in this case) assessment of them. I get the feeling that that's what people are talking about when they say "apples to oranges".

Then again, as far as I'm concerned, you've got a pretty legitimate reason to be concerned when you pay, in your case, 200$ for an Emerson and it has issues. Yeah, if you've got a simple, liner-lock knife that has blade play problems and you paid 200$ for it, you have every reason to be unhappy about it since it is fairly reasonable to expect the manufacturer to have their poop in a group at that price and be able to make a knife that isn't gritty / wobbly / sticky, whatever at that price (or at least replace it / stand by their product if they do let one slip that's all messed up).

I don't really buy into the marketing strategies that some companies have put out (ex: Emerson's "Our gritty mechanisms and sloppy fit and finish aren't mistakes, they're FEATURES! You should be HAPPY with this extreme use hard duty field knife with a gritty, poorly-made mechanism!"), or the expectations among some folks that their knives should have a break-in period before the lock will seat properly / before the knife will open with one hand / before the mechanism stops being gritty (as I've heard people say about Striders). I can understand, say, needing to sharpen a knife out of the box, or having to wear-in a knife when you're not paying all that much for it, but I think it's pretty reasonable to expect that a knife will work smoothly right out of the box when you're dropping 100$+ on it (ie: big wads of cash to drop on a knife for the average person), nevermind knives that cost 500$+ or whatnot (ie: when you get into the realm of prices that normal, non-knife-nut people outright laugh at..."You paid HOW MUCH for that knife? That's what I paid for my first car! :eek:", etc).
 
^yup

I have my eye on a couple Emersons but have yet to fit the bill because at that price point there are alot of little things that erk me about them. First off, I've never handled one. So every opinion about them is based solely on what I've read here. But little things like philips screws, gritty action, and machining oil all over the place just portray a lack of attention to detail and care that I expect from that price. I'll get a cqc-8 horseman eventually. I could care less if that knife was present when they took down NoBama.

It's not only that people have crazy expectations, it's also being overly critical. When I bought my Kershaw Crown a few years ago from Wallmart I didn't spend the next hour obsessively reviewing and critiquing the knife. But when I got my first Seb, I'm like "ok lets see what all the freaking hype is all about" and I spent the rest of the day oooing and awwwing over it. It's the reputation itself that lends to that overcriticization (if thats a word).

Exhibit A:
price_vs_quality_graph_zpsf021e02a.gif


Non linear. Pay 4 times as much you get double the quality, NOT 4 times the quality.
 
That's the second thing offcourse. Apart from comparing different types of mechanisms and saying "my cheap Axis lock is better than my expensive framelock" (framelocks are harder to do RIGHT).

You simply seem to have picked the wrong companies to compare.

For instance....Strider isn't exactly known for their fit and finish. They're known for building a knife that can take a beating and come back for more. Same with Emerson for instance.
 
Wait ur saying the cqc 8 was THE knife that was carried when devgru took out Osama bin laden?
 
I think the cheaper a knife is, the more likely you are to use it. My EDC is a Benchmade Stryker and an Schrade Old Timer stockman. The only wear my Stryker has is from being in my pocket for nearly 15 or so years, my constant companion. The Schrade takes all the abuse. Once in a while I'll clean it up a bit, but I keep both as sharp as a straight razor.
 
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