Quality vs Quantity

Random Dan

Random Dan

Gold Member
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Jan 21, 2012
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So right now I have 3 knives in my EDC rotation (ZT0350, Para2, BM 940) and was very close to buying a Manix 2 and either a Kershaw Knockout or RAM. But then I read a post on EDCF about selling off larger collections to buy a few really nice knives, or flashlights, or watches, or whatever, and while I don't consider 3 knives a massive collection, it still got me thinking. So now I'm considering trying to trade my 0350 and Para2 for a ZT0550 (a knife I've always liked, but was just too expensive) but keeping the 940 for the occasions when the 0550 is too heavy and bulky, and then not buying any more knives. I know not buying any more knives probably sounds crazy to most of you, but what do I really need more than 2 knives for? Hell, I don't need more than one knife, but having a heavier duty knife and a slimmer, lighter knife would be nice. What are y'alls thoughts on the matter?


:EDIT: I should add that I'm not 100% set on an 0550, but I've always wanted a Ti framelock of some kind, and given the knives I have to trade or sell and the fact that I don't want to spend any additional money right now, it probably needs to be in the ~$150 range.
 
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I think you are asking this question to the wrong crowd or wrong forum, most of us like knives, lots of knives! Sounds like you may not even need one knife, and yes not buying anymore knives sounds crazy. Most of us like Quality and Quantity but either works, but a Quantity of Quality knives is my goal, just my humble opinion not meant to be condescending.
 
The 550 is awesome. If that is the knife you want (I'd love one) and you only want one in your rotation, go for it.

I offer a disclaimer though: I would get a good knife (30-50 dollars...lots of great high-quality options in that range) to thrash due to the fact you won't want to thrash on your ZT.

Two knives, one thrasher, one trophy.

That would by my approach if I had your mindset.

Good luck.
 
sdjay78 said:
The 550 is awesome. If that is the knife you want (I'd love one) and you only want one in your rotation, go for it.

I offer a disclaimer though: I would get a good knife (30-50 dollars...lots of great high-quality options in that range) to thrash due to the fact you won't want to thrash on your ZT.

Two knives, one thrasher, one trophy.

That would by my approach if I had your mindset.

Good luck.
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Yeah, I'd probably still pick up a Cryo II once they come out to use as a beater.
 
I though I was going from quantity to quality when I sold off all of my production knives and bought a couple of customs. This made things worse though...... Now I want more customs!! I am up to 18 custom folders, and a few production knives thrown in to the mix. If you are like a lot of people on this forum, you will always want more
Just be prepared:)
 
Final Option said:
I think you are asking this question to the wrong crowd or wrong forum, most of us like knives, lots of knives! Sounds like you may not even need one knife, and yes not buying anymore knives sounds crazy. Most of us like Quality and Quantity but either works, but a Quantity of Quality knives is my goal, just my humble opinion not meant to be condescending.
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I agree. More folks on these forums have possibly thousands of dollars worth of knives than not. There is a small minority that have a couple knives and keep things that way. It's not unheard of for people to buy, use, and collect knives that vary from $400-$1000 here. I carry and use an Umnumzaan which is around $425 new. It all depends on your budget, and ultimately a need vs want regarding anything you own.
 
Check out kershawguys blem thread. I got one of his blem 550's and absolutely love it. I still can't find anything wrong with it either. If I remember correctly it was a little under your budget of $150
 
Yeah i just sold alot of my cheaper chinese knives at a loss so i could get at least one good folder and start collecting rather than accumulating. If your open to blems i would check out kershawguys blem sale to get gen 1 and 2 0550's for around 120-130, about the same price as one of your other knives.

You really shouldn't try to justify a 4th knife purchase to people on a forum where people have over 20 knives OF EACH BRAND ;). I say get what you like, 99.9% of the people on this forum have more knives than we "need".
 
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There's nothing wrong with having one or two knives. I routinely sell large chunks of my collection and have fewer knives now than I did when I got on Bladeforums. I prefer quality over quantity for sure, but had to own a lot of knives before I really grasped what "quality" meant to me personally. So you might need to scale up before you can scale back and be happy with the result... I'm sure I'm not the only one who's gone this route.
 
To me, Price does not equal Quality. Just because a knife is expensive, it doesn't mean you're going to be happy with its quality. I've seen more than a few threads where folks ask questions like "Hey, should I sell off all my knives and buy a Sebenza/Strider/Hinderer? I mean, I really like the knives I already have but the Sebenza is better and more expensive so I want to upgrade my collection". Yeah, I guess that's one way of looking at things, but it never made any sense to me why people would get rid of knives that they were perfectly happy with and got a lot of use out of in order to buy another really expensive knife that they may or may not like. If you're expecting to be blown away by the quality of whatever knife (say, a Sebenza, which seems to be pretty common), and you trade away all your knives to get one but find it doesn't suit you as well as you thought it would, then all you're left with is the one super-expensive disappointment.

For my part, I prefer to have only a few knives at a time instead of drawers and drawers full of them. When I want a certain knife, I just wait until I have enough extra sheckles to buy one. If I get it and really don't like it, then it's not going to be too big a loss to sell it again immediately. If I get it and do really like it, then I'll usually sell off whatever knife it's going to replace in my collection. I do sell off knives pretty regularly, but I don't ever sell off ones that I'm happy with and use often just to buy a different shiny new knife. Would I sell off my Manixes and Para 2 to buy a Sebenza? No. The Sebenza might be 'better quality' by someone's standards, but I'm already happy with the quality of the Para 2 and Manix 2s, so in my particular case, I'd kind of be setting myself up for a fall if I got rid of them for something else.

When I get the feeling that I have more knives than I have use for, I sell off the ones that don't see enough use. Basically, I keep the knives that get used and sell off the ones that don't, which typically leaves me with around a half dozen folding knives and a couple of fixed blades.

Anyway, just some things to think about.
 
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As for may self, my wife actually limits me to 7 knives total for each day of the week EDC. No matter how much each cost, she can care less...when I get a new knife, one from my 7 will be up for sale.

Expensive knives may not be all that great for EDC....say losing it may feel pretty suck...I have one knife for any occasions or any day of the week. Now that I've grown used to Axis lock...Hmmmm liner lock feel weird.
 
I don't have an 0350, but I have an 0551, 940, and Para2. I have a smattering of other Spydercos (including a pair of Manix's) and Kershaws (and a few others.)
I'll occasionally rotate something else in - like at church, or visiting a school where locks aren't allowed.
But these are my three all-time favorites. I can't imagine getting rid of any of them, ever. For anything.
At any given moment, I've got the Para2 in my RFP, the 0551 in my rain jacket pocket, and the 940 in my windbreaker pocket. (No, I don't usually wear both jackets at the same time.)
If you want the 0550, by all means, go for it. I, personally, find it a little big for daily pants pocket carry. But when I want it, I want it handy.

I can see paring down a collection to get somethig expensive that you really, really want. In my humble opinion, you don't have a collection. You have a small supply of very useful tools.
Getting rid of useful tools is, to me, never a step in the right direction.
Maybe, possibly, you could sell the 0350 to "upgrade" to the 0550, but the Para2 and 940 are unique enough that I think you'd feel the hurt if you parted with 2 to get the 1.
I vote save up.
 
I've owned many folders over the last year, ranging from $100 Spydercos, many PM2's, BM's, many ZT's, four sizes of Striders, 12 or more CRK's, to $725 Hinderer XM-18's...slicer and Spanto grinds. Have sold or traded constantly so that I have very few in house. Here's what I plan to hold on to:
CRK large Sebenza and Zaan, Strider SJ75 and PT, two or three PM2's, Spyderco Southard.
You might note that none of these "keepers" are big, heavy-duty folders. I'm not yearning for the SMF and Sng Striders that I've owned. Also, I've had a ZT 0550 and 0551. They were fine knives, well-built, but heavy in my pocket and of no real use in my personel EDC. I sold them quickly, just as I sold the heavy Hinderers.
Your three: ZT0350, PM2 and BM940 are a pretty nice trio. I've owned four or five ZT0350's in various flavors (composite blades) and of course, I dearly love PM2's. In BM, I'd probably prefer a model 710 in D2 or M390, but your choice is also fine. I'd say you are pretty well set for most casual EDC.
Good picks.
 
Think of us as enablers:)

Seriously, though, I'm moving towards the quality side, and currently have 9 knives. I'll probably buy one or two more. That sounds like a lot to you, maybe, but I think I have the fewest on the forum.

Anyway, go with the o550 or 0350. Good multi-purpose EDC knives, IMO. I find myself using my BM 755 MPR (M390 steel) a lot, even though it is stubby.
 
I guess the real question I'm trying to decide hear is whether I want to have multiple knives that essentially serve the same purpose so I can rotate then, or have 2 maybe 3 nicer knives knives that I don't rotate except when necessary (ie, ZT0550 as my regular EDC, BM940 for church and other places where the ZT would be to bulky and heavy.) And then I need to find out if I even can trade an 0350 and Para2 for an 0550 should I choose that route, but that's another matter.

Thanks for the input guys!
 
Forget the knives themselves for a minute.

Stop and consider what you perceive your needs to be.

Example:

1) Fixed blade knife for situations when strength is more appropriate than social acceptability

2) A practical sized folder which is stout enough for hard cutting, but not so big that it is hard to carry

3) A smaller folder for situations where #2 may be inappropriate or impractical to carry (suit pants, swim trunks, etc)

4) A nasty black dagger for "serious social situations"

I'm only half serious about #4, but you get the idea.
 
If you can hold a knife in person before buying it you may decide you don't want it anymore. Imagining a knife is definitely not the same as holding, owning and using one. I think we lust after knives but then they don't always live up to expectations, as with so many other things in life. Additionally, I think it's safe to say most people have tastes that evolve over time. I started out wanting black G10 handle scales, now I'm more into traditionals and carry only a few of the knives I own. I don't have a huge collection or anything, but I do have knives that just sit around in a box, getting little use, so for me having a huge collection is out. I EDC two Spydercos, a Sage 2 and Gayle Bradley, along with a traditional, either GEC or Queen. All of these knives are quality, but none are over $175 new.

I think a lot of people see posts and pictures of $400 knives and start lusting after them but don't stop to think about what they'd actually use the knife for, or whether or not it would really be an improvement over what they already have, or if the expensive knife would fit their needs any better. This is something to consider before purchasing anything expensive.

It seems like the suggestion on here is to keep what you like and buy more, that way you don't sell off knives, regret it, and then buy them later on for more than you originally paid. My suggestion is to keep what you have, save up and buy a new knife if you can afford it, and if you don't like it, sell it.
 
Buy what you can afford, and buy as many as you want. If one month you can only afford a $20 knife, make it the best knife that $20 can buy. One month you've got an extra $500 to spend, why not spend it on a nice custom or high-end production knife?

After a year you'll have a dozen knives of all sorts and all price ranges. After a decade you'll have 120. After twenty years, 240...
 
You might trade your whole collection for a decent knife. Trust me youll be back and once you get your first taste of high quality cutlery youll be spending more then you probably did on your first car! I started out with a zt, benchmade and emerson, got a sebenza thinking my journey would end there. Wrong! Now i got more then 3k into this hobby. So prepare yourself and your wallet =D
 
I sold a M390/CF Military and Gayle Bradley (Both FANTASTIC) knives to get a Large Sebenza Insingo. Now all I have is a BK9 for clearing various shrubbery, A Para 2, An Alox Sak and my Sebenza. I haven't bought of felt the need to buy another knife since I bought the sebenza. I feel if I didn't get that, i would have kept spending on knives that would have just sat being used rarely.
 
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