Quantity or Quality

Mo2 said:
the largest argument that most people use for a cheaper knife is, that you can loose and just buy another. ive never lost a knife, even a cheap one. and i highly doubt people using that argument have ever lost one (tho im sure it happens with cheap knives that people dont care about). and if you are loosing knives all the time, you just dont care about them, no point in you buying an expensive knife. or maybe it is a good idea to invest, cause maybe you would change your mind about caring about it then. essentially its just a reason to say buy a cheap knife, particularly the one they are trying to sell, because selling them in quantity is the only way to make money on cheap knives.

the other argument is damage...
if you do anything stupid with a knife you can break it, but its not likely. ive seen people drop them from time to time, they wont automatically break if you drop them, but if you drop it on a hard surface at the right angle with the right steel they could break... my basic kershaw blur tip broke on from something dumb prying (low end steel), after getting better blade steel that never happened, but i also tend to not use a knife for prying anymore, thats what prybars are for (or medfords).


ZT does replace knife blades for a small cost which is great. not sure what other brands do that, so buying quality is in this case is also good.

anything made in china by boker or crkt or kershaw is not a good idea. even for 150$ imho they are just sold because of the gimic or image they have for that cost, i feel they are very low quality and poor heat treatments. tho good chinese manufactures like WE, Rike, Reate, id buy every day if i had the cash.

are there good cheap knives? sure some that are not too bad, nothing that i would rate with higher end knives tho, even tho someone on youtube may say.

sure you could get 20 cheap knives for the cost of 1 really nice knife... but honestly i have used cheap knives and hate them with a passion. constantly sharpening them, poor quality, often terrible qc, breaking sooner than later, bad action, no real warranty, no free sharpening, list goes on. none of that is worth it to me.
Click to expand...

My argument lies more in needs vs wants and the point of diminishing returns. The number of people that need more pocket knife than a Rat 1 is absolutely miniscule.
 
I think the best scenario we would all want would be quantity of quality!

Thing is, Quality is measured differently by everyone.

I certainly have learned over the many years in this hobby what quality means to me, and that had led to the quantity of knives I own being about 2 or 3 most of the time.
 
JR88FAN said:
I think the best scenario we would all want would be quantity of quality!

Thing is, Quality is measured differently by everyone.

I certainly have learned over the many years in this hobby what quality means to me, and that had led to the quantity of knives I own being about 2 or 3 most of the time.
Click to expand...

That's something we can for sure all agree on. Quantity of Quality
 
highestpoint said:
I've noticed that some people have a variety in their collection that ranges from Customs and mid-techs to under $20 knives.. A friend says he would rather use a $50 knife that has more potential to break and would rather buy the same one again than spend $100 on one that is of better quality (money isn't an issue either). Does anybody else think like this?

If you were limited to a set amount of say $1000 dollars a year would you guys rather have a bunch of knives that were under $100 or a couple knives that were around the $500 price?

Since I've gotten around to better quality knives my collection has slimmed down a lot. Personally I would rather have a few knives that were more expensive and of better quality than a bunch that I would run through every time they break.
Click to expand...

I don't mean to start a fight or anything. But the premise of this seems to suggest that knives made by companies like Buck, KA-BAR, Cold Steel, Ontario, Esee, or any number of other manufacturers who've been at it for a very long time, simply aren't quality pieces at all, but are rather junk. Personally I just don't accept that premise as being accurate, especially when these companies offer good warranties on their products.
 
I go for quality and exotic steels. My best knives have S-125-V, S-110-V, S-90-V, and Stellite 6-K blades. Ti handles are a plus. Most factories and custom makers do not get into these materials, or the selection of models is poor. I have enough to get by, and they don't need much attention (sharpening).
 
Last edited:
Charlie_K said:
I don't mean to start a fight or anything. But the premise of this seems to suggest that knives made by companies like Buck, KA-BAR, Cold Steel, Ontario, Esee, or any number of other manufacturers who've been at it for a very long time, simply aren't quality pieces at all, but are rather junk. Personally I just don't accept that premise as being accurate, especially when these companies offer good warranties on their products.
Click to expand...

I never mention a brand after all. For all you know he could be paying $50 for MTech or any other brand.
 
I guess it all depends on where you are starting from and how bad you want things. I prefer to have only a few well made tools for whatever my needs are than piles and piles of mediocre junk. That said, even as a knife maker my EDC folder is a Leatherman Juice S2 and I do own a few Mora knives for certain uses (glovebox, tackle box, a couple in the knife shop, etc) because they work well and are dirt cheap. Not everything needs to be a high end custom.

Likewise, in our personal kitchen we a have a block set of fairly basic Chicago Cutlery knives from Wal-Mart and one really nice chefs knife in a sheath tucked back in the drawer. My wife and I prefer the nicer chef's knife obviously but sometimes its nice to have a beater blade for the kitchen to drop in a sink or dishwasher when we are in a hurry, to loan to friends/relatives that don't know or care about knives, and to just plain not worry about.
 
whp said:
I d rather have the Seiko. Oh yeah, that s what I have. Keeps perfect time. Solar powered . Water proof to 300 meters. dive watch.
Same with my knives. High quality for the price. Just not so pricey. More money in the bank. Strangely comforting.;)
Click to expand...

I have a Seiko divers watch too... a gift from my wife.
I love this watch and wouldn't trade it for a Rolex.
 
This is all gray area for me. I want the most affordable, highest quality thing that will satisfy me.... Lol.

In the case of knives it really depends on the knife. If I had to choose between say a variety of 10 Kershaw Leeks, Blurs, etc. or a single Sebenza I'll take the Sebenza every time. But if I'm choosing between a Benchmade 940 + $250 or a Sebenza, I'll take the 940 and the cash.

I understand why the Sebbie costs more than the 940 and wouldn't hesitate to buy one, but in that specific context the 940 wins out because I'm just as satisfied with it and I'll have another $250 to spend on other facets of my life.

Same goes for watches. I like a Rolex, but I also like a Citizen Eco-Drive. The Rolex is more special as a stand alone thing, but it's not more special than a Citizen + a vacation with my wife.
 
Lots of good points in this thread and I'll just touch on a few:

--Lower-priced indeed does not indicate that a knife is of poor quality. ESEE, RAT, Buck, Kabar and others all are well-made knives by good companies with excellent warranties. I wouldn't want to use any knife that was lacking in overall quality--this goes for a $35 knife as well as my most expensive pieces. No Jarbenzas for me, thanks.

--For sure the concept of diminishing returns applies to knives as well as lots of other goods, say, watches, audio equipment, automobiles. A $1000 knife is certainly not 10 times better than a well-made $100 knife. Quality is somewhat measurable--materials, construction--and observable--fit & finish-- but is in many ways a subjective judgement anyway.

--Use plays a big factor in this discussion. For work--carpentry--I always carry a higher end knife for cutting tasks and a beater for more abusive work. I'll pare off a piece of trim or get an excellent point on my pencil with a Sebenza, but will use my Tenacious to scrape off joint compound or my old beater Buck to pull a staple. Sometimes I'll even carry three as I'll have a high-end, user knife that I don't want to chance scratching up badly (say my Shiro 95T), something like my large 21 CF Seb that has blade scratches and a well-worn ti side, along with a beater for more abusive tasks. Again, even the beater needs to be a quality piece as a junk knife will fail and could ruin the task or cause injury.

--Looking at my collection, which is now at 60+ pieces, I have maybe a dozen that would fall into that beater class in the $35-75 range, though not all have been subjected to hard use. These are Bucks, Ontarios, Chinese Spydercos, etc. The bulk of the collection falls in the $100-250 range of Spyderco, Benchmade, ZT and a few others here and there. At the high-end are my CRKs, Wilson Combats, and Shiros. The cheapest and the most expensive get all the pocket time. I don't see myself unloading the mid-range knives as I like them all and am pleased to have them--especially my older Benchmades--despite their lack of use. Having built all this up and knowing what I do now, would I do it differently if I was starting all over again? I honestly don't know.
 
I'm glad I wasn't the first one to mention diminishing returns. After about $200, you're going after aesthetics or cool factor rather than quality. Half that for fixed blades.

You can't tell me that a Sebenza (and I own two, plus a small Inkosi) is worth $250 more than a Sage 2 or a Gemini.
 
Charlie Mike said:
I'd rather have just these...



... than a dozen Seiko/Luminox/Tag watches.

Same goes for knives.
Click to expand...

I would not consider Tag Heuer to be in the same category as Seiko and Luminox, not by a long shot.

I prefer quality by far, but in doing so i've now got a good quantity of quality knives, :rolleyes:
 
It really depends at this point in my life I am quite content with just a few well designed knives for my daily carry. In my case they all seem to be Spyderco's at the moment. In the past I have flat out lost brand new knives that cost $200 or more. This has me carrying knives that are $100 or so.
 
c26809e3a038ae40c48384056be3891a0adcbf3ea2d13053e5ca83d8deb93798.jpg


$$$ ≠ quality. There's an astounding number of quality inexpensive knives out there.
 
Probably 2 $500 knives, but would leave open the possibility of saving that $1,000 per annum for 3 years to purchase a 3,000 knife.
 
The way I see it, it's about maximizing utility. What range of tasks and contexts of use is your kit optimized for? If you have a knife geared towards a certain range of tasks or a particular setting, buying another knife that's made for the same purposes is redundant. And there's not a single knife that bests all other knives at all tasks in all circumstances. Do you buy just ONE screwdriver, or do you buy a bunch of different ones for different sizes and styles of screws? Just ONE shovel for digging trenches, post holes, and snow, or different ones each better suited to those respective tasks? The same is true of knives. For a given budget I want to be maximizing what I can do with the tools I buy, and want them to be of solid quality but cover different ranges of use by buying several well-built strong values.
 
Quality against quantity, but quality doesn't imply high dollars. Am I ever buy "the best" on the market for the purpose? No, because are things I can live without (like super steels). Quality is a relative notion, quantity is just an indication of how much you like something.
 


1300, 2200, 1750... All got used. The dagger was my primary daily carry for 6 months. I still have the one on the left.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top