Skipped ZT, went staight to CRK - Good or bad move?

Horizon7 said:
Stay away from ZT, bro. Their knives will literally cut your fingers off. The worst.
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Riiiiight...that's why I'm typing this without fingers. :rolleyes:
This message was typed with my nose.

Seems odd that us people who actually use ZT knives still have our fingers.

Now back to your regularly scheduled internet whining about brands people don't like. ;)
 
This approach sounds like a hobby in search of a purpose. No one can guess the best pocket knife for you. Everyone has different tastes and needs. And parachuting into a hobby won't decide the issue, either, unless the you decide to actually put some effort and experimentation into the hobby.

I have an awesome Sebenza that I like a lot, but for a daily EDC it isn't for me. I never use it. I use a "second tier" EDC which suits my needs a lot better. It took years to find the right match for me.

Did you make a good choice? No one knows. Not even you. The CRK you chose is a good knife, but one that I have no interest in at all. Enjoy it, and then run off to collect something else that you know nothing about and don't care to learn.
 
Tseg said:
I'm not even a knife collector, mainly I've been poking around YouTube knife review videos for a month or two. I've 'collected' a lot of things in my life and realize I like the study of various hobby fields (watches, cameras, pens, etc...), understand what makes them tick and acquire a few select pieces to appreciate the hobby rather than become immersed/consumed for long stretches by a hobby. Then ,move on while still keeping in touch with former hobbies.

I have mainly an office job and much of the time it is my home office. The majority of my need for a knife is to open a lot of packages and envelopes and break down a lot of boxes. As such, a few months back after doing research I bought a Spiderco Dragonfly ZPD-189. To be candid, "its all the knife I need". I also bought a bunch of sharpening apparatus and that knife is now scary sharp. My second need of a knife/hobby is to keep me occupied during conference calls, for hours a day. This is where the context of this post comes in...

After many, many hours of review watching and reading I convinced myself my ideal knife purchase as the ultimate knife to toy with would be the ZT562CF. So many reviewers said if they could keep only one knife it would be that one. They really spoke about this knife with true amazed emotion. It was almost all but settled (had the knife in an online 'basket'). But I also kept coming across videos that said Chris Reeve knives is the quality tier of knife where many end up... and once there the money spent on all the lesser knives is somewhat wasted. Not everyone is a CRK fanboy, but enough to know there is some merit there. In all my other hobbies they also all had that 'tier'... Rolex for watches, Namiki Urushi lacquer fountain pens, etc... In all my other hobbies I eventually 'succumbed' to that tier, then the spell was broken, I could move on. Every subsequent hobby I became more efficient getting to 'the punch line' based on my prior experiences. My goal with knives is to experience the hobby in 2 knives or less. I was convinced that smooth, quick launch action of the ZT 562 was what I needed, but I finally got pulled into the siren song that is Chris Reeve Sebenza reviews. But now I started to go down the rabbit hole with CRK to really research which knife really sung to me as I wanted to get this right the first time. In summary, on Monday I have a Chris Reeves Umnumzaan with Tanto Blade arriving Monday. Going Tanto was a bold choice but for me I find it the most beautiful knife. Additionally, the Tanto blade is supposed to be the ideal blade for my package/box needs. I this is to be my last knife, having a lifetime warranty is a bonus. All things considered, did I calculate things correctly? Will my knife spell be broken Monday?
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Very lucky man to have the job to acquire the crk but if you never try the 0562cf what you badmouth a knife costa pareng half?
 
I wish I would’ve bypassed certain knives or certain price levels when I started out.
You basically skipped over the toyota and went straight to a Lexus. Nothinf wrong with that.
 
Every time I get involved with a hobby I start cheap and progress, and every time, at the end, I regret spending the money I did on all the high end stuff that wasn't any better than the first stuff I bought, on whole.

To me, in the end, you're buying name and prestige. But prestige doesn't get you anything or anywhere other than wasted dollars.
 
I have both ZT and CRK knives. I’d never give up one of my 0392s. I love those knives.
 
To each his own but this sounds like my older Asian aunt who bought a nice high-end dslr camera and can’t take a decent photo with it. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with buying just the one $500 knife or a $3000 camera, what fascinating to ME is the experiences and the journeys. That is the whole point of life. I was in the motorcycle business and there are two types of riders, the guys who want to own a motorcycle and the guys who want to ride motorcycles. I recommend buying a few knives, use them, keep some, sell some. Rinse and repeat.
 
Also, imho, the knife hobby is dissimilar to watch collecting or photography where there is some sort of best-of-the-best. I would compare it to guns or motorcycles. There is more diversity.
 
In the past year or so I've made the jump from "budget" knives (let's say anything >$100) to more expensive knives in the $150 - $250 range. I've found that I don't carry any of my cheaper knives anymore, so now I have about $250 tied up in budget knives that just sit in my knife case.
 
I've had similar experiences with watches, fountain pens, computers, etc. Although I ended up with Nakaya's urushi as opposed to Namiki's.

I started with a Pm2 and tried to jump straight into CRK. When I went into a store to try them out, I was confused and completely underwhelmed. I had no idea why they were so highly regarded.

Now that I have some more experience with different grades of knives, I feel like I have a better appreciation of the subtleties of what makes a CRK better than a lower tier knife.

I think that stumpy 72 was spot on that the Sebenza 21 is analogous to a stainless steel Submariner. A high quality tool that is meant to be used as opposed to being coddled.

Even if you go straight to the top of the heap, it doesn't hurt to take a stroll down the mountain every once in a while...
 
Interesting to compare a CRK to Rolex. It’s difficult to compare knife qualities to watch attributes. Rolex watches are iconic, functional and reliable. CRK knives are beautifully made, functional and reliably simple. I don’t think of Rolex watches as beautifully made compared to their competition like JLC and IWC. Grand Seiko is a brand comparable to CRK.
 
The field of knives is vast.
With CRK you have reached one end.
So many dimensions to explore it can be fun or a spell, depends on how you look at it.
Did you take a look at the world of "custom knives"?
To some it is more than a cutting tool.
Maybe more like a journey.
 
DocJD said:
Your way of approaching a "hobby" is alien and bizarre to me . The whole point (for me) is to have a pleasurable pastime . It's not about getting to the end point as quickly as possible . It's about savoring the process of getting there . The trip rather than the destination . It's like you can't be bothered to experience life , but would rather get to the conclusion ASAP. Speed reading the Cliff Notes is not the same depth or quality of experience as reading the whole book .

It's not a race . There's no trophy for getting to the end first .

Deep breath ...hold it ...slowly exhale . Repeat . Relax and enjoy the ride . :)
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Gotta say, this is where I'm at it with it. I really can't say I agree with the idea that buying one knife because it's known to be of exceptional quality really qualifies someone to plant the flag and stand there like "Whelp, I've officially gotten a majority of the experience of this knife hobby!". Buying a CRK is great (I have multiple), but that's not even scratching the surface if we're being honest. You can't even really say you joined the knife world as a hobby at that point, more like a guy in a rented car passing in the night and never stopping. Going out and actually using a knife for extended periods of time, discovering what steels work the best for their (or your) intended applications, finding out what blade shapes you prefer through actually working with them in a variety of tasks, which makers have the best command of ergonomics, what handle materials work better or work to your preferences....so much more. Those are much bigger indicators of what this hobby is about.

I love my CRKs, but I also enjoy my Zero Tolerances for various reasons and in various areas that my CRKs are deficient in. They are fantastic knives, but aren't the best. Others cut better, others flip better, others have better ergos, others have better materials, still others have just as good (or better) fit and finish. But hey, I understand, dabbling isn't a crime. Enjoy your CRK, man.
 
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First thing...go to Walmart and buy a razor knife to break down boxes. To open boxes/envelopes you can buy any one of a 1,000 sub $50 knives that perform those tasks well.
 
MSchott said:
Interesting to compare a CRK to Rolex. It’s difficult to compare knife qualities to watch attributes. Rolex watches are iconic, functional and reliable. CRK knives are beautifully made, functional and reliably simple. I don’t think of Rolex watches as beautifully made compared to their competition like JLC and IWC. Grand Seiko is a brand comparable to CRK.
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Interesting take. Definitely got me thinking...

I think we are in agreement on 5 of the 6 traits you listed. I think that both crk and Rolex are
-iconic
-functional
-reliable
-functional
-reliably simple

Beautifully made is where I disagree...but I think that it may depend on which model you're thinking of.

In my mind, I'm thinking of a pj 21 vs a SS submariner.

I don't think of either one as beautiful in the artistic sense like a grand Seiko or a millit torrent or whatever floats your boat.

But I would agree with you that a 21 with wood inlay and a raindrop dascus blade would compare well to a grand Seiko with urishi dial.
 
BeyondTheBox said:
Every time I get involved with a hobby I start cheap and progress, and every time, at the end, I regret spending the money I did on all the high end stuff that wasn't any better than the first stuff I bought, on whole.

To me, in the end, you're buying name and prestige. But prestige doesn't get you anything or anywhere other than wasted dollars.
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Totally agree man it’s like an addiction every time ZT comes out with a new knife I feel like I gotta have it. But I bought dozens of Kershaws before buying my first ZT. If I could do it all over again I’d probly have 10 kershaws and 10 ZT’s and 5 grand in the bank lol
 
BeyondTheBox said:
Every time I get involved with a hobby I start cheap and progress, and every time, at the end, I regret spending the money I did on all the high end stuff that wasn't any better than the first stuff I bought, on whole.

To me, in the end, you're buying name and prestige. But prestige doesn't get you anything or anywhere other than wasted dollars.
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This is actually factually untrue.
 
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