Skipping rungs on the quality ladder?

bpeezer said:
I think I may go for a knife in the $100-$200 range to test the waters. Thinking Spyderco Sage Carbon Fiber, Benchmade 300SN, ZT 770 or 801 (don't want to wait though :rolleyes:), Emerson Mini Commander, or Mcusta Gentleman's Knife. The list may change a little, but as it is I'll probably take a good month to decide which one I want. Any particularly good or bad in this list?
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I would suggest the Spyderco Gayle Bradley.That knife will outclass knives twice its price.
 
DB731 said:
Can it be assumed that custom knives will always be of higher quality?

How about China vs Taiwan? US vs Japan? Any patterns there?
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A lot of custom folders I've handled in person had fit & finish, lock-up, terrible edge grinds, blade centering problems or quality control issues as well as other shortcomings that were easily noticed almost immediately. Just my experience though.


Taiwan made knives are some of the best I've owned or seen; especially Spydercos made in Taiwan... The Gayle Bradley, Vallotton, Tuff and many others are all knives that have an incredible level of F&F to them for the price as well as use great materials.
 
I'd suggest trying them out at a local knife store if you can. I've never gone above $150 personally. Handled a Chris Reeve at the shop, and couldn't really see much of a difference from my Spyderco Navaja at the moment (in fit and finish that is.) If the tolerances are that good, but I can't tell the difference in the tolerances, do they really exist? So I've stayed below that price range, mainly because anything higher would not really affect how I feel about the knife, and there's the fact that if it costs so much, I wouldn't use it as much, and if I lost it, I'd be really upset. IMO, the Spydercos from the Taizhong factory are amazing, and to me, on par with Chris Reeves.
 
I would suggest the Spyderco Gayle Bradley.That knife will outclass knives twice its price.
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Good call on the GB, an excellent example of a production knife with a street price in the low 100's that can stand toe to toe with many knives well over $200. Customs are no different. I bought a custom in the low 100's in the exchange that has better fit, finish and overall quality than one I have from a well regarded maker that cost much more. There are many examples out there of knives that can compete at a higher price point range and on the flip side there are some knives that deliver far less than what they are going for. Price, whether retail or street, is not IMO a reliable indicator of the quality, design and performance of knives that are to be used. Collectors, obviously, are a different story.
 
As far as price ranges go there is going to be a difference and or differences between the lower range ($100) and the higher ranges ($300 - $500) knives.

The differences may or may not be noticed right off the bat or to the bare eye, but they are there, things like grades of materials for example aren't necessarily noticed right off.

Are the screws hardened or not, what steel is used in the smaller parts and is that hardened, what grade of G10, titanium is really used, what is the tolerance range, is the blade steel properly treated and how exactly?

Like I posted before, the sweet spot is in the $130 - $200 range, but don't fool yourselves into thinking that is in the same league as the higher end $300 - $500 knives.
 
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I started out about the same as (Original Poster), but jumped up to the $100 range over a decade ago. For the past decade, I've delved into the $300+ range, and enjoyed the knives I was able to handle, but I've sold almost all of them. I've since settled at around the $150-200 range (as Ankerson has pointed out as the "sweet spot), and will most likely stay there, for the most part. I'll occasionally get sub-100, and I do have a couple above $300 (William Henry, Microtech Scarab, Kershaw Volt), but for me, the most bang for the buck, as far as quality materials, fit and finish and excellence of design, I like the stuff I find around $150 +/- $50.
 
Daniel Dorn said:
I started out about the same as (Original Poster), but jumped up to the $100 range over a decade ago. For the past decade, I've delved into the $300+ range, and enjoyed the knives I was able to handle, but I've sold almost all of them. I've since settled at around the $150-200 range (as Ankerson has pointed out as the "sweet spot), and will most likely stay there, for the most part. I'll occasionally get sub-100, and I do have a couple above $300 (William Henry, Microtech Scarab, Kershaw Volt), but for me, the most bang for the buck, as far as quality materials, fit and finish and excellence of design, I like the stuff I find around $150 +/- $50.
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For the knives (Folders) I carry and use the most, they are in that range because they give me what I need based on what I use my knives for.

The folder that is in my pocket and the one that gets used the most is this one:

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I think it comes down to buying what you like, at a price that you can afford. There is always chance you will be disappointed by whatever you buy for whatever reason--spending more money doesn't protect you from that. I find the sweet spot (as others have said) is in many Spydero offerings like the Sages, Calys or Chaparrals.
 
Ankerson said:
Personally I think the sweet spot is the $130 to $200 range because you can get the quality, the steels and reasonable fit and finish along with durability, and it covers a lot of different models.
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I agree completely. midtechs like sebenzas, striders, hinderer etc, are mayybbeee 0.05% "better" than a $150 spyderco. The whole "fit and finish" value of these knives is massively over blown on forums in my opinion. Meanwhile the spyderco that costs half as much has better materials, ergonomics, and blade geometry. I know what I'll choose.

Of course, it's all subjective. If that fraction of a percent of "fit and finish" makes you want to pay double, then get it.
 
goodeyesniper said:
I agree completely. midtechs like sebenzas, striders, hinderer etc, are mayybbeee 0.05% "better" than a $150 spyderco. The whole "fit and finish" value of these knives is massively over blown on forums in my opinion. Meanwhile the spyderco that costs half as much has better materials, ergonomics, and blade geometry. I know what I'll choose.

Of course, it's all subjective. If that fraction of a percent of "fit and finish" makes you want to pay double, then get it.
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I think there is a lot of truth in that. :)

It really comes down to what people want and or need and that's taking into count the real differences in the price ranges.

Even though the differences are really there one has to decide if they really NEED and or WANT what those differences give them.
 
Id skip the cheaper knives if you plan on buying a lot of knives simply because of the re-sell value of higher priced knives. Not only that but buy knives that are desirable to others. Like someone once told me if your curious now you might aswell pull the trigger on a higher end knife if not you will always wonder what your missing. You nay try one and personally not think your missing anything. If so you can always sell it at little to no loss depending on the knife.
 
Strigamort said:
I think I understand where you're coming from. In my case though I went from low end to high end by accident really. I ended up trading for some nice knives then realized that I totally skipped the mid end (well mostly anyway) . Nowadays I have a nice mix.

I really think you should try the mid priced knives before you jump to the high end. It gives you more perspective on what seriously good f&f is. You may also find that the jump in price is not worth the difference. You wouldn't know that unless you had something to compare it to.

May I suggest that you look at Benchmades mid priced knives along with Spydercos taichung knives, and maybe ZT if you like the style.
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Agreed. I suggest looking at Benchmades and Taichung Spydercos before moving into the realm of CRK. I would not have been able to enjoy or appreciate the features that justify a Sebenza 21's higher price if I had not handled a large number of $150-$200 knifes before hand.

Depending on your needs, the following are among the best values for the money:

EDC - Benchmade 940, Spyderco Sage 1, and Spyderco PM 2 (the 940 is my all-around favorite smaller EDC blade; great handle to blade ratio, weight, and aesthetics).

Hard Use, Larger EDC - Benchmade 710 (M390/CPM-M4 version); Spyderco Gayle Bradley.
 
My very first knife was a Gerber Paraframe II which is total garbage. Once I learned of this site, my first "real" knife purchase was a Benchmade 710 and it took years to find something I liked as much as that. I think you can get them for around $115. The Spyderco Gayle Bradley is also very well built and has good materials, I just don't like the handle ergonomics that much. I spent $225 on my ZT 560 and honestly that's probably just about the most I'd spend on a production knife, because you can start getting some customs in the low 300s. That being said it's also by far my favorite knife and was easily worth the money. I think $100-low $200 is the place to be, I don't see much point going higher or lower than that aside from a few exceptions (Leek, Griptilian etc.)

Even the Kershaw Leeks are great knives that you can tell they're quality when you hold them.
 
Ankerson said:
As far as price ranges go there is going to be a difference and or differences between the lower range ($100) and the higher ranges ($300 - $500) knives.

The differences may or may not be noticed right off the bat or to the bare eye, but they are there, things like grades of materials for example aren't necessarily noticed right off.

Are the screws hardened or not, what steel is used in the smaller parts and is that hardened, what grade of G10, titanium is really used, what is the tolerance range, is the blade steel properly treated and how exactly?

Like I posted before, the sweet spot is in the $130 - $200 range, but don't fool yourselves into thinking that is in the same league as the higher end $300 - $500 knives.
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I think too many people are expecting the $400 knife to be twice as functional as the $200 knife. For 99.99% of the things I've had to cut in my life, my opinel that was under $10 would have been more than enough. If I weren't a knife nut, or if I judged knives purely on function and function alone, the idea of a $400 CRK or Hinderer would be absolutely outrageous compared to this opinel. Fact is, if you try to justify the purchase of a $400+ knife based on how useful it is going to be, you will most likely be searching for a very long time.
 
kaosu04 said:
I think too many people are expecting the $400 knife to be twice as functional as the $200 knife. For 99.99% of the things I've had to cut in my life, my opinel that was under $10 would have been more than enough. If I weren't a knife nut, or if I judged knives purely on function and function alone, the idea of a $400 CRK or Hinderer would be absolutely outrageous compared to this opinel. Fact is, if you try to justify the purchase of a $400+ knife based on how useful it is going to be, you will most likely be searching for a very long time.
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That's likely a lot of it, people thinking that if they pay $400 for a knife it should move mountains or something.

That's why we see posts and or threads like this one and others trying to compare some $40 knife to a $400 knife after talking themselves into believing there isn't a difference.

Most of it's about price as in it's always about the money no matter what people say or how they try and spin it...

Buyers remorse is another factor in that sometimes a person really can't afford that $400 knife, but buys it thinking it will move the world and then once they get it they send it right back to get their money back to pay that bill or whatever they really should have used that money for for in the 1st place.

My advice on those types of knives is this:

If a person can't take that $400 they would spend on that knife and literally afford to burn it then don't buy one..... If they are going to miss that $400 then keep the money.....

Save up for those types of knives, doesn't matter how long it takes to get the cash together because once the money is really there the person will be able to enjoy the knife a lot more because they aren't really putting themselves out to get it. :)
 
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That last line is great Jim, I'm going to tell it to my wife and see if she listens :)

Seriously good advice for young people though, I would have much more money if I had followed that principle before my several odd periods of brokeness.
 
I'm not much of a pocket knife guy. The spyderco military is the most I'll spend on one. The fit and finish are great and functionally it meets all my needs. I have no inkling to buy anything more expensive because;

As for fixed blades I've owned the gambit.
Mora~13
Condor~25
Becker~70
ESEE~100
Scrapyard/Swamprat~150
A few customs~100-220

Some knives had nicer materials, some were stronger(though I've yet to break a mora), and some had a real nice fit and finish. But,

The mora had good fit and finish and performs very well. The only fault I can find is the cheaper handle material.
The condors fit and finish is not so great and the grinds on some of their models aren't so stellar. The Thai Enep was so horrid I threw it in the garbage. A scandi grind on a 1/4" thick piece of steel is a waste of steel.
The beckers, esees and the busse-kin ALL had edges that were too thick to actually cut stuff. Prying and splitting sure but cutting, they were so so. They also had minor fit and finish problems.
The customs were a huge let down. I do have one from David Farmer that I love but he's on the cheap end for customs. The spendier ones either had odd ball blade shapes that I couldn't get used to, uneven grinds that were worse then factory, and the most expensive ones had brick handles.

IMO the only reason to buy spendy knives is to get something "nice." And there's nothing wrong with that. I just don't believe that you're getting anything else for your money. Out of all of these knives I still use the Mora because it performed better then the others.
 
OrdnanceBubbaUSMC said:
That last line is great Jim, I'm going to tell it to my wife and see if she listens :)

Seriously good advice for young people though, I would have much more money if I had followed that principle before my several odd periods of brokeness.
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I pay cash for all of the knives I own, always save up for them, never go into debt buying them or use the money that should have been used for something else.

That way they are really mine from the start and in the future if I choose to sell one that money is really extra and not money I should have had to spend on something else.

That's why when I do put something up for sale I want what I want for it and I won't bargain, I will pull it because I really don't NEED to sell it..... ;)
 
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