style over substance: a long confession

Skytorn said:
The confession: I'm a knife poser. I have no need for anything other than a dinky Swiss Army. I have literally zero reason to buy a tactical folder or a stiletto. But I think they look cool, I admire the aesthetic quality, I like the style and beauty and sheer badassery inherent in a knife like this
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I think WAY more members are in your exact position than they'd care to admit. The only difference might be that some members buy thousands of dollars worth of Busses they have literally zero reason to buy, whereas some do the same with lower-end blades ;)

Like what philwar said, I, for one, don't NEED aluminum/G10 handled, one-hand opening locking folders and stuff like that, but I like them. I can get by perfectly well with just a swiss army knife and did exactly that before I got what you'd call the 'knife bug'. :p
 
Well, I'm very glad to see that actual Spyderco owners agree with me that those are ugly knives. Kind of like Buckley's Cough Syrup, eh? It tastes awful, and it works.

Now if people could be convinced that Busse knives look drab and lame... :p
 
I used to be the same way. Why the hell would somebody spend $400 for a knife when a $50 Kabar will do just as much?

Then I broke two Kabars on a camping trip batonning hard wood for a fire. A friend of mine got out his Busse and it laughed at the feeble hard wood. Then I bought a Scrapyard Yard Guard for about $125 if I recall correctly.

Then, because of how well these knives perform, and how much abuse they can really take, I became addicted to Busse and kin. Over the next couple of years I bought several more.

But to each his own. I have a bunch of cheaper knives, too. I just don't use them anymore.

As far as aesthetics go, it's a very subjective thing. I greatly prefer the boring, utilitarian appearance of a CG Busse.

Welcome to BF.
 
Hey I started out knid of like that too. I grew up poor and simply could not aford high end knives though I would have liked them. So I bought cheap knives that looked cool to me.

I also loved to use and abuse these knives, and quickly found out how poorly some of them functioned, and how easily some of them broke. It was a good learning experiance and helped me to better judge and appreciate a truely good knife.

I now have a somewhat wide variety of blades ranging from $10 beaters, to $500+ users, to replica LOTR swords that I think are beautifull but are compleately useless for anything other than looking at or fondling.

There is a lot of knife snobbery on here, but that is just because most people on this forum are passionate about their blades. Though I will say that I am of the opinion that you don't always have to spend a ton of money to get a knife that is usefull or trusty.

I think that one of the more over looked afordable brands is United Cutlery. I know they don't use the latest super steels, but I have several blades from them that I have beat the crap out of over the corse of many years and they have held up spectacularly well! I'll admit they won't hold an edge as long as my VG-10 or S30V blades, but they have proven to be very tough and useful.

So yeah, buy what you like and don't worry too much about what some people may say. Though there is plenty of good advise to be found here if you sort through the snobbery. ....For instance, you will at some point get the urge to take one of your "cool" looking knives/swords out into the woods to whack some trees or something, and that is where you need to be able to determine the differance between a cheap "looker" of a knife and a cheap "user" or as I like to call them "beater" knife. Other wise you could end up with a broken blade sticking in your own tender hide. So just be careful. :)

-And welcome to the forums!
 
Now if people could be convinced that Busse knives look drab and lame
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Agreed! +1 on that!

But they look scary as hell! Conjures up nightmares of NOSS chasing me in his mask with the Battle Mistress......:eek:
 
Don't sell Rough Rider short. They are not junk, or, at least the dozen or so I have had have not been. They are honest working knives and they offer patterns not widely available, notably locking sodbusters. I buy knives to use, and I use them hard, but I don't use them to chop wood. Rough Riders hold up under my use, and they are so cheap I keep spares for when I lose one or give it away.

There's nothing like giving away knives to build goodwill, both personal and for knives in general. I can afford to tell someone who needed a knife they did not have to just keep a Rough Rider. I could not do that with more expensive knives.
 
cziv said:
I think you said this mmarkh, but I'm not picking an argument, just making a point. I guess this trade would be one of the "very few exceptions?" There's no comparison in most cases, for me anyway. :)

If ya like 'em buy 'em!! :thumbup:
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You got me all wrong cziv.I don't even own one knife made in China. My comment was in reference to the many posts I have read about some knives such as the Tenacious which is made in China. I won't buy them for reasons that can't be discussed in this forum because they are political reasons but many people claim they are of good quality. I don't really know because I never held one.
 
Someday soon you will hold a really nice knife in your hand and you will say. "oh. That 's why." Then there is no turning back. I am holding my first Busse in my hand. just received it today. It is a satin red game warden. I Swore I would never do it. But I did. All I can say is "Wow". This knife is the Sh*t.
 
jackman2 said:
Someday soon you will hold a really nice knife in your hand and you will say. "oh. That 's why." Then there is no turning back. I am holding my first Busse in my hand. just received it today. It is a satin red game warden. I Swore I would never do it. But I did. All I can say is "Wow". This knife is the Sh*t.
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You aren't kidding about that. My Game Warden is probably the toughest knife I own. I love that knife.
 
jackman2 said:
Someday soon you will hold a really nice knife in your hand and you will say. "oh. That 's why." Then there is no turning back. I am holding my first Busse in my hand. just received it today. It is a satin red game warden. I Swore I would never do it. But I did. All I can say is "Wow". This knife is the Sh*t.
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And another one bites the dust. Welcome to the addiction.
 
jackman2 said:
Someday soon you will hold a really nice knife in your hand and you will say. "oh. That 's why." Then there is no turning back. I am holding my first Busse in my hand. just received it today. It is a satin red game warden. I Swore I would never do it. But I did. All I can say is "Wow". This knife is the Sh*t.
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Ha I remember holding my first Busse, a game warden as well, and thinking that my hobby just got a lot more expensive! :D
 
I just bought my first real folder, a CS Recon 1. I thought that I now had the cat's pajamas in knives. Then I start browsing in some forums and I get to realize that or rather I was made to realize that my beloved folder was next to junk by some guys who I wouldn't even be satisfied by 400-500 dollar folders. So What's going on? how good is good enough?I realize that the answer depends on what I need my knife for. My knife is going to be used for everyday tasks which will be nothing heavy but it's also there for last ditch self defense when my glock runs out of bullets. Now again How good does it need to be to be adequate for this? some tell me to buy what i want and enjoy but I would really want to know the real score. How good is good enough? thanks for reading my rant. :)
 
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With a very few exceptions I don't find this to be true that Chinese quality matches US.
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I apologize mmarkh...my bad for not concentrating :foot:

You were quite clear in what you posted.
 
doesnt US made just mean made by immigrants working minimum wage anyway?

i LOVE every bit of a spyderco
 
Dorito Monk said:
If you find the right knife for you, why upgrade?
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I used to not think about it but now i worry about failing locks and cutting my fingers off after all the dire warnings. I saw a video where a huge guy hung on an open recon 1. i guess the guys who warned me of failing locks and other stuff didn't believe the video. so now i worry. should I worry?
 
I personally find the cheap knives look terrible and function just as poorly. Different strokes for different folks :thumbup::thumbup:
 
I used to not think about it but now i worry about failing locks and cutting my fingers off after all the dire warnings. I saw a video where a huge guy hung on an open recon 1. i guess the guys who warned me of failing locks and other stuff didn't believe the video. so now i worry. should I worry?
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I wouldn't worry one bit singularity35. Cold Steel has always bragged on and proved it's locks, sharpness & blade strength ON VIDEO! You saw it right?

If you still don't trust it, get a phonebook and lock the blade open. Get your fingers AWAY from where the blade folds into the handle and smack the back of that sucker into the phone book harder and harder until you say to yourself "what the h*ll was I worrying about," and laugh.

There's a lot of CS haters around. I have 3 CS fixed blades, two large Voyagers, and a Ti-lite with a monstrous liner-lock. I don't sweat them one bit and every one of them is really nicely made.

Enjoy your knife dude! :D :thumbup:
 
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