style over substance: a long confession

If you're buying knives you like @ a price you can afford you're on the right track for you. That's what All collectors do. As your budget increases or your addiction grows stronger these knives will serve as a reminder of the journey. I still have a few knives that survived my youth, and wish I had them all. I love and cherish them as much as the knives I've payed a lot more for and the knives I make. They give a frame of reference, a starting point, and as I stated earlier a beginning of a journey.
 
If you're buying knives you like @ a price you can afford you're on the right track for you. That's what All collectors do. As your budget increases or your addiction grows stronger these knives will serve as a reminder of the journey. I still have a few knives that survived my youth, and wish I had them all. I love and cherish them as much as the knives I've payed a lot more for and the knives I make. They give a frame of reference, a starting point, and as I stated earlier a beginning of a journey
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That's the cycle Djinn! :D

I sold off all of my (what I consider) junk. I'm sure the ones I've kept as "my collection" would be politely sniggered at by a lot of collectors here. 2010 is my sell-off year. I plan on keeping a 2 Izulas, an RC-4, USMC KA-BAR, a Mil-Spec machete, 4 Benchmades, 2 Spydercos and I think that's it. I would like to check out the new Izula folder but we'll see.

The rest are going, starting in November. So far I haven't lost money on what I've sold to date. Maybe some PayPal fees, but I made money on a couple so I'm about even on reimbursement to date.
 
I dont buy or use cheap knives. If it doesnt cost 4 digits I wont even look at it. I make it rain, and cheap knives knock down my shine.

But in all seriousness, buy the knife that will give you the most enjoyment, that you can still afford.
 
It's a bit fun to see that lots of people share my thoughts. I have no idea how CRK manages to sell any Sebenzas at all--maybe Seb owners can answer this one.

I hear about their incredible quality, but is it really > $300 worth of quality? In what exact ways is it better than a folder of similar size and profile, using, say, 440C construction?

On a related note, can someone ID the knife in my opening post?

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It's a United Cutlery piece, but I can't find it in their catalogues anywhere.
 
Luckely we all have an option. We are all attracted to different things. You like the visual aspect of knives. Others spend a lot of money on the Spyderco
Mule because the same design comes in different steel. Some buy Busses because they are made from "INFI" for some reason. I don't understand but hey buy what you like. If looks are your trigger buy what looks good. If we all had the same taste we would all be trying to date the same girl, drive the same car, and wore the same clothes. If you like Gil Hibben knives, buy them. I think they are ugly, but Gil Hibben is a great smith. If you want to buy the Gil Hibben as a KLO (knife like object) made from 410 steel and zamak be my guest.
 
Skytorn said:
I have no idea how CRK manages to sell any Sebenzas at all--maybe Seb owners can answer this one.

I hear about their incredible quality, but is it really > $300 worth of quality? In what exact ways is it better than a folder of similar size and profile, using, say, 440C construction?
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Same way PRS, Mercedes-Benz, Tiffany's, Rolex, etc. manage to sell their products.

"Quality" is one way to measure enjoyment that you get out of an item. Sebenzas do have incredibly good manufacturing, it is certainly better than any other knife I have ever owned.

But you also get a knife that is Made in the USA, and there is much hand fitting and QC checking, so add some cost there.

The tooling costs a LOT of money, when you consider that CRK is operating on small batch sizes so a significant portion of the cost of a Sebenza is going towards fixed costs, where a volume manufacturer (e.g. buck, kershaw, benchmade, etc) can spread the fixed cost over many more items.

And you get some level of exclusivity, that is worth a lot to some people (not so much to me, I get much more pride in having a quality product made HERE, if everyone had a sebenza I would actually be happier because its something people should be able to get if they want).

There is also the matter of resale value, it offsets your cost of entry; you use the knife and you can basically rent it and get back whatever you didnt use out of it. I dont think you can say that about cheap knives.

I'm sure someone will come in here and talk about supply and demand but frankly you cannot apply that to sebenzas or other very high end knives. 1. they dont have perfect (or even close) substitutes and 2. sebenzas are not normal goods, they are giffen goods to some extent.

I have a second one coming to me, this one I will keep longer so I can make a better judgement. My answer the first time was "its worth it but this knife isnt for me", maybe it will be different this time.
 
I've never had an eye for the Sebenza, I like the Alias's blade configuration better.

I went back and re-checked to be sure my eyes weren't messing with me and found this interesting tidbit.

I looked at the price for the Sebenza & Umnumzaan on CRK website and compared it to one of the most lauded sites mentioned here at BF, for their service and lower than MSRP pricing and guess what? The CRK vendor's site was sold out of all of the Sebenza folding knife line and the prices were EXACTLY the same as buying from the manufacturer's site. Free shipping ($7.50 value) was the only perk for the vendor's site.

I'd buy from CRK website myself.

Sorry for getting off track. I thought it was interesting, didn't seem right.
 
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