Suffering from BRE (Blade Related Envy)

T

The German Shepherd

Joined
Feb 25, 2014
Messages
71
When I signed on here a few weeks ago, I had three Kershaws, a Case Trapper, a Bear and Son 3 blade, a couple of Spydercos and a couple of Benchmades along with a Victorinox Swisschamp. Since joining I have traded for and/or purchased the following: a Kershaw Cryo and Leek Composite Blade, a Spyderco Delica, a Benchmade Apparition, a Cold Steel American Lawman and today I have a Spyderco Native 5 coming in the mail AND I AM STILL NOT SATISFIED. When I look at the pictures you all post it makes me want to throw all my knives out and start over! :eek:

Seriously speaking I am suffering from BRE...I would give my first born and one of my cats for a ZT 560 or 561 but being a poor country preacher boy I will probably never be able to afford a ZT 560 or 561, but that is okay. I have been bitten by the "bug."

The pictures you all post are excellent. I love looking at them and some of you have some serious photo-talent. I love BF and will pony-up soon and become a paying member...

Jay
 
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You can find one of these for a little over $150. Stunning quality and finish with a bank-vault locked in a safe kind of lock-up. (ZT 0200)
When I get jealous (which is alot of times on these forums) I start using my knives more. You get a sense of "bonding" with the knives you have.
 
The German Shepherd said:
When I signed on here a few weeks ago, I had three Kershaws, a Case Trapper, a Bear and Son 3 blade, a couple of Spydercos and a couple of Benchmades along with a Victorinox Swisschamp. Since joining I have traded for and/or purchased the following: a Kershaw Cryo and Leek Composite Blade, a Spyderco Delica, a Benchmade Apparition, a Cold Steel American Lawman and today I have a Spyderco Native 5 coming in the mail AND I AM STILL NOT SATISFIED. When I look at the pictures you all post it makes me want to throw all my knives out and start over! :eek:

Seriously speaking I am suffering from BRE...I would give my first born and one of my cats for a ZT 560 or 561 but being a poor country preacher boy I will probably never be able to afford a ZT 560 or 561, but that is okay. I have been bitten by the "bug."

The pictures you all post are excellent. I love looking at them and some of you have some serious photo-talent. I love BF and will pony-up soon and become a paying member...

Jay
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Have you ever thought about selling some of those knives to pay for a 560, and then maybe you'll be satisfied or at least closer to being satisfied? The total worth of your list is easily more than the price of one. I had the same issue buying a bunch of middle ground knives thinking I needed one of everything, always looking for the next knife, and I made the decision to sell a few to fund some higher end stuff. Then, finally I was satisfied when I got what I wanted.

But buy several, find out what you like, sell the rest, and think of it as a "rental" fee for the few dollars you may lose from selling.
 
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I found myself in the same scenario. I got me a 550, two actually, and a 560. Loved them, but still not satisfied. My advice?
I received my first two in the last month and you probably already know what I'm going to say

Sebenza

It broke my bank the most since I started the job I'm at now in October, but it was well worth it. There is much to be read about CRK out there...delve into it my friend. It might save you a few bucks in the long run searching for the satisfaction I was looking for.
 
mrdabble said:
Sebenza
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This is the route I've taken as well plus WH's, but with you being a newer knifenut, your tastes will evolve over time and I won't push you in this direction just yet. Enjoy the ride, try out a few things. Find some good deals on the exchange, become a paying member, and sell off what you decide you don't like. You'll find out in time what satisfies you. Not everyone has to spend $300-$1000 on a knife to be satisfied. Some people just want a good tool to actually cut with, and some of the best cutting knives I own are in the $60-$150 range...actually maybe $25. Some people like having lots of variety in their collection. To some, a 560 may be their grail, and that's perfectly fine. At one time, I could never fathom paying over $150 for a knife, but tastes evolve and buying/collecting philosophies change. You may buy a 560 and decide a real Hinderer is your grail, and you can expect to spend a good bit more than a plain jane Sebenza. CRKs aren't necessarily my grail, I don't really have a grail, but I have really become finally content and satisfied, if you will, with my purchases to the point that it wouldn't hurt my feelings if I had to sell off the rest of my collection and go the rest of my life with my two Sebs and future Mnandi. But that'd just be boring, now wouldn't it? :D
 
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Thank you for elaborating...I didn't mean to push a sebbie on you Shep...like upfaengr I also could not fathom spending anymore that what I did on the higher end ZT's....until the carbon fiber Sebenza arrived.
I think it was the Insingo blade shape that finally got to me, many said its shape was extremely useful. I digress, enjoy your hobby, this was just my .02¢ from my experience.
 
bladeboss said:
When I get jealous (which is alot of times on these forums) I start using my knives more. You get a sense of "bonding" with the knives you have.
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Careful that can backfire. The more I use my inexpensive knives the less I care about the spendy ones. :eek:
 
May I suggest picking up knife sharpening as a hobby, you can do it on the cheap. If you can control yourself. A basic norton economy stone and a block of compound can get your pretty far. You can easily build your own strops on the cheap and from what I hear they perform just as good as the fancy ones you buy as it's more on technique than anything. If you want to get a bit more fancy a $20 norton combination stone such as an India or Crystolon can get you pretty far. Experiment with different sharpening techniques as well as building your strops and trying the compound on different materials. To give you an idea my favorite setup right now is a crystolon norton economy stone and a tube of the worlds cheapest green polishing compound "crayoned" onto a notecard to strop on, all the materials set me back $10. I use an old mouse pad I was going to throw away to keep the stone in place and dish soap + water in a squeeze bottle to keep the stone from clogging up instead of oil.

Reason why I mention this as a hobby is because I found that I have for the most part don't really care about "supersteels" or any premium steels anymore. I know I can get a knife dang sharp with a little work so my thing now is does the knife have an edge retention thats "good enough". It really kills the desire to spend a large amount of money on a lot of higher end knives as I typically take them apart and fine tune them anyway so the fit and finish is typically far better than what you get from the factory when I am done.

As an added perk once you reprofile/sharpen a knife and do a good job at it you can really see what the knife is capable of and let me tell you something even something measly as an Opinel or SAK can get downright scary in how easy they cut things up.

In fact my current favorite knife is a $10 Rough Rider Canoe, it's not fancy or uses any exotic materials but it's comfy in the hand and it cuts pretty good. I hope that the day I pick up a Case CV Canoe it will knock it off it's throne, but if it can't I am just going to call it a day and start carrying a strip of sandpaper in my wallet to make myself feel better as I feel the edge retention is lacking for the heavier duty chores.

Also try to slow down your knife spending spree. I find when you buy a lot of knives very quickly you don't take the time to appreciate the differences and learn what you like and dislike and refine your tastes. I bought 4 knives at once before 2 Colt carbon steel slipjoints (their slipjoints actually are pretty good budget knives) which were a Canoe and Trapper as well as a Rough Rider Copperhead and Wenger Patriot. The Copperhead and Canoe saw pocket time maybe once or twice, the Trapper about twice that. The Wenger Patriot got knocked up to being one of my favorites and gets pocket time whenever I want something small that I forget about till I want to cut something. I've learned nothing about the other knives except I thought they were too thick to carry comfortably where as I usually force myself to carry them for awhile and learn exactly what I like and dislike and my tastes are far more refined afterwards.

To give you an example after having handled so many knives I can tell you for one handed folders I prefer a grippy handle, thumbstuds, tip down carry a must, 2.5-3in blade preferably 2.5-2.75in, deep pocket carry preferred on clip, nice sharp point, 1/8in thick blade max preferably less, liner/frame lock preferred, and I am not too picky about the steel as long as I find it adequate. I learned all this from carrying and using knives over a period of time you find out a lot more about your likes and dislikes when you use one for awhile and learn it's strengths and weaknesses.
 
Bob6794 said:
May I suggest picking up knife sharpening as a hobby, you can do it on the cheap. If you can control yourself. A basic norton economy stone and a block of compound can get your pretty far. You can easily build your own strops on the cheap and from what I hear they perform just as good as the fancy ones you buy as it's more on technique than anything. If you want to get a bit more fancy a $20 norton combination stone such as an India or Crystolon can get you pretty far. Experiment with different sharpening techniques as well as building your strops and trying the compound on different materials. To give you an idea my favorite setup right now is a crystolon norton economy stone and a tube of the worlds cheapest green polishing compound "crayoned" onto a notecard to strop on, all the materials set me back $10. I use an old mouse pad I was going to throw away to keep the stone in place and dish soap + water in a squeeze bottle to keep the stone from clogging up instead of oil.

Reason why I mention this as a hobby is because I found that I have for the most part don't really care about "supersteels" or any premium steels anymore. I know I can get a knife dang sharp with a little work so my thing now is does the knife have an edge retention thats "good enough". It really kills the desire to spend a large amount of money on a lot of higher end knives as I typically take them apart and fine tune them anyway so the fit and finish is typically far better than what you get from the factory when I am done.

As an added perk once you reprofile/sharpen a knife and do a good job at it you can really see what the knife is capable of and let me tell you something even something measly as an Opinel or SAK can get downright scary in how easy they cut things up.

In fact my current favorite knife is a $10 Rough Rider Canoe, it's not fancy or uses any exotic materials but it's comfy in the hand and it cuts pretty good. I hope that the day I pick up a Case CV Canoe it will knock it off it's throne, but if it can't I am just going to call it a day and start carrying a strip of sandpaper in my wallet to make myself feel better as I feel the edge retention is lacking for the heavier duty chores.

Also try to slow down your knife spending spree. I find when you buy a lot of knives very quickly you don't take the time to appreciate the differences and learn what you like and dislike and refine your tastes. I bought 4 knives at once before 2 Colt carbon steel slipjoints (their slipjoints actually are pretty good budget knives) which were a Canoe and Trapper as well as a Rough Rider Copperhead and Wenger Patriot. The Copperhead and Canoe saw pocket time maybe once or twice, the Trapper about twice that. The Wenger Patriot got knocked up to being one of my favorites and gets pocket time whenever I want something small that I forget about till I want to cut something. I've learned nothing about the other knives except I thought they were too thick to carry comfortably where as I usually force myself to carry them for awhile and learn exactly what I like and dislike and my tastes are far more refined afterwards.

To give you an example after having handled so many knives I can tell you for one handed folders I prefer a grippy handle, thumbstuds, tip down carry a must, 2.5-3in blade preferably 2.5-2.75in, deep pocket carry preferred on clip, nice sharp point, 1/8in thick blade max preferably less, liner/frame lock preferred, and I am not too picky about the steel as long as I find it adequate. I learned all this from carrying and using knives over a period of time you find out a lot more about your likes and dislikes when you use one for awhile and learn it's strengths and weaknesses.
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Very good advice here especially about learning how to sharpen. Learning to freehand will set you free.
 
I recall being in your shoes. Then I learned to have patience and run a slush fund my ( now ex ) wife didn't know about. Pretty soon I was buying the knives I wished I could get a year or two before.

I recall not being able to afford a real Buck 110. Now it's new and interesting sprint runs in different steels and customs. I still have an old box of inexpensive knives that if I had the money I spent on would buy a couple nice customs.
 
uofaengr said:
Have you ever thought about selling some of those knives to pay for a 560, and then maybe you'll be satisfied or at least closer to being satisfied? The total worth of your list is easily more than the price of one. I had the same issue buying a bunch of middle ground knives thinking I needed one of everything, always looking for the next knife, and I made the decision to sell a few to fund some higher end stuff. Then, finally I was satisfied when I got what I wanted.

But buy several, find out what you like, sell the rest, and think of it as a "rental" fee for the few dollars you may lose from selling.
Click to expand...
Couldn't agree more, I was the same way exactly. Sold off everything and got a Sebenza along with a few others and I am set. I have about 8 knives now and while I do have a list still of knives I'd like I'm not to concerned about buying that next one now or anything.
 
My ZT 0560 was what got me on here in the first place. I then found my true passion in several different Spyderco's and traded the ZT 0560. Its a tank of a knife.
My advice. You know you want it so save up for it or buy a membership and sell others to help he you there. When you covet a knife it doesn't go away. I just got my grail knife in the form of a Spyderco Superhawk. Still in the honeymoon phase. I'll have a new "need" in a week.
 
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