That's a nice knife

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db

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I've found that just about everyone will think even a crappy knife is a good knife if you get it sharp enough. Even alot of people that know something about knives will judge a knife by it's sharpeness first and farmost. As I'm a knife snob I cann't help but think that they are more right than they are wrong by ignoring most everything else like fit finish and quality. Oh the good old days when I was just happy with a sharp knife and didn't know all I know about knife quality. :)

I do love when a person tells me that there knife is a pos and then I sharpen it up for them and all of a sudden they change their mind about it. After that the road to knife geekdom is just ahead. :)
 
For the most part I agree with you in principle. A knife that will take a good edge will get the job done. It doesn't need to be expensive.

However, a knife that will take a good edge, and HOLD it to any reasonable degree already posesses a certain level of quality, in the steel at least.

Personally however overall quality still holds a high level of importance with me.

Fit and finish, especially as it relates to balance and comfort in the hand is very important to me. This isn't necessarily price related, I have handled some high end knives that I passed on purchasing because I didn't like the feel. It takes time and effort for a manufacture/maker to pay extra attention to detail, so I do understand that there is usually a price premium associated with better knives. But, here too you occasionaly find budget knives that defy that logic.

For me:
Cheap knives - No thank you :thumbdn:
Decent Quality budget knives - have their place :thumbup:
Above average knives with superior materials and fit & finish :thumbup::thumbup:

Kevin
 
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Kevin I've found that if you give a very crappy steel a good thinning and very sharp edge you can get some pretty good edge holding and performance out of it. In fact even with a soft stainless butter knife with a good edge gets alot better performance than most out of the box factory edges. Alot of people just have no idea what a sharp knife can cut like, and when you give them a very sharp knife they almost always think the knife is a good one no matter what the quality really is.
 
I'm not disagreeing with you, just stating my personal prference, which tends to favor higher quality knives.

I'm not dismissing good quality budget priced knives.

I have had some cheap knives that will not take an edge, thus my philosophy that a knife that will at least take an edge is a decent knife, even if it is inexpensive.

i.e. I differentiate between cheap (= junk) and inexpensive (= good value).

Kevin
 
Knives are a lot like vehicles. A basic car will get us where we are going, but many of us want nice paint, cloth seats, and cup holders. Likewise, a basic sharp knife will cut stuff, but us knuts like things like special steels, better handle materials, and better fit and finish.
 
pvicenzi said:
Knives are a lot like vehicles. A basic car will get us where we are going, but many of us want nice paint, cloth seats, and cup holders. Likewise, a basic sharp knife will cut stuff, but us knuts like things like special steels, better handle materials, and better fit and finish.
Click to expand...

True that

Kevin
 
db said:
I've found that just about everyone will think even a crappy knife is a good knife if you get it sharp enough. Even alot of people that know something about knives will judge a knife by it's sharpeness first and farmost. As I'm a knife snob I cann't help but think that they are more right than they are wrong by ignoring most everything else like fit finish and quality. Oh the good old days when I was just happy with a sharp knife and didn't know all I know about knife quality. :)

I do love when a person tells me that there knife is a pos and then I sharpen it up for them and all of a sudden they change their mind about it. After that the road to knife geekdom is just ahead. :)
Click to expand...

Most traditional knife companies figured out long ago that what most users want is a knife that sharpens easily, because the average knife user does not have great sharpening skills. A lot of my friends are in that category, and STR has some great stories about it. Shoot, even here you see folks posting about sending their knives out to a sharpening service.

Because you are right, db, what most folks judge a knife by is how sharp they can get it.
 
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