Three Knives or $100 Rule…

timberweasel

timberweasel

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Like many of my fellow Forum members, I have a penchant for knife collecting: I have more than I need but less than I want. Of course, it can be an expensive hobby so I like to maximize my purchasing power.

I’m a fiend for scouring the online order sites. I love looking at knives, seeing what’s new, and watching videos/reading reviews of the knives that catch my eye. To me, this is “the thrill of the hunt”—chasing down the facts, weighing opinions and finally deciding if a particular knife is worth adding to my collection. But I’d wind up in a huge financial crater if I succumbed to my every whim. I have inadvertently developed a method/discipline for knife shopping, and it seems to be working fairly well so far… the ‘Three Knives or $100 Rule’.

I’ll hold off ordering until I find three knives that I really want or until the total is over $100. I find that this system slows me down, makes me a little more selective, and keeps the ‘knife-bug’ in check so I don’t end up with a drawer full of impulse buys. It also makes the cost of shipping a little easier for me to digest. Opening several tabs with shopping cart totals from different vendors and selecting the lowest price is the last step before clicking “Buy Now!” My days of spending <$100 plus shipping on a single knife are over…

I must admit, however, I’m very close to adopting the ‘Three Knives or $200 Rule’… :o

Anyone else have a system they care to share with the rest of the class? :thumbup:
 
I keep a handful of future purchases bookmarked: a high-price, couple mid, couple low. All purchases are the result of insomnia and a far-too convenient bedside laptop, so the bookmarks keep me from making terrible choices in my delirium. If they're all from the same vendor, then it's either 2x mid price and a low, or a high price and a low. If I'm looking at $200+, the bonus cheapie may be left on hold.

For every knife ticked off the list, the hunt for the new top priority piece in that price range begins. Can take a while to push an order through, but it gives me plenty of time to reconsider. If it stays in the list for a couple months without question, I definitely won't have any regrets. Having a couple upcoming Kershaws on the order list is staying my hand from putting any orders in. Not to mention, the last order was a doozie.

That said, I still check a half dozen sites every day regardless of actively searching or not.
 
I have no real rules for knife purchase. But I lean toward practical use. I have an inner battle at times because I KNOW that I have no real or practical use for some blades, but buy them anyway. I also go through periods were I get rid of knives. So some get bought for................. fun, if that makes any sense. The wife gets shoes\purses and I buy knives as ''toys'' because that's what we both jokingly call them. In the real world of outdoor practicality I could just buy a 4 inch F.B. and a hatchet\axe and be done with it. But that would be quite boring. I find it fun to fart around with different blade styles, materials, designs. But I seem to be refining my outdoor core use cutting tools the last year or so. So some are the real deal serious outdoor tools, and the rest are peripheral toys. That's were I'm at now.
 
timberweasel said:
Like many of my fellow Forum members, I have a penchant for knife collecting: I have more than I need but less than I want. Of course, it can be an expensive hobby so I like to maximize my purchasing power.

I&#8217;m a fiend for scouring the online order sites. I love looking at knives, seeing what&#8217;s new, and watching videos/reading reviews of the knives that catch my eye. To me, this is &#8220;the thrill of the hunt&#8221;&#8212;chasing down the facts, weighing opinions and finally deciding if a particular knife is worth adding to my collection. But I&#8217;d wind up in a huge financial crater if I succumbed to my every whim. I have inadvertently developed a method/discipline for knife shopping, and it seems to be working fairly well so far&#8230; the &#8216;Three Knives or $100 Rule&#8217;.

I&#8217;ll hold off ordering until I find three knives that I really want or until the total is over $100. I find that this system slows me down, makes me a little more selective, and keeps the &#8216;knife-bug&#8217; in check so I don&#8217;t end up with a drawer full of impulse buys. It also makes the cost of shipping a little easier for me to digest. Opening several tabs with shopping cart totals from different vendors and selecting the lowest price is the last step before clicking &#8220;Buy Now!&#8221; My days of spending <$100 plus shipping on a single knife are over&#8230;

I must admit, however, I&#8217;m very close to adopting the &#8216;Three Knives or $200 Rule&#8217;&#8230; :o

Anyone else have a system they care to share with the rest of the class? :thumbup:
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That is a pretty good rule, but seeing as the next 4 knives in my queue are over 100 bucks, that won't work for me...

I go by the rule of waiting at least a week after I want the knife. I spend that week reading every review I can find. Even all the amazon reviews and the entirety of the nutnfancy videos. Then if I still want it and funds allow, I will buy it.

I find that this process polarizes my view a lot. By the end of the week, I am either really apathetic about the knife, or my desire is greatly increased. So it helps by making me more selective, while at the same time building up more anticipation.
 
I just try to have a limit, both lower and upper, $90 at the least ( I find I don't carry or end up selling most knives below this limit such as knives that use AUS-8, 440C, FRN, lower quality build with a few exceptions (Spyderco Salt series or Ladybugs) My upper limit is set at $300 that is until I have purchased the guns I want (still have to get a .308 Tikka, S&W M&P 9Pro, Kahr CW9, and build an AR) and this is because I can't see buying a knife when I could have bought a gun, though some of the Stider SMF special steel runs are really testing this rule (3V, S110V, M4), the most expensive knife I've bought is the ZT 560 so far, and I recently sold 7 knives (first time I've sold any) they were all under that $90 dollar mark and ones I hardly ever used, because I had better options available to me.
 
My price limit is around 50 bucks. Most of what I have bought that costs more has been disappointing. SOG Spec Elite? Like it. Spyderco Enduras and Delica? Do not like.
I also don't care much for expensive folders, and really not many folders at all. If I were to BUY 3 knives for around 100 bucks, it'd be a small Vic Tinker or Bantam, Alox Solo, and some kind of 4"ish fixed blade (BK16, perhaps?).
 
upnorth said:
I have no real rules for knife purchase. But I lean toward practical use. I have an inner battle at times because I KNOW that I have no real or practical use for some blades, but buy them anyway. I also go through periods were I get rid of knives. So some get bought for................. fun, if that makes any sense. The wife gets shoes\purses and I buy knives as ''toys'' because that's what we both jokingly call them. In the real world of outdoor practicality I could just buy a 4 inch F.B. and a hatchet\axe and be done with it. But that would be quite boring. I find it fun to fart around with different blade styles, materials, designs. But I seem to be refining my outdoor core use cutting tools the last year or so. So some are the real deal serious outdoor tools, and the rest are peripheral toys. That's were I'm at now.
Click to expand...

Pretty much where I'm at too. I buy knives that add to the range of functions I'm able to perform or circumstances for which I am prepared. I have most of my bases covered now, and so usually it means that for me to make a knife purchase it's either something totally different than anything I already have, a significant improvement over what I already have, or something that's just so fun I can't resist. :p

I've been buying more agricultural tools than anything else lately. Scythe stuff, shovels and other digging tools, hay knives (they look more like saws) and other such items.
 
1. My price point is $200 (not really a rule, more of a guideline).
2. Does it fill a need that another knife in my collection doesn't?
3. If it doesn't fill a "new" need and is similar to an existing knife, am I willing to sell the older one or another?
4. Am I willing to let the wife spend equal dollar amount on something she wants (and bite my lip if it's useless crap).
 
I have a simple rule, I wait 24 hours after seeing a knife I want and if I still remember wanting it the next day I'll buy it.

You'd be surprised how many I forget about.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Pretty much where I'm at too. I buy knives that add to the range of functions I'm able to perform or circumstances for which I am prepared. I have most of my bases covered now, and so usually it means that for me to make a knife purchase it's either something totally different than anything I already have, a significant improvement over what I already have, or something that's just so fun I can't resist. :p

I've been buying more agricultural tools than anything else lately. Scythe stuff, shovels and other digging tools, hay knives (they look more like saws) and other such items.
Click to expand...

I wonder what it is in some of us that we like this stuff ? I enjoy\appreciate a good quality shop tool also. I loved and still usually do all my own car\motorcycle wrenching.
 
upnorth said:
I wonder what it is in some of us that we like this stuff ? I enjoy\appreciate a good quality shop tool also. I loved and still usually do all my own car\motorcycle wrenching.
Click to expand...

It's an incurable disease called "liking nice things." :D
 
Personally i view knives more as tools than toys so the actual working value of something is pretty high on my list of knife rules. Condor does a very good job of keeping prices low and having very useful blades, like the Golok and the like.

I dont really have an upper limit for what ill spend but if it gets much over 200 bucks it better seriously outclass everything else in its class and i dont mean it looks prettier or its made of unobtanium. For the record though the most expensive knife ive bought is the Khuhrki House Mukti which was just over 200 bucks shipped to me and is still on its way.
 
I won't buy a knife that I know I'm not going to use. If I buy a knife and it ends up sitting in the safe instead of my pocket, it's sold right when I realize it. I'm now at the point where I'm selling off all of my non-users again.

My buying rules are becoming a bit easier... due to the fact that I try to only buy ones I'll use, I now only buy used on BF if I can help it. I try to buy users when I can. Safe queens make it harder for me to want to use them, and I end up just reselling two weeks later!
 
If I see a knife I like, I buy it asap.

If I don't like it, I just resell it here.

The more knives that I buy and don't really like, the better I am at knowing what to buy next time.

This way, I don't miss out on a knife because of hesitation.
 
I tend to agonize over my knife purchases a huge amount, talking myself into a knife, then out of it, then into it again. The only time I tend to grab something without that process are in event of sprint runs or amazing sales. I also have an almost endless tolerance for going through reviews, so there's often weeks of research put into my purchase. That actually keeps me from picking up too many knives and helps ensure that I really like the ones that I buy.
 
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