Value vs Function for everyday carry.

Or at least it shouldn't be. A similar question could read, "How much does it mean to you, to have a certain knife in your pocket?" Some knives that cost $60 are good knives that will serve well. If the owner is really attached to that knife for whatever reason, he might prefer it over an $800 custom, without regard to the money involved. If offered a straight across trade, he might decline. Is he "crazy"?

Another person might carry and use a $1500+ knife, because he really likes it, likes the maker and it's "his" knife and his companion. He gets a lot of enjoyment from it. Is he "crazy"?

The point I'm trying to make isn't to figure out who's crazy and who's not. It's that I think it's really nice to own and carry a knife that you really like and that means a lot to you. If that's a $60 knife, fine. If it's a $1500 knife, fine. Save $50 here and there on other things and in a short time, you've made up for it. Hell, cut the Starbucks triple grande mocha frap double......and get your coffee at Dunkin Doughnuts........and you've made up for it. (better coffee, too).

I understand what Bruce meant, when he said that he's a "man". It's important for a man to own and carry a knife that he really likes and has grown attached to. If that special knife happens to carry a $1000 price tag (like mine did), he'll find a way to make up for it.

BTW, my friend Dave (Lifter) has a great point. The knife is a permanent link to the maker. If you offered me a $1500 knife for $60 from a maker who I didn't really like, personally, and told me that I couldn't sell this knife, I wouldn't touch it.

Pete
 
Kidding aside, the value of the knife is...
What it is worth to you & you alone.
My favorite kitchen knife is a $4 Old Hickory and my EDC is a Dozier.
It's not about the dollar amount, it is about the blade :)
Now those people who buy mega-bux watches are crazy, not me ;)
 
My personal bottom line: "Does the knife comfortably perform the job you ask it to do at a price you are willing to pay?" If the answer is "yes", then you are using the right knife. What the price is numerically isn't the issue.

Our kitchen is a good example. We have knives ranging in price from about $100 each or so on down to $0.50 garage sale specials. My wife likes to use a stainless santuko she's had for many years that probably cost around $25 and an $8 usuba hocho (veggie knife) gun show special I picked up for her. Why? Because they have kanji on the blade which means they are Japanese, just like her. So she picks her EDC (Every Day Cutter) based on nationality. And they do the job for her. The MAC kitchen knife I recently got her (supposedly also made in Japan) doesn't get used much because to her "it cost too much". Go figure.

My kitchen cutter? For bone and joint-cutting work it's a Swamp Rat Howling Rat I'm trying to kill. (yeah, right ;) ) But for pure slicing work, lately I've been playing with a $2 Miracle Blade I slicer (sorta like the Chef Tony's Miracle Blade III informercial specials) to see just how well the bugger works and how long it will last. For pure kitchen cutting, its extremely thin stock and deeply serrated edge works well. Never mind that it has zero "styling" points on the status scale, it does the job asked of it.

However, my EDC folder that may be asked to do just about anything is where paying for some quality seemed like a reasonable thing for me to do. I carry a Blade-Tech Wegner Pro-Hunter and haven't come anywhere near stressing its capabilities yet. But I like to think of the performance headroom that it has above & beyond my usual requirements for it as insurance. I daresay the folks carrying Sebenzas and Striders have basis for saying the same of their blades. My Pro Hunter's price? About $140 from Blade-Tech. Its reassurance value? Priceless.
 
Value vs Function for everyday carry.

It always seems that I'm toeing the line between value and function.

What I mean is, when choosing a purchase for everyday (moderate to hard ware) I need to set a boundary between what goes in the case and what goes in the pocket.

I LOVE beautiful knives just like you. I also like to use my knives, but, I can't justify using a $1500.00 knife to even open an envelope. What if I scratch it!!!

My personal cap is a little high for some but I set it at $550.00 for an everyday carry/or camp knife. Anything for this price or lower sees some good chores and my definition of "chores" laxes with time.

I was just curious about what your personal spending cap is when it comes to an everyday "using" knife.
Click to expand...

What I meant by this is not a question of worth.

I have knives that range from $11. to $1200. and I believe every one of them is "worth" every penny. In fact, unlike some others, I would personally spend $100,000. on a single blade, if I had the money of course. Call it an appreciation for cutlery. ;)

What this question is asking is how much, knowing full well your going to use the bejabbers out of it, not thrash, USE, would you, in reality, be willing to spend on an EDC?

You know it will show some wear and tear. Many times I don’t EDC a knife, not because I don’t think the knife can take the use, but because it’s so beautiful in its own right that I can’t bear to scratch it up.
 
Since I am still waiting for a knife that will be able to endure the punishment I give it, I'm still hovering around a "semi-disposable" strategy for my EDC knives. Read 2-3 opinels a year, for a 20$ spending and a careless, remorse-free, abuse. That's freedom ;^)

I should receive my new CRKT M16 today (hopefully). I'll see if it really is as tough as it's supposed to be. If so, I'll certainly stick with it... but honestly I doubt it. It will probably end up just like all my other "war amputees": on the shelf with a broken tip, an exploded lock or a chipped edge.

No blade, even if you pay a thousand bucks for it, will ever be so tough that you won't need to care about it at all. Price does not make steel toughness... Good quality steel is expensive, of course, but paying more than say, twice the value of the materials for a knife is basically what I call "robbery under consent of king"... You actually get rucked... LOL

David
 
There's another dimension to all this that I think is getting missed. It all depends on who you hang out with.

If you hang out with dedicated "knife people" you have to invest far more in your EDC to gain status from your status symbol. If, like me you hang out with people who are afraid of sharp fingernails then your Endura looks like a scimitar.

I once killed a pig in a village here in Brazil. When I arrived the man of the house was in the back yard rubbing a large kitchen knife on a large rock. I told him I'd use my own knife, a Ka-bar that was sharp enough to shave with. You should have seen the reaction I got when I stuck the pig twice in the heart! Nobody had seen a knife do so much damage so quickly (In totally inexperienced hands no less). It was like I had fired up a light-saber!

I also have a $2.00 chinese Emerson knock-off that gets rave reviews in the village. It all depends on who's watching. Mac
 
When I first started collecting (thanks to this site I might add!)I thought $50 was alot for a knife... now after a few years and a drawer full of knives later my limits now around $150 which scares my wife to death... I can't count the number of times she's said "You spent that on a piece of steel?"... actually it's titanium and carbon fiber but yeah...!
The funny thing is my choice of daily carry is a knife I bought 6 of for $16.50 each...! At that price I wasn't affraid of making changes to suit my needs and my pocket.
Don't get me wrong... I hold all my knives near and dear I just can't carry them all at once...!
 
For me, value and function go hand in hand. There's no way a 500.00 knife has more funtional value dollar for dollar than a well designed and made 50.00 knife that'll do the same tasks just as well if not better than the more expensive knife.

Now, collectors have their own thing and a 1000.00 knife adds to the value of their collection. But it still won't out perform a well built knife that's 1/20th of the more expensive blades monetary value.
 
For me... Its a need it/have it deal. If I have it and need to use it, its getting used! You only live once, and money is disposable once it becomes used for "toy" purchases. :cool:
 
I also learned about myself that I am very timid about using a knife for the first time. I think it's cause of the damn trading forums and the value dropoff between NIB and LNIB.

After that initial plunge into something, I let out a sigh of grief then relief. I'm more relaxed about enjoying it and stop thinking about its “worth”.

I have to say that it's probably due to the ole "grass is greener on the other side" adage. As soon as I get something very nice, something sparks my lust for more steel.

Many wonderfully expensive knifes have passed through my fingers but my cheapie carbon Opinel takes a licking and keeps on ticking. And she get's used for the nasty chores without a care in the world.
 
Cost, as it's been well established, is relative. A Kabar's great for my needs.

Got some nice toys, but they stay at home. I value them too much as objects, as opposed to tools (yeah, I know; subjective) so won't ever USE them, sort of like trying to make fire with stained glass.
 
Ok I have another problem (I need therapy)

I buy a nice knife won't use it and then wonder why I bought it!

Does anyone else feel this way?

My EDC is CRKT M1 great great knife, I picked up Spyderco Bob Lum Tanto folder and it went in the safe as soon as I got it.

I can carry a nice knive just won't use it!!! HEEELLLLPPPP

Joe:mad:
 
Hey Fuji,

Here's a therapy I strongly suggest: you pick you nicest, most prefered blade. The one you wouldn't use in a hundred years. You choose it carefully, you really pick the one you prefer above all. Then, you put it in a cute box, and you send it to me ;)

That'll free you from all of this material attachment problem ;)

Cheers :D

David
 
I don't like these debates much, but always seem to be in them with friends.

If you were going to a neighborhood where the possibility of violence was very high, what would you take? Would you take the $150 .25acp pocket pistol, or wold you grab a tuned 1911?

I choose to carry and use the best tools I can afford. Whether that be $100 or $1,000.

When my butt is on the line, I don't want to be stuck with something cheap just because it was on sale and should work in most situations. I want the best tool I can carry on me. I've carried folder from $50 to $650. Some of my folders cost more then the handgun I carry. They also get used much more on a daily basis. And they haven't failed me yet.

I'll continue to buy and use the best I can afford. My life is worth more then a $35 clearance sell knife.

JR
 
Originally posted by fuji1
David,

Thanks I deserved that.

Joe
Click to expand...

- You're welcome, Joe. We love you.

- Hi everyone. My name's David.

- Hi David.

- I just wanted to let you know that, huh... I haven't bought a knife for seven weeks now.

<Applause>

- It's really hard, but I realized I had a choice...

We're f&cking nuts ;)

Cheers,

David
 
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