What is about the most expensive knife you would be willing to carry?

How much would you spend on a daily carrier?

  • $1-100

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • $100-250

    Votes: 7 16.7%

  • $250-400

    Votes: 7 16.7%

  • $400-750

    Votes: 13 31.0%

  • $750-1200

    Votes: 4 9.5%

  • $1200+

    Votes: 4 9.5%

  • I’m a baller, no max

    Votes: 7 16.7%
  • Total voters
    42
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CrakkedCranium

CrakkedCranium

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Being just recently into knives, most of them I have not carried. I played with them and use them as fidget toys mostly. That being said, I do find myself carrying my Emerson and my Spyderco’s. None of my autos, my Hinderer full track once just to show a co-worker, but not really anything else. Other than the fulltrack, none of those are over $350.

I feel like I’m more of a collector than a user. Is this normal? Am I being a fool for not carrying something I’ve spent a car payment on?

I have a very cool wife, and she asked me, “Is this like your guns, own as many as you can, because fu to the government and so the kids fight over them while you’re on a slab? Or is this, I need these because they make you happy? Or a mix of both sprinkled with a little of because I can? I said yes, and I love you. Now the Amazon boxes will magically appear and I can’t say anything. 🤣

She’s not wrong and she gets me. So just curious, do you carry all you own or just a few, and save some to be safe queens?

If so, what’s the max money you would spend on a “daily user?”
 
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For starters, I've been terribly reluctant to spend more than $200 on one specimen. But I did, and then added custom scales, so... I wanna carry it. I like to use it. Makes me grin. But I do hate the idea of losing it even more than I hate spending it in the first place. So, I carry and use it less than others, to mitigate bad odds.
 
I picked no max but will provide a caveat.

I will use and carry anything regardless of cost. What I won’t do is abuse anything regardless of cost. My work knives are generally <$250 Spydercos and they do receive abuse and rough use.

I can afford to replace or grab another Spyderco if it breaks or whatever. Costlier stuff takes more saving/planning and I just don’t want to abuse something “nice”. But use/cut/carry something more costly? Absolutely!

I carry (and use/cut) my custom slip joint all the time when not at work and it was over the $1200 mark.
 
Before I retired my maximum was $550 but it had to be a pretty special knife. Nowadays, I won’t go over $300 on something special. But I usually spend way less than that on a single knife.

Right now I’m carrying a $33 Cold Steel Tuff Lite and I like it more than a guy has a right to.

I was at Scheels yesterday and I saw a Microtech Mini MSI that I would love to own but I could only see a 9 at the end of the price tag. The rest of the price was covered up by the blade. Looked it up when I got home and most dealers are asking $309 for the same model. I’m in the process of attempting to talk myself out of buying it.

When I was working full time I had the attitude that if I have to come to this hot warehouse 6 days a week then I’m gonna get more out of it than just paying bills. I didn’t feel too bad about treating myself to an expensive knife once in a while. I have never regretted having that attitude.
 
Wishfulthinker580 said:
I picked no max but will provide a caveat.

I will use and carry anything regardless of cost. What I won’t do is abuse anything regardless of cost.
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This for me as well. Except for my better half, I have never purchased a knife beyond, say, $750 (?). But, some of my knives have increased value a lot over time, and some are unique. Note that the guns that I EDC are worth more than $1.2k. So why set a limit to the knives ?
 
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I won't carry a knife that I wouldn't be comfortable losing, so that puts me at roughly $250 or less. I wouldn't be happy losing the Buck 110 slim elite build-out that I've been carrying lately, but it wouldn't kill me either.

I rarely lose knives, though, but years ago I lost a Sebenza 21 w/wood inlays that I still regret.
 
The most expensive knife I've ever routinely carried was I think $1,200. Honestly above about $500, pretty much everything is just subjective aesthetic improvements; pleasing but unnecessary mechanical precision improvements, high-end materials that are rare or cool but not functional improvements, or rarity imposed by the bottleneck of a single maker or manufacturer where demand far exceeds supply. The most expensive knife I have rivals the most expensive gun I have.

I'm not one of those "UsE ur ShIt" people, though. If after a certain price point there's no functional improvement and the only value add is aesthetic and rarity, what would you gain by using art pieces for mundane work when you have mundane knives?
 
In years past, I worked off shore and in there desert in far away places. For that work my EDC was a Buck 110 . . .and I wore them out with abusive use. Worn-out, broken or lost, I just got another one.

At the point, I live a pretty sentry life. My EDC is a Leatherman Wave Plus. Its all I want or need for every day carry.

Now, if I were at some formal function requiring a suit of Tux, I can see myself with something much more exotic in my pocket. When clothed like that, an heirloom pocket watch on a chain is part of the ensemble. For a knife: Something modest and understated by William Henry could be in a slip case in my jacket pocket. . . .At or around a grand seems about my limit for that.
 
Most of my good edc rotation are knives I bought for around $100-180. Ive bought a few really nice knives that I occasionally use for around $200-300. I think my most expensive knife was $325 but I really liked it and wanted it. 😆
 
At this point in collecting, I've got dozens of users and hundreds of safe queens...I carry knives that bring me joy to use regardless of the price, typically with sentimental value. That said, the ones that live in my pocket the last couple years happen to be two of the most expensive knives I have ever purchased. I am fortunate to have been able to use my art to fund the acquisition of another maker's art, and I cherish that every day with them 🥰

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I regularly carry my all Ti Hawk Talon which is a $1200 knife. I don't hesitate to use it. In a slip in my pocket every day for more than 2 years is a large 31 Night Sky Sebenza. (I mostly just set it on my desk and look at it, but I never leave home without it.) I have and sometimes carry a large 21 Wilson Combat Sebenza. Both of those Sebenzas in the current market are valued well north of a grand. I rarely carry a knife under $500 these days.

BUT.... I work a desk job, so my knives are for packages, food prep, and fidgeting. My truck is paid for. My house is paid for. My wife and I are 100% debt free. And my son will inherit all the knives some day. I won't have abused them, but he'll know his dad carried and loved them.
 
jbmonkey said:
at the rate of inflation in knives....soon enough everyone's gonna be carrying and using a " im a baller, no max" knife......
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I wipe my ass with "I'm a baller, no max" toilet paper already...

I was at Target last week and suddenly realized I could buy a 42" 4k smart TV for the same price as 60 rolls of Bounty paper towels.
 
madcap_magician said:
I wipe my ass with "I'm a baller, no max" toilet paper already...

I was at Target last week and suddenly realized I could buy a 42" 4k smart TV for the same price as 60 rolls of Bounty paper towels.
Click to expand...
life's to short to use the thin cheap crap that your fingers rip through no matter how many folds ya do........
 
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