• The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
    Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
    Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.

  • Today marks the 24th anniversary of 9/11. I pray that this nation does not forget the loss of lives from this horrible event. Yesterday conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was murdered, and I worry about what is to come. Please love one another and your family in these trying times - Spark

What knife for $400

Scurvy092 said:
Start like 75-150 then jump to 200-300 and then you'll be ready.
Click to expand...

This is probably very good advice. I've had multiple Striders and CRK's, and they're both good makes, but I wouldn't suggest that you start there. Spyderco PM2 is $120, Sage 2 is a great knife, Stretch in ZDP-189...notice I'm a Spyderco fancier. I do carry either a large Sebenza or Umnumzaan these days, but I had quite a few before I got to this point.
Walk, then run.
 
I have never owned a Strider or a Sebenza so I can't give you much input there. I would recommend since you are interested in the Spyderco Domino I would say get that or something similar in price you are interested in and then some other value knives.

If I was looking for variety, what I would do is look at my collection and see what I don't have. This could be anything for example manufacture, way of opening (flipper, thumbstud, thumbdisc, wave feature, etc.), handle material, size of blade, weight, blade steel (do I have to many 8cr13mov knives?), type of lock (frame, liner, axis, etc.), designer, and so on.

Another view I have on this for example, you have this knife that you absolutely love everything about. You may get "bored" of that knife but it is still one of your favorites, I would say have it modified with new handle scales and such. This revitalizes that knife and makes you appreciate and love it that much more.

One manufacture or maker I would highly recommend that you check out is Brous Blades. He makes some fantastic quality knives for the pricepoint IMO.
 
My first suggestion would be a Micarta Sebenza because that's my favorite of all my knives. Second would be a Pro Series if you can find one. They're all flawless and well made.
 
My first nice folder was a small sebenza.

I'm glad I did because it forced me to realize most production knives aren't made with passion.

I'm glad because I will not be one of those guys who has to buy one hundred $50-100 knives to find our he barely likes them.
 
Well said... Plowed through a lot of crap to get my collection where it is now. Russ
HwangJino said:
My first nice folder was a small sebenza.

I'm glad I did because it forced me to realize most production knives aren't made with passion.

I'm glad because I will not be one of those guys who has to buy one hundred $50-100 knives to find our he barely likes them.
Click to expand...
 
tdgregs15 said:
I've got a Benchmade mini grip already, so there's the first category I guess. So would you say take the next step or no?
Click to expand...

No. Move up to a nicer benchmade (710, 940) or a nice Spyderco (pm2, caly, sage, native) or a ZT (0350,0500,0566,0770).

Play in that sandbox for a while. Then move up to a domino or a 0560 (maybe even a 0562).

You can sell moist of those knives listed for very small losses if you don't beat on them and get a good deal initially.
 
I'd go for the high quality knife (Sebenza, Strider) for a couple reasons.

First of all, because you have the money for one now. It's not everyday that you'll have a good chunk of cash to spend on a high quality knife, so take advantage of the opportunity while you can. If you don't, and you are anything like me, the money you have "saved" by buying a cheaper knife will just get spent on something else (and no doubt something less memorable). You might as will spend it on a knife you will love and use for many, many years to come. And in general in life, I have found that if you buy quality, you buy once. If you buy cheap, you buy many times. If you don't buy the higher quality knife now, you will eventually (if you are like me). And that's because you will always be wondering what that Sebenza or Strider is like and what you are missing until you finally buy one.

Second, because money spent on a high quality knife, is never wasted, IMO. Money spent on cheap knives however, hasn't been as well spent in my experience. I worked my way up from Leeks and Chives, and now just have a few high quality knives. Lower end knives have come and go. More expensive knives stay with me. I did enjoy and learn from the lower cost knives, but only until I moved up to the next level of quality. I'm not sure that you have to start with lower quality to appreciate higher quality things. You don't have to drive a clunker to appreciate a BMW. ;)

Thirdly, higher priced knives tend to hold their value. If you change your mind about a high quality knife and want to try something else, you can always sell it in the Exchange for almost the same price as you bought it (if you have taken care of it and not abused it).

Finally, a bit of buying advice. If you are going to EDC and use your high quality knife, I'd recommend buying a slightly used knife from an established seller in the Exchange here on BladeForums. Knives are like cars in that they depreciate as soon as you drive a new one off the lot or take it out of the box. You can save yourself almost 10% by buying a slightly used one. The only thing you lose by buying used is the "thrill" of buying a brand spankin' new blade. To me it isn't worth the extra cost, but YMMV.

Good luck with your purchase! Remember to enjoy the hunt---it's half the fun!
 
Last edited:
I agree with you beau but he could spend that 400 on 3-4 lightly used knives. Enjoy them for a while and then probably sell them for 350+ when he's done with them. He'll get more appreciation out of a $400 know that way Imho.
 
Yep, that would work, too. It will just take some time and discipline to stay the course. I'm not sure I'd have been able to do that at age 17, when there are so many other tempting things to buy.
 
Look at a good quality spyderco folder, I carry the Manix 2 at work, and have put it through it's paces. That should run you roughly $125 (in Canada at least). You could afford an Esee fixed blade as well. I am using the 6 as my camping / hunting knife, and it is a beast. That would still probably leave you with some extra $ left over.

What's better than an awesome new knife? TWO awesome new knives :)
 
Bob6794 said:
Don't bother spending $400 on that one knife if you don't know what you like. It's kind of like going on a car forum as saying you have 200k to spend on a vehicle when you never driven one and the money is hard to come by for you. You don't know whether you like motorcycles, sports cars, hatchbacks, trucks, suv's, etc.

My advice pick up a more budget knife that you like the style of first than work your way from there gradually moving from what you like about that knife to the next knife always trying to improve. After awhile you find your tastes will change and you learn to appreciate smaller and finer details about knives.

Take me for example I was into modern one hand folders for years and than just picked up a more traditional knife and found I prefer them more as an old school slip joints has a habit of bringing me back to when I was a kid with my first knife a SAK and using it for everything. And I found that the thinner blades on most traditional slipjoints are far more effective at what I typically do than the thicker blades you find in most modern folders. Sharpening knives is something I find I kind of enjoy and I love how easy carbon steel blades are to sharpen, so going after the super steels that have insane edge retention that you find in high end modern folders actually ruins a bit of my fun.

I can tell you after a long time carrying a knife for normal EDC I take a knife with a blade length 2.5-2.75in (3in max) for what I greatly prefer, and a handle length in the range of 3.5in give a take a little bit of length, blade width about 1/16 and has to have a point to it, good grip, and preferably non-dlc coating. For a heavier duty work knife I prefer a thicker/longer blade, longer handle, heavy weight type of knife something that is closer to a Buck 110 in dimensions but lighter and better grip.

So to repeat myself, find what you like and keep trying to improve on it with more budget oriented knives. When you find something you really like go high end in a similar knife. You will probably find that you appreciate it more.
Click to expand...

This is really good advice. Personally if I were you I would not spend $400 on a knife at your age. I would wait until I am more established (even at 31 I am not yet established) and buy a knife that would suit your needs just as well that costs significantly less. I have owned multiple Sebenza's, Striders, Spyderco's, Gold Class Benchmades, etc and the one knife I have on me each and everyday is a Cold Steel Mini-AK47. This knife will do everything a $400 knife will do (and possibly more because of the Triad Lock), and the thing with the Cold Steel line is each model is just so much fun. If not a Cold Steel, stick with something less than $100.
 
Im 18 and i could never justify spending that much on a knife right now. Most midrange benchmades and spydercos get the job done fine at a good price.
 
Buy a $200 knife like a Spyderco Southard then take the other $200 and go have a great night on the town with your friends. That's my opinion. If you really want a Sebenza or Strider, go for a used one off the forums and save some money. At 17, every dollar counts, it's not like beer is getting cheaper! Uh, I mean, when you are 21 of course.
 
I completely agree with everything that Scurvy has suggested in this thread.

The only way to fully appreciate a $400 knife is to work your way up. If not, you'll realize that it's a nice knife but maybe not much more. You'll have nothing to compare it to in regard to how it feels, cuts, carries or sharpens.

Also, you may think your $400 knife is the end all be all but there could have been a $200 one that you liked better. Price isn't everything.
 
I would probably look at a ZT 0801 and a nice fixed blade or another folder too. I have a Strider SnG which is an awesome knife, so if you really want to spend $400 on one knife id suggest the SnG or an umnumzaan.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top