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What makes a knife cool?

Cool knife aspects

  • Total voters
    150
  • Poll closed .
I’d be interested to see the difference between what we think we buy knives for, and what we actually buy knives for. Cutting ability rates really high here as a reason, but I see tons of knives here regularly with thick geometry, and obtuse angles.

I myself have knives that I bought for performance, but also ones I bought because they looked cool, and I was just hoping I could get them to perform by spending a lot of time on the stones.
 
Cool is when a particular something leaves you in awe.
And yeah, so what if no one else shows the same level of over enthusiam?
It is Pretty subjective when it comes to nailing it down with a single definition.
But i woud go so far as to say that if judged as an object,
it should exhibit a uniqueness in material and form above all.
 
ScooterG said:
Cool: It’s a balance of something new and exciting that doesn’t get too far away from familiarity of an old product.

Take that funky WE Eschaton. It was a bit too far away from the familiar and didn’t strike the balance. Now look at the Benchmade Bugout. Incredibly popular and based on a familiar design but with enough newness (color, weight) that it stood out from current offerings.
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Maybe change the vainglorious name ? "Escutcheon" might be better. https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/escutcheon
Dangerously said:
I’d be interested to see the difference between what we think we buy knives for, and what we actually buy knives for. Cutting ability rates really high here as a reason, but I see tons of knives here regularly with thick geometry, and obtuse angles.

I myself have knives that I bought for performance, but also ones I bought because they looked cool, and I was just hoping I could get them to perform by spending a lot of time on the stones.
Click to expand...
I think "cutting performance " has to be taken in the broadest terms here . More like all knife functions . To include chopping , baton use , maybe even chisel or prying rather than just slicing . Because these are not function related "aspects " listed on the poll .
 
DocJD said:
Maybe change the vainglorious name ? "Escutcheon" might be better. https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/escutcheon

I think "cutting performance " has to be taken in the broadest terms here . More like all knife functions . To include chopping , baton use , maybe even chisel or prying rather than just slicing . Because these are not function related "aspects " listed on the poll .
Click to expand...

But what do you think makes a knife especially cool?
 
How about the old liquid nitrogen cryogenic treatment? "Cool" is like "Quality" from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The more you try and define it, the further away you push it.
 
“Cool” is subjective, some people like mustangs, some like camaros and some people don’t even care as long as it gets the job done. Personally I like bearing knives with good steel, and frame/liner locks, basically 99% of ZTs lol... but a good example is why I still like my 0200 more than my 0095s90BLK. Unlike the 0095, the 200 is too heavy for edc, doesn’t flip as good, and doesn’t have a “super steel”. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Edit...also I like my knives to be able to be used for self-defense in case I’m walking down the street at night with my girlfriend or something and someone wants to start some s***.....hope it never comes to that tho.
 
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at the risk of sounding terribly offensive to some,
could "cool" be more of a perceived emotional stater?
kinda like when your highly anticipated hot date suddenly walks in
and everyone immediately have their eyes set on you instead?...
yeah, it's good looks which matters most.
 
GIRLYmann said:
at the risk of sounding terribly offensive to some,
could "cool" be more of a perceived emotional stater?
kinda like when your highly anticipated hot date suddenly walks in
and everyone immediately have their eyes set on you instead?...
yeah, it's good looks which matters most.
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Hot Date
Hot Woman
Hot Car
Hot Gun

I’d say here the COOL relates to KNIFE specific discussion, taking into account the voting options..tho some of the above HOT things wud be Cool :thumbsup:

For a knife to be cool, wud only good looks be enough;)?

Thanks Mecha Mecha to start this thread:)
 
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While I voted rarity since it's close IMO there needs to be something special or unique about the knife. There's not a single production knife that makes me think cool in that gotta have it way. Spints and limited production runs can be cool but not in the I've gotta get it way, more in the that's how it out to have been from the start sorta way.
 
GermanyChris said:
While I voted rarity since it's close IMO there needs to be something special or unique about the knife. There's not a single production knife that makes me think cool in that gotta have it way. Spints and limited production runs can be cool but not in the I've gotta get it way, more in the that's how it out to have been from the start sorta way.
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This factors into the car analogy thing. Car models are "tamed" down to appeal to the max number of buyers and for mass-manufacturing purposes. Even the fast types of cars are averaged out. Middle of the bell curve. On the extreme ends are cars or special package models with exaggerated qualities that appeal to a way smaller audience and are thus made in much lower numbers and often cost more, or at least take special attention to make. These vehicles are almost always more cool than the average ones.

And then there are lots of folks who "pimp their ride" starting with something basic, in order to make it more cool. All of this applies to knives as well.

So we can see that generally speaking, quality exaggeration, rarity, and tasteful custom modifications do indeed factor favorably into coolness.

E.g., sorry but a Toyota Prius isn't cool, and the MPG are lower and the car slower than a 1985 diesel Nissan Sentra, which is way cooler than a Prius.
 
Rykjeklut said:
What makes a knife cool to ME, is the design, above all. Rare and weird materials are nice, but doesn't inherently make a knife cool.

But, who cares? I like my knives, you like your knives.
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I agree design is everything. Materials definitely don't make a knife cool for me. In fact I almost couldn't care less. I wonder if the steel dweebs are more interested in a woman's DNA than how she looks ?
 
Well it appears that most people aren't concerned with whether or not people think their knife is cool.

However, in the event that a knife is cool, it's mainly due to a neat shape and/or design, and good cutting performance is also seen as quite cool.

Rare and/or expensive materials do add to the coolness factor as well, but not as much as the design and performance.

Astonishingly, very few people think that getting a lot of 'likes' on Instagram means a knife is cool.
 
Mecha said:
Well it appears that most people aren't concerned with whether or not people think their knife is cool.

However, in the event that a knife is cool, it's mainly due to a neat shape and/or design, and good cutting performance is also seen as quite cool.

Rare and/or expensive materials do add to the coolness factor as well, but not as much as the design and performance.

Astonishingly, very few people think that getting a lot of 'likes' on Instagram means a knife is cool.
Click to expand...

Agree with ur comment with slight moderation, the diff in votes between Neat Shape/Design and Who cares what people think,,Just 1 vote,, very close :thumbsup:
 
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