What makes a knife "high end"?

A

Asher Sympson

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May 10, 2020
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Hi y'all, I am a younger knife collector and I'm not quite sure what makes (for example) one knife using 440c "budget" and another knife with the same steel "high end"... Is it a matter of fit/finish? Or is it a bit more complicated?
 
I would say that it would be a combination of the following;
Hand made/hand finished
Heat treatment
Handle and sheath options (Micarta, G10, bone for handle, real leather or Kydex as opposed to ABS for sheath)
Designer pedigree
 
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IMO, "high end " is a very imprecise and relative term .

Many brand names have budget , entry level lines along with more high end .

Typically better materials , fit and finish , more exclusive designs , etc ...as well as higher priced .
 
My own definition- a "high end" knife is one with a justifiably high price. Maybe $200 and up.

What justifies a "high price" in my opinion-

1. High quality materials (wear resistant steels that hold an edge through a lot of normal use combined with durable or exotic handle materials, and possibly incorporating a lot of titanium).

2. High quality construction. A well-built knife with a high degree of precision that can be counted on to function properly over multiple lifetimes.

3. A great heat treatment.

Of course there are many knives that cost less (sometimes a lot less) than $200 that possess several of these characteristics. A knife doesn't have to be "high end" to be a quality knife that can last multiple lifetimes.
 
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With 440c it's a matter of the heat treatment. 440c can be a very decent knife steel that can serve a person well. And depending on who makes the knife, and their skill for producing a good heat treatment (among other things), a knife made with 440c can be a few hundred dollars or more. Entrek knives is one example.

I own an Entrek made of 440c, and it served me well throughout a LOT of cutting working a freight shipping dock.

Unfortunately 440c has gotten a bit of a bad rap over the decades because it's often used without a good heat treatment and because many cheap knives made of lesser quality steels were/are falsely advertised as 440c (and that is because once upon a time 440c was considered a "super steel", and there are knife manufacturers trying to capitalize on it's one time popularity).

My Entrek Cobra

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What is considered "High end" will change with the evolution of your interests (finding that you gravitate toward knives that just cost more), your buying power (how much you can spend), and inflation (10 years ago a mid-level knife was found in better than average steel, made by a main brand stateside or in Japan, and could cost around $75...that's generally no longer the case).

There was a time when spending over $50 on a folder seemed impossible to me. I remember practically emptying my checking account to buy my first Cold Steel Trailmaster for around $140 back in the early 2000s. Even still, as my tastes changed, it wasn't until about 5 years ago that I broke over $200 on a ZT and only in the last year that I have decided that most pocket knives that I honestly want will cost me over $400 and usually closer to $500.
It's not a knife snobbery thing. Its the simple fact that in 30 years of collecting I have accumulated enough lower end knives to use, enjoy, and think fondly of. I am now drawn toward extreme fit and finish tolerances like Chris Reeve knives as well as boutique type knives like double action automatics. These just cost more if I want them.

Even still, "high end" is a relative term. My father carries a work knife everyday and owns the majority share of our successful construction business and can afford to buy whatever blade he wants. I dont think he has bought a knife in 30 years. I just keep buying him $30 Buck 110s for his birthday/fathers day because that is what he likes and will use. He would appreciate a $500 knife for being $500 amd being well built but has no real frame of reference other than he knows that a Buck 110 will easily take an edge, a beating, and once upon a time he would buy the Craftsman version so that he could take it back to Sears to swap it out when he snapped the tip off. You can't get that with a $500 knife.
Likewise, there are guys on here that EDC custom folders costing over $4000. They are made by masters of the industry that I have never even heard of simply because they are so far above the circles I run in I am never going to be able to afford to be in there customer base.

In short, High End is what you make of it. I would be willing to wager that if you ever find yourself stumbling into high end, it will be because you have stuck around the hobby long enough to learn what you like just tends to cost more rather than just wanting to spend more because you can. Just in enjoy the hobby and buy what you like:) There is no wrong way to do this :)
 
Materials, value, and one offness or exclusivity.
If it cost a lot and you gotta wait for it...
Then again, my 'high' may not be your 'high.'

Many makers are still doing worthy wonders with 440c.
 
Design. Blade shape, handle shape, ergonomics, flow and artistry of the knife
Fit and finish. This includes inlays including exotic materials, milling patterns, weight reduction pockets, other intricate details
Blade steel, heat treat, sharpness, and grind lines/symmetry
Centering (seems obvious but you can still see higher end knives $500+ not centered)
Action on deployment and closing, acoustics, lock geometry, and design of opening mechanism
Custer service and warranty support
Ease of disassembly and maintenance

There can be a few more points I didn't cover.
 
Alsharif said:
Design. Blade shape, handle shape, ergonomics, flow and artistry of the knife
Fit and finish. This includes inlays including exotic materials, milling patterns, weight reduction pockets, other intricate details
Blade steel, heat treat, sharpness, and grind lines/symmetry
Centering (seems obvious but you can still see higher end knives $500+ not centered)
Action on deployment and closing, acoustics, lock geometry, and design of opening mechanism
Custer service and warranty support
Ease of disassembly and maintenance

There can be a few more points I didn't cover.
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Just add Sebenza and all your points are covered ;)
 
High-endedness, like beauty, is in the mind of the beholder. To one guy, a $100 knife is ridiculously expensive and would be high end. To another, that's at the bottom end of their expectations and they wouldn't even consider buying it.
 
maximus83 said:
High-endedness, like beauty, is in the mind of the beholder. To one guy, a $100 knife is ridiculously expensive and would be high end. To another, that's at the bottom end of their expectations and they wouldn't even consider buying it.
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It depends what one is able to achieve with $100. Some brands/makers charge exorbitant prices for lackluster quality, while others give you more bang for your buck. Price helps, but it's not the sole determining factor.

The person seeing a $100 knife as high-end has more to do with inexperience or willful ignorance than any objective truth.
 
Quality of materials and workmanship, which are reflected in the price but I would "not" consider all high priced knives to be "high end" because the price of some knives is driven by "demand" and not necessarily by the quality of the knife itself.

An obvious example of this to me currently is the discontinued Spyderco Slyz Bowie which retailed at $499 w/a MAP price of around $325 (that I could have bought for $250 as an OpFocus member) that some people are currently asking and getting over $700 (at least on eBay) for it now, which I consider just a mid-range knife that is grossly overpriced by demand.

On the other hand, I consider any Hinderer that you can buy new/used for between $300-450, as an example of a "high end" knife at the low end of that range, not quite custom but with small enough production numbers and enough attn to detail to justify the higher price.
 
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Asher Sympson said:
Hi y'all, I am a younger knife collector and I'm not quite sure what makes (for example) one knife using 440c "budget" and another knife with the same steel "high end"... Is it a matter of fit/finish? Or is it a bit more complicated?
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I don't think it's as simple as price because it is relative to the person, one person might class something as budget at 20 and under, another might class something as budget at 50 and under and some might class budget as something 100 and under. Then you can have a very wealthy person who is a multi millionaire who even considers Chris Reeves as budget knives and beaters. Because he owns custom William Henry one off pieces made of precious metals with diamonds and rubies, that cost 24'000-75'000 a piece.

For a more defined and less relative definition of high end you can put things into quantitive catagories. Premium production knives, premium mid techs and customs. How the knife is put together, the standard of heat treatment, the quality and type of hardware used, the quality of the quality control on the product, the quality of the warranty offered with the product.

The difference between a cheap 440C knife and an expensive 400C knife should be obvious in all of those areas, the more expensive one (High end) should have more time and effort spent on the making of it, better fit and finish, attention to detail, better heat treatment, better warranty, customer service etc.

In my personal opinion high end doesn't just mean more expensive it means better quality of service and product, if I pay over 200 for a knife in 2021 I expect a better blade steel than 440C, not being funny but times have changed since the 1980's. I'm not a steel snob but if I'm buying a mass produced factory model like a Spyderco or a Benchmade I would honestly not pay 200+ for a model in 440C. But that's not to say I wouldn't pay extra for a custom with amazing attention to detail in a "lesser" steel.
 
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Alsharif said:
CRK make great knives, but they aren't perfect and can easily have issues. My inlayed ladder damascus 31 was off center, I expected more from a $700+ knife.
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Sorry for your luck,mine 50 + CRK I had,never had any issues.Simply perfect in my world CRK is and easily I had no issues with them.
Disassembly and assembly of your 31 would bring it to perfection I'am sure and it takes minutes to do that.
 
rexromic said:
Sorry for your luck,mine 50 + CRK I had,never had any issues.Simply perfect in my world CRK is and easily I had no issues with them.
Disassembly and assembly of your 31 would bring it to perfection I'am sure and it takes minutes to do that.
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I tried that and no bueno. I sent it to CRK and it wasn't corrected. That's why I said that CRK is good, just not as perfect as they're purported to be. Same for customer service as my issue wasn't resolved.
 
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