What Makes You Happiest?

C

cut finger

Joined
Sep 20, 1999
Messages
178
Like most knife nuts, I have gradually bought blades that are more and more expensive. Recently I bought a Sebenza and a custom both of which cost far more than I ever thougt I would have paid for a knife two or three years ago. The funny thing is that I still really enjoy inexepensive knives. I recently picked up a CRKT Lightfoot large Lnad Urban Shark and it is as nice as any piece I have ever owned! I know it doesn't have a wonder steel blade or jeweled, anodized titanium liners, but it is well designed and manufactured as any knife I own. It just would have to sharped a bit more often if used hard. Also I still enjoy my zytel Spydercos like my Calypso lightweights and Natives even though they are only a fraction of my small Sebenza. So my question is what makes you guys happiest: that perfect custom/limited production piece; or a nifty, well-made, regular knife?
 
I prefer having production knives that I can use. Customs are nice, but I'd want a lot of production knives first. I recently bought a black-ti coated Stiff KISS. Thirty-five dollars, and its a great user knife!
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-Chang, Asian Janitorial Apparatus
 
Chang,
Where did you get the black-Ti coated stiff
kiss?

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"ALWAYS WATCH YOUR SIX"
 
I got it from Mike Payne at Knives and Things. Only 60 Stiff KISS's were black-ti coated, maybe there will still be some.

I'll link you to the ad that Mike P. put up.
<a href="http://www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum8/HTML/001827.html"> Click here.</a>

stiffkisstanto.jpg


-Chang, Asian Janitorial Apparatus
 
cutfinger, what makes me happiest is the next knife I'll be getting. It doesn't seem to matter if it's a production or a custom or a customized. I just received 2 CRKT/KFF's, production knives, low price, high quality. I was showing them off all day today at work. I've got a few handmades and custom, and I've got a few on the way. I know once they get here I'll be looking for my next new knife. That will probably be a production knife, a Linder Boot Dagger in stag, cost under $50. It's whatever scratches the itch at the moment, price doesn't seem to make a difference. If I like the knife and can afford it, that's all that matters, for the moment, but there is always, "What can I get next?"

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"Will work 4 Knives!"
Homepage: http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=254126
 
The knives that make me happiest are the ones I have designed. Maybe one day I can try to make one from scratch.

-Bart
 
I'm with Phil on this one. It doesn't seem to matter. Sometimes its a production knife that adds to the collection, or an expensive and rare knife that completes a set, or simply a basic knife that I am not afraid to use (for fear of being hunted down like a rat for mutilating a rare collectable).

Now, who wants to scrape some paint off a boat with a nice Scagel knife?????
 
Phiil, I like your answer. A nice knife is nice knife whether it cost $30 or $600. One of the nice things about this forum is that there is little snobbishness due to price. I mean some people swear by expensive knives (Sebenzenistas for exampkle) but I think they honestly do it because they feel their favorites are good, not just because blades they are expensive.
 
Originally posted by PhilL:
cutfinger, what makes me happiest is the next knife I'll be getting. It doesn't seem to matter if it's a production or a custom or a customized.
Click to expand...

Hah! Exactly. It seems the pursuit and anticipation is as good as the delivery and use itself.

I like both custom and production. I prefer custom in the end. I have some stuff so expensive and beautiful there is no way I'd ever use it. I get gratification from these pieces. (multiple Broadwells, several Fisk's, Tshager, Velarde, Roger Bergh, Siska, others).

Gratifying in a different way is using my production folders daily. I just switch off between ~ 12 of them to keep things interesting. I have certain production knives I like enough to keep and use (as opposed to "sold"), based on design and performance.

Or carrying my mid-range ($400-$600) custom folders and using those every day. They are expensive, so they don't go fishing or on the road traveling by airplane to limit loss potential. But I use them, otherwise to me they aren't special enough to just collect and keep pristine in this price range. Most of them are not one-of's anyway, they are a series or a standard model.

But in the end, some of my favorite pieces, users or collectors, are indeed those I had a hand in designing, even if it was just specifying everything, or better, and then maybe tweaking the custom maker's sketch a bit. And they don't have to be expensive, just special somehow.

Examples: I have 3 hunting knives from David Broadwell (one of the finest custom makers around, top 20 in the US for sure). A classic dropped point, a semi-skinner, and a bird/trout style.

Dave makes all kinds, super versatile: brilliant expensive art pieces, wicked/beautiful Damascus recurved subhilt fighters, art daggers, the LDC-107 tactical folder for Robertson, tactical fighters with great tool steel and micarta, bowies, sculpted flowing art folders, simple camp knives, you name it, the guy is just amazing. And highly recommended by the way. That's my stag/damascus hunter on his web page: http://www.wf.net/~broadwll/knives/

The 3 hunters he made for me were $400 each. I consider them cadillac usin' knives. I'll never sell them. I have and do and will use them. I had a hand in sketching out one of them, and the other two followed same mold... same mold, but I sent him a sketch of a Loveless semi-skinner with a few tweaks, bingo, I own it. Norris damascus, premium stag, two have a Norris stainless San Mai, with 440V the sandwich edge material. Keepers. Will pass them down to a son or grandson kinda knives.

His LDC-107 is my favorite tactical folder, no question. Handle, blade grind looks great and is super useful for utility or for hunting, fit/finish, lockup, ergonomics, flowing lines, radiused spine, radiused grips, its all there, outstanding.

A hand in the design, and seeing it come to fruition, that's the best for me.


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rdangerer@home.com
 
Jeez, rdangerer, how the heck can I top that post. I was just going to chime in with something simple
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.

In all honesty, it is pretty hard to determine what one thing makes me happiest. My knives (more of a compilation than a collection
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) run the gamut from cheap production knives (CRKT, SOG, Case, Vixtorinox...) to mid-level production (BM's, Blackjack's, Marble's...) to upper end production (Chris Reeve) with a few customs on hand or in the works. I have been fortunate enough to like everything I have ever bought, and as a result have yet to sell one of my knives. But I certainly have my favorites. And what sets these knives apart from the crowd has nothing to do with monetary value, popularity, hype or the custom/production question. My favorites just seem to be the simple, functional tools that I actually enjoy using. While I thoroughly enjoy handling and admiring some of my shelf sitters, nothing makes me happier than experiencing the capabilities inherent in a knife possessing quality design, construction and performance. In this case my Sebenza and my Blackjack's make me smile a mile.

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It's only a mistake if you fail to learn from it!
 
Why I Spend All My Money On Knives....... ...... ooops. I meant........ What I like Most.

There are Two things that I enjoy the most concerning this Hobby/Obsession.
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Like others have stated, for me it's the Hunt, the Research and the Fact gathering of whatever Maker/Knife/Steel that I have chosen to purchase next. I feel an obligation to learn as much about a Maker or a particular piece before I purchase, that makes the ownership that much more enjoyable. By learning all I can about a Maker/Knife not only can I tell others whatever they want to know about it (and often MORE than they want to know
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) but I feel that I'm supporting the industry and the career of that Maker so that others can continue to enjoy his work in the future.

The other thing I enjoy is a Good Knife Trade. I like the experience of hooking up with other collectors with similiar tastes and trading a knife (or knives) that I have had the opportunity to own and enjoy. It's knowing when they receive the knives that I have sent that they too will feel the same excitement and pride of ownership that I initially felt when I first held the knife. Sniff...Sniff..... it almost makes me cry....
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Marine Sniper Motto:
There's no use Running, you'll only Die Tired!
 
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