What was your first “expensive” knife?

When I bought a Spyderco Tenacious ($30ish?) I thought it was expensive. My next jumps to "expensive" knives were Spyderco S30v PM2, ZT0801, Spyderco Military sprint runs/deal exclusives, second-hand Hinderer XM-18 and CRK Sebenza, and finally new Hinderer and CRK with inlays, roughly in that order. I have not made my new jumps ever since then (and will less likely do).
 
I got this CQC-11 back in early 2006. Before that I had mainly been carrying farm store junk and the occasional SAK. Oddly enough I wasn’t that interested in knives when I got it and didn’t really get into the hobby until last year. I just saw it on the internet and thought it looked cool.D4E71930-4914-4723-A280-5D9D44BCA12D.jpeg
 
I didn't consider the Benchmades and Spydercos too dear in terms of price.

So, I'd say my Large "Regular" Sebenza was my first expensive knife. (I got around that by having my wife buy it for me as a birthday present.)

:cool::thumbsup:
 
hhmoore said:
I bought a Microtech LCC in 2000. I'd had a few Emerson's and other good knives; but I think that was my most expensive folder at the time. (I ordered my two Randall's in '99...they cost more; but I didn't get them until 2002)
Click to expand...
I have a LCC as well. 09/2000. Yours wouldn’t happen to be the one I saw posted in another thread numbered 08/2000?
 
The first knife I ever bought with my own money was $35 in 1996, I was 17. I thought that was a lot, but normally it was $50, the store was going out of business. Yeah imagine buying a knife at the mall!

It was a Sog Pentagon Elite with a liner lock. It was so cool, I carried it and used it. I worked at a shoe store, and when it came time to break down boxes, I was your man.

I didn't break the $100 mark until I joined bladeforums. That was a Spyderco Gayle Bradley for $145 in 2013. Still have that knife.

It was all downhill (or maybe uphill?) From there, culminating in a $625 Brian Tighe small Tighe Rod. I sold it.

Until recently I hadn't spent much more than $300, for various reasons. 2 weeks ago I lost my mind and bought 3 knives for a little over $1200.

Seeing and handling them in person made it easier for some reason, as did being out of town.

It's been an interesting trip for sure. I've found I won't buy/keep a knife I'm not willing to use, unless it's a gift/something I inherited.
 
Henry Beige said:
Mini Barrage, $115. My wife had given me a Griptilian, which was my first taste of upscale knives, but it was only $85 at REI. It turned out to be a very popular knife among knife sales persons at Cabela’s, who all seemed to want to show me their knife. I liked the size, but was agnostic on the assist. It didn’t open any faster than the Grip, but I had no objection to it.

A relative with a heroin problem stole it for drug money. Ha later told me that Pawn America had given him $85 for it, which, if true, meant they thought it was about a $400 knife, which would make it by far the most expensive knife I ever bought.
Click to expand...
You have to love it when a pawn broker (legal fence) gets a dose of his own medicine. When I was still working with my tools, I had my whole loaded toolbox stolen. It was about seven hundred dollars in tools, some of which had belonged to my father. A few months later I found some of them in a pawn shop. (all marked). It disgusted me.
 
Benchmade 555-1 that I eventually put new scales on

QBhsGB1.jpg
 
K.O.D. said:
The first knife I ever bought with my own money was $35 in 1996, I was 17. I thought that was a lot, but normally it was $50, the store was going out of business. Yeah imagine buying a knife at the mall!

It was a Sog Pentagon Elite with a liner lock. It was so cool, I carried it and used it. I worked at a shoe store, and when it came time to break down boxes, I was your man.

I didn't break the $100 mark until I joined bladeforums. That was a Spyderco Gayle Bradley for $145 in 2013. Still have that knife.

It was all downhill (or maybe uphill?) From there, culminating in a $625 Brian Tighe small Tighe Rod. I sold it.

Until recently I hadn't spent much more than $300, for various reasons. 2 weeks ago I lost my mind and bought 3 knives for a little over $1200.

Seeing and handling them in person made it easier for some reason, as did being out of town.

It's been an interesting trip for sure. I've found I won't buy/keep a knife I'm not willing to use, unless it's a gift/something I inherited.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I have and am still enjoying the trip. I also am a user not a collector although I have done a bit of both in the past.
 
First knife I ever got that I thought was expensive was a Spyderco Endura with the Emerson wave for about 86 bucks. I thought north of 50 was insane. I'd see Benchmade balisongs at the local gun store and think "that's pistol money." From there I got a Benchmade Barrage, both regular and mini, and thought those were expensive. Then a friend got me into PM2s, and that was pricey. Then he showed me ZT, and I ended up with 8 ZT models, and I thought those 2-250 range knives were wild. Then he showed me the Meet Your Maker Chris Reeve episode on YouTube and showed me a 21, and I said no way. $400 on a knife is beyond the pale. Then he pointed out they make left handed knives. So now I own 13 CRK folders, a Hinderer XM-18 lefty, and earlier this year got my first Grimsmo Norseman. For the first time in several years, I just bought a knife under $200 (a pm2 sprint run) because the cheaper ones just don't do it for me anymore.
 
First gen Benchmade CQC7.

~1992?? Chisel grind, 4” blade with a clip - pretty intense for the time!

A couple of folks thought it was plastic because of the “crazy” grinds and bead-blasted finish. 😂
8EB1A84C-6889-4799-A5D7-FDC053D1B905.jpeg
Lots of Benchmade from the 90s here - they were at/near the top back then for production folders…
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top