What was your "step up " knife?

Benchmade Griptilian. My wife gave it to me for Christmas. It was under $100, a barrier I have since broken, but it was way more expensive than anything I had, and it really rekindled my interest in knives. I still haven't broken the $200 barrier, and I am not likely to as a retiree on a fixed income. I have bought a few more Benchmades, and more recently have turned my interest toward traditional slipjoints and inexpensive European working knives: Opinels, Moras, MAM, Mercator and the like.
 
Nfd538 said:
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What is that beautiful piece of art?!

Edit; I found it! Sukhoi 2.0 what a beauty..
 
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Medford Praetorian Ti. It took a year to get (I ordered it - makers discretion). It is worth every penny. And yes I carry it and use it!
 
@Nfd538: I agree on the Mini Bodega wow! It is a big "step up" I've not been able to put it down today. I can't seem to put it down. so much attention to detail. Every aspect seems intentional.

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My first knife that was over $40 was my Kershaw Blur in S30V. Then I kept trying to get better and better and bought a Paramilitary 2 and ZT 0350. I just recently picked up a Delica 4 FFG and that's getting the most pocket time as of now. Actually looking to get a nicer edc myself..looking into benchmade, zero tolerance and a few others
 
I blame A. G. Russell for my "step up" from cheap knives to quality. Growing up, I would stop by the Springdale shop along 62 highway once or twice a year. Shortly after getting to college, I began to make a little more money, and decided I would celebrate a new part-time job by buying a knife. I picked up one of his "Gent's Liner lock" knives in burl-wood and titanium used for about $150. This was back in '95. I was blown away by the quality and beauty, and that remained the standard for several years. It wasn't until I graduated and got a real job that I felt the need to step up to that level of knife quality again, and then purchased 2 Benchmade knives and a Microtech within one year, and it's been down-hill ever since.

That A. G. Russell is still one of my favorites, and I brought it by A. G.'s new shop off of 540 last year and showed it off to the man himself. He took it to the back and applied a bit of TLC to it, and smoothed out the action just a bit. I'm still amazed at the quality of that knife. I'm considering dressing it up a bit by sending it off to Santa Fe Stoneworks for some pearl scales.
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The ZT 0560 was my gateway to higher priced blades....they were originally $260 at a time where I thought spending more than $100 was balls out nuts......now I maybe have 2 blades in the sub $100 category. Times sure do change:-)
 
KnivesShipFree said:
@Nfd538: I agree on the Mini Bodega wow! It is a big "step up" I've not been able to put it down today. I can't seem to put it down. so much attention to detail. Every aspect seems intentional.
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Yeah man that's one well crafted knife. The detail is insane.
 
ebidis said:
A $600 Sebenza was your step up knife? What did you start out with, a $400 Sebenza? LOL! :D
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My very first knife was a William Henry Damascus BM06. My second was a Large Sebenza 21 Graphic. So I guess you could say I stepped down.
 
My first Kershaw (Blur), led to a dozen Kershaw's. Then my first ZT (0350TS) led to a dozen ZT's. Then my first Spyderco (Domino), let to well over a dozen Spyders. My first 50-100 RR's led to GEC's/Northwoods/CSC. I have a problem with "stepping up".

Hi, my name is Bflying, and I found this place when I hit rock bottom. It's been almost a week since my last 8 knife delivery, and I'm jonesing real bad. :D
 
I started out with a gerber ripstop, since when I first looked at knives, this one had a handle design that stuck out the most, and looked pretty cool (curvy, skeletonized handle, pretty unique). I guess this should have been a hint to myself that I would be in the knife game for mainly aesthetics. Next knife was a Schrade 311. I was intrigued by the titanium coated blade. This was when I was new to the knife game, and knew essentially nothing about what the specs meant.

Fast forward 4 months, I don't know exactly why, but something drew me back into knives. I would randomly hop on knifecenter or bladeHQ and browse their knives, and researched steels for far too long. Never thought I would spend over $75 on a knife, ended up buying a $450 one. Haven't found a knife that I liked the look of better at any price point. The last knife I was considering was a Marfione Sigil (would've been $1k, insane amount of money to spend for me since I am in college). Awesome logo, futuristic looking knife (black and blue one), awesome on paper...... but the poor QC was a major turn off. Blade wasn't even centered. It would be like an F-16 with a lopsided rudder.
 
First step up was a 0350, then a 0560, then I needed the real thing xm-18. The next step is a doozy.
 
Thanks to everyone that has replied to the post. Special thanks to those of you that took the time to post pics, they always help any topic of discussion.

Nfc538 nice collection and the introduction for me to a xm-18 and sukhoi, wow those are serious quality cutters that I was not aware of.
Sinkrate nice BM pic.

And for u guys that have a mini bodega, I am seriously jealous. I could look at that for a long time picking out the attention to detail.
 
Went from a CRKT M16-14 to a Buck/Strider 880 when I was 18.
 
What do you mean by step up ? More expensive ? for me a step up in a knife is just liking it more or one that suits me better. And the one that fit my needs better than everything else is my buck 482.
 
Started with a Spyderco Tenacious and worked my way up the Spyderco line until I finally gave in a bought a Small CF Insingo, now I'm up to a Shirogorov 95T. I remember browsing this forum a year ago thinking people were insane for spending $300 on a knife.....guess I've gone insane.
 
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