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Why choose/carry budget knives?

mlanghornes

mlanghornes

Joined
Apr 24, 2009
Messages
798
Hi everyone. Lately I've been weeding out my collection and selling a bunch of low and mid-end knives that I've collected and buying only a few high-end or custom knives. My thoughts to this approach are that, since I am in a place where I can save up and afford something really nice, why would I go cheaper? I only really carry one knife at a time, so why not carry the best I can afford? I don't mean to be a knife snob, I know there are a lot of great, functional lower-end knives, but my question is, if you have a Sebenza in your collection, do you carry anything cheaper? Do you carry $30-60 production knives, even if you have custom knives in your collection, and if so, why? Is it a value-for-the-money thing, an expendability thing, or is there something else?
 
I have a Sebenza (custom graphic) and a $5,000 Kressler sub-hilt fighter (presentation grade Sambar stag, double edge, an amazing piece of steel).

I still EDC a BM sheepsfoot mini-Griptilian, with some of the budget Kershaws (Skyline, Thermite) and the Golden, CO Spydercos (Dodo, T-Mag, Chinook) mixed in. Why? Because I feel that I wouldn't actually want to use the Sebenza for more than light cutting. If the mini-Grip breaks, I'm only out $60. However, if I break the Sebenza, I'm out $480. Plus, I honestly don't see how the Sebenza can possibly cut better/longer/whatever than the mini-Grip.
 
i like to have variety and i carry what ever makes me happy regardless of how much it costs. I have a hinderer, sebenza, F3, sng, ect but i really like to carry my pm2 and boker nano a lot.
everyone just has different preferences i guess.
 
I'm all about function and quality regardless of price or perceived value. I'll carry a $500 knife sidecar to a $15 knife. Some days I leave the house with a Kershaw Zing and a Cold Steel Tuff Lite, and some days I leave the house with a 0561BW and a EX-02.

(You'll note that I don't really tend to carry anything worth more than $200. This is where our respective incomes come into play.)

What and why is entirely up to you. There is no perfect philosophy for knife ownership that you are violating by carrying any kind or variety of knife regardless of what you can or cannot afford. I've known people personally that had basically no money whatsoever but carried very expensive knives, and I'm close friends with a guy richer than is easily relatable and he whines about spending $80 on his Manix.

It's all about what you perceive to be worth it. A quality $100 knife will probably cut just as well as a $700 custom. They might even have the same blade steel and grinds. The $700 custom will likely have more attention to detail, and, if you spent that much, probably has a lot of little aesthetic and ergonomic characteristics that you enjoy. The $100 knife can be beat on all day, stand up to it, and be sent to a manufacturer for quick-turnaround warranty service or immediate replacement.

I don't take much pride of ownership of a knife, personally. I enjoy a well-made knife, but they are cutting tools to me. I might quite like the look of a cutting tool, but I'll be damned if I'm going to carry around a sharp rolex. Just not my style. Nobody is going to be impressed except for people on the internet, and spending hundreds or thousands of dollars to impress people on the internet is basically just being an attention whore that hasn't figured out how the whore-john economic system works.

Whatever you get, get it for yourself. If your own personal enjoyment is enough, and you can afford it, you don't need to explain yourself or question it. It's what you enjoy and you can get it if you want to.
 
I think I've reached much the same point in my collecting. When I first started out I bought what seemed "affordable" at the time, meaning knives at or under the $50 price point. After buying a number of these I moved up to the $100 range, then the $150 range. Now I'm shopping knives that are 3 or 4 times that value. I no longer care much about those early purchases and are starting to wonder what to do with them. I find myself only EDCing about four favorites but I use a couple of cheaper knives for nasty "beater" work. That leaves a drawer full of once-loved but now ignored knives. It's probably time to sell some and/or give them away.
 
See, I don't carry customs to impress people, because you're right, nobody really cares what knife I have. I've moved to them because I like the design and quality. And I'm not talking Brad Southard level customs, I'm talking three sisters forge and David curtiss, great stuff but functional rather than showy. When I carry them, though, I always wonder what the point of the knives at home are, that never tend to get carried.
 
addylo said:
I think I've reached much the same point in my collecting. When I first started out I bought what seemed "affordable" at the time, meaning knives at or under the $50 price point. After buying a number of these I moved up to the $100 range, then the $150 range. Now I'm shopping knives that are 3 or 4 times that value. I no longer care much about those early purchases and are starting to wonder what to do with them. I find myself only EDCing about four favorites but I use a couple of cheaper knives for nasty "beater" work. That leaves a drawer full of once-loved but now ignored knives. It's probably time to sell some and/or give them away.
Click to expand...

You might consider using them as trade fodder. Not necessarily directly for what you want, but towards things of slightly higher trade and resale value. If I have a hard time selling a knife I don't want, I'll trade it for something of the same value that is in higher demand. I might trade up from there - who knows what offers I'll get, what things I'll get to try out...!

Through patience, trades, and lucky ebay/exchange scores, one can actually move pretty high up into the knife world without spending much money. I traded up from a ZT 0560 all the way to an 0777M390, in five trades total, at a grand total cost to me (shipping + the price of the 0560) of about $250. That would have been $210 if I didn't insist that we both fully insure our shipments on those last two trades.

Patience is key to knife success - both in sharpening and in acquisition.
 
I have a left handed Sebenza 21 and Umnumzaan, but still carry "cheaper" knives. I like the ZDP-189 Caly 3.5 quite a bit, and there's just something about Spyderco Military's that keep me coming back.

I think that different knives and different price ranges have their uses. Even though I have CRK's sometimes I just want something different.
 
I think bottom line it can be summed up with one word: appreciation. If you carry an expensive custom over a budget blade, you must find something that you appreciate about the knife over any other. If you can't afford a custom and carry a budget knife you appreciate that knife for what it is. But what truly answers the question comes when you carry a budget knife even though you can afford so much more. That owners appreciation for all that knife is or does explains why they carry it over something perceived higher.
 
I carry budgetary knives because the work I do can sometimes lead to losing said knives. When you have to get down in a pit full of mud, it's incredibly easy to lose something, and unbelievably hard to find it again.
 
There are so many things that can happen to a knife (breaking, loss, theft, confiscation, etc.) that carrying an expensive knife in some situations just strikes me as an unnecessary risk. For instance, my boss gave me a pocket knife as a gift, and I forgot I had it in my pocket when going to a concert. I got frisked at the entrance, and sure enough, the knife got taken. It wasn't valuable in monetary terms, but it had sentimental value. There are definitely some knives I own that would represent a significant financial loss if something happened, so along with those that were gifts, the pricier knives stay at home. I think the most expensive knife I've carried would have cost about $75 to replace. There are some scenarios where I might opt to carry a more expensive knife, but I figure there aren't many tasks I could possibly need a more expensive knife for.

Yesterday was an exception in that I carried a $35 knife instead of the usual $15 one. Gettin' fancy!
 
Sure I still carry a "cheaper" knife sometimes. My composite leek gets pocket time in rotation with all kinds of much more expensive knives. I have a few cold steel voyages that I don't carry anymore but it has nothing to do with their price, it's performance. My dragonfly's are affordable and perform well, so I carry them.
 
I don't feel so bad about using - and even abusing - a run-of-the-mill budget blade. But it's a little harder to thump on a gorgeous semi/custom blade. And, of course, there's a lot in between. But I still seem to use sub-$30 knives for most EDC utility stuff.

For food prep and woodscraft it's a different story, though -- there I seem to have an easier time using the more expensive blades. Not sure why....
 
The expensive knives only I get to use, I keep a spare cheapie for the inevitable moment where someone says "can I borrow your knife?"
 
No offense to those more knowledgeable than myself. But sometimes when I see talk about pocket knives that cost $300 minimum, it just strikes me as showing off, like a way of showing that you're economically secure enough to own such a valuable item when others can't.
 
All of my knives are budget folders, mainly Spyderco, Kershaw and CRKT. As much as I'd like to own more expensive knives and financially I can, currently I find it hard to justify the cost with so many amazing budget folders on the market. Next knife purchase will be a Rat 2 one for me and one for the girlfriend. I love my knives, but I don't get to use them as much as I would like, perhaps when they see more use I will upgrade, but for now the budget knives are up to the tasks at hand.
 
I've owned knives in the 4 figure range; still own most all the popular 300-600 midtech/semi custom knives

they get carried for personal satisfaction/playing with sometimes...never in situations where I know i will be "using in unique ways"

I regularly carry an spyderco endura 4 frn

I enjoy owning nice knives and fondling them, using them doesn't(in most cases) make me feel better
 
I have some folders that are worth $500, but I tend to use the cheaper folders because I am not afraid to abuse them a little and also I would hate to lose one of my expensive ones at work or when hunting. I carry expensive ones when I know they will most likely stay in my pocket.
 
I own a couple of customs, but to be honest, none can do the day to day tasks that the Victorinox Swiss Army Cadet can do.

Mine rides in my pocket every single day, and if I've used it to any extents, a few swipes on the stone and it's a razor once more.

I understand the draw to the high end side, (I even lost a Sebenza once, but that's a whole 'nother gut wrenching story) but in the reality of day to day, a working man needs a working man's knife.
 
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