Why do we spend SO much money for knives?

Strong-Dog said:
I would have asked him why his Blur was serrated. Also why it was a tanto.
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Thanks, that made me laugh. :D

I've learned that it doesn't really matter what people spend their money on as long as they aren't hurting someone and they're taking care of the more important financial aspects of their life.
 
These type threads come and go. I usually read them, agree with them, and then go buy another knife.

This thread differentiates itself from the rest because your baseline knife is the tanto partially serrated Blur. I know this knife is somewhat derided and thrown into the ninja mall crowd but I have gotten more work out of this knife than any I have ever owned. Even amongst the Blurheads this knife seems to be ignored, but IMO it is a great work knife that has never failed me. Trying to replace it is the reason I have spent so much money.

I digress, back to the subject at hand; Justification for high dollar knives.

I can only speak for myself when it comes to spending lots of money on a pocket knife. I fall into the category of looking for the best edc there is for my usage.

I have carried a pocket knife for 40ish years and justify my latest spending as a hobby that is practical in the end.

I carried the aforementioned Blur for about 4 years. I decided to replace it one day. I was hoping that it would be a cheap replacement and started buying cheap Chinese knives . After about a dozen of these cheap Chinese knives I found that none of them could touch the Blur.

I started increasing my spending and it took buying the Spyderco Pacific Salt fully serrated before my Blur saw any competition.

To make a long story short, I have now spent about two grand on different knives with different steels and locks and handle materials. Throw in another 500 dollars for sharpening stuff and I've got around 2500 spent in the last three years.

That's about 70 bucks a month on something I like doing. I guess that would fall into the hobby category, and I have a bag full of knives to show for it at the end of the day.

I think this hobby is winding down though because i haven't bought anything knife related in about four months. In fact, my strongest knife urge at moment is to carry my tanto Blur again. It's in a box in my attic with my knives that didn't make the cut. It definitely doesn't belong there.

Sorry Airsoftgun99, my ramblings went a bit off topic. I looked at your OP and read it as "Why spend a lot of money on a knife when I have a Kershaw Blur tanto?" To me, that is a tough argument to address and I have spent the last three years pondering it.

As for those that carry a knife because it is sharper than their keys, they will never understand.
 
I don't have a lot of stuff, but whatever I buy, I seek the best one possible.

I used to just buy lots of stuff, and eventually realized (when I had to move) that most of it was trash.

That made me think differently and just threw most of it away and only looked at high quality stuff from then on.
 
There is really no honestly good reason to spend what we do, we just like them. People spend thousands on Rolex, buy lambos to commute to work, have a house so big they can't clean it so they hire a maid, just because they happen to like them. For example, if you're looking to spend some disposable income, why not buy a fancy car, you need a car, might as well have a nice one. Must of us need knives, either due to other hobbies, work or just grew up with them. So if you're going to collect something why not something useful?

On gun forums you see guys who spent 3000$ on an ar-15, put a 300$ trigger in it, put a 500$ rail system and another 1000$$ in gadgets on it, then put a 2000$ scope on it, you end up with a gun costing nearly what a entry level car does. my 700$ ar and 200$ scope will do 90% of what theirs does but they just want to buy something nice.

part of it I am sure as well is simply, nice stuff tends to beget other nice stuff. You don't sharpen a sebenza in a pull through carbide scraper, likewise if you have a edge pro you'll want to see what a real knife can do.

Just like you wouldn't put a 20$ walmart special on a 5000$ sharpshooting rifle. Or do a hackjob bodymod to a mercedes benz.
 
I don't know what kind of LE friends he has. In my agency we all wear Oakley's, have at least $2000 invested in our AR's, $100+ boots, and I always carried a ZT. This isn't a profession that people skimp on quality. I find his statements highly questionable
 
Ulf Krogstad said:
I just found out I have intestinal cancer. I'm probably gonna kill myself sometime next week. I don't care, you get what you pay for usually. I like my $22 utilitac II.
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I know this is way off topic and I don't know Ulf from Adam, but this is a heavy topic for this thread. Hang in there, dude.
 
HwangJino said:
I don't have a lot of stuff, but whatever I buy, I seek the best one possible.

I used to just buy lots of stuff, and eventually realized (when I had to move) that most of it was trash.

That made me think differently and just threw most of it away and only looked at high quality stuff from then on.
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Exactly. I do the same.
 
Man oh man, I read the original post and I guess I skimmed through some of the responses and missed your post Ulf Krogstad.

Definitely hang in there. I have never owned the Itillac II but read that it is a great low cost knife.
 
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All excellent point these other members are making. These are reasons why, plus most of us have a disease or addiction, I just bought a Strider and spent a good deal of money, but for some reason I was able to justify it like "This is too good of a deal to pass up and is one of the configurations you want, go ahead and make it work some how"
 
Simple reason, you want to spend that much on a knife you want but probably not need.

My favorite EDC is a $10 rough rider canoe, I have far more expensive knives and higher end ones. My most expensive ones are the new Spyderco Mule Team 18's (I own 2) with S110V, yet it loses out to that $10 knife for most time being used. At the end of the day they both cut, they both get the job done, but I find the canoe easier to carry, more comfortable, and overall just like it better. The Mule Team gets pulled out for heavy cardboard cutting duty as I still haven't dulled the thing down and I would have had to sharpen my canoe a few times already with what I put that Mule Team through.

I hate to say it but in the practicality standpoint it's really hard to argue with these people as they do pose a dang good point.

A simple Opinel and a small pocket stone in your pocket or on your keychain or even sandpaper in your wallet can probably get you through any job you need to do for around $10. And their easy to sharpen up and will probably out cut almost any knife with how good of a slicer that is. So unless you need a sharpened pry bar it's even hard to argue with something like this. But in all honesty where is the fun in that, were knife enthusiasts for a reason.
 
In all honesty though, you can buy a Victorinox alox Cadet for $20 and you quite possibly have one of the best utility knives out there. It will accomplish 99% of your daily needs.
 
Ulf Krogstad ~~ do what you have to do as we all have a choice in life ~~ go through the pain or end the pain yourself ~~
your da man and you got to do what you want to do and not what the others think you ought to do.!** We only go around once in this life and h$ll nobody is going to remember you or me 200 years from now ~~ ya know.!!

As for Knives I always did buy what ""I"" wanted in Guns & Knives as long as my bills were paid and as it stands now I have sold most of my Collection and what is left will go to my 2 young men to argue over.** On 4/16/2014 I will be 72 and I feel like I have taken up enough space on what was once Gods Green Earth but it has all changed for the worst and I can't go back to the 50's & 60's & 70's where your word was your bond and you could trust a ""Friend"" or go by a mans word.!
All gone now.**
Buy what you want now Guy's & Gal's as you might not be around tomorrow !!
Enough said.
Just = Jack
 
I think it is just a matter of a person's temperament. When I was working I could have afforded just about any car on the road. I bought a Buick LeSabre for about $25,000 and I still have it 11 years later. I just like the car. Made in America by an American company by American workers. Big, comfortable, gets 30mpg on the road and there is a GM dealer in nearly every town in case I need something fixed. What's not to like? Friends of mine who were making what I was making bought BMW's, Mercedes's, Jag's, etc. They were happy with them for a lot of reasons just like I was and am happy with my Buick. Different things make people happy. I buy knives, production and custom, that don't cost more than $200. Some people think that is crazy to spend that much on a knife while others think it is crazy to spend so little on a knife. It is just what makes you happy.
 
There is no way to explain why people pay a lot of money for some of the things that they do, except that they want to. If a person pays their bills and has money left over, they can buy whatever they want. The way a lot of us do this hobby we do spend a pretty good amount on knives, but there are a lot of people with much more expensive hobbies. I have friends that race cars, and friends who are fishermen. They spend a lot more on cars, boats, travel, etc. than I could possibly spend on knives.

I've been involved in collecting watches too, and in some ways collecting knives is similar. I think there are a lot of people here that buy knives, keep them for a little while, and sell them for a price similar to what they bought them for. I was able to do that with watches, and ended up with just a few watches now compared to some times when I had a lot. I'm in a position now where I am considering selling a few of my knives, and I think I can come close to breaking even with them. So sometimes you can engage in this hobby and it doesn't cost all that much.
 
22-rimfire said:
Actually I have read that that many people are not buying watches any more. They will become more like traditional slip joints where people that like them buy a lot and the majority buy something modern and inexpensive or use their cell phones.

My brother feels exactly the same way about knives. He can not see why you would pay so much money for a knife. He can afford it, but does not see the value. There is no convincing him. So, other than buying one or two knives to cut with, it's a hobby. Hobbyists spend a lot of money on their hobbies.
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I've started hearing that about watches as well. I notice that the majority of Firefighter/EMT, LEO, Military, Hunters and most folks I know that are 25 and over wear watches. The majority o these people aren't always plugged in as it were. I guess it was a bad example for this scenario in a way. But a watch seems to symbolize "punctuality, dedication, and accountability" in a person. I've heard this in many people that i work with in both jobs (specifically from hiring managers, directors and executives. Who knows though.

Hobbies require disposable income. You just don't see a whole lot of people that are dealing with crushing debt and extremely limited income talking about hobbies. Unless those hobbies entail something other than being a collector/accumulator of items.
 
As a Firefighter/Paramedic and a LEO now retired, I always bought the best quality knife I could afford, as did the majority of my colleagues - after I retired I have been an advocate for people in those professions and have even tried to get a couple of knife companies interested in making a knife that I designed for these professionals that would be "professional grade" but affordable. Often these professionals have to "abuse" their knives in the line of duty, and that is a tall order for a $300+ dollar knife. As it stands, a guy has to spend allot of money for a hard use knife - and that's just the way it is.
 
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