m390 vs vanax 37 steel

B

bombardior

Joined
Jul 24, 2017
Messages
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Hello everyone. I am trying to search for more information regarding the differences/similarities between the m390 vs. vanax 37 types of steel and cannot turn up much. Can someone point me in the right direction?


I am mainly interested in knowing about differences in maintenance, desirability, rarity and resale. I don't really plan on edc either of those just wondering if one type is particularly more desired than the other for whatever reason?
 
So you are basically saying that you are planning on buying a knife to eventually flip it, and you want us to tell you which will be worth more in the long run.

Sorry, I am not too keen on telling people how to take advantage of other knife enthusiasts...

If you were asking about which would be a better performer, you would get a more appreciable response from me (and likely others), but for financial gain, I am going to be a bit tight lipped...
 
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heir is a website called Zknives.com and there is an app for the phone Type in Zknives and lok for app called knife steel composition by Zvisoft It will tell you about every knifesteel there is. If you don't see it listed then type it into the search bar and chances are it will come up. In fact it will list all the different formats such as Vanax 35 and 75. Really great app if you are interested in metallurgy of knife steel's.
 
A knife will only be worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. It's hard to forecast what something will be worth based on something that does not even exist yet. One of those factors is the skill of the makers. A CNC machined Ti handled knife is not as desirable as something made by hand by a skilled knife maker (IMO). Anyone and everyone can speculate, and you would be foolish to take any answer that attempts specific numbers seriously.
 
Blows my mind that people actually think knives are some kind of investment, as if those few extra bucks you make will make ANY sustainable difference to your overall bottom dollar or life situation. The juice is far from ever being worth the squeeze. Might let you take the Mrs out to a fancy dinner once a while but that's about it.
 
Edited out of hope that the explanations below are honest.
 
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I have knives that have gone up alot and I have knives that I paid alot for. I bought them because I like them and when I sell a knife it is usually to buy others. If you buy knives because you love knives, you are not looking
at how much you are going to make. If you want to make real money you need to find out about customs. A huge monetary layout and alot of time and patience. Collectors/users like us have spent many hours researching the knife that we want to get we also research the company that makes it. We don't mind giving each other info because it becomes a give and take of information. If you are under the impression that we give this info out easily you are mistaken. If your looking at the knife hobby as a way to make an extra income don't bother. we are happy to get some playtime and then sell or trade it and We consider ourselves lucky if we break even. There are much easier In addition you would have to learn alot about the knives, knife companies, and clones.
One clone can eat up your profit on 10 knives. Get back to us when you have decided that you decided to collect because you enjoy it. Put some time into r&d. You will find a cornucopia of information. You will find people on the forum to be much more amenable when you return as a knife enthusiast.
 
ok... i didn't expect this much hostility and sarcasm and assumptions from simply asking a question.

yes i am buying to not actually use, and just flip it around at home for fun.
yes i will most likely be selling it down the line.
yes, i would like to have the option that will make me LOSE the least amount of money.....
no, i am not 'investing' or 'flipping' this knife for financial gain.

where the heck did any of you get the idea that i've getting this knife as an 'investment' from..... im not a flipper.... definitely not looking to MAKE money off this and am MOST DEFINITELY not stupid enough to treat this as an investment.


Im buying this knife because honestly It'll be a fun little toy for me to play around with for a bit and if and when the time comes when i get bored of it, it can be sold to recover some of my losses, because i KNOW i will be losing money.

since the purpose of me getting this knife is just for flipping around and fun, i'll be frank to admit that the type of steel doesn't actually matter to me. there, i said it. i have plenty of other knives to actually use, but this one is just going to be for flipping/playing with.

but, if the made material makes a difference down the line in resale, why the heck would I not want to pick the more desire one right now when both are equally priced to me? I'm not trying to predict the market. If it means couple years down the line i'll be able to sell one for $800 while the other $700, why wouldn't I pick the blade that is going to be worth more? are you saying you wouldn't?

seriously. the point of the question is i want to have the least amount of loss as I can for the purpose that I have planned for this knife, that's it... no need to be so mean about it....... i dont understand why you're all so quick to judge just from one simple question from a newbie who just joined the forums and got bit by the knife bug....



thank you to mo2 and emjay for actually trying to answer my question as i continue to do research on this subject, which is what i had asked for in the first place in the original post.

emjay, i've looked through that database and it doesn't seem like vanax 37 is listed.... is the 35 the closest thing?

to everyone else, it seems like you guys all know the "answer" that i'm looking for, but refuses to give it out of condescending spite. I'm sorry that you'd rather type up a long, sarcastic and bitter response instead of helping out a newcomer into your hobby. i hope your world is alright...
 
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The reason that you received the type of reactions you did is because of the questions you asked.

You were asking about which knife will resell for the most, "A" or "B", which is more rare, desirable, and which will require the least maintenance.
Due to this, we are only able to gather that:
- You are planning to buy a knife to hold onto and resell for the most profit, ie. Flip the knife for the most financial gain.
- Won't need to be maintained by showing the least wear or affect from atmospheric conditions. Thus being able to be sold as a better condition than should truthfully be listed as.
- Didn't list the knives, thus adding to the mystery.
- If you were a "knife knut" and not looking for profit, you should have some knowledge about the items you ask about. But coming to ask about future values, and commonality of an item (in regards to resale) is generally frowned upon.
- Edpecially since you are expecting us to tell you which you can resell for the least loss (or most profit, likely to one of our own.)

If anyone here can tell you which knife will be worth "X%" of new once handled, then they deserve to work in a carnival telling fortunes, because they are one of two things:
A) A genuine soothsayer
Or more likely
B) Lying

Which do you think is more likely?

If we came off a bit over-protective, or snarky, it is only out of trying to err on the side of caution. We see flippers quite a bit, and we are fairly good at sniffing them out (even if they don't give themselves away).
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Since you edited yur post to include the "new guy bit by the knife bug" part while I was typing, I am adding my rebuttal here.

If you are going to spend decent coin on a new knife in a hobby that you are just getting into, why would you want to sell it?

Most folks that are interested in something tend to cherish their first (whatever the item is)...
Just saying that you are already looking to sell your first big purchase is questionable...
 
Knives i'm choosing between are shiro 95Ts. Both are identical except the steel type and i am buying one of them for 1075$. i see them being sold used for roughly ~800-900$, so already i know by purchasing i will be hitting a loss. Again, i am not a flipper.......
the maintenance question you totally misunderstood me as well. i am asking in terms of ease of sharpening. i just bought the spyderco sharpmaker kit and am not sure if that is good enough for these grades of steel....



edit: to answer your newbie question and why i'm considering selling when i haven't even bought, it's because i just want to be somewhat financially responsible. that's literally all there is to it. im not saying i'll definitely sell it, but if that time does come, and the two blades really don't matter to me right now, why wouldn't i pick a 'better' blade in terms of resale?
 
Seems like there are a lot of people slinging knives for a profit on this site.

As a knoob myself, am I missing something with the negative responses to this seemingly reasonable question?
 
bombardior said:
the maintenance question you totally misunderstood me as well. i am asking in terms of ease of sharpening.
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Sorry, I thought I read you rather clearly.
bombardior said:
yes i am buying to not actually use, and just flip it around at home for fun.
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Then don't worry about sharpening it. You will only hurt the resale value.

That being said, diamond stones can sharpen just any alloy out there.

bombardior said:
why wouldn't i pick a 'better' blade in terms of resale?
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Because when folks buy a higher end knife to use (and not flip) they tend to buy the better performer, not the one that is more rare, and will fetch the most on the secondary market.
 
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NJBillK said:
Won't need to be maintained by showing the least wear or affect from atmospheric conditions. Thus being able to be sold as a better condition than should truthfully be listed as.
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yea i have no ideaaaaaaaa what you just said there, and if i list a knife, with it's age, which is on the knife birth certificate, and as you said, if i never sharpen it, how can it be sold as a better condition than should truthfully be listed as? what should it be truthfully listed as then?? i think a "made in 2017, never sharpened, never used." is truthful enough? why would you think i'd misrepresent that just by asking a question about ease of maintenance? HOW would i even start to misrepresent that?

NJBillK said:
Because when folks buy a higher end knife to use (and not flip) they tend to buy the better performer, not the one that is more rare, and will fetch the most on the secondary market.
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well i am upfront about not intending to use it in the sense of EDCing... i intend to just play with it....



whatever.... if you don't want to help, by all means i can't force you to help me. but shoving words in my mouth and going out of your way to assert this many assumptions about a stranger on the internet is a bit strange to me is all.
 
There are small things, like something being listed as "Never used" are taken in this field of interest as "New in Box" or just that "Never Used"...
The problem with that is that you do intend to use it. You intend to use it as something that will be taken out of the box and handled, then put back, just to do so at a later date.

In this community of knife enthusiasts, that constitutes a used knife.

The only knife that can be sold as "Never Used" or "New in Box" are those that have had the box opened pictures taken, but not handled. Otherwise it should be listed as "LNIB".

Think of it like this:
Made in 2017, handled a few times, flipped open and closed a bit, box has handling marks, unsharpened.

Honesty goes a long way. By saying that the knife was "unused" you say nothing of the points that I stated above. Things like this tend to cause us to be wary and have a knee-jerk reaction to those asking about second hand values.
 
I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt based on your later posts' clarifications, but I also understand the pile-on based on your initial word choice.

I don't think it will matter. At the $1,000 level, some knives have 1095 steel, some have M390. At that level of knives, no noticeable value is added by material choice, it's all the vagaries of the market due to individual aesthetic tastes. Given the same Shirogorov in M390 or Vanax, who can say whether one will be worth more? No one.
 
NJBillK said:
There are small things, like something being listed as "Never used" are taken in this field of interest as "New in Box" or just that "Never Used"...
The problem with that is that you do intend to use it. You intend to use it as something that will be taken out of the box and handled, then put back, just to do so at a later date.

In this community of knife enthusiasts, that constitutes a used knife.

The only knife that can be sold as "Never Used" or "New in Box" are those that have had the box opened pictures taken, but not handled. Otherwise it should be listed as "LNIB".

Think of it like this:
Made in 2017, handled a few times, flipped open and closed a bit, box has handling marks, unsharpened.

Honesty goes a long way. By saying that the knife was "unused" you say nothing of the points that I stated above. Things like this tend to cause us to be wary and have a knee-jerk reaction to those asking about second hand values.
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see, this is exactly what i mean by shoving words in my mouth... nowhere have i ever said i intend to list this as BNIB or LNIB or whatever condition you guys are saying i will be listing it. all i've said is that down the line, i may sell it..... and that is all! why assume i will sell it as Never used or new in box??? is this community just that full of scummy, non-trustworthy people that you meet every newcomer with a pitchfork?

i come from the high end watch community as well, and honestly, that community deals with items much more expensive than knives. the resale game is strong and honest, no one is arguing about intent or frowning upon a few "flippers".
try going on the rolex forum and ask the same question of whether a submariner or a datejust will retain value better and see if you get condescending responses......
 
bombardior said:
how can it be sold as a better condition than should truthfully be listed as? what should it be truthfully listed as then?? i think a "made in 2017, never sharpened, never used." is truthful enough?
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This is the second time I quoted yu about "not using" the knife, and the second time that you said I put words in your mouth.

I used Your Words.

If you think that my quoting you is putting words in your mouth, please tell me.
 
NJBillK said:
This is the second time I quoted yu about "not using" the knife, and the second time that you said I put words in your mouth.

I used Your Words.

If you think that my quoting you is putting words in your mouth, please tell me.
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well, that is my bad then. i will say "opened, played around with, never used to cut" instead if that's good enough for you.


NJBillK said:
- Won't need to be maintained by showing the least wear or affect from atmospheric conditions. Thus being able to be sold as a better condition than should truthfully be listed as.
Click to expand...

but what you said here about my motivations still makes no sense at all.
 
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