Cheap knives are a bad idea.

[soc_monki]

I'm loving and using this $30 knife. The Kershaw Atmos. Tremendous design and action for that price. Yes, I know it's 8cr13mov, but it works fine, and it sharpens up easily.

And these cheapo knives are also pretty good lol. None of my more expensive knives slice like them, anyway.

I love my atmos! I'm just waiting for Kershaw to do an Atmos Xl... I've got both a Natrix CF and Natrix CF XL. not as inexpensive as an atmos, but also good blades for the money imo.

 

[Henry Beige]

Cheap knives are a bad idea.

It's true that not everyone can buy a Paramilitary 2 or an Esee knife. Even fewer people are willing to put half a grand on a Sebenza. Some have families, some have low-income, some don't like to spend much on things and I'm not here to judge. Still, from my personal experience and after a lot of thought and testing, I strongly think cheap knives are a bad idea.
What do I call a cheap knife ? A low-price knife, basically. Everything sub-90$ is a cheap knife for me.

Sure, Esee knives are expensive, especially for 1095. But what you get is a solid knife, with great design and a close-to-perfect heat treatment. It's a knife you can actually rely on. A good heat treatment is a key when it comes to prevent the blade to snape on your eyes or fingers for exemple. Heat treatment is often overlooked by cheap knives companies.

A knife isn't a typical tool, like a prybar or a pair of sunglasses. It's an insanely sharp object that you must trust. It's like a gun. You can cheap out on everything, but playing it cheap on knives or gun isn't something I'll recommend.

It might be controversial, but I'd rather have no knife than a cheap knife. No-knife can't hurt me, having no blade means it won't slap on me, having no lock means it won't fail at the worst moment... Sure, those cheaper knives are fun. It's always fun to think something that cheap can actually be a decent knife to play around. That doesn't mean they're good tools at all.

Disclosure : not all expensive knives are great.

Let them eat cake?
Obvious troll post. Reported.

 

[KVT]

We all bit the troll bait...

 

[JimMD]

I just made a birthday gift for my brother of a $89 Spyderco Chaparral. I think it’s a great small EDC knife for light use.

 

[r redden]

I guess I'll chime in with my 2 cents worth I think the OP is probably new to knife collecting or young either way they must have not had a lot of experience with knives or he/she would realize that price don't really have anything to do with it. I have expensive and inexpensive knives most are slipjoints I probably have around 200 knives and over half of them cost less than $90 and none are junk. From vintage USA made NOS Schrade that cost around $25 to new Delica's for around $50 yes VG10 not the best but certainly good enough for me made in Seki Japan and simply an excellent EDC. Then as others have mention there's the Opinel and Vics and even though some have an aversion to knives made in China but the truth is there are some that are less than $20 new that would serve you well. That said I recently bought a Rogers Lambsfoot Barlow from a Sheffield dealer for $98 more than the OP's price point that had the worst F&F I've ever seen in any knife and it was useless. So my suggestion is think about what you are saying when you post and if you are guessing don't post it or you might get the reaction the OP is getting from a bunch of knife crazy folks they will call you out.

 

[knerd]

You get what you pay for.

However, there are some nice quality inexpensive knives out there. We're talking sub $30-$50.

I'd take a "cheap" knife over no knife, just like I'd take a gun over no gun. Price doesn't always correlate with quality and/or reliability.

 

[scottyj]

Cheap knives are a bad idea.

It's true that not everyone can buy a Paramilitary 2 or an Esee knife. Even fewer people are willing to put half a grand on a Sebenza. Some have families, some have low-income, some don't like to spend much on things and I'm not here to judge. Still, from my personal experience and after a lot of thought and testing, I strongly think cheap knives are a bad idea.
What do I call a cheap knife ? A low-price knife, basically. Everything sub-90$ is a cheap knife for me.

Sure, Esee knives are expensive, especially for 1095. But what you get is a solid knife, with great design and a close-to-perfect heat treatment. It's a knife you can actually rely on. A good heat treatment is a key when it comes to prevent the blade to snape on your eyes or fingers for exemple. Heat treatment is often overlooked by cheap knives companies.

A knife isn't a typical tool, like a prybar or a pair of sunglasses. It's an insanely sharp object that you must trust. It's like a gun. You can cheap out on everything, but playing it cheap on knives or gun isn't something I'll recommend.

It might be controversial, but I'd rather have no knife than a cheap knife. No-knife can't hurt me, having no blade means it won't slap on me, having no lock means it won't fail at the worst moment... Sure, those cheaper knives are fun. It's always fun to think something that cheap can actually be a decent knife to play around. That doesn't mean they're good tools at all.

Disclosure : not all expensive knives are great.

Really? My $80 dollar Endura 4 will beg to differ.

 

[rogatsby]

Whenever I see you bring up how good the kershaw atmos is even though it's 8cr it kinda makes me regret giving mine away. I might have to pick up another one soon .

Get another one, bro!

Seriously, the only improvements I would want in the Atmos would be the blade steel and maybe some refinement in the G10 chamfering along the inside edge. The latter is an easy DIY fix. Everything else continues to surprise me about this knife. The detent is amazing. I never miss a flip. Runs on bearings, and is almost fall-shut smooth. Has a true deep carry pocket clip out of the box, and doesn't hang up on your pockets at all. And I was able to disassemble/reassemble it easily, and it was even better after the lubrication. The blade was still centered and I still got a rock solid 40-50% lockup after reassembly. On top of all of that, you get an amazing design from Dmitry Sinkevich with carbon fiber overlays, in a knife that weighs 2 ounces. Now for $30, that's what I call value.

 

[Icky Thump]

"Bad idea" is my middle name

A lot of fun out there for $30

 

[JJ_Colt45]

Junk knives ... are a bad idea ... has nothing to do with price.

 

[rogatsby]

Really? My $80 dollar Endura 4 will beg to differ.

As would my $85 Dragonfly 2 in ZDP-189, which has a super steel that I almost never have to sharpen, and is an ergonomic beast. Heck, even the regular Dragonfly in VG10 is a beast.

 

[r redden]

Really? My $80 dollar Endura 4 will beg to differ.

I've been eyeballing the Endura and love the looks and profile. And I know your post was simple and short but it said a lot I think you just helped make up my mind. I'm going to buy one and use the heck out of a superb LESS THAN $90 knife. Thanks for posting Scotty.

 

[willc]

Let them eat cake?
Obvious troll post. Reported.

I don’t know?
The OP may well believe everything he wrote.

 

[James Y]

Let them eat cake?
Obvious troll post. Reported.

I think you're right, and I fell for it.

Jim

 

[Insipid Moniker]

Go talk to line cooks that make their living with a knife and you'll find a huge number of cheap, reliable knives like a Dexter Russell. Expensive knives are largely a luxury items. Cheap ones do a whole lot of work.

 

[Pteronarcyd]

You'll have to pry my $39 Cutjack Mini from my cold, dead hand.

 

[scottyj]

I've been eyeballing the Endura and love the looks and profile. And I know your post was simple and short but it said a lot I think you just helped make up my mind. I'm going to buy one and use the heck out of a superb LESS THAN $90 knife. Thanks for posting Scotty.

Do it man. Endura is my favorite folder. I carried a first gen Endura in my pocket every day during Desert Shield/Storm. Never let me down, and gave me a solid comfortable feeling knowing I had that blade in my pocket. Fast forward to now, and I regularly carry the Endura 4 with a plain edge, and Saber grind. Super slim, and so lightweight in the pocket I don't even know its there. Totally badass blade for 80 bucks. At almost four inches of blade its like walking around with a straight razor in your pocket. Go for it.

 

[GIRLYmann]

It has been said that you can't put a price on quality.
But imho its too high a price to pay when you loose sight of common sense.
It just really sad when folks buy into fallacy.
Especially when there is no way for any one individusl to completely know of the existance of every single knife that is availble on the planet for a given price.

 

[Lapedog]

I just made a birthday gift for my brother of a $89 Spyderco Chaparral. I think it’s a great small EDC knife for light use.

1 dollar short of being good.

You cheapskate lol.

 

[A.L.]

Cheap knives are a bad idea.

It's true that not everyone can buy a Paramilitary 2 or an Esee knife. Even fewer people are willing to put half a grand on a Sebenza. Some have families, some have low-income, some don't like to spend much on things and I'm not here to judge. Still, from my personal experience and after a lot of thought and testing, I strongly think cheap knives are a bad idea.
What do I call a cheap knife ? A low-price knife, basically. Everything sub-90$ is a cheap knife for me.

Sure, Esee knives are expensive, especially for 1095. But what you get is a solid knife, with great design and a close-to-perfect heat treatment. It's a knife you can actually rely on. A good heat treatment is a key when it comes to prevent the blade to snape on your eyes or fingers for exemple. Heat treatment is often overlooked by cheap knives companies.

A knife isn't a typical tool, like a prybar or a pair of sunglasses. It's an insanely sharp object that you must trust. It's like a gun. You can cheap out on everything, but playing it cheap on knives or gun isn't something I'll recommend.

It might be controversial, but I'd rather have no knife than a cheap knife. No-knife can't hurt me, having no blade means it won't slap on me, having no lock means it won't fail at the worst moment... Sure, those cheaper knives are fun. It's always fun to think something that cheap can actually be a decent knife to play around. That doesn't mean they're good tools at all.

Disclosure : not all expensive knives are great.

I can’t really see any backing to your argument. Seems just like opinion rather than any facts.