General observation

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Crow.Named.Mr.Bluejay

Joined
Jan 22, 2019
Messages
26
I am a newbie and have a ton of questions...

Introduction:

I am 30 years old, Atlanta native, tattoo artist.

I own a good number of pocket & hunting knives. Most are Case & Buck knives from the 80s-90s that my grandfather would give me every birthday. (My EDC, for the past 20ish years has been a Buck 110, circa 1974-1980 according to https://www.buckknives.com/about-knives/how-old/.)
I received his collection postmortem, which peaked my interest in continuing his collection of hand forged/crafted blades.

That said, researching the craft of smithing and building, I have noticed that knife collecting is extremely pricey.
Has it always been this way or has this, due to yuppie hipsters, gone down the same path of vinyl & thrifts?
My grandfather was a lower class farmer and never had the kind of money that it takes to purchase some of the knives that I see.

I know that prices are going to increase over time, metal quality, and that you are paying for an artistry. However, it still leaves me with the question of why such a tremendous escalation?

If this community is in fact trust fund babies and bored old money, it is unfortunately not my scene.

Any and all helpful information is greatly appreciated and no malice was intended towards anyone in this post.

Thanks for reading,
Blue Jay
 
I think, depending upon your interest, you can collect and spend as much, or as little as you'd like.

Knives can certainly be costly, but I think the majority of us are middle cost collectors and users. Low end and high end both have their respected places and certainly most will agree there is a law of dimishing returns that applies to any knife.

Read a bit, learn a bit, there is something for any one who likes knives here.
 
You can spend a lot of knives, but there are also amazing bargains today. New steels, new handle materials, innovative lock mechanisms, much better quality control all have a price, of course, but a decent knife which incorporates all of those can be found for $30-$100 or so. Of course, it's hard to beat the classic Buck 110. Speaking as a non-trust fund baby:D (I only wish).
 
There are a lot of different people in this hobby. There's a lot of people here who barely make payments on their 3 series BMW and spend their time just scraping together the funds to buy a Tag watch and a CRK Sebenza knife so they can tell you how much better BMW cars, Tag watches, and CRK knives are compared to whatever you have.

There are plenty of people here who drive 10 year old Honda Accords, wear Casio watches, and carry an S30V steel Buck knife while having multi-million dollar 401ks.

There are plenty of people here who inherited a Randall knife they keep in a display case, use a $50.00 Ontario folder at work every day, and occasionally put some money aside so they can buy a ZT.

And there are plenty of people in between.

Is this a community of trust fund babies and bored old money? They certainly exist here, but this community (and knife collecting in general) is what you make of it. Just because all the 20 somethings working their first big boy job feel a need pimp their IG account and rave about whatever new overbuilt titanium framelock flipper they just bought doesn't mean you need to be buy the same thing and doesn't mean you can't find value.
 
Thank you for responding.
I get lost when it comes to the whole, “various metals/heat treatments,” thing, haha.

The Buck has been sturdy and useful so many times, but I am at the point that I believe it is time to vault it before further wear occurs.

Have also been reading about faux/production “handmade” blades & that shit has me paranoid to purchase anything except from the builders themselves.
It is almost stressful, haha.
 
Prices of knives are not due to ‘yuppie hipsters‘ though that did made me laugh.

Plenty of white and blue coller collectors are around.

I worked in oil and gas and moved over to coal mining.

Then you get collectors that are doctors, business men etc.

All groups carry what they want. Find what you like and suits your pocket and enjoy the hobby.
 
Crow.Named.Mr.Bluejay said:
Thank you for responding.
I get lost when it comes to the whole, “various metals/heat treatments,” thing, haha.

The Buck has been sturdy and useful so many times, but I am at the point that I believe it is time to vault it before further wear occurs.

Have also been reading about faux/production “handmade” blades & that shit has me paranoid to purchase anything except from the builders themselves.
It is almost stressful, haha.
Click to expand...

If you like your current Buck, and you don't really want to dive into 'collecting' knives, there are lighter versions of the Buck 110 made with made with more interesting steel available from places like skblades.com that would easily fit into your daily routine.
 
I am extremely appreciative for the way that you worded that!

I definitely don’t care about the image side of anything outside of my tattoo work. I drove a beat to shit ‘96 Toyota celica, constructed/repaired with various parts from “pick-a-part” yards, that I paid $200 for almost a decade. Frankenstein monster of cars, haha.

I just want to be sure that if I am dropping $100+ on a blade that it is going to hold up Against the test of time.
 
marthinus said:
Prices of knives are not due to ‘yuppie hipsters‘ though that did made me laugh.

Plenty of white and blue coller collectors are around.

I worked in oil and gas and moved over to coal mining.

Then you get collectors that are doctors, business men etc.

All groups carry what they want. Find what you like and suits your pocket and enjoy the hobby.
Click to expand...

Always happy to make someone chuckle.

Props to you for being able to work the mines. I lived in PA for a bit and worked in a mine for about 8-9 months before I thought that I was going to keel over from respiratory failure, haha.

I am just some weird (what sounds impossible) concoction of, 1 part inner city hood rat, 1 part podunk farmer, 2 parts tramp/hobo, 1 part lowbrow punk, mixed together to become the, “what-the-Language, read the site rules ,” that I am to this day.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Welcome Crow, just an FYI, gotta watch the language you type...the "poops" and especially the eff's arent allowed in General Knife Discussion. Please edit.
Not trying to be a jerk, just watching out for you so you dont get nailed. :) Again, Welcome to BF!! Enjoy your time here!
 
To answer your actual inquiry...yes, knife prices have soared in the last 10 years. Knife collecting is gaining speed as a hobby, and for good reason! There are a lot of great makers and knives out there.
You can find great deals on The Exchange tho, and i suggest buying from there. Can save you a lot of money. Plus, generally, the guys/gals on BF are stand up sellers.
 
Crow.Named.Mr.Bluejay said:
Has it always been this way or has this, due to yuppie hipsters, gone down the same path of vinyl & thrifts?
Click to expand...
There's an element of "fad collecting" in the knife hobby, but it's far from a controlling factor on price. The elements who are buying knives as a fashion accessory are present but far from a majority.

Crow.Named.Mr.Bluejay said:
I know that prices are going to increase over time, metal quality, and that you are paying for an artistry. However, it still leaves me with the question of why such a tremendous escalation?
Click to expand...
I think the upward pressure on pricing comes from a lot of different factors, depending on the knife in question.

For North American and European based manufacturers of production knives, I think the greatest price escalator is labor cost. It takes skilled labor to turn out a quality knife and those folks cost more $ every year. As Chinese knife makers are faced with paying higher wages and providing better working conditions, we've seen the prices of those knives rise also.

The materials themselves don't affect the end cost of a knife as much as you might think. A knife in premium steel may command twice the asking price as one made with a common steel (say...M390 vs. VG10) but the raw cost of the superior steel isn't twice that of the common one.

There's also been a recent rush in innovation and design. Talented designers don't come cheap and deserve to be well compensated. At the end of the day, one can still score a knife that's a decent functional tool for not much more in adjusted dollars than one would cost in the 70's. It's the rapid growth in knives that offer more than basic functionality that's caused the increase in price.

If you're looking for a simple, functional Stockman, one can find a Rough Rider for the same price as a Case cost when your grandfather bought his knives. The Rough Rider is probably made just as well too.

It's the knives that offer premium performance, style and materials that represent the greatest inflation in price. Those knives weren't necessarily around 40 years ago...at least not in the numbers that they exist now.

Crow.Named.Mr.Bluejay said:
If this community is in fact trust fund babies and bored old money, it is unfortunately not my scene.
Click to expand...
I haven't been around here as long as many, but I'm not aware of any trust fund babies or bored old money here at Blade Forums. There are, however, a bunch of co-dependents and enablers.

Crow.Named.Mr.Bluejay said:
I just want to be sure that if I am dropping $100+ on a blade that it is going to hold up Against the test of time.
Click to expand...
That's an entirely different question and mostly dependent on which particular knife you're considering.

Good luck and welcome to Blade Forums. Knives are an expensive hobby...but not as bad as sports cars, ex-wives or wristwatches.
 
Crow.Named.Mr.Bluejay said:
I am a newbie and have a ton of questions...

Introduction:

I am 30 years old, Atlanta native, tattoo artist.

I own a good number of pocket & hunting knives. Most are Case & Buck knives from the 80s-90s that my grandfather would give me every birthday. (My EDC, for the past 20ish years has been a Buck 110, circa 1974-1980 according to https://www.buckknives.com/about-knives/how-old/.)
I received his collection postmortem, which peaked my interest in continuing his collection of hand forged/crafted blades.

That said, researching the craft of smithing and building, I have noticed that knife collecting is extremely pricey.
Has it always been this way or has this, due to yuppie hipsters, gone down the same path of vinyl & thrifts?
My grandfather was a lower class farmer and never had the kind of money that it takes to purchase some of the knives that I see.

I know that prices are going to increase over time, metal quality, and that you are paying for an artistry. However, it still leaves me with the question of why such a tremendous escalation?

If this community is in fact trust fund babies and bored old money, it is unfortunately not my scene.

Any and all helpful information is greatly appreciated and no malice was intended towards anyone in this post.

Thanks for reading,
Blue Jay
Click to expand...
No, this community is certainly not trust fund babies and bored old money and you don't have to spend a fortune to get a good, solid usable knife.
I have never spend over $200 dollars for a knife and two of my all time favorite folders were $50 or less. As a mater of fact, there are many members here that only own a few budget knives.

One member here recently scaled everything back and now only has one knife. Before that, she only had six knives in her collection. I was always impressed by how well thought out her collection was. You could do something like that. Set a goal to only have X amount of knives. Work with those for a while to find out what makes your boat float and then maybe upgrade to something better.

As a new member, you have a wealth of wisdom, knowledge, and experience from the members here at BF.com. How you use that is up to you. Remember, you are among friends even if it may not seem like it at times.

If I may suggest, consider looking over the Pay It Forward (PIF) thread we have running here in General Knife Discussion. Should be fun.

Welcome aboard.
 
I think the focus on supersteels has made knives a lot more costly. If benchmade or micro tech started making knives in 8cr they'd be able to make some bargain blades. I don't need great steel as I can just maintain my blades or sharpen them and I never seem to wear through a sharp edge before getting a chance to run a knife on my stones.
 
I own, carry and use knives of different price ranges. My two most consistently-carried and used knives, both of which I carry every day, cost me around $35 and $25 each (Victorinox Executive and Soartan SAKs). Yes, I also own some expensive knives (some CRKs, Spydercos, etc.). I'm FAR from a trust-fund kid; I work hard for my money, and spend it very carefully, especially the older I get (I'm 55 now).

Consider this: Many people who claim to have 'little spare money' spend considerable amounts on Starbucks, beer, fast food, etc., etc., etc. It's not uncommon for many people to spend $150 and over for a single night out on the town. These things all add up. There are so-called "poor" kids in economically-depressed neighborhoods who are somehow wearing $300 to $400 basketball shoes. If someone really wants something and they deem it important enough for them, they will find a way if they really want it.

If/when I decide I really want a new knife, I set aside a special 'knife fund' for it and let it slowly accumulate. Depending on the knife's cost, I often find myself not buying it at all, because by the time the fund builds up, I no longer really want it. But that money was kept from being spent on other non-essentials like beer, coffee, restaurants, the casino, etc., none of which I spend money on, anyway. It's a result of a sacrifice, not unlimited funds. And if I never bought another knife ever again I'd be fine with it, as I am enjoying the knives I already have just fine right now.

Jim
 
in addition, knives are about like cars.

you can spend a little and get junk
you can spend a little for a quality piece without all the fancy bells and whistles
you can spend a lot for a quality piece with all the bells and whistles
or you can spend a lot and overpay for what you actually receive.

with all the price v/s quality points in between.

we all gotta decide what works for us
 
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