Knife hobby and our perceptions of materials

Victorinox, buck with bose heat treated 420, randall, heck all of these are super steels to me...

I was just getting serious in collecting in the early 2000's when vg10, aus-8, 440c, etc., started giving way to the new s30v super steel. I went through a very similar phase as you are going through.

In the end, I still cant tell the difference between any of them after a month of normal use...
 
I'm sort of lucky in that the type of steel has never really been a consideration for me. I know my more expensive knives have "better" steel, but I couldn't tell you what steel any of my knives features without looking it up. Any of them(steel) is good enough for me.
 
I believe that there is such a thing as diminishing returns, and that good enough is good enough.

At times I am guilty of looking down my nose upon certain things, but usually not for no reason.

In terms of EDC, I've found the Spyderco Delica in CTS-PD#1 to be perfect in every way and I have no more desire for pocket knives.

In terms of fixed blades, I make my own (not for sale on this forum) and have some experimentation yet to do, but I've found that a good stainless steel and basic canvas micarta is good enough for me. When I use "super steels" I see their benefits but question whether they're worth the extra cost for something that will see most of its use on rather tame woods.
 
DeadPineKnives said:
I believe that there is such a thing as diminishing returns, and that good enough is good enough.

At times I am guilty of looking down my nose upon certain things, but usually not for no reason.

In terms of EDC, I've found the Spyderco Delica in CTS-PD#1 to be perfect in every way and I have no more desire for pocket knives.

In terms of fixed blades, I make my own (not for sale on this forum) and have some experimentation yet to do, but I've found that a good stainless steel and basic canvas micarta is good enough for me. When I use "super steels" I see their benefits but question whether they're worth the extra cost for something that will see most of its use on rather tame woods.
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I feel like you are missing out by not offering you knives here, this is a fantastic and hungry community 😁
 
norcalAF said:
I feel like you are missing out by not offering you knives here, this is a fantastic and hungry community 😁
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Thank you very much! I've considered it before, but to be quite frank, BF scares me a little due to some of the hostility I've witnessed before, and I'm also not sure that my work would be up to the standards usually preferred here 😅
 
DeadPineKnives said:
Thank you very much! I've considered it before, but to be quite frank, BF scares me a little due to some of the hostility I've witnessed before, and I'm also not sure that my work would be up to the standards usually preferred here 😅
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What better way to hone your craft than trial by fire? I assure you most folks here are very pleasant and open to new makers!
 
The proliferation of new steels has worked out great for me. Earlier on I fell for chasing the newest material and like others I eventually realized they don't really matter in practice. With so many iterations on trying to improve on steels, we're in a great place where you can pretty much take any version of a knife like a Spyderco Military and have confidence the blade will hold up to whatever you would expect from a blade shaped like that. Once I was able to get off of that hamster wheel of moving on to the next new steel, I was able to focus in on things I don't punish myself for liking like ergonomics, interesting mechanisms, fidget factor, aesthetics, etc. The fact that companies are getting away with drawing attention to new materials means I can usually get the knife I want without being as penalized by extra costs because I just want the vanilla version.
 
If all I am doing is light duty use sure, the most basic knife is fine, but I like the hobby of collecting and if I am collecting, the differences between knives is what is fun. I am happy with my collection of 130+folders, 40 brands, from 14 countries, 37 steels, 13 locks, 7 different deployments, and at least 12 handle materials in different configurations. I have no issue for those who love what evre steel they think is the one, I just like variety.
As too performance my kitchen knives actually see the most use, and there is no way any of the soft stainless steels hold an edge like the powder, tool or Japanese blue and white carbon steels. The maybe for forgiving but the need to sharpen much more often is not fun for me.
 
DeadPineKnives said:
Thank you very much! I've considered it before, but to be quite frank, BF scares me a little due to some of the hostility I've witnessed before, and I'm also not sure that my work would be up to the standards usually preferred here 😅
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Most of the hostility here is juvenile. Just ignore it. There are enough good people here to make it worthwhile.
 
Handle and steel doesn't affect my decisions and hasn't for a long while, lately I've been using a case peanut in synthetic handles with tru sharp stainless, nothing to write home about but does everything I've asked it for so far
 
DeadPineKnives said:
Thank you very much! I've considered it before, but to be quite frank, BF scares me a little due to some of the hostility I've witnessed before, and I'm also not sure that my work would be up to the standards usually preferred here 😅
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katguy said:
Most of the hostility here is juvenile. Just ignore it. There are enough good people here to make it worthwhile.
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The best ones around here are also juvenile. Can't let the geezers make it boring.
 
The case trapper came yesterday. Today starts my year journey of carrying a sub $100 knife everyday. I'm gonna just keep it a toothy edge as is tradition on traditional knives. I posted a picture of the knife in the recent acquisitions thread. Hopefully this knife helps me reach my goal of being less snobbish about cutlery and I can enjoy the hobby for what it's supposed to be and not what I've turned it into.
 
Eliteone2383 said:
The case trapper came yesterday. Today starts my year journey of carrying a sub $100 knife everyday. I'm gonna just keep it a toothy edge as is tradition on traditional knives. I posted a picture of the knife in the recent acquisitions thread. Hopefully this knife helps me reach my goal of being less snobbish about cutlery and I can enjoy the hobby for what it's supposed to be and not what I've turned it into.
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Glad you were able to get one. I need to try posting on BF when I want a limited edition knife and see if it magically comes back in stock days later! You got lucky fo' sho'. I got tired of chasing lock types and steels and the imo plasticy modern stuff which all felt kind of the same to me a while back and switched back to traditional. It's more about finding knives that speak to me now. Mostly design/pattern and materials. Natural materials especially wood, each one has a unique quality to them. As a wood worker I gravitate mostly towards wood handles. I don't even really look for stabilized nor at steel. But I tend to be a light carry user not in a trade. I suppose, in a way the chase still chasing the high of finding the "right one" or whatever is going on and changing one set of goals for another, but it's more about the beauty (perceived) then min/maxing if that makes any sense. Feels more personal? What do I know... Don't take myself too seriously if I can. It's a whole lot more fun for me this way. I less often pulled out a Spyderco and went look at this beauty where I show off my traditionals way more. I also buy a lot less now. I think trying trads is a wise choice to try out given your original pondering imo. We all have different tastes and those tastes change over time. It's all good, follow the path. The variety of life makes it interesting. Being willing to grow and change is a good and powerful thing in ones life. Seek truth. Let us know how you experiment evolves. And whatever you do, don't look at GEC or the custom trad makers on BF next ;)
 
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