"Nice" Knives made anyone else a knife snob?

E

Ero2

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Nov 11, 2015
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I've carried a Native for YEARS, PM2 too, and many other various knives, and have loved them. I finally threw a few safe queens on ebay and got my first CRK Sebenza 21...and now EVERY knife I hold feels cheap, not solid, and generally has been kicked out of my pocket.

Anyone else get their first "nice" knife and instantly, those users who have been with you through thick and thin...no longer find themselves being carried? I never though the CRK bug would bite me so hard! lol.
 
Honestly, no. If anything I gained more respect for my "users". For me, I've never owned a CRK but my "nice" knives were 4 XM-18's. It made me realise what great knives my original knives were. Don't get me wrong, I still think the XM-18/24 are amazing knives, but it really isn't that much better than what I've been using. Before owning my XM-18's my "cheaper" knives were ZT 0560BW, ZT 0301, spyderco domino (and now 2 ZT 0562BK's) which really aren't that cheap lol. I always would idolize hinderer knives, and and the legendary reputation of them. I think that made me think less of my current knives. However, after owning 4 XM-18's I have new found respect for my my knives and that led me to sell my XM-18's. It made me realize that they're just another knife, and honestly I haven't been more happy with my EDC rotation, ever. As knife guys I think we get caught up in the hype and imagine of certain brands/knives and seem to forget that these are tools first.
 
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Temporarily, maybe; but not to the extent that my other knives felt cheap or not solid... and I didn't have that response to CRK. You're drowning in the koolaid, lol - but, seriously, if your sebenza does it for you, enjoy it!
Part of me wishes I stopped buying knives when one locked itself in my pocket for two years...or that any knife I've owned since could have managed that. Instead I've got a variety knives, representing a fairly broad price range, that I like enough to carry at least occasionally.
 
hhmoore said:
You're drowning in the koolaid, lol - but, seriously, if your sebenza does it for you, enjoy it!
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Literally word for word the first thing that jumped in my head after reading the OP.

When I got my first (and to date only personal, though my wife also carries one now days) sebenza it was about 300% the cost of my next most expensive knife and I carried it daily for a year without even pondering my knife choice for the day. After a while it got old, I got wiser (less daily stress not worrying about loosing / abusing an expensive piece of man jewelry) and I started to yearn for other knives so I got off the kool-aid.
Still love and carry my sebenza but not all that often these days and never have I felt another, otherwise good-on-its-own knife felt inferior (to how it felt pre-sebenza) just because Ive now experienced a CRK for >5 years.
 
Actually NO not at all.
Some of my favorite knives have been bought for under $100.
There's a 100 reasons to carry a knife, and I like a knife for every reason.
If it looks good, cuts good, feels good, and you like it, it's a good knife.
 
I love looking at pictures of CRK, Hinderer, Shiros, etc. here but I have yet to spend much more than $200 on a knife. I use all 50+ of mine and am not comfortable scratching or heavily using a $400-800 knife and not sure if I ever will.

I still have some pretty nice stuff (ZT, Benchmade, Spyderco, ESEE) but still carry cheaper knives in the woods and around the house sometimes. A couple of Sanrenmus and Byrds, a S&W and a Gerber Bear Grylls get mixed in with my Native, ZT0620, Gayle Bradley, Bugout, etc. regularly.

In general, I like to own the best I can afford, but I am definately not a knife snob. Most non knife people wouldn’t know a Chinese Gerber from a Sebenza anyways, so my carrying my $200 ESSE 6 in the woods vs. my $30 S&W Homeland Security isn’t going to impress anybody.
 
I prefer to never learn what I am missing out on, so that I remain happy with what I have.
 
I can see where you're coming from, can't say that it happend to me. What did happen though was that the higher I went cost wise the more okay I was with spending just that little bit more for the next one. I'm not opposed or snobby towards budget friendly knives.
 
I can see where the OP is coming from. Everyone has their thing. Personally , I found my CRK folders to be "just fine". They were all solid , well-built and cut good. But they never wowed me the way that some people carry on. "Boringly perfect" as someone once said. My CRK Nyala , on the other hand , that thing has me very impressed and happy with the knife. I love it.

Folder-wise , I'm much more impressed with the likes of Spyderco who makes outstanding knives with excellent materials at a great price.
 
I can see where the OP is coming from too and I'm sure some of us experienced as I did myself but after a few snail trails it went away. I can still enjoy and use my Opinel no.8 and some traditional's but I do have expectations. I would like a delica but don't really see myself carrying and using it.
 
I bought my first CRK back in 2002. And since 2011 I've acquired 4 more. Since I don't buy many knives anymore, that may be it for me, CRK-wise. CRK is definitely up there with my all-time favorite users, alongside Spyderco and Victorinox. I love my CRK knives, especially my large Insingo and my small Inkosi. But they have not made me a snob. And I don't dismiss my other knives. In fact, the knives I carry every day no matter what were bought for FAR less than any CRK...my SAK Executive, along with either my Pioneer or Spartan. They aren't any less useful at all, and in fact, I use them a lot on a daily basis. And lately, I've gotten into carrying my PM2, which I've owned for years but never really warmed up to until recently.

For me, I have my constants (the SAKs), then whatever I feel like carrying as my clip knife. That can change, depending on my mood (or my expected uses).

Jim
 
My first real knives, and also the first knives I bought, were a Spyderco Delica and cold steel voyager. Those 2 made me toss all of the random junk I had been handed down as a child. As far as going up to CRK quality and such, that didn't make me like my $50-$100 knives any less, but the more nice knives I got into, the more I became a stickler for things like edge thickness, sharpness, lockup, smoothness, etc.
 
I had a sort of new-vegan-superiority thing for a while when I got into "good" knives and was relatively new to the concept of paying attention to blade steels and build quality. My internal monologue was kinda snobbish whenever people who found I was a "knife guy" showed me their Ozark Trail or otherwise gas-station-quality knives. That period lasted about 6-8 months, and I really just don't care anymore. I'm just glad to see people carrying knives at all. I will say, though, that I do not even consider purchasing the no-name knives, so I suppose I still have some vestiges of snobbishness... But I think it's defensible, in that the typical blister-pack knives just represent a bad use of money given that the edge won't last long and the build quality is inherently questionable.
 
I love my Sebenza and was even able to pick it out direct from CRK. It’s probably in my top five knives, but I wouldn’t choose it over my 204p Military, my CRU-WEAR Manix or my M390 Guardian. Neither would I buy an Ozark Trail so there you go I guess.
 
jc57 said:
It's OK, I think I am immune by now. I have all of the knives I need or want.
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Funny, but I hope that you are joking. Where is the fun in your life? The expectation of finding a possible new grail in your mailbox? Even though you know, from experience, that after a week or two, you'll list it on the Exchange. Perhaps your joy lies in a different hobby, and that's fine, too.
Now there are some knives that ARE special... Yes...I love CRK even though I would change some minor things. My Sebbie still cuts an apple better than any other knife I have...period. That hollow-ground blade is the SECRET of its success.
And Spyderco? Heck, yes. I love the Slysz Bowie...would love to buy another. Great knife, IMO.
I'm on the way down from my heavy days of knife-dealing, but I still love quality.
 
Well I like my two CRK's but I will stick to the 60.00 to 250.00 range for folding knives from now on. I'm not sure I need anymore to be honest. Last year I almost bought into the hype over Shirogorov's . But I know I would never carry a 1000.00 pocket knife ever lol.
 
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