"Nice" Knives made anyone else a knife snob?

I go back and forth on that issue. Now, my idea of "high end" is $100+. I'm not quite to Sebenza territory yet. ;) One day...I will have a left-handed Chris Reeve folder, though!

Anyway...Sure, I'm much more protective of my Spyderco Sliverax than I am of my Ontario Rat#2. I'm more likely to EDC the Rat. I'm more likely to let someone else use the Rat. I'm more likely to get the Rat dirty, and I'm totally OK with sharpening it myself. The knife you USE is the best knife; regardless of the price.

That said, yeah...I drool over brands, steels, and models I didn't even know about a few years ago. I'm definitely addicted to 'better than average' now. The problem, though, is I'm also much more afraid to use and carry them. If I had a $1000 custom, I'd probably treat it like a safe queen. Which is bad. A knife can be art, but it IS a tool.

As someone who's new to collecting, I still need to find that balance, and my place in it/peace with it.

PS: I do know I cannot ever go back to just carrying a random, cheap, mall store pocketknife.
 
I don't consider myself a knife snob ... and definately not a steel snob ...

but in that I mean I own a handful of CRKs and love them but I use them not just look at or to show others ... they get used just as I own and carry SAKs and ZTs and Spydercos and Moras ...

I wouldn't use the word snob ... to me that would be someone that said hey I don't buy anything under $500.00 cause if it doesn't say CRK or Shiro or cost a months mortage payment it's junk ... then that I'd call "snob" ...
 
Seti42 said:
The knife you USE is the best knife; regardless of the price.

That said, yeah...I drool over brands, steels, and models I didn't even know about a few years ago. I'm definitely addicted to 'better than average' now. The problem, though, is I'm also much more afraid to use and carry them. If I had a $1000 custom, I'd probably treat it like a safe queen. Which is bad. A knife can be art, but it IS a tool.

As someone who's new to collecting, I still need to find that balance, and my place in it/peace with it.
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Helpful hint to deal with this. When you unpack your new knife, open and inspect it. Close it, and open it again. If all is well, and it doesn't have to be returned, immediately use it to cut up the packaging it came in (not the manufacturer's/maker's packaging - save that if you want...cut up the shipping box). Close it up, drop it in your pocket, throw in a few coins and your keys, and go for a walk.

example:
JCWYf3b.jpg

(this wasn't a knife; but I had sort of been babying the knife I was carrying. Having decided to keep it, that had to stop.)
 
I suppose I'm a bit of a steel snob.....but 'snob' is probably the wrong term as I use my knives....so I will pay for quality steel that will hold an edge.

I started with a buck 110 as my work knife, hunting knife....essentially a do all. In the 35 years since working construction.... doing hog depredation, hunting guide, etc.....Stepping up in steel quality has been an eye opener for me.

And I really hate the Havalons that are all the trend with a lot of hunters these days....
 
Wowbagger said:
See that just shows how different we all are. Different knives for different people.
The Manix 2 LW is the only knife I have ever traded. Got an Endura4 in ZDP for it.
As my best friend's mom, when I was very young, used to say : I'm glad she likes that dress and I got a feather up my _ss . . . we are both tickled.

I don't know exactly what that means but it sort of applies.
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We are in full agreement, then. I started the post you quoted with the following sentence: different strokes for different folks. I like expensive knives, but I also like some cheap knives. OP dances to the beat of a different drummer. I'm not judging him for it, I'm just answering his question.
 
To address the original question: I'm not sure if nice knives made me a snob, but I will admit that 500 bucks does not go anywhere close to as far as it used to. I used to buy a knife and have a few hundered in change...now, 500 barely covers what I'm interested in and looking at, and in some cases it falls far short...:(
 
Once I got my 1st Higher quality knife There was no going back. It also was a Sebenza and was a pretty big move up from what I had carried before.
 
Once you get into the realm one off, made entirely to spec customs, nothing else can compare. Its just as much about the experience as the product. I may be a snob, for now, but I'm just over three decades into life and hobbies and tastes change. I'm enjoying the ride for now.
 
I prefer most spydercos to the Sebenza. The sebeza with its stupid factory fob corroded the edge in my pocket before I noticed and cut it off, you have to pay extra for ambidextrous opening, and the pocket clip is one side only as well.
 
"Nice" is very subjective. I have twelve modern folders and they range in value quite a bit. Today was my Spyderco Yo2. While it has custom scales and backspacer, it's nothing special. Yesterday was my limited edition ZT 0095S90BLK. Both get the job done, albeit the ZT is more fun to play with.

It's a tool, and as long as works how it should, that's what is important to me, as well as materials.

That said, I like unique things. And I am willing to pay extra to buy or make things I have unique.

Of my twelve, not a single one has G-10, FRN, or plain smooth Ti.

No matter the price, they all get used, or they get sold.

Anyway, the difference in tolerances between a Spyderco and a CRK are insignificant to me.
 
I went through a spell where I turned my nose up at anything I considered a budget knife. Then I ended up in a financial crisis and all I had in my collection was budget knives. Needless to say, I now have an appreciation for those budget blades. At this point I have built my collection up some and I have a few higher end knives but my budget knives also find their way in my pocket from time to time.
 
What you, personally, are carrying has nothing to do with it.

If you look down on people who carry budget knives, you're a knife snob.
 
I haven’t found a production knife that can out perform my spyderco gayle Bradley (bradley 1 not 2).
CRK are beautifully built but something is wonky about his heat treat, imho.
I’ve had quite a few highly touted snob knives, sold ‘em all.
The Bradley is the best fit for this grunt so far.
 
I’m a snob towards knives between the price of a sak and the price of a delica and knives over about 200 bucks. These seem to be “dead zones” to me where I don’t see any inherent value to them compared to their more affordable counterparts.

A sak, opinel and svord will outcut anything in the 40-75 dollar range and you really can’t beat a company like spyderco that puts out steel well and truly beyond what reeves and other companies put out. A zdp delica or m4 military compared to s30v or s35vn? At 1/2 or less the cost. No contest for me but I’m not a collector.
 
If anything, I've come to appreciate knives in the $120 to $220 range more so, particularly Spyderco.
 
I've heard this happen to other people who get their first Reeve. I think they put something in the pivot oil! :p

I've gone the other way. I had a bonus from work burning a hole in my pocket, so I bought one that was nearly two hundred, well above what I had spent on a single knife, to that point.

I was happy with it for a while, but then I started looking at knives that were "just a little more" expensive, and I realized that the cycle never ends, because the best knife is the next one.

Huh. That sounds familiar. :rolleyes:

So, I set myself a price point that I was comfortable with, and now I look for knives that are interesting, good value for the money, and come in under my "no-go" dollar limit. I could list four or five in the $300-$500 range that I like, but I know they wouldn't be any more satisfying to me than an $80 Boker Slack, and I would be afraid to take them out of the box.
 
I think I’ve just come to develop preferences that are more specific in regards to material and assembly quality. I have had <$50 knives that I enjoyed nearly as much as more expensive knives, but still appreciated the merits of all of them; My $20 beater knife is very nicely made and holds an excellent edge, but I also see my Spyderco Caribbean (8x more expensive) as a worthwhile cutting tool that has its own specific merits.

The extent of my snobbery is one that is common around here: looking down upon knives that fall into the quality range of MTECH and the like. They offer poor value and user experience compared to even similarly-priced offerings by many manufacturers. I don’t even know if that qualifies as snobbery, given that it’s based largely in practical considerations of material quality, assembly, value, and (to some extent) safety.
 
Comeuppance said:
I think I’ve just come to develop preferences that are more specific in regards to material and assembly quality. I have had <$50 knives that I enjoyed nearly as much as more expensive knives, but still appreciated the merits of all of them; My $20 beater knife is very nicely made and holds an excellent edge, but I also see my Spyderco Caribbean (8x more expensive) as a worthwhile cutting tool that has its own specific merits.

The extent of my snobbery is one that is common around here: looking down upon knives that fall into the quality range of MTECH and the like. They offer poor value and user experience compared to even similarly-priced offerings by many manufacturers. I don’t even know if that qualifies as snobbery, given that it’s based largely in practical considerations of material quality, assembly, value, and (to some extent) safety.
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I certainly do agree with you here. I also mostly look down on shoddily made dangerous to use garbage. I'm mostly of the mind that you usually get what you pay for.
 
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