It makes people feel good to own it. That is a most excellent reason for buying a knife, and for any of us who own more than a couple knives, its the primary reason we buy knives. The Southard will not dice a cucumber or kill a cardboard box better than other sharp knives of similar size and configuration. But that's not the point. And the stuff about the Southard's design, the materials, the flipper, the whatever - that's really all about how people justify the cost. But when you distill away the knife-speak, its all about feeling good. For more on this subject, see the Chris Reeve, Busse and ZT forums. For basically any knife over maybe $125, what you are buying is the emotion of feeling good and not so much the performance. That is to say, as a general rule, a $300 knife really doesn't cut 3x better than a $100 knife, and certainly not 10x better than a $30 knife. This view is not wholly supported around here, because sometimes reality is a sour apple to swallow, but its still the truth. And I'm not dissing the Southard or any other spendy knife, and I own more than my fair share of them, but you asked a question and got an honest answer. We all like to feel good, and spendy knives give us that emotion.
