Question for those with nice knives

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S&Wtinkerer

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How did you all start getting into the knives that were $100+ and what differences do you personally notice?

I have Opinels but the most expensive I would ever go might be Ontario Knife Company.
 
I have expensive knives. Can't say they're nice per say. For me it was the fact that I was not just daily carry, but daily use. I wanted something easy to deploy with good steel that wouldn't get dull the first time I cut down a box.
 
For me, it’s like @Timfoilhat said, you can use it multiple times before it needs sharping. Which brings me to my next reason. I’m not a sharping guru. I can sharpen a knife but it takes me a supper long time usually several times getting close to only messing up and having to start over again. I have found quality steel is easier for me to sharpen. Which is a huge check mark.
 
Supermatch said:
One big difference is how bad you feel when you lose it.
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Recently my Benchmade 9051 is on the lam(perhaps in woods or my garage) It hurts she is missing. Expensive to replace. 😪

I started my foray into more expensive knifes with spydercos and it went from there. Nicer blade steels. Nicer actions. Lighter weight. Built work horse hard use blades. Youll enjoy the nicer quality and blade. Let us know what you get!
 
Opinels are excellent!

For folders, I go with Benchmade exclusively. Once you have had a liner lock fold up during use, requiring stitches, you appreciate the Axis lock more.

I like Randall but cannot afford them. I love my fixed blade Hen & Rooster knives. Mostly I look for vintage knives in pawn shops, made in USA... same as when I shop for tools and firearms.
 
Just a heads up. Once you acquire a $100 + knife, you will be ruined from the cheap imported stuff. Then you will find yourself looking at $200 + knives. So on and so forth. You have been warned.
It's a slippery slope, but it's worth it.

Are you worth it?
( Bonus points for anyone who gets that refrence. )
 
Like others have said, better locking mechanisms, nicer steels. The Benchmade Axis Lock, and the Spyderco Compression Lock are a couple of my favorites.
 
When I was at the FD, I carried CRKT folders most of the time. The first really hard-use knife I bought and probably the most expensive knife I ever bought was a Benchmade Adamas folder…IIRC, I bought it around 2012…still carry it every day.

For fixed blades, my all-around fav is an ESEE 4, but I also have an Old Hickory butcher modded into a Kephart that I’m right fond of.
 
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MacEntyre said:
Opinels are excellent!

For folders, I go with Benchmade exclusively. Once you have had a liner lock fold up during use, requiring stitches, you appreciate the Axis lock more.

I like Randall but cannot afford them.
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I am right there with ah partner. I do have a couple Morakniv and a couple Helle knives, but for the most part I stick with the Benchmade folder for every day use.
 
S&Wtinkerer said:
How did you all start getting into the knives that were $100+ and what differences do you personally notice?

I have Opinels but the most expensive I would ever go might be Ontario Knife Company.
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I, like many here, do suffer from an edged utility addiction. I have owned many cheap and effective knives for their purpose and many expensive knives. For me what makes the best knife is durable use with a blade size and shape fitted to the task desired. Almost all of that can be done with cheaper knives. The differences really shine when it comes to holding the edge and working parts for folders. I love a Morakniv for $26.00 and that is dang hard to beat, but I can't carry it everywhere. So I have a folder from Benchmade at ten times the price and use it every day with minimal sharpening. Spend what you are comfortable with and use the cheapest thing that works for you. They all do pretty much the same thing.
 
I have knives worth thousands of dollars, but mostly from a collector's stand point, as they aren't much different from a sixty dollar knife.

I have lots of high end stuff, but mostly carry an 84mm SAK, a 40 dollar Kizer, or an old electrician knife. Losing my a sprint run Spyderco kind of broke me on expensive knives with pocket clips.

What you are looking for is dependent on knife type:

Traditional slipjoint or lockback:
pull weight/walk and talk - not too strong, not too light. Half stops?
blade centering, blade rub on multiblade slipjoints
flushness of backsprings - are they proud when open? Can you see light through the liners?
fit and finish - scales mated to bolsters, matched on each side, pins flush, peened properly. Blade kick proper so blade isn't proud open but doesn't wrap backspring
Quality of material. Sambar stag, bone, exotic wood, filework backsprings, shield shape, stamp cleanliness, bolster embellishments, etc.

Modern folding knives:
Blade steel is one of the biggest ones. Lots of guys care a lot about this shit, but all they cut are flat rate boxes with their new knives they just ordered inside. Nerding out on steel for the sake of doing it is fun, but it isn't practical and is honestly horseshit for 90% of the knife carrying population
Blade centering.
Smoothness of open, close, and lock mechanisms
Fit and finish, similar to above
Exotic materials.

If you're ever in Lincoln Co, hit me up and I'll let you see some knives. I have modern Chinese folders that far surpass USA made midtechs and customs. The knife market is amazing right now with high quality Chinese knives at a decent cost (Kizer, Civivi, etc), nice Italians (Lionsteel, Maserin, Fox), traditional French and German knives, etc.
 
Fullboost21 said:
Just a heads up. Once you acquire a $100 + knife, you will be ruined from the cheap imported stuff. Then you will find yourself looking at $200 + knives. So on and so forth. You have been warned.
It's a slippery slope, but it's worth it.

Are you worth it?
( Bonus points for anyone who gets that refrence. )
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and when you lose that $100 knife youll be cured
 
Average Joe said:
For me, it’s like @Timfoilhat said, you can use it multiple times before it needs sharping. Which brings me to my next reason. I’m not a sharping guru. I can sharpen a knife but it takes me a supper long time usually several times getting close to only messing up and having to start over again. I have found quality steel is easier for me to sharpen. Which is a huge check mark.
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I am there with you on the sharpening. I love the opines because they hold an edge for so long. I do a lot of whittling, occasional box cutting and just light general use. I have a lot of chisels and it is a chore for me to sharpen all of them because I am still learning.

Idk. I have heard a ton of good things about benchmade. If I don’t lose my opinel in 6 months then I might take the dive but I have to prove to myself I won’t leave $300 lying in the woods somewhere
 
When I get to working while using the knife it becomes very simple to cut something and set it aside with your mind on the project, not the tool. I still remember cutting open a box, setting down my Benchmade, then having to answer a call that caused me to drop everything and go pickup a different task entirely. That knife turned to vapor in 15 minutes. When I got back, nobody knew nothing.
This taught me to buy spare Benchmades. Now I have 5 of them.
 
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Fullboost21 said:
I carry a knife everyday and use one at work daily. I only carry USA made knives. I have never lost a high end knife because of the price. I look at it an investment into a tool to earn a living and life in general.
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I agree, for me, I tend to make more of an effort to keep up with it because of the cost.

The most expensive knife I own ( a little under $100 ) is the one I have owned the longest. It gets carried every day.

Same for sunglasses. I have a pair of Oakleys I bought in 1997. They warrantied the frame twice and I have replaced the lenses but I never lost them. Got another pair I bought in 2003.



.
 
I took a different approach and have been very happy with it.
I hate sharpening knives more than I can explain.

I bought expensive knives and they still needed to be sharpened.

So I went this route. Happened upon the first one as an impulse buy.

The replacement blades are cheap, sharp as hell and can be swapped in 2 seconds.

 
S&Wtinkerer said:
I am there with you on the sharpening. I love the opines because they hold an edge for so long. I do a lot of whittling, occasional box cutting and just light general use. I have a lot of chisels and it is a chore for me to sharpen all of them because I am still learning.

Idk. I have heard a ton of good things about benchmade. If I don’t lose my opinel in 6 months then I might take the dive but I have to prove to myself I won’t leave $300 lying in the woods somewhere
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Whittling, you say?

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S&Wtinkerer said:
I am there with you on the sharpening. I love the opines because they hold an edge for so long. I do a lot of whittling, occasional box cutting and just light general use. I have a lot of chisels and it is a chore for me to sharpen all of them because I am still learning.

Idk. I have heard a ton of good things about benchmade. If I don’t lose my opinel in 6 months then I might take the dive but I have to prove to myself I won’t leave $300 lying in the woods somewhere
Click to expand...

I value nice stuff and tend to take really good care of it. If spend a ton of cash on something I know where it is, and make sure it’s safe. If I get the free LED flashlight from Harbor Freight it might be anywhere. Who cares. For example, somewhere up in my bedroom is the pair of nice Maui Jim sunglasses I bought for my honeymoon to Mexico in 1993. My wife has hers too. I can’t tell you how many cheap shades I’ve left in rental cars or other places in those 31 years.

Buy good tools and care for them. Not extravagant tools, just good ones.
 
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