What’s the most you’ve ever spent on a knife?

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My runner up knife is my Esee Junglas i ordered online for about $160 or so.

My most expensive knife (its alot to me anyway) is the Gerber Coffin Handle Bowie. Actually a very good person & friend saw a post i did elsewhere about dream knives and i listed that knife. he contacted me and said he had a line on one for about what i could afford. he got me one that ran about $200, plus shipping & a little "tip" i could scrounge for him to show my appreciation, so about $230 total. the photos are not my knife as i dont have a way to get pics online.

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Esee knives are my "go-to" knives, but ive had a love for the US made, higher dollar Gerbers since i was a kid (im 50 now). i also have a:
 
Did you buy that Gerber Aussie Bowie recently? I have a few old catalogs that were selling them for less than $100 in the 1990's. I am not sure that they ever retailed for over $200. They were a pretty decent knife but I always liked the Cold Steel Trailmaster better. I still have a special edition CS Trailmaster called the Flight of the Intruder Bowie, from the movie of the same name.

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I collected a lot of Cold Steel and Gerber knives back in the 1980's and 90's. I still have a few but, for a while there I had literally hundreds of them.

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I made some of the earliest detailed lists of Gerber Mark II's by production year and characteristics.

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HiDive

I think I got my Randall Model No.1 sometime in the late '70s. It was an exact copy of the one David E. Steele had made for himself. There was a photo of it in his book "Secrets of Modern Knife Fighting" and I decided to get one just like it. It has a 6" blade made from 440-C stainless steel and has a nickel/silver double crossguard and a black micarta handle.
 
That's really something. Is that wood on the sheath/scabbard?

What's the point of that hole & groove feature at the top of the blade?

Todd.
The sheath is wood and has a lever that applies pressure to the blade to retain it. The hole and groove serves no purpose as far as I know, it is a signature mark of Rockstead Knives. This is without exception the sharpest knife I have ever seen in my life. I can set a phone book on the table and with little straight down pressure this blade will cut completely through it. It has a true Appleseed grind like some Samurai Swords have.
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HiDive

I had one of those Gerber Mk.IIs with the gray armorhide handle and a brown leather sheath. Gave it away but eventually I replaced it with a newer version that had a black armorhide handle and a black leather sheath.
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Always wanted a Cold Steel Tanto but they were a bit too pricey for my meager knife budget. Did find a nice Al Mar Tanto at a very affordable price and finally got my Cold Steel Tanto by way of getting one of their less expensive Kobuns.
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The Al Mar Tanto retailed for a lot more than a Cold Steel master tanto. I had a buddy in the mid 1990's who had every knife ever produced by Cold Steel and a few one of a kinds. It was an impressive collection. We used to set up tables to buy, sell and trade at knife and gun shows on the central Atlantic east coast.
 
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HiDive

I bought the Al Mar Tanto at a gun show of all places! I was on my way out of the show when I happened to notice two really nice looking Tantos on a table. They were Al Mar knives, numbered as being pre-production blades and were very inexpensively priced; way less than what a Cold Steel Master Tanto was going for at the time. Both were new but one of the sheaths was a bit beat up so I went with the other one.
 
I have spent somewhere in the mid-teens, each, for a couple of Greg Covington Bowies. I then spent in the high hundreds, each, for two more, built with practical carry in mind. He forges them in the manner taught to him by Bill Bagwell. A hand-forged Bowie was a long-term itch that I scratched, after I retired, in early 2018, and went a little overboard. With my shoulders, and right thumb/hand/wrist not aging well, big knives are, realistically, not practical for anything but collecting; I will not be training in techniques “derived from Scottish saber fencing,” to quote/paraphrase Bill Bagwell.

It is not that I do not carry fixed-blade knives, but buying the Bowies interfered with acquiring some more-practical blades, which I remedied only recently, buying several blades in the $350-$450 range.
 
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This came in today. There appears to be a significant exaggeration of color from the manufacturer's picture versus reality. I still like it fine though. Maybe in full sunlight...……

I'm sure some folks will think, "Why did you buy that?" or "Gee, nice gas station knife." But it's actually very functional, and I think the design is interesting.
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When my son was in the SF dive school in Key West, I wanted a special graduation present for him. We had a gun and knife show in Ft Walton Beach. I promoted the show for years, so dropped by to see the Randall dealer that always came to the show. Told him I wanted a Randall Dive Knife, he reached under the table, pulled out and handed me a Randal with a leather sheath. So I said I think it should have a nylon sheath, he said it will work and if not your son can have a nylon sheath made. Ok, so I walk off after spending a pile of US dollars. Randall’s are just expensive. But as the dealer said to me, anywhere you go with a Randall you are well dressed. That was near 30 years ago. So a month or so ago my son calls me, do you remember my dive knife you bought me, of course I do. You know what that knife is, no, it is one of six pre production samples Randall made, that never went into production. Ah, so that is why it had a leather sheath then, it is really a dive knife not intended to be used as a dive knife. Yep.

My most expensive knife I do not own.
 
Did you buy that Gerber Aussie Bowie recently? I have a few old catalogs that were selling them for less than $100 in the 1990's. I am not sure that they ever retailed for over $200. They were a pretty decent knife but I always liked the Cold Steel Trailmaster better. I still have a special edition CS Trailmaster called the Flight of the Intruder Bowie, from the movie of the same name.

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I collected a lot of Cold Steel and Gerber knives back in the 1980's and 90's. I still have a few but, for a while there I had literally hundreds of them.

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I made some of the earliest detailed lists of Gerber Mark II's by production year and characteristics.

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Sorry for the late reply.

I bought the bowie about a year and a half ago. i too would love to get a Trail Master but im older now and wont be using most of my blades for much. the reason i bought the Gerber Bowie was that ive love Gerber knives since i was a kid, not sure why, but i do. mostly just the higher dollar made in the US ones, like the MKII (current model), Yari II, Applegate/Fairbairn folder, & LMF II, all of which i own. I would love to have an original BMF without the saw back but they are costly at the gun shows, & i dont have a charge card or much money to order one on line, (my friend i bought the Bowie through i just trusted to send cash). Ive been beefing up my new-ish AR-15 & ammo supply.

While i love the Gebers, i now have liquidated most of my original collection of other brands of knives and have Esee's as my go-to use knives.
 
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The most expensive knife I own is a Bark River Matterhorn for about $250. I bought it with the express purpose of coupling it to a full custom bolt action rifle I bought the parts for and had a craftsman/gunsmith assemble for me. It will be a "coming of age" gift for my son when he turns 13 or 14 (depending if I deem him worthy/mature enough). This project has been in process since he was about 9 months old. He's currently 11 years old. Completely by accident, the Matterhorn has "First Production Run" etched on the blade with a beautiful burl handle.

I hope he hates it so that I can keep it.
 
I've got a Randall Model 7 SS, Green Micarta, Brass Butt Cap and Wrist Thong set for delivery early in January. The knife is priced at $520 with shipping $20 for total cost of $540. Beating out my Inkosi. Looking forward to getting that knife and putting it to use.

I ordered it in 2016. Patience is a virtue, or so I've heard.
 
Here is my latest knife - a bucket list knife for me, for some time.
It is a Case V42 - issued to a Forceman of the Canadian/US First Special Service Force, in 1943.
It is the knife in the center of the Green Beret Crest, and yes there is a song written about it.
Shown with some FSSF memorabilia - including the owner's discharge papers, and his shoulder badge.
Kiska, Italy and France.
The little Ulster-knife is 10th mountain Div issue and has an early Philips head for tightening ski-shoes.

How much did it cost? - there's a couple on Gunbroker without provenance, I'll let you guys do the homework :)
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Here is my latest knife - a bucket list knife for me, for some time.
It is a Case V42 - issued to a Forceman of the Canadian/US First Special Service Force, in 1943.
That is one hell of a score. I'm retired from S.F. and am always on the lookout for one so I've known the market for a quarter century. Your provenance is epic.

Nearest I've come is Case's own excellent re-issue from 1998, a passel of Mountain Knives and some other stuff & things. The Navy issue knives keep popping up but even if affordable - didn't seem right to me, for me. It was ironic that so much of our gear in the Ft Devens 10th Group days was the same as issued to them in WWII. Climbing, skiing and cold-weather Gera in particular.

Another you ought to throw into your collection is a REAL Presto automatic - preferably the bone handled of either length.

Be very careful though, since the relatively recent making of the WWII TV shows and movies... ChiCom fakes represent nearly 100% of available knives and some are nigh on impossible to differentiate.

Todd.
 
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