Balance
I'm finding that there is a balance.
I only have one custom, and it's a fine piece of work, but it won't sit in a box or safe. I bought it to use. To do anything less would not honor the maker. He made a bunch of these, and they were never meant to be trophies. Cost me more than a production knife, but not all
that much more.
I also have a "few" production knives of varying quality. I've had to sort through different brands and styles to find what suits me.
I do believe I have finally found a balance in the cost/benefit profile.
A well made Buck or Kershaw or Gerber that does what I need can be had for somewhere in the neighborhood of $40 to $60. As I add a few dollars, I get incremental increases in quality or function. I don't feel, for example, that a $100 Buck Paradigm is overpriced, even though it provides essentially the same functionality as the Buck Vantage in the same steel & handles at half the price. The extra dollars pay for the cool assisted open and novel locking system, and I'm good with that.
I can get the kind of fixed blade performance I need from a Buck 105 or 119, and also from a Mora knife costing half as much. I stumbled on a Swedish maker of folders whose products and prices are competitive with the American makers, and whose styles suit my hands surprisingly well.
I have a couple of outliers, like a Lone Wolf
Paul Presto, a $150 gent's knife whose price buys you a sophisticated button lock and superb fit & finish on excellent materials. However, I have a Kershaw
Whiskey Gap gent's knife that's every bit as good and cost only $40. And that, in turn, compares well along side the Gerber
Silver Knight at the same price.
I've got Case knives that range from $20 to $100, but the ones I use most fall in the $40-to-$50 range. Good materials, good fit & finish.
However . . .
I
have handled some really superb knives (like the Buck TNT) that are significantly better finished, smoother opening/closing, sharper and/or more ergonomic, with more exotic materials and so on, costing in the $100-to-$200 range, and I will admit that the extra effort invested in the nuances and subtleties of these knives is worth the extra dollar.
As
hso has pointed out in the past, a $300 or $400 knife (like the Sebenza) that you can use hard over several years and which, despite that hard use continues not to fail, is really not that expensive. That kind of cost for a lifetime of performance is -- in today's money at least -- not that steep.
It took me a while to appreciate the qualities that will boost a knife from the under-$100 range to the $200 range, but I now recognize that those qualities are real. Sometimes it's as simple as the materials. Ivory ain't cheap. Not all steels are created equal. A polished edge is more work than a ground edge. And sometimes the difference is aesthetic. Real art is more work. You, personally, may not be willing to
pay for the "extra pretty," but the extra that
makes the "pretty" is more real work.
Given that I'm not rich and my tastes run more to the practical than the aesthetic, I'm inclined more toward the mid-range knives. If I suddenly had an attack of fat bonuses or a raise into the 90K range, I'm sure my tastes would adjust accordingly. -
- Meanwhile, given that I've selected a level of quality that's above my ability to comfortably buy one every week -- or even every month -- I save my pennies and try to exercise a little prudence when I shop.
I no longer subscribe to the "
hey, if it breaks, I'll just buy another one" view. I try to get as much quality as the pennies will allow.
Could I get by with just an Opinel, a SAK, and a Mora #1? Sure. That was me for years (well, not the Opinel, but close).
However, I've come to appreciate the convenience of a Leek or a Packrat, a Rush or a Revolution, so I'm willing to spend that little bit more on them.
There's a lot of quality out there to be had for under $100, too many to list here, and some real keepers under $200. Nonetheless, I indulge myself with a few -- a handful -- in the over-$100 bracket.
Where is
your balance? Well, that's entirely up to you. Maybe you just need a tool, to be replaced when it's used up. Maybe you want an heirloom, something your grandson will treasure, 'cause it belonged to Gramps. Maybe you drive a Mercedes, and you understand that the best dollars-per-mile value isn't found in the cheapest cars, and you figure the same is true for knives, too.
The good news is that you live in an age of seriously improved materials. Steels that just didn't exist 30 years ago are common today. Improved synthetics make handle designs possible that would have been unacceptably hard a few decades back. Edge geometries made possible by better metals and improved machining yield superior products at lower costs. Better bearings, washers, and pivot design makes butter-smooth actions routine.
You can get a lot of bang for your buck nowadays.
However, once it manifests as *art* you will pay a premium.