Why are so many people concerned with perfect blade centering?

[z1r]

So: :) you walk into a bricks and mortar store

You have the money in your pocket, ready to spend the top limit of your knife budget on your dream Spyderco knife.

They have several of the model you want in the display case.

The person behind the counter hands one to you look at. It looks fine: :eek: except! The blade is not centred.

What do you do?

Choices.
A. Yep! :D Close enough and buy it.
B. Ask to have a look at another, to see if the centring is better.

A and B are the only choices. :D No rambling essays on the philosophy of the choices of mankind or the quality of cutlery through history are required. Just A or B.

For me; B.

If the blade is notably off center, then B. I buy a good many through mail order, so A is the default. That said, I have bought more than a few open box knives at the SFO with slightly off center blades because the price was right. The Endela I carry every day was an open box item, blade slightly off center, but it cuts and cuts and cuts and never quits!

Now, I'll say that the majority of the knives I purchase are FRN and cost less than $150. Being the cheap bastich I am, if I was looking at a $200 or more knife with nicer scales, I'd be buying in person and you bet the blade would be centered! Definitely option B in that case.

[Josh1973]

As the one who started this thread I may say:

Better to let it rest in peace!

Has become a great example for running in circles and beating a dead horse a long time ago already...

I got nothing against your opinion or views. Nor am I going to create an issue out of your post. I just stated my reasoning for disagreeing. And granted it was 7 months later I done that. I actually just now noticed your post. Being I rarely log on here. And enjoyed your post enough to comment. Even if I disagree. I am humble enough to know many will disagree with my opinion also. And I am fine with that. Stand by your opinion/facts. And F--k what I think. I respect individuality and free thinking. Not going with the trend, agreeing with me, or being a sheep.
Good post you made. Thanks for sharing.
Goodnight.
Josh.

My apoligies, should have been clearer:

In no way I intedet to say a bad thing about your indeed very sensible comment and actually really appreciate your opinion!

It's just that I think in general this discussion was indeed a "beating a dead horse" already when it ended half a year ago.
But I was not referring to you personally and your comment at all.

And aren't we actually of the same opinion?:

- I clearly mind off centered blades when this has functional implications, like almost rubbing the scales like in your case
- But I don't get the obsession over 100% perfect centering and making this a - for me - useless and artificial "quality" criteria.
Many people wouldn't even notice slight off centering if they weren't told that this shall be a " thing" imo.

No worries bud. Nor any apologies needed. I enjoyed your post and wish I had found it earlier. You make a very good point and posts like yours help keep me from expecting unrealistic levels of perfection. I thank you for making this post and giving me something to ponder on.
Anyways. No worries and I won't comment on this one anymore. Just know I do appreciate your thoughts.

[Fireman]

I think blade centering is a sign of high QC

[noeps]

My theory is that lots of knife people have anxiety issues and use knife collecting to cope. When they notice a small flaw on a knife, the object no longer soothes them because it triggers anxiety. I have experienced it myself but it usually wears off after owning and actually using a knife for a bit. For mid tech or custom safe queens, whose whole point is to never be used, maybe people never get over small flaws on them because they never use them. What bothers me about people who complain about slightly off centered blade on production knives is they seem to be confusing the purpose of production and custom knives.

[attila]

Centering can usually be fixed on screw-construction G10 and FRN knives.

I’ve had trouble centering Ti and Al handled knives due to material stiffness.

Sometimes, bad centering is the first indication of a warped blade. I realized this when trying to figure out why ALL of my Superblue Spydies were terribly centered. A Caly 3 and three Caly Jr. all have warped blades. Only the Caly 3 stayed for sentimental and reduced resale value reasons.

[TkoK83Spy]

Oh God, it's alive AGAIN!!

[attila]

Oh God, it's alive AGAIN!!

Don’t worry, Rick! It’ll be over soon.

[JSumm]

Oh God, it's alive AGAIN!!

Don’t worry, Rick! It’ll be over soon.

I'm dying y'all.

[Wartstein]

Oh God, it's alive AGAIN!!

Don’t worry, Rick! It’ll be over soon.

I'm dying y'all.

What did I do, when I innocently started this thread back then...

[JSumm]

Oh God, it's alive AGAIN!!

Don’t worry, Rick! It’ll be over soon.

I'm dying y'all.

What did I do, when I innocently started this thread back then...

I don't even know, but y'all crack me up.

[kobold]

Can't kill what's already dead.

[Wartstein]

Can't kill what's already dead.

Yes, and so this is a prime example for "zombie thread"...

[Evil D]

I'll still fight over this and I can give you any number of analogies where people choose this same level of accuracy in other things they buy where they wouldn't be so dismissive of the issue.

Would you buy a new car if all the door/fender panel gaps were uneven? All the doors still open and close, it's perfectly functional what's the big deal?

Would you buy a shirt/pants/suit with sleeves and pant legs that were several inches different in length? They still cover your arms and legs why does it matter if they're not the right length?

Would you buy a pair of shoes with one shoe being a half size too big? You can just tighten the strings, they fit good enough.

Anybody wanna buy a Rolex? The hour/minute/second hands don't line up exactly with the hash marks but you can still tell time close enough.

Would you be ok if you got a haircut and one side was cut an inch shorter than the other? Heck maybe you'd be in style then I dunno.

If you have facial hair do you bother trying to get it even or just zip zip with the trimmer and whatever you end up with is whatever, it's just your face who cares if it's not even.


What gets me about this debate is I don't think anyone "doesn't get it", you may not care personally but this isn't difficult to understand why the next guy does care about it. It's a reasonable detail to care about when knives are as expensive as they are these days.


Don't blame me I didn't resurrect the demon

[Wartstein]

...

I totally GET and respect it!

Still I think all of your examples fall in a different category: Most people would immediately realize such "flaws" and naturally see8 it as such.
AND: They CAN be seen easily and from most "main angjes"

While I am sure that many would not even notice a slightly off centered blade and if so, not see it as "flaw" if they would not hear all the time that this "should" be a flaw.
AND: The slightly off centered blade can actually only be seen if one looks at the closed knife from a certain angle deliberately.
And a closed knife is normally in pocket anyway. In USE the sigjtly off centered blade can't even be seen, while the flaws in your examples "always exist"...

And with that I won't feed the demon any further...

[Evil D]

...

I totally GET and respect it!

Still I think all of your examples fall in a different category: Most people would immediately realize such "flaws" and naturally see8 it as such.
AND: They CAN be seen easily and from most "main angjes"

While I am sure that many would not even notice a slightly off centered blade and if so, not see it as "flaw" if they would not hear all the time that this "should" be a flaw.
AND: The slightly off centered blade can actually only be seen if one looks at the closed knife from a certain angle deliberately.
And a closed knife is normally in pocket anyway. In USE the sigjtly off centered blade can't even be seen, while the flaws in your examples "always exist"...

And with that I won't feed the demon any further...

The point....of all of this....is that often times aesthetics do not effect function but we all draw the line somewhere so why judge one another on what we tolerate or don't tolerate? It doesn't matter how easy it is to notice or not, that's splitting hairs. It's not like guys are out here with micrometers measuring how centered their blades are and coming here to complain about a blade that's .0000010 off center, if it's visible then it's unacceptable in exactly the same way as a pair of jeans would be if one leg was 3 inches too short. The pants still keep you from being naked don't they? The same "it's still functional" argument can be applied but it's pretty universal that none of us would be ok with those jeans.

This is a debate that I probably would have been on the "eh who cares" side 15 years ago, but with my average knife purchase being $200+, it's absolutely not acceptable and I'll be returning or exchanging anything less than perfect. I can deal with other things like a wonky edge bevel, and I'll even do what I can to correct blade centering, but beyond that I don't think it's unreasonable to have increased expectations as cost constantly increases too.

[ladybug93]

...but beyond that I don't think it's unreasonable to have increased expectations as cost constantly increases too.

they'll justify it and say that prices have raised because costs have raised; not because quality has gone up. you should expect the exact same quality you've always had, but at a much higher price.




personally, i don't really care too much about blade centering. i don't even really look at it most of the time. i will say though, for my more expensive knives, i definitely inspect them a little more thoroughly.

[Evil D]

...but beyond that I don't think it's unreasonable to have increased expectations as cost constantly increases too.

they'll justify it and say that prices have raised because costs have raised; not because quality has gone up. you should expect the exact same quality you've always had, but at a much higher price.




personally, i don't really care too much about blade centering. i don't even really look at it most of the time. i will say though, for my more expensive knives, i definitely inspect them a little more thoroughly.

I'm sure on some levels that's true, unfortunately my income isn't increasing at the same rate that prices are, so my expectations and selectiveness have to increase to compensate.

[ladybug93]

...but beyond that I don't think it's unreasonable to have increased expectations as cost constantly increases too.

they'll justify it and say that prices have raised because costs have raised; not because quality has gone up. you should expect the exact same quality you've always had, but at a much higher price.




personally, i don't really care too much about blade centering. i don't even really look at it most of the time. i will say though, for my more expensive knives, i definitely inspect them a little more thoroughly.

I'm sure on some levels that's true, unfortunately my income isn't increasing at the same rate that prices are, so my expectations and selectiveness have to increase to compensate.

interesting how that works, isn't it?

[Naperville]

I'm sure on some levels that's true, unfortunately my income isn't increasing at the same rate that prices are, so my expectations and selectiveness have to increase to compensate.

Start looking at knives as an investment and your whole frame of reference changes. My collection is worth at least 20% more now than it was 4 years ago. It will be worth 20% more in 2024.

Am I happy prices are going up? Not really but I'm happy they are not going down! My investment is protected.

[Evil D]

I'm sure on some levels that's true, unfortunately my income isn't increasing at the same rate that prices are, so my expectations and selectiveness have to increase to compensate.

Start looking at knives as an investment and your whole frame of reference changes. My collection is worth at least 20% more now than it was 4 years ago. It will be worth 20% more in 2024.

Am I happy prices are going up? Not really but I'm happy they are not going down! My investment is protected.

They are an investment of sorts, my son will enjoy them someday. Still, I have to keep a realistic mindset with all of this.