JRinFL wrote: ↑Fri Sep 30, 2022 4:28 pm
I’m not going to go too deep here for a list of reasons, many of which you can guess. I will say that I have a few short years where I can continue this hobby, at least in the acquiring phase. But at the rate prices are increasing, that few years will likely turn to months.
At the end of the day, a knife is a very simple tool that is now approaching (and exceeding in some case) the cost of highly complex and sophisticated electronic gear. Even firearms are more intricate and complex mechanisms, but many cost less. I firmly believe the collectible cutlery market has gone insane.*
I’m US based, so I am not hurting anywhere near as bad as our overseas friends.
*Industry apologists will be along shortly to set us straight and explain why we should pay so much for so little.
It pains me, Jim, to read that pricing is pinching you, like others here, such that your collecting days are numbered.
I’m certainly not happy with the trend in pricing, whatever its causes, and can well understand your disappointment.
There are certainly Spydercos I have not bought on their drop because their price exceeded my tolerance. In fact, the fury I felt when MJ tried to justify the high price of the stealth Ti Chaparral prompted me to keep an eye on the secondary market.
There, I learned two things. A tolerable price can, in fact, be had for even NIB models you want if you’re patient (I actually got the stealth Ti Chap last year for about $50 more than I paid for its CF predecessor; the Rassenti remains otherworldly high, however, so you don’t win all the time). And if you are not patient, there are oodles of used
but refurbishable models to be had. Indeed, I’ve discovered serious satisfaction in making old knives new again.
And if, like me, you’re drawn to Glesser designs as art, the secondary market makes virtually every Spyderco model available to anyone wanting to study Glesser art and how it’s changed or not over the years.
Indeed, I backed into a gen1 Harpy a few months ago after swearing off SS and pinned handles years ago. The find was made sweeter when I solved the blade’s lateral play. Sal was as brilliant then as now.
All to say, it ain’t over ‘til it’s over.