When other people show you their cheap knives....

[Tabo]

Story time...

So I work at different gas compressor stations here in the northeast and when I'm onsite (and offsite) I am looking to see what blades other guys carry. Usually I see a lot of traditional slip joints being used (Case), but I will come across the occasional modern day (one hand opening and pocket clip blade) knife guy . At one site I seen a Spyderco clip and asked the guy what he was carrying and he pulled out an Endura 3. It was used a ton but still had a ton of life left. It was awesome to see a used Endura like that.

Well just the other day I was in the lunch room reading my knife magazine and a guy walked in and seen me reading it. He said, "I see your into knives, well so am I." I thought, sweet someone to talk to about a hobby that I enjoy. He walks over says, "what do you usually collect?" I said I was into Spyderco's and pulled out my S110v Manix 2 LWT that I was carrying and handed to him. He said it was "cool looking" and handed back to me. He had never heard of Spyderco, Benchmade, or the other quality knife company before. I asked what he was into then and if he carried anything. He said "check out this awesome blade!" He pulled out a cheap gas station blade (you know the ones, being sold at guns shows and such) and handed over to me. I looked at it and wanted to tell him this is junk and to get a good blade for your money like a Tenacious, but instead I said "wow that sweet!" He told me he had others like that and would bring them in to show me. Oh great I thought, how many times do I have to lie to this guy? I know he was thinking how much better his blade was than mine that day because it said "tactical" on it and was spring assisted.

I guess this brings me to my question for everyone here, what would be your feelings in this situation? Have any of you had this come up? I may just be a knife snob and should just go with the flow, but I kinda get annoyed when I show someone (that tells me they are into knives) a quality blade and they just go "that's cool" and proceed to show me their crappy blade and I have to pretend it is as good as mine.

I have thick skin so if you think that I'm being too dramatic on the situation just let me know. Thanks in advance for all of your replies!! :)

[ManixFan]

Why don't you teach them what makes a knife great and steer them towards a quality knife?
Ignorance regarding what makes a quality knife is easily remedied through edge-u-cation.

[phillipsted]

I've been in a few situations like these in the past.

I usually try to steer the conversation away from the relative merits of each of our blades - and get the fellow (and its always a guy) to tell me why he likes these kind of knives. If he's really curious, he'll ask you the same question and you can go into steels, ergonomics, blade geometry, etc. etc.

If all else fails, fall back on related topics like sharpening. It may be a gross generalization, but almost everyone I've met who has a collection of gas-station blades carries a dull knife most of the time. They may have tried sharpening, but you can only get so much performance out of cheapo 420 stainless (or worse), so they end up losing their edge after a day's light use. This tends to discourage them and leave them thinking that sharpening is more difficult that it really is.

My $0.02...

TedP

[noseoil]

Just ask them to try slicing paper with their knife & explain that you like to keep a blade sharp enough to do this, just in case you need it. That way they can give your knife a try to "see how they like it" and might want to know more about the steel, etc...

[Knivesinedc]

I always tell it like it is. Someone shows me a cheap knife I say "that's cool looking but,.............. and tell em how it is. I have gotten alot of scoffs and "like yours is any better" and If I have the chance I prove the quality and superiority of my knife to theirs. All to prove that carrying a quality blade can make life alot easier altogether. not to say that all cheap knives are bad, The tenacious is cheap and it's a great blade. The Delica and Endura are cheap and they are Fantastic. So I tend to only comment negatively on blades if they are "cheap" in quality not price. Quality over quantity.

[MattBPKT]

Yes, Tenacious, Delica, Endura are all inexpensive but I refrain from calling them "cheap".
Cheap knives don't deserve a place in my collection.... :)

[chuck_roxas45]

Been there, done that. At this point I no longer care. I might ask to see a knife that looks interesting. I'll keep my comments to myself if the knife doesn't blow my skirts up. If somebody shows me his knife, I'll look at it and let him go on thinking what he wants unless I can see he's serious about wanting my feedback.

[Strong-Dog]

If I was in that situation, I would have straight up started laughing. I wouldn't have been able to help myself

[LC Kid]

Hi Folks!


It's always been really easy for me to tell everybody exactly what I think.

When some Joe Doe proudly shows me his Gas Station S&W blade I'll say: 'Ok dude, you can do way better'. :rolleyes: And when ask me 'What the **** are you talking about?' is when I pull out the Edge-U-Cation arsenal: Steels - Ergos - Blade Geometry - Sharpening. :cool: Only after that, and only if he ask me to, I'm gonna let him know what a 'real knife' looks like and show him my Spyderco. :spyder:

[xceptnl]

Amongst the circles I frequent, I have the reputation as the guy who makes things sharp. I think they assume my knowledge of knives to be above average. I usually don't get the "let me get your opinion" question unless they are seriously ready to listen. For strangers and people whom don't know me, I really don't like to volunteer much info. In the past it has prompted them wanting to hold my knife. I can't trust someone to hold my knife. What if he drops it on the concrete?

[paladin]

...the next day in the lunchroom...

"Hey Tabo check out my Plain Edge Zombi-nator 3000 (HRC 23)...pretty hardcore, right?" :D

Tabo says, "Yeah Buddy, but everyone knows you need serrations to effectively penetrate Zom skulls!" :rolleyes:

Tabo then proceeds to "cut" serrations into the primary edge of the Zombi-nator 3000 with his Manix s110v. :eek:


***Acquisition of a PE Zombinator 3000 for your SHTF kit...about $4.99 at Kwik Sak----

---Convincing a dude he's seriously under-gunned for World War Z....PRICELESS!!! :spyder:

[3rdGenRigger]

I usually encourage anyone who asks about one of my Spydercos to hold it, and try opening it one handed etc. so they can get a feel of how a real knife should feel. The thing I find funniest of all is when they or myself tries slicing paper...a knife doesn't need to be all that sharp to slice paper, but it seems to blow people away at how sharp the knife is.

[Strong-Dog]

It kind of irks me when people low relatively little about a topic, but act like they are some kind of expert. It irks me even more when someone who knows 10 times less then you do about a topic acts like they are actually more knowledgable and YOU are the ignorant moron. Sigh.

[TheRaven]

Been there, done that. At this point I no longer care. I might ask to see a knife that looks interesting. I'll keep my comments to myself if the knife doesn't blow my skirts up. If somebody shows me his knife, I'll look at it and let him go on thinking what he wants unless I can see he's serious about wanting my feedback.

This is pretty much how I feel about the topic.

[Evil D]

Happens to me all the time. All the guys my GF works with send their knives home with her to get sharpened because they're shocked at how sharp her Native is. Then a week later they want it sharpened again because the edge is gone. I then give them the run down on why their $15 knife didn't hold that edge. Very few have ever taken the step up, and I don't bother to keep sharpening tin foil blades.

[Officer Gigglez]

Just tell him straight. If he doesn't take offense, he will want to know what is better. If he does take offense, then he'll stop talking to you. Either way, you win.

[Reject]

A similar sort of thing happened to me when I was working on some communication gear at one of the local police stations.

The police officer was standing behind me, watching what I was doing. Noticed the Leatherman Wave in the pouch on my belt and asked if he could have a look at it.

Which made me a little nervous. It was awhile back and Australian authorities weren’t as paranoid about knives then as they are now. But even then, if a police officer thought it was inappropriate for you to be carrying it. You could lose it.

Anyway; I handed it to him and he had a good look at it, opened and closed everything on it, felt the weight, asked me what it had cost and handed it back to me.

Then he handed me his multitool, while boasting about how it had only cost him a quarter of the price I had paid the Leatherman. It was a toy store copy of the Leatherman.

As soon as I took it hand and felt the weight, it was obvious that was a toy; not a tool that you could rely on. Everything was loose, nothing locked up solidly; it was junk.

I so much wanted to tell him it was junk and that he needed to throw it away and get a real one.

I wanted to say; “Mate; especially in your job, one day you may in a desperate situation and you will be using this thing for something a multitool probably shouldn’t be used for and this piece of junk is going to let you down. It is going to break and most likely injure you in the process. For God sake! Shell out the money and get something you can rely on.”

But he was standing there with a big smile on his face, so proud of his multitoy and how he had paid so much than less for it than I had for my Leatherman. I thought that saying that may not go down well and my concern for his welfare; may have been misinterpreted as just trying to be a smartass.

So I smiled and congratulated him on the bargain he had got and went back to my work, biting my tongue.

[Pinetreebbs]

Ted and Chuck nailed it, as much as I love knives, nobody wants to listen to a "know it all" even if they do indeed, know it all. It's tough when you know you could help someone out if they just did XYZ, but most people do like being told what to do unless they ask.

I get the most questions and interest when someone sees me using my Spyderco. IMO, having a two sided discussion is better than preaching.

[this_is_nascar]

Story time...

So I work at different gas compressor stations here in the northeast and when I'm onsite (and offsite) I am looking to see what blades other guys carry. Usually I see a lot of traditional slip joints being used (Case), but I will come across the occasional modern day (one hand opening and pocket clip blade) knife guy . At one site I seen a Spyderco clip and asked the guy what he was carrying and he pulled out an Endura 3. It was used a ton but still had a ton of life left. It was awesome to see a used Endura like that.

Well just the other day I was in the lunch room reading my knife magazine and a guy walked in and seen me reading it. He said, "I see your into knives, well so am I." I thought, sweet someone to talk to about a hobby that I enjoy. He walks over says, "what do you usually collect?" I said I was into Spyderco's and pulled out my S110v Manix 2 LWT that I was carrying and handed to him. He said it was "cool looking" and handed back to me. He had never heard of Spyderco, Benchmade, or the other quality knife company before. I asked what he was into then and if he carried anything. He said "check out this awesome blade!" He pulled out a cheap gas station blade (you know the ones, being sold at guns shows and such) and handed over to me. I looked at it and wanted to tell him this is junk and to get a good blade for your money like a Tenacious, but instead I said "wow that sweet!" He told me he had others like that and would bring them in to show me. Oh great I thought, how many times do I have to lie to this guy? I know he was thinking how much better his blade was than mine that day because it said "tactical" on it and was spring assisted.

I guess this brings me to my question for everyone here, what would be your feelings in this situation? Have any of you had this come up? I may just be a knife snob and should just go with the flow, but I kinda get annoyed when I show someone (that tells me they are into knives) a quality blade and they just go "that's cool" and proceed to show me their crappy blade and I have to pretend it is as good as mine.

I have thick skin so if you think that I'm being too dramatic on the situation just let me know. Thanks in advance for all of your replies!! :)

I don't usually question or put down someone for what they like. I may show them other, more expensive blades or ask them if they've ever tried something else. I have no right to criticize someone from what they find appealing or for staying within their budget. To be honest, I have a coupe Ka-Bar folders over here that cost me $15 each brand new that have it all over the (2) Caly 3.5's that I've tried as it relates to price vs. product = value category.

To each his own, I guess, but I've always tried to stay away from putting people down for only purchasing what they can afford. I try to educate them instead.

[chuck_roxas45]

I don't usually question or put down someone for what they like. I may show them other, more expensive blades or ask them if they've ever tried something else. I have no right to criticize someone from what they find appealing or for staying within their budget. To be honest, I have a coupe Ka-Bar folders over here that cost me $15 each brand new that have it all over the (2) Caly 3.5's that I've tried as it relates to price vs. product = value category.

To each his own, I guess, but I've always tried to stay away from putting people down for only purchasing what they can afford. I try to educate them instead.

Why assume that because a person carries an.inexpensive knife, its all.that he can afford?

Sometimes its not about what you can afford. Sometimes its about needs and wants. Our gun club prez, for instance. He doesn't blink an eye at his $10,000 M4's but won't buy a knife that costs over $20. He also buys drill bits worth a lot more. Sometimes it is just about knowledge but I just don't think it's my burden to educate them.