I'm going over to Buck

[tripscheck'em]

1) Spydercos have become too expensive.

I'm actually using my knives now. Before I just played around and cut rope and cardboard like everyone else. Then I got tired of babying my knives given that they cost over $100 dollars each, sold all the expensive ones, and kept just a delica and manix. Actual use means not only cutting but using the knife to pry something out of place, like a jammed screw, which of course damages the edge severely. I just am tired of babying the knives, but once you do that, you will find that the blade begins to disappear quickly given how much you have to sharpen due to the chips.

2) Life changes

I've become radicalized and a Trump supporter. Accordingly, with a newfound and generous income due to a career change, I'm now running a Kaizen management of personal finances and so am channeling all disposable income into guns, stockpiling ammo, reloading for said ammo, saving up to purchase land, and generally becoming as autonomous as possible. The power wielders of our society clearly despise men like me and want us dead, so I'm planning accordingly. I sold my cts-xhp manix, and now only have a Delica, which is pretty banged up now. So when I look for a Delica replacement with vanadium steel, and see all these $100 plus knives, I also see reloading supplies.

3) Buck

Buck has S30V for $50 dollars, made in the USA. The refinement is lower than Spyderco, of course. I can't shake the need for quality steel and after having to move into a new office at work, with all the cardboard involved, vg-10's lack of edge retention was glaringly exposed. I feel like the super steel rat race has hollowed out the middle-ground s30v level steels. Spyderco selectively offers XHP purely to sell certain models, sprint runs are exorbitantly priced, so s30v is locked in the manix, a knife I like less now after using the delica for so long because of it's girth, and the 120+ Paramilitary.

I had a good time here trying to help newcomers out, and bad times of course as i've chewed out at least a few people off the top of my head. Not sure what else to say. I feel like the whole industry is massively inflated. I don't even use a waterstone when sharpening anymore, I just use the coarse side of an India stone, then the fine side, then a lansky medium ceramic rod, and then a leather strop. All the detail in sharpening, the abrasives, the micro-bevel this or that, the mirror edge, the burr war, doesn't matter anymore, it's just about how quickly I can get from point A to B and still pop hairs off. I guess Accounting does that to you.

[swigert]

uhhhhhhhhhhh. ok

[zhyla]

Oak nuggins.

[vivi]

Have fun. I did the one knife only thing for a while and I had better luck with the Military than Buck. When you shoot a lot $100 of ammo goes by in less than an evening, while that pocket knife will be there a decade later.

Actual use means not only cutting but using the knife to pry something out of place, like a jammed screw, which of course damages the edge severely. I just am tired of babying the knives, but once you do that, you will find that the blade begins to disappear quickly given how much you have to sharpen due to the chips.

I don't understand why you'd use your knife to do something that will damage it when you could spend $15 and have a nice SAK or Leatherman Micra that will pry for decades without chipping or breaking.

Whether I'm carrying a $30 Byrd or $200 sprint Military, I'm willing to use the **** out of my tool, but I'm not going to intentionally damage it either.

[Sharp Guy]

Interesting post! Best of luck to ya!

[bearfacedkiller]

Good luck and take care! We will be here if you ever decide to come back. :)

[shaztec]

I remember the first time I did acid too. :D

[Sharp Guy]

I remember the first time I did acid too. :D

Ha! I was thinking something similar!

[Wrathhog]

I feel like the whole industry is massively inflated.

I have to agree with the guy on this one comment, but we've brought it on ourselves.

[fanglekai]

1) Spydercos have become too expensive.

I'm actually using my knives now. Before I just played around and cut rope and cardboard like everyone else. Then I got tired of babying my knives given that they cost over $100 dollars each, sold all the expensive ones, and kept just a delica and manix. Actual use means not only cutting but using the knife to pry something out of place, like a jammed screw, which of course damages the edge severely. I just am tired of babying the knives, but once you do that, you will find that the blade begins to disappear quickly given how much you have to sharpen due to the chips.

2) Life changes

I've become radicalized and a Trump supporter. Accordingly, with a newfound and generous income due to a career change, I'm now running a Kaizen management of personal finances and so am channeling all disposable income into guns, stockpiling ammo, reloading for said ammo, saving up to purchase land, and generally becoming as autonomous as possible. The power wielders of our society clearly despise men like me and want us dead, so I'm planning accordingly. I sold my cts-xhp manix, and now only have a Delica, which is pretty banged up now. So when I look for a Delica replacement with vanadium steel, and see all these $100 plus knives, I also see reloading supplies.

3) Buck

Buck has S30V for $50 dollars, made in the USA. The refinement is lower than Spyderco, of course. I can't shake the need for quality steel and after having to move into a new office at work, with all the cardboard involved, vg-10's lack of edge retention was glaringly exposed. I feel like the super steel rat race has hollowed out the middle-ground s30v level steels. Spyderco selectively offers XHP purely to sell certain models, sprint runs are exorbitantly priced, so s30v is locked in the manix, a knife I like less now after using the delica for so long because of it's girth, and the 120+ Paramilitary.

I had a good time here trying to help newcomers out, and bad times of course as i've chewed out at least a few people off the top of my head. Not sure what else to say. I feel like the whole industry is massively inflated. I don't even use a waterstone when sharpening anymore, I just use the coarse side of an India stone, then the fine side, then a lansky medium ceramic rod, and then a leather strop. All the detail in sharpening, the abrasives, the micro-bevel this or that, the mirror edge, the burr war, doesn't matter anymore, it's just about how quickly I can get from point A to B and still pop hairs off. I guess Accounting does that to you.

You support the billionaire overlords? LOL obvious troll post.

[zhyla]

I feel like the whole industry is massively inflated.

I have to agree with the guy on this one comment, but we've brought it on ourselves.

Oh, are we having an actual discussion in this thread? Fine...

I think I mostly disagree on this point. I think outside of Spyderco the amount of knife value (steel quality, design, fit, finish) you can get for $30 - $100 is just phenomenal. And there's way, way, way, too much out there in that price range to keep track of. I mainly own Spyderco's but just today I was eyeballing the Kizer line and, wow, that's a lot of knives to take in at once.

I think the Spyderco value proposition is quite strong, but they don't have a lot of options in the lower price tiers. This has a lot to do with their relatively small Chinese footprint. That's a huge, huge discussion and people often get emotional about economics, but let's just say if they move the PM2 line to China we'd all be buying $60 PM2's and nobody would have to write a big manifesto about switching over to Buck knives.

One thing that Spyderco does really well is all their knives, every last one of them, is a legit well-designed and fully functional "real knife". There's no "junk" Spyderco. A lot of other brands have great knives mixed in with junk knives that sell at Home Depot and the like.

I personally don't have a use for a knife that costs more than $100. Most people on this forum don't seem to blink at $150 for a knife but it seems like a lot of money for something that I already have a dozen of.

[dialex]

Fortunately, we are living these wonderful times when there are so many knife companies and knifemakers to spoil us with designs and materials for about just everyone. So (budget aside), eventually it all depends on personal prefference. There are people who use 5$ knives and are perfectly ok with that.
Good luck with the Buck. We'll be here when you'll feel the need for a knife with personality.

[ChrisinHove]

I read somewhere that a family would need a minimum of 20 acres of farmland to eke a living out of. To get that with a dwelling hereabouts, I would need to sell over 13,000 pm2’s.

For me, therefore, the rational alternative is to engage with political debate and the democratic process that our forbears died for rather than subverted.

Whilst I do that I can use a well designed little pocket knife manufactured by a company built on integrity, whilst accepting that whatever knife or how sharp it is will not affect the wider world. Not one little bit.

[Flipping Addict]

Best of luck on your prepping. I have done a bit of it myself. As for your knife choice I have no problem you getting whatever you want. I awhile back made the decision to collect nothing and just get what I like and will actually use. I only have a couple of Spydies left and only about 10 knives total now. And just sold 3 yesterday. So I get it.

Best of luck to ya. Seriously.

[anagarika]

There is a Delica S30v wharnies coming out. In case you still like Delica and want S30V.

[Bodog]

He spent too much time on 4chan and it got to him.

Quads. Check em

[eddiebob]

"Shiny Footprints". We moved to a rural section of land 30 years ago for a very deliberate reason. I can appreciate the thought. I also subscribe to the thought "buy once, cry once." Top end items are never cheap, you get what you pay for. HK firearms, Schmidt Bender scopes, and Spyderco knive. Gotta love it!

[Evil D]

Well good luck. My plan for the apocalypse is a bit different.. instead of stockpiling everything I plan to take the Mad Max approach and just run people down on the roads and take what I need. I do need to work on getting myself a Blue Heeler puppy though, I'm not sure my little chihuahua is cut out for a life of raping and pillaging.

[curlyhairedboy]

Preparedness is a laudable effort, I've been making moves in that direction mostly so whatever nature/climate change/wildfires decides to throw at us next is survivable.

I would disagree with the definition of hard use as both a knife user from childhood and as a materials engineer. Both experiences tell me a good slicey knife ain't a crowbar.

[bearfacedkiller]

I like stockpiling skills and knowledge. They never run out and nobody can take them with you. I also practice self sufficiency and self reliance and have small homestead going. I am prepared to feed myself off my own land and within reason defend my property but if things get bad enough I am confident that I could walk deep into the woods and not look back. My survival skills are pretty good. In that situation skills and knowledge also have the benefit of not weighing very much. You can only carry so much with you. There isn't really much heavier than ammo when you are loading up. I think traveling light and fast and avoiding conflict are better than digging in for the long fight.

David, you are going Mad Max and I am going Red Dawn. Wolverines!!!