Spyderco vs CRK?

[Gollum]

My 2 cents.

My 3 main edc's are:

PM2
ZT 350
ZT 551

Arguably some pretty high quality stuff.
All 3 cost real close to a Large Sebenza.
When you look at it like this, If you are on $400 knife budget I can have these 3 knives over a Sebenza, it kinda is a no brainer for me, take the 3 over 1, more versatility, it's fun having 3, etc.
If knives are one of your hobbies and you hundreds if not thousands invested, spending $400 on one knife that will last a lifetime is worth it to me even if they are a little overpriced (But so are Glocks that cost $80 to make and cost ~ $500 but I own one of those).
Another way I look at is the Sebenza is a $200 knife with another $200 worth of tolerances built into it. Even taking it apart and putting it back together to clean is fun.

[Jordan]

at least he's comparing 2 ti framelocks which are comparable in design and materials

buck 110 and spyderco military not so much

Ok, then pick a spyderco backlock with a 3-4 inch blade and sub that in for the millie in my glib little metaphor :p . You'll have a tough time finding one priced less that twice the tag on a buck 110. To a lot of people, the military and the buck have lots in common. Namely, they are both folding knives. To us, they are worlds apart. To a lot of people... there is no difference between a CRK and a Sage with the RIL. To people who own Mr. Reeve's knives, they aren't even in the same league... much less playing against each other. Point being, I wasn't trying to point out two similar designs. I was trying to point out that when deciding between two cutting tools, most of us feel that the benefit gained by buying a spydie over a buck knife is worth the additional investment.

Conversely, to me, any benefit gained by purchasing a CRK is lost in the astronomical price. I know, I get it... they are crazy smooth and really pretty and what have you. To me PERSONALLY... none of that justifies the purchase price. To a lot of people, that makes me a tasteless phillistine. Same way I feel about the people who buy nothing but sale-bin knives from wal-mart, same way they probably feel about people who buy whatever is cheaper than buck and gerber. It's not about whether the more expensive knife/shoe/watch/gun/staple remover is better, of course it is (most of the time). It's about whether YOU, the customer, feel that the additional quality is worth the additional cost. To put it more succinctly, the beauty is in the eye of the beholder :D .

I'll just have to keep on getting by with my (relatively) low tolerance spydies. I'm sure it keeps Mr. Reeve up nights not having me as a customer, but such is life :p :p . Hope that clears up my POV on the issue a bit Vic, and why I picked such dissimilar knives to compare.

PS Before I come off sounding like I doubt CR's integrity as a craftsman or a business man... I want to say that I respect him a great deal as an innovator and a human being. I've never heard a word uttered about the man that wasn't high praise. I've seen lots of his knives and they are all immaculate. I just can't rationalize purchasing one. Perhaps someday when the price doesn't represent such a large portion of my income... but not up to this point in my life.

[Ankerson]

The difference really is there to justify the price difference in the more expensive knives like CRK, Strider ect.

People tend to spend money on different things that they buy and justify those things to themselves.

It's all good, just different.

[Jordan]

Precisely.

[dbcad]

If an individual has the disposable income and the level of appreciation that warrant purchasing knives costing many hundreds they should go for it :)

For me :spyder: is affordable yet extremely functional. If an individual buys an extremely expensive custom or semi custom knife and winds up not taking advantage of the tighter tolerances and high quality materials what is gained by the more expensive knife?

Bottom line, as expressed by many other posts, is individual preference and means. If I could afford a CRK I would try them. We all have to feed our passion within our means :)

[dj moonbat]

If I liked framelock knives, I would definitely forego a few Spyderco releases to get my hands on that Mnandi. It's just a brilliant piece of work.

But I don't.

[vic]

Ok, then pick a spyderco backlock with a 3-4 inch blade and sub that in for the millie in my glib little metaphor :p .

military's a liner lock

didn't read the rest

[JNewell]

Eye of the beholder bud, no other real answer.

This, and this only. The rest is noise... :spyder:

[sal]

Hi Vicinadp,

I hope your question has been answerred.

BTW, I own a number of CRK knives and some are serrated. :p

sal

[wvguy8258]

Quality as a function of price flattens out as price increases. I think this is inevitable given economic principles like selecting easier ways to improve quality first. It seems eventually you must hit diminishing returns. Then various makers are clustered around the typical quality level for a given price. Spyderco appears to me an outlier at their price range. Where does your budget, personal taste, and sense of priorities place you on that graph? It has me buying spydercos. Same reason why if I was a multimillionaire I would own a new corvette and not a ferrari. Sure, a ferrari has the name and better performance, but, dude, have you driven a 'vette?

[Jordan]

military's a liner lock

didn't read the rest

I am aware of that... hence the request to sub (read: replace) a more compatible model into the... actually, you've probably already stopped reading again and I think I clarified as much as possible in the portion of my post that wasn't worth your time. Sorry to have bothered you :p .

[tomoto]

...

BTW, I own a number of CRK knives and some are serrated. :p

sal

Haha, this made me laugh (and smile )

I hardly see companies so respectful to others in their industry! How delightful :cool: :D

[vic]

I am aware of that... hence the request to sub (read: replace) a more compatible model into the... actually, you've probably already stopped reading again and I think I clarified as much as possible in the portion of my post that wasn't worth your time. Sorry to have bothered you :p .

no you're right jordan, comparing a military to a buck 110, 2 completely different knives in every way is exactly the same as comparing 2 ti framelocks with the same blade steel, one of which was designed as a tribute to the other

you're completely right

[Evil D]

Oh how i would love to own a 110V Strider Custom SNG...but at ~$900, that's about 3x out of the highest i could bring myself to spend on any knife. Still, for the price and what you're getting, it's one BA knife. If i had the money to burn, i would probably buy one. The only problem is, i KNOW that spending that mind of cash on a knife, i would be so reluctant to use or even carry it because i'd be sick if i lost or broke it.

[flipe8]

I am aware of that... hence the request to sub (read: replace) a more compatible model into the... actually, you've probably already stopped reading again and I think I clarified as much as possible in the portion of my post that wasn't worth your time. Sorry to have bothered you :p .

I read all your posts and all of them made sense to me
Your first post summed it up quite well, unless you decided to be picky, I suppose :spyder:

[flipe8]

I understand trying to justify my own purchases and what I place value in, but I'm often confused when someone else tries to do the same regarding my purchases :D

[Jordan]

no you're right jordan, comparing a military to a buck 110, 2 completely different knives in every way is exactly the same as comparing 2 ti framelocks with the same blade steel, one of which was designed as a tribute to the other

you're completely right

See... thing is, that wasn't what I was doing. I picked two random knives... because the point I was making had nothing to do with the knives themselves, it had to do with the prices those knives fetched. If you prefer, you can just imagine that I used the SS Endura instead of the military... or that I used some liner lock knife that buck makes... or whatever. I was trying to say that the price difference between (insert random low-mid range knife) and (insert random high end knife) is only worth paying if YOU think that the difference in quality justifies the higher price. My aim was to illustrate that deciding whether a Chris Reeve knife is worth buying over a Spyderco is a personal choice.

To recap, I was not comparing a buck 110 to a Spyderco Military. Beyond the fact that they are both folding knives with some kind of lock apparatus attached to them... they are not comparable. The choice of examples I used was incidental to the point I was trying to make. I am sorry that those choices upset you... but, as a random internet person, there is only so much I can do to help you get over it when you refuse to read the only medium of communication which exists between us. :p Assuming you made it all the way through the post, I hope that helped to clear the air. Have a good day :) .

[vic]

See... thing is, that wasn't what I was doing. I picked two random knives... because the point I was making had nothing to do with the knives themselves, it had to do with the prices those knives fetched. If you prefer, you can just imagine that I used the SS Endura instead of the military... or that I used some liner lock knife that buck makes... or whatever. I was trying to say that the price difference between (insert random low-mid range knife) and (insert random high end knife) is only worth paying if YOU think that the difference in quality justifies the higher price. My aim was to illustrate that deciding whether a Chris Reeve knife is worth buying over a Spyderco is a personal choice.

To recap, I was not comparing a buck 110 to a Spyderco Military. Beyond the fact that they are both folding knives with some kind of lock apparatus attached to them... they are not comparable. The choice of examples I used was incidental to the point I was trying to make. I am sorry that those choices upset you... but, as a random internet person, there is only so much I can do to help you get over it when you refuse to read the only medium of communication which exists between us. :p Assuming you made it all the way through the post, I hope that helped to clear the air. Have a good day :) .

what? i said you were right

if i ever need advice on something that is completely different to something else as an example of an equivalent to comparing 2 very similar things i know who to ask

again tldr, sorry

[Jordan]

I read all your posts and all of them made sense to me
Your first post summed it up quite well, unless you decided to be picky, I suppose :spyder:

See... I thought I was pretty clear. But, I have nothing but time on my hands until enough turkey digests for me to become mobile again. So, I'll dedicate some of that time to trying to clarify my position to the guy who misunderstood it. It's either that or more Skyrim... and I've already played well over the amount of that which is healthy for a 26 year old man :p .

[Jordan]

what? i said you were right

if i ever need advice on something that is completely different to something else as an example of an equivalent to comparing 2 very similar things i know who to ask

again tldr, sorry

tldr is internet speak for too long, didn't read, right? Meaning there is literally nothing I can do to dispel your misconceptions about my post. Fair enough buddy. Question... why bother responding at all? Seems like it'd be easier to either read one of my posts for clarification or ignore them altogether than it is to be upset about a passing comment on an internet forum... but then, your blood pressure, your call. :)