Steel snobbery: Is it necessary?

[senorsquare]

Wait! Knives were LAST?

Ken

I wouldn't say LAST, I would say "most recent" :)

[senorsquare]

I have learned a lot here and most importantly, I have learned that there's no end to learning.

An old guitar player once told that "When you think you done learned everything you gonna learn, that means you are just ready to learn something new."
There is a lot of curiosity involved here, which leads to learning. Is this blade made from Unobtainium really that good? Well let's get one and see. Can this steel handle 12dps? Let's take it down there and see what happens. Do I need a 12dps edge? Lord no, but I want to try it anyway just to know that for a moment that I'm using the Best Knife Ever. And it is fleeting because something new will come along and then it becomes the new BKE. Rinse, repeat.

[psychophipps]

Not really. Just about any well heat-treated steel of good quality will serve a person well as a knife blade. You have to sharpen some steels more than others, but for the basic job of cutting stuff, just about anything will do when it comes right down to it.

[Justa]

For me, knife steel isnt the defining factor but it is an important consideration. Even though Im mostly not cutting enough in one go to dull a knife to the point of unusability, there is still something nice about having a blade just as sharp when you finish medium tasks as when you started. I still have 1 or 2 aus8 knives that I like and carry a lot, and I almost always have a sak on me, but really good steel is worth the premium to me. I recognize that what I usually use a knife for isnt all the taxing to even mediocre steel but knives are one of my hobbies so steel does influence my buying decisions. Same as any other hobby/interest really - a v6 mustang will get you where you need to go and most people never drive where they can really benefit from loads of power but it would still be nice to have a gt500.

[Invective]

You know, this was something I was mulling over the other day as well. I've noticed that my Spydie collection consists mostly of collaboration models or sprint runs and I think this is because the collaborations usually have the designs I like (Captain, Khukuri, Yojimbo1/2, Lum Tanto), while the Sprints allow me chances at better steel (Caly 3/3.5 SB, Mule B75, looking forward to the upcoming Cru-Wear Millie sprint too). That's not to say that I will pass over a design because of lower end steel but I have to really like the design.

[Bladekeeper]

Wow! Gratuitous snipe? I believe that's unfair. So just because I like to experiment with the different steels that have become available(mostly from Spyderco), you make the big assumption that I am insecure? And I do it to assert my superiority over others?

No completely and maybe due to my communication and the way my written English comes across taken the wrong way.
Or the word snobbery is used in a different context to how it is perceived for me or used in the uk at least .
Eg Holland states "I'm a steel snob I live using different steels" without checking along those lines .
An example of snobbery I would call somebody a snob for is as follows.
Somebody lives in an affluent area and their daughter brings home a boyfriend they get on fine untill , the boyfriend states that he comes from a poor area and lives in social housing.
Then the parents take an attitude he isn't good enough on that basis alone.
That is what the word snobbery means to me and how it is used mainly in the uk of course in lots of different scenario .
That would reflect fairly my insecure comment would you not agree ?.
Some would say that's more than snobbery but that's how the term is implied here .
Also for the sake of future threads I will explain a personal situation so maybe it can be understood that I sometimes find it challenging .
I am dyslexic and higher functioning autistic my youngest son is serve rely autistic the difference in my case is academia I can usually with greater effort learn what the next person can.
The dyslexia sort of counter acts that so if you take that into account then I often can write a post that comes across in a way not meant.
I also have been trying since I joined the forums to improve my grammar and communication so will correct anything I feel I have or has come across wrong.
I wasn't in the way holland put it applying that but in the example I gave hope it is clearer now.

[Bladekeeper]

Just a point English Oxford dictionary definition "snobbery"
A trait of condescending those of lower social status"
And applied to objects then this is how I defined how it was being discussed :) when I realise now that it wasn't or if it was.
Then my post has been misunderstood .

[chuck_roxas45]

Hey Kevin, I apologize if I misunderstood your post. I reread your post and I can see what your point is now. :D

[Bladekeeper]

Thanks chuck appreciated :) .

[chuck_roxas45]

Thanks chuck appreciated :) .

I'd like to be your forum friend too. Friend request sent already. :)