Interesting question. The answers, some general, some subjective, some simple.
We live in societies, most of us, and there are rules that also must be considered.
It's a good topic for designers as well.
I know it's another question for another time, but I'd also like to know priorities? Laws, pocket real estate, what you're cutting, etc.?
sal
This is a sort of follow up to the thread asking how you categorize knife sizes: viewtopic.php?t=99318
I've made this one a poll, because there are sure to be as many answers as there are members of the forum and it'll make it easier to keep track of answers. Unfortunately there is a 10 answer limit to polls but I've picked out what I think are going to be the most common answers.
You may choose as many options as apply to you and you may change your answers later if you want.
Haha, ended up selecting all but three options - origin, ergonomics, handle materials - just to not select all. I think the only one I don't care about at all is the origin. Handle materials are almost irrelevant as long as they are durable, resistant to the elements and not stainless steel. And I like the look of em. Ergos are also not a conscious consideration but I just end up liking designs that are comfortable.
Now for the things that DO matter.
All the options I selected matter and as the "Other" I mean - blade thickness, both overall and BTE, type of pivot system (bearings, washers, bushing pivot), blade to handle ratio, clip type and position, quality and reliability of heat treat.
But with being a knife collector for over 15 years now the absolutely most important factor is that the knife has IT, the X factor, something distinguishing it from all the other knives. It can be extremes in materials, geometry, weight-to-size, a novel locking system or just a striking design. I rarely buy knives that just tick all the boxes anymore unless they tickle me in some special way
Ergonomics is definitely my personal choice above everything else . Especially important to me when blade length drops below 3.5 inches . Dan
MNOSD 0002 / Do more than is required of you . Patton
Nothing makes earth so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.
Henry David Thoreau
I went with ergonomics, handle materials, aesthetics and cost. A few years back "steel" certainly would have made the list. I'm at around 14-16 Spyderco knives these days and many of them are in different steels. Since I'm no longer a heavy user, steel isn't as important to me most of the time.
I find ergonomics, handle materials and aesthetics can kind of be lumped together. If the design is ergonomic for my hands, then I definitely want a handle material that I prefer, and having that most likely means I find the knife aesthetically pleasing
Last edited by TkoK83Spy on Tue Apr 28, 2026 6:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
tough to nail it down to a select few, or even list them in order. I'll keep it to the most important ones:
Cost - The cheaper a knife is, the more inclined I am to buy it, and the more likely I am to buy multiples. I'm more likely to buy a $20 machete than track down a fiddleback forge or lt wright machete. More likely to buy a $10 kiwi kitchen knife than a $250 japanese santoku. I do have my share of knives in the $200-400 range, but those purchases are more rare than $5-50 models. I've been loving the Buck 110 Slim lately. Since it was only $30 I ordered 3 more, bringing my collection to 4. My Military Salt on the other hand was $230 or so, so I still own a single one.
Availability - If I have to get on a waiting list or scour the secondary market for months to years, I'm less likely to buy the knife than if I can order it off any major knife shops site right now. I also like my $$ going to the person who made the knife, so I prefer buying more expensive knives new rather than secondary.
Size - I have no length restrictions where I live. Endura size is where folders -start- for me, generally. Pocket multi tools should be sized small enough to offer convenient in pocket carry. Full sized multitools should fit a gloved hand and offer a full grip for the pliers. Fixed blades should have generously sized handles for gloved hands. I am not a fan at all of knives where the maker designs them to just barely offer a full enough grip for their own hand - more often than not the hand used to size the design is smaller than mine, and doesn't leave enough extra space for gloved use.
Lock - If it isn't a lockback variation, fixed blade or slipjoint, chances are incredibly low I'd even consider buying the knife.
Clip - If it's a clipped knife and it's tip down only, that will make me pass more often than not.
Pivot - If it's a bearings based pivot, I won't buy it.
Country of origin - No knives from China or Pakistan. India is another one I avoid unless it's a Windlass. I am willing to pay higher prices for USA made knives than any other country. I think people paying $250+ for chinese knives are crazy. The times I did buy those, it was always under $100, and all but my Resilience Lightweight were under $50.
Naming - Call me shallow, but some knives have names that plain sound dumb to me, so I won't buy them. I'll never own a knafs brand knife no matter how good they are, or a baby banter.
Opening - If it isn't an opening hole, thumbstud or nail nick, I probably won't buy it (flippers, autos, etc.)
Sharpening notches - Obnoxiously large ones are another thing that instantly kills any interest I may have in a knife. I would never own a jack wolf knives knife, even if they were US made, for this reason. Theirs are terrible.
While I am incredibly picky with certain details, others I am not. Blade steels for example. If it's corrosion resistant and takes a good edge, it'll work for me. I'm fine with 420hc, swiss army knife steel, vg10, whatever. Scales? I'm fine with plastic, g10, carbon fiber, micarta, wood and will even do metal scales on pocket multis and traditionals. weight? for pocket knives anything up to 6oz will get carried whenever, and knives 6oz+ will still be carried from times to time like the XL Voyager that lives in my disc golf bag. Blade shape? I'll carry most types that don't have a crazy amount of belly - I even started carrying a tanto knife lately. Blade thickness on a pocket knife? I have 1-5mm and enjoy them all.
I've stopped caring about small details like that. My only priority is that it's made by Spyderco, otherwise I don't buy it. I'm not a knife collector - I'm a Spyderco collector.
Lock, clip, steel, grind, 1-2 mm of edge length, etc... I don't care about any of that.
Is it Spyderco? Do I like the design? Do I want it in my collection?
Yes, yes, yes = purchase
yes, yes, no = don't purchase
yes, no, yes = purchase
no, yes, yes = don't purchase
yes, no, no = don't purchase
no, yes, no = don't purchase
I've stopped caring about small details like that. My only priority is that it's made by Spyderco, otherwise I don't buy it. I'm not a knife collector - I'm a Spyderco collector.
Lock, clip, steel, grind, 1-2 mm of edge length, etc... I don't care about any of that.
Is it Spyderco? Do I like the design? Do I want it in my collection?
Yes, yes, yes = purchase
yes, yes, no = don't purchase
yes, no, yes = purchase
no, yes, yes = don't purchase
yes, no, no = don't purchase
no, yes, no = don't purchase
Same, except that I could add :
Yes, Yes, no + It's selling for dirt cheap = purchase
Yes, no, yes + It's selling for dirt cheap = purchase
And of course Yes, yes, yes + It's selling for dirt cheap = purchase
I'm trying to get better at not doing that, but I don't make much progress.
I think all of the choices are reasonable concerns when purchasing a new knife, but I selected ergonomics, lock type, handle materials, cost, aesthetics, coo from the list.. of those, ergonomics & aesthetics are probably the most important determining factors because they are going to be the most immediately obvious to me when looking for a new knife. Is it going to be comfortable for me? (I prefer more neutral ergos and can usually tell just by looking at this point whether a knife is going to work for me) Does the design look good to me? (because why would I buy something I don't appreciate aesthetically?) So, while all of the considerations are important, ergonomics and aesthetics feel the most important to me.
I said Steel Type , that's most important ; as you know I mod from there .
and
I said blade size but only the blade thickness ; which invariably I wind up thinning but it is easier to thin from 3mm to 2 mm than it is 5mm to 2 mm . You think I am kidding but I've done that .
I just picked my top 3 so while everything matters, for me weight and country of origin rarely matter enough to me if I like some other aspects of a knife.
I generally am more interested in trying out more stuff I don't have than getting more of what I already know I like. If I dislike something about it enough, I can try and mess with it to make it more into something I like.
Probably my top concerns for stuff I use is ergonomics and aesthetics. If it looks really cool or wierd in a good way I'll let a lot of things slide. That's not to say that I haven't bought plenty of knifes just 'cause of the steel they had or too cheap to pass up etc.
All this to say I have too many ways I can justiffy getting a knife.
As some have said, interesting post. I tried to think through my process.
I think it is important for folks to tell us the order of importance to be useful though. I found some items missing in my decision making process and added them below:
#1 TIE)
- Knife blade pattern; What is the shape of the blade; Proposed or intended use
- Ergonomics; How do the blade and handle work/flow determine fitness of design - neutral/positive/negative angles
#2) Blade length >3.5 inches; knife laws do not come into play with my decision on buying a knife; Generally I do not buy knives with a blade under 3.5 inches in length.
#3) Word of mouth; Reviews; Color videos and still photos of the knife being shown. If I hear of issues it may effect everything.
#4) Steel type
#5) Lock type
#6) Manufacturer; Bladesmith
#7) Handle materials
#8) Country of origin
#9) Cost
#10) Aesthetics (? Handle color/design) (? Artistic blade pattern) (? Artistic steel grain) This could be #1 or #2 also.
#11) Weight
Last edited by Naperville on Wed Apr 29, 2026 7:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
Yeah, this really needs to be a ranking to be more definitive. I guess that's not available from the forum software, so you'd have to do a (long) series of polls using pairwise ranking.
1) The Marie Kondo test: Does it spark joy? If it does, and doesn't cost a fortune, I'm likely to buy it no matter the steel, the handle, etc. Since I only have a few real uses for knives -- fishing, gardening, breaking down packaging, culinary -- I mainly buy knives for fun. It's a hobby.
2) Perceived usefulness: Is it good for fishing, gardening, breaking down packaging or culinary? If not, it has to be interesting for some other reason. That can be steel, the BBB 15V models for example. Or the lock, like the P.I.T.S. folders. Or the scales, like like the sun and moon Chaparral.
3) Brand: I seldom look beyond Spyderco, but if I do it's at a very few others I know I can trust, either from personal experience or glowing reviews. CRK, Buck, Cold Steel, Microtech, Vosteed...
4) Cost: I don't have a hard limit, but if it's much over $250 it had better spark a lot of joy!
5) Ergonomics: Since I'm not a hard user, this isn't as important to me as it is to others, but still important. I'm seldom able to handle a knife before purchasing, so it's more a matter of whether I like and use the knife after buying, or decide to part with it. I know what I like well enough to pick out good ergos by sight, though. Neutral is best, Manix-like next-best, Endura-like is okay...
Everything else is lumped into a set of negotiable details where one element can outweigh all the others or be a total non-factor.
If I had more than 10 options I would've included this and "would I use this over _______ ?" but I wasn't sure if those are just ways that I convince myself to buy a new knife or if others think this way too. The "would I use this over _______ ?" is a major buying factor for me lately and I'm finding that I've skipped over some really great options just because I have others that I favor more.
