You make a pretty valid point Lightbringer.
The ironic thing is that the Bolex might typically keep better time than the Rolex. :laughing:
This little venture of mine into knife making is teaching me more than technical skills. When you start putting something together from scratch and have to make or source everything required the reasoning behind the price point becomes more clear!
Common steels are actually very cheap, supersteels arenât even that bad⌠even MagnaCut. Then you start sinking time into shaping a blade. You find or make scales, source or turn pins/screws. Buy leather and/or Kydex for sheaths. Figure out how to place your logo. Heat treat, do it yourself or outsource? At $33 apiece from a top company that one is a no- brainer, but then shipping both ways adds substantially to the cost.
At the end of it all you realize there is still a pretty hefty price to be paid even after putting in the hours of DIY.
So, a $300 knife professionally made is indeed certainly worth considering. Prices go way over that of course, and one must look at what that brings to the table. Worth, after all, is established by the end consumer.
I have managed one complete blade out of the 10 I started. 4 are due in soon from heat treat and the work begins anew! Four are still at the engravers, needing to be sent for heat treat then completed. I carry the Ti blade daily. And the 10th? I made a leather carver from scrap and heat treated it with a torch. Wasnât easily accomplished even for itâs comparable small size!
Sometimes the sum of the parts is far greater than the whole!
In pocket? The WE Knives ĂternA. Still enjoying the uniqueness.
As an aside, referencing cost, I failed to mention the tools that have been purchased to accomplish the blades. Gets out of hand fast! Overhead huh?
Opinions have weight. Some opinions are based on prejudice or random feelings. Some are based on facts or logic. Iâve offered the latter.
Speaking ofâŚ
This is a solid point. If someone is okay with counterfactual logic, accepts the epistemic limitations, and wants to engage in the economics of âwhat ifâ; theyâll still run head first into this for lots of products. The people making counterfactual arguments about âlostâ or âstolenâ sales tend to conveniently ignore it. To flesh out that point:
What percentage of the people who do buy a cheap Bolex were ever in the class of potential customers for a Rolex in the first place? This is an important reason to separate copied designs from counterfeits. Counterfeiters might be able to trick a person from that class into paying thousands of dollars for a fraudulent product. However, very few of the people spending $100 on a Bolex would ever dream of spending thousands on a Rolex, assuming they could afford to buy a Rolex in the first place.
Further, some of the people in the class that constitutes both potential Rolex customers AND people who bought a Bolex might be people who have purchased both. One of those people might get a Rolex for fancy occasions, business meetings, etc.; but wear the Bolex while mowing the lawn or shopping at the local Walmart.
Now, if you really want a headache, consider the class of people who buy a Rolex BECAUSE of their experiences with a Bolex. For instance, Person A gets a Bolex to see if they like the style or whatever, and then buys a Rolex once they know it is for them. Person B gets a Bolex when they are relatively poor and then graduates to a Rolex once theyâve âmade itâ. Such cases occur, are non-counterfactual when they do, and support a counter-argument versus the unsupported counterfactual claim: the existence of Bolex actually increased the sales of Rolex!
Regardless of any argument for or against, copyright infringement ( counterfeiting ) is illegal and can carry hefty jail times.
Truer words were never spoken. A custom knife from someone who really knows what they are doing is a wonder to behold.
And to get to where âthey really know what they are doingâ means they have invested the time & money it takes to learn.
What Blade did you EDC today?
Post a photo.
for me still, the mini osborne (size compare to Opinel #7)
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Ganzo G729
Offending two fanboy groups at the same time! 
Back when Ganzoâs were good AND cheap, 5 years ago 
The compulsory VAT made everything even more expensive thanks to our wise leadersâŚ
Here in the US, gas and food prices continue to rise. Milk and gas were the same price per gallon recently. Simply staying home with the family often saves enough on gas to buy a new budget knife. It has everything to do with those in power. Speaking of offending people, Letâs Go Brandon!
I recently skipped a trip over the mountains and into a neighboring state to see my elderly mother. Besides the cost and other hassles, mainstream media still has her so wound up about COVID that she wonât see her kids and grand kids unless we all wear masks, despite being in perfect health and up to date on vaccines. I literally saved enough on gas to buy the Civivi Chevalier I modded and carried today.
Filling the tank is quite painful everywhere nowadaysâŚ
I was about to order the Chevalier too, but I changed my mind and I went for the Conspirator instead. How do you like the Chevalier?
I dusted off my Ganzo G737 âframe-lock Stretchâ:
Have a look at the tolerances around the frame-lock:
The Chevalier is a little more svelte. I like the blade shape a lot better.
The main benefit of the Conspirator for me is that it fills my hand better.
While the wood on my Chevalier looks great, the Micarta on my Conspirator feels great.
Doug Ritter RSK MK1-G2 (older M390 version)
More often than not I carry a Spyderco MANIX 2 GRAY FRCP MAXAMET
There is not a one of the many other knives in various steels that stays as sharp for as long.
I really need to pick up an RSK,
Hogue makes a great knife and I really like the Ritter blade shape. I Should probably sell off some stuff and just do it,
Also today I carried my Kershaw Highball Ti
Nice looking knife! 
I really like the overall look of that knife but I hate the micarta thumbstud
Also PF please give us some new steels,