I wasn't aware BM had upped its price. Hmmm.
Regarding Spydies, can't say I buy enough to be able to reflect the norm but:
- Domino from taichung had an edge about as sharp as a butter knife. I bought it aftermarket but the seller said he didn't use it. Who knows?
- S110V Manix 2 from Golden had an edge about as sharp as a paper cutter - looked like a 120 grit edge that would only tear paper.
- para 2 S30V (from Colorado too) had an edge that barely sliced paper.
my earlier experience with Spydercos - Delica, Endura (both in VG10), Lum Chinese (ZDP189) all had scary sharp edges. I wonder what is happening to Spyderco's legendary edges.
On the other hand, BM's edges are nicely polished and sharp. And I find their customer service leaps and bounds above Spydercos - primarily, they will not charge you shipping after fixing your knife.
I agree with the observation on Boker. They are charging way too much for the collabs which feature only 440C steel.
ZT is the manufacturer to watch, and they're hitting the ball out of the park with every collab.
I like the CRKT hijinx collab with Ken Onion but with an MSRP of $500 and only Sleipner steel, I won't be buying it. I like the bladeshape though and judging from my Fossil, CRKT seems to make great flippers.
For general use (ie. not specialised cutting like hunting or cooking or cardboard breaker
), I find hollow sabre ground blades more than adequate and aesthetically more pleasing than the other 2. Hollow grinds also mean that you don't need to thin the edge over time compared to full flat or flat grinds.