There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
the goal of the knife hobby is: to use and experience all type of knives, and try to find the best one that fits you.
a few sub-goals: dont go broke, dont scare people, dont hurt anyone, dont screw up your knife too badly
Incorrect, the goal of the knife hobby is to spend all of your disposable income on folding pieces of metal.
In terms of 'above average' steels, S35VN definitely set a recent standard to what a high performing knife steel should be. But if you were to compare s35vn and M390, M390 is definitely superior (like comparing 8cr13 to VG10)
but honestly, as we are in the 'tactical' knife discussion, the best steel is whatever gets the job done in the highest optimal way. which may possibly be 8cr13, since you'll hopefully be heartbroken if you pry using M390 (although M390 is a more optimal choice, the price difference and quality makes M390 not a good choice for most knife edc'ers)
440C was once a super steel, and so was VG-10, and then the era of BG-42/ATS-34. But steel tech is a lot like graphics cards, they upgrade really fast.
And whoever says '440 is super to me' is probably someone you shouldnt be taking steel advice from..... (although 440A is one of my favorite steels lol)
I think a better estimate of how 'good' a steel is by average market price of a 3in folder. The lines between mid/high gets pretty blurry, though low: >$10 standard: 10-25$ mid: 25-80$ high: 80-150$ super: <150$
I have to disagree with MAP pricing, since it was a way to prevent large sellers from dropping their prices too low to out-compete small stores. It is also an attempt at the knife company to properly set the value of their knives, rather than the market, to keep their identity as so-and-so. Sadly, the market would rather have online shopping convenience than brick and mortar stores because people just dont know what a quality product is, or how to choose them.
Comparing custom knives with production is pretty much like comparing how a to harvest an apple tree in your backyard vs. harvesting an apple orchard.
i'm not going to talk about carbide tearing, the difference between rockwell and brinell, and all the other weird stuff knife people think way too much about. (and also part of the fun)