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Which makes more sense: owning one quality $100 knife for 30+ years, or going through 10 $20 knives over the course of 30 years? But living with 1 $100 knife r

by mdasen 18y ago

Which makes more sense: owning one quality $100 knife for 30+ years, or going through 10 $20 knives over the course of 30 years? But living with 1 $100 knife requires certain behavioral changes. You must take care of it, sharpen it, transport it if you're moving. Really, these are positive changes and I totally agree that we should be buying more durable goods and maintaining them. In fact, this behavioral change is why the government wants people to own homes. Home ownership gives you something that you need to maintain well rather than simply move away from/discard. It even gives you incentive to improve upon it as that trip to Home Depot can really improve things like the value of the home. People live in communities, improve their homes and communities, and take a real stake in improving things on that local level.

timr 18y ago
The government promotes home ownership because it's believed to decrease crime at a community level; I don't think they care about the amount of stuff that people buy. In fact, I'd wager that home ownership tends to increase a person's tendency to buy crap.
hs 18y ago
spot on for the behavioral changes i'd use the $100 knife LESS than the $10 counterpart -> that's why i use $1 knifes because i cannot care less if it breaks even google doesn't use sun blades, that's pretty telling about home ownership, there are correlations that countries that are low on home ownership level(e.g, swiss) is richer than ones with high level (e.g, spain) those examples are correlation, not causality ... anomaly i'd say and it's worth practicing
- sc 18y ago
  I don't think you can make the call on which knife you'd use till you had both. If you enjoy cooking or if you hate cooking but have to, the $100 knife will likely become your choice knife: preparing food becomes quicker and easier -- you're investment returns in time and peace of mind. The $100 knife is also usually quite indestructible compared with the $10 counterpart. Even a $100 knife in the poorest care is salvageable with a professional sharpening.
  - hs 18y ago
    that's it, $100 knife is wonderful till you lost it or break it $10 knifes, you can afford to have spares another example, i no longer use mechanical pencil because it betrayed me so many times (i can't see if there's extra lead inside) transparent mech pencil is better, but i often forget to bring extra leads :( that's why i buy 96 counts pencils for $5 ... the lead is visible, it never fails me and no, i don't bring sharpener (you can always break the pencil and 'sharpen' the lead against rough surfaces) i bring 5 sharpened pencils instead and put the rest in various places although it's redundant (to ensure reliability), it's simpler and i'm much happier

by mdasen 18y ago

timr 18y ago

The government promotes home ownership because it's believed to decrease crime at a community level; I don't think they care about the amount of stuff that people buy. In fact, I'd wager that home ownership tends to increase a person's tendency to buy crap.

hs 18y ago

spot on for the behavioral changes i'd use the $100 knife LESS than the $10 counterpart -> that's why i use $1 knifes because i cannot care less if it breaks even google doesn't use sun blades, that's pretty telling about home ownership, there are correlations that countries that are low on home ownership level(e.g, swiss) is richer than ones with high level (e.g, spain) those examples are correlation, not causality ... anomaly i'd say and it's worth practicing

sc 18y ago
I don't think you can make the call on which knife you'd use till you had both. If you enjoy cooking or if you hate cooking but have to, the $100 knife will likely become your choice knife: preparing food becomes quicker and easier -- you're investment returns in time and peace of mind. The $100 knife is also usually quite indestructible compared with the $10 counterpart. Even a $100 knife in the poorest care is salvageable with a professional sharpening.
- hs 18y ago
  that's it, $100 knife is wonderful till you lost it or break it $10 knifes, you can afford to have spares another example, i no longer use mechanical pencil because it betrayed me so many times (i can't see if there's extra lead inside) transparent mech pencil is better, but i often forget to bring extra leads :( that's why i buy 96 counts pencils for $5 ... the lead is visible, it never fails me and no, i don't bring sharpener (you can always break the pencil and 'sharpen' the lead against rough surfaces) i bring 5 sharpened pencils instead and put the rest in various places although it's redundant (to ensure reliability), it's simpler and i'm much happier