This knife is $150. Is this knife worth $150?

Only if it's japanese and has been folded a 1000 times.

There's really no way to say whether or not something is worth the price. Handmade stuff is more expensive than machine made because you have to pay a somewhat skilled person to make it. Because of this handmade stuff carries a greater level of prestige, because only a few people can afford it. Is a bespoke suit worth it? Or commissioning a piece of art? Really depends on how much money you have and how you enjoy spending it.

If your knife doesn't have the rainbow damascus spiral, nobody will know it's an expensive knife.

japanesechefsknife.com/collections/blade-type/products/takeshi-saji-urushi-makie-series-japanese-castle-motif-gyuto-270mm10-6inch

Takeshi Saji Urushi & Makie Series "Japanese Castle Motif" Gyuto

Comes with a Japanese landscape motif Raden (Japanese lacquerware decorated with clam shell inlays) knife sheath

$890

Reminds me of Shiki's knife from Tsukihime for some reason

related question, not op.
Can I just use my utility knife as a steak knife? is there a significan't difference except style?

That ain't Damascus.

I wouldn't do so.
Using your utility knife against a plate is going to dull it very quickly.

Steak knives are generally serrated. That's because the serrated edge isn't dulled by touching the plate, and it also cuts cooked meat more effectively.

you're looking at the hilt

he's being autistic and doesn't realize that damascus means pattern welding in modern vernacular.

machines are good, user
technology is good
modern technology lets us make better stuff for cheaper
I'd rather spend $150 on a knife made in a batch with machines using R2 or HAP40 in a modern factory that can consistently follow a formula than a hand made 1095 hobby knife heat treated by gut feel in some guy's garage
at best, if you're lucky, neckbeard-sama will maybe get it right and then you have a small, rusty knife that costs 8x what it should that performs almost as well as the soulless mass-produced knife
if you're not lucky you're subsidizing his hobby and getting a mediocre product in return

>machines are good, user
Yes
>technology is good
Yes
>modern technology lets us make better stuff for cheaper
Theoretically yes, but many times we end up making shitty stuff for cheaper.
>I'd rather spend $150 on a knife made in a batch with machines using R2 or HAP40 in a modern factory that can consistently follow a formula than a hand made 1095 hobby knife heat treated by gut feel in some guy's garage
Depends entirely on "some guy's" level of skill and care.
>at best, if you're lucky, neckbeard-sama will maybe get it right and then you have a small, rusty knife that costs 8x what it should that performs almost as well as the soulless mass-produced knife
If he gets it right then you have a knife that performs much better than a mass-produced knife.
>if you're not lucky you're subsidizing his hobby and getting a mediocre product in return
Yes. Perhaps even a *shitty* product in return.

Thankfully we can eliminate a lot of this "luck" by doing our homework (research).

so let me get this straight:

don't buy modern mass produced knives because, sometimes, they're not good

do buy one-at-a-time knives pounded out in a neckbeard's garage, because, sometimes, they're good

we can always research the quality of one-at-a-time knives pounded out in a neckbeard's garage

we can never research the quality of mass produced knives

a neckbeard's one-at-a-time knife must be better than a mass-produced knife because muh feelings

this isn't really a very good argument and I have a feeling you are either the guy pounding out the knives, or you fell for the sales pitch and need to rationalize it to yourself

>buy generic chefs knife
>keep it sharp
>it werks

i never got the meme knife hype. maybe because i never tried one, to be fair. does it really matter?

it looks like a pretty nice knife OP

>tfw I got a collection of knives from sam's club, been using them for years without complaint

a cheap knife from 420 or similar is easy to sharpen and loses its edge just from looking at it funny. you work around the problems by sharpening a lot, but that's no problem because you can just scrape it on anything rough and you're good to go

a more expensive knife made from gummy obnoxious memesteel like vg10 is a bitch to sharpen but cuts ok even after some use. you work around the problems by either getting fancy high tech meme stones (shaptons or diamonds or something), or just spending a lot of time when you use your shitty india stones

a great knife from AEB-L or ginsanko or some such thing is easy to sharpen and cuts ok even after some use. you don't work around the problems, because there aren't any other than what might be caused by abuse

cheap: $20
more expensive: $60
great: $150+

unless you're a retard and fuck up really badly, there is basically no difference past $150 or so, other than shape and muh feelings

>been using to open packages of pre cut food once ever 2 or 3 days for years and have no complaints

Cutting meat and dicing vegetables ever since, my dude. Any other complaints?

I never said any of those things, user.

My point was limited to the fact that "modern" isn't necessarily good, and handmade isn't necessarily bad.

The point was to compare both via research and pick the one that best fits your needs rather than assuming modern=good and handmade=crap

In my experience modern wins out most of the time, but it's silly to assume that's always true.

>pick the one that best fits your needs
unless your list of needs includes "spending as much money as possible", modern always wins

meh, don't really care for that slight downward angle on the tang/handle

Was it folded 10,000 times?