Could I do everything with a Mora? Probably, after a fashion. But knives are also a hobby, something I love, and sometimes a knife is an
objet d'art in it's own right. There are lots of reasons for a purchase, some being practical some just personal.
No argument with that. If you like high end knives and your budget allows, by all means buy the best.
But this is a "Survival Forum" after all. I have a really hard time thinking of a survival situation where you would die if all you had was a Mora, but you would live if you had RSK MK3?
Probably not. If we're being honest, how many situations would you die if you didn't have a knife but live if you did? Maybe cutting a seat belt, or a rope if you were being drug down. Short of that people "survived" for 250,000 years before metal was used, and probably we didn't have stone tools that whole time. I love knives and find them very useful, but maybe they're the single more overrated "survival" item in the kit.
But if establish that a knife is necessary, or even fairly useful, we could also ask if a Mora is the knife you'd choose
if it had to last the rest of your life. Because in a survival situation it might!
As I pointed out above, in my opinion knives definitely fit the 80/20 rule. Once you get beyond the obvious five and dime junk, the first 20% of $$$ gets you 80% of the value. Beyond that, you are paying more and more, for increasingly smaller increments of functionality. A classic case of diminishing returns.
Of course one can always find specific situations where the added expense for tiny increments of functionality might be worthwhile. A mechanic who works on engines all day everyday might find it worthwhile to pay a premium for Snap-on tools. But I only need a wrench now and then, and I can get by quite well with Craftsman tools. Likewise for a chef, who uses a knife for many hours each day, day in and day out, paying $900 for the perfect kitchen knife might be worthwhile. For me in my home kitchen, not so much. Another example would be binoculars. There is some total junk out there. Once you get beyond that you can buy a decent set of binos for $100-$300. I like watching wildlife, and my $300 Nikon binos are quite adequate for my needs. But a good friend of mine is an avid, serious, hard core birder. For him the small incremental increase in optical quality of a $2500 pair of Swarovski binoculars is money well spent.
80/20 rules!
I can't really disagree with anything you've said. Still, I've never done a job and once finished said, "I wish I'd have had a crappier tool!"
I'm not a great carpenter nor mechanic, but I dad was great at both. So I know basic stuff and can appreciate good tools. But my toolbox for around the house would probably make my dad shake his head.
The truth is that I don't do enough carpentry or mechanic jobs to make it worth the money to buy Snap-On tools that would get used every two years. I have a good screwdriver (and need a couple good pliers!) but most of my stuff is just enough to get the job done. None of those jobs are really important.
Survival is pretty important though! I don't scrimp on
anything in my PSKs. My gear might not be the best that exists but it's the best I can afford. If it fails it might be the last time I ever need it. A good knife makes jobs easier and gives a margin of safety with durability. I'm not talking Doug's RSK, just knives in general.
The only down side to quality gear is that it's not usually cheap. If you're spending the rent money on survival knife you can't afford and won't need that's bad. But assuming your not bouncing checks and can afford it, I don't see the downside to having a better blade.
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