“Grail EDC”

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Apr 1, 2016
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After seeing all the threads about “grail” knives it got me to wondering if anyone really only carries one “perfect” knife. I seem to find one I really enjoy carrying and then carry it consistently for a month or two. After that it just goes in rotation with the other knives I enjoy.

I started out carrying a sodbuster jr. for years until I bought my first benchmade, which was a BM mini barrage. I never did love the assisted opening, so I ended up buying a Spyderco Delica. For a while the Delica was “perfect” until I started thinking maybe it was a little too wide in the pocket and I didn’t love the lockback. From there I went to a BM 940-1501, and it was my primary carry for a long time. Eventually, I started thinking that maybe it didn’t slice as well as the Delica, and maybe I’m not as in love with the blade shape as I thought. Next I moved on to a Rogue Bladeworks carbon fiber BM Bugout and it is awesome, and I can’t find any complaints yet. Some of the new has worn off and I have went back to rotating through most of the knives mentioned, except the mini barrage. There is also an alox Vic Pioneer thrown in there somewhere that I enjoy. I guess the point to my slightly incoherent rambling is I can’t see myself just carrying one knife, and my search for the perfect edc will never end. How do you guys/gals feel about it?
 
There are many perfect EDCs but why just one?
On the other hand I spent years and years with only 1 knife until the internet/forums.
I could easily carry my Pena Mule as the only One as it’s just perfection IMO.
A Shiro was, the Sebenza could have been but wasn't grail for me.

The Spydie Military/PM would be the only folder anyone could need as EDC
 
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There is another "perfect" EDC thread that was started recently. As I said there, there is no such thing IMO as a "perfect" knife for EDC use or otherwise.

How well a knife fulfills a specific purpose depends on your priorities/biases and the design specs of the knife. I own over 200 knives and there isn't just one that I could choose that would meet all of my needs "perfectly."

Some will perform certain functions better than others but there are many that, despite their differences, perform very similarly and there isn't much (if anything in terms of performance) to distinguish them between one another.

Which knife that I choose to carry on any particular day, simply depends on what (if anything that) I expect to use the knife for and my whim on that particular day.
 
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i feel that the term "perfect EDC" or "grail EDC" is another term for "favorite knife" and thats about it. hah
I went through a lot of folding knives until i found a couple of my favorites.
I still carry and use the others from time to time as well.
 
My Shiro F95T in Vanax 37 has become my absolute all time favorite knife. It is on me every day and I have zero desire to change it. I'm simply content.

I do have a Gayle Bradley 2 for construction work (basement finish, sheetrock, remodeling type stuff), and a PM2 in M4 steel with carbon fiber scales that I carry when walking the dog or wearing running shorts. Whenever I've chosen to carry one of these two knives, I know it is for a very limited time and a very specific scenario, and I'm just waiting to get the Shiro back on board usually later the same day.

So is the Shiro 100% perfect? No. It is the knife I feel most comfortable with for virtually everything I will ever encounter though.
 
Doesn’t the term “grail” portray the endless pursuit of something unobtainable?

I anticipate there will always be “the next knife” and probably a few things that I want but can’t afford...or at least that I can’t rationalize. :D

With regards to the concept of “the one,” meaning the knife that will make me give up all others, it will never exist.

I already have some knives that I like more than others, some that I consider better (or even much better) than others, and my most expensive knife cost 10x more than my cheapest knife. I still like rotating through them all. My Large 21 Micarta is a lot closer to perfect than my Zoom-mini, but some days I just feel like carrying the SOG.

Variety is excellent. I find something unique and endearing with each of my knives. That’s part of the fun.
 
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After seeing all the threads about “grail” knives it got me to wondering if anyone really only carries one “perfect” knife. I seem to find one I really enjoy carrying and then carry it consistently for a month or two. After that it just goes in rotation with the other knives I enjoy.

I started out carrying a sodbuster jr. for years until I bought my first benchmade, which was a BM mini barrage. I never did love the assisted opening, so I ended up buying a Spyderco Delica. For a while the Delica was “perfect” until I started thinking maybe it was a little too wide in the pocket and I didn’t love the lockback. From there I went to a BM 940-1501, and it was my primary carry for a long time. Eventually, I started thinking that maybe it didn’t slice as well as the Delica, and maybe I’m not as in love with the blade shape as I thought. Next I moved on to a Rogue Bladeworks carbon fiber BM Bugout and it is awesome, and I can’t find any complaints yet. Some of the new has worn off and I have went back to rotating through most of the knives mentioned, except the mini barrage. There is also an alox Vic Pioneer thrown in there somewhere that I enjoy. I guess the point to my slightly incoherent rambling is I can’t see myself just carrying one knife, and my search for the perfect edc will never end. How do you guys/gals feel about it?
You can have a 'grail knife' in the sense, that if you are blissfully unaware of BF/knife sites and only have a moderate interest in knives, then you can be perfectly happy with a/one 'user' knife.
If you have more than a passing interest in knives and gets lured in by the siren call of BF, ypu are doomed .... doomed, I tell ya'.
You are most likely hooked by all the newly discovered knives and even if you think, the next knife is 'The One,' ... a new and interesting blade will come along - a knife, which you must have.

BF are nothing but a bunch of enablers and should be sued!:mad:

:D

As for the Delica, it IS nigh on perfect IMO.
The problem with Spyderco is, that they make so many dang nice folders and once you think, you are set with a nice Spyderco, the Glessers make another even nicer one.

Until you tire of BF/knife forums/knives, there is no cure. I mean, why be on a knife forum, if you are not sharing your experience with a new blade or if ypu are not interested in new blades

I tried limiting myself to one Spyderco (the Delica was a contender, as its an awesome knife), .... I tried .....

yunWFia.jpg
 
My true grail, and I would forsake all others for it. A custom Laconico EZC, made by Ray for CCKS 2018, purchased by Dmitry Sinkevich. Dmitry posted on IG that it was his new EDC.

IU2AZPv.png


I want *THAT* copy.

But... that’s why a purist refers to it as a grail. I’ll never see it in person. Not that specific one.
 
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I don't carry my Grail often. It is the Brad Zinker Urban Trapper with my Cold Steel KreyEx handle mod.
My heart is all aflutter just thinking about it.

What I mostly carry is my Para 2 M4 in my man purse for the abrasive cutting I have to do at work.
and in addition
my latest toy, what ever that may be, . . . right now that means my Kershaw / Emerson CQC 4KXL and my Spycerco Delica in HAP40 with Carbon Fiber scales special addition from Fradon Lock Co.
Neither one of those is any where near a "Grail" for me but has interesting aspects that I wanted to explore and some times I have specific tasks in mind for a specific knife.

But when I pick up the Grail again it is like coming home.
Translation : there is nothing about the knife that pisses me off, it doesn't hurt me to use it , it is fun and enjoyable every time I use it (it makes me smile every time I use the knife) and the things I put up with or wish were different are very minor.
 
I don’t like the concept of a perfect object.
Perfect is often discussed as an “universal” concept whereas IMO it is in fact a “personal experience” concept.

Grailnjnives discussion is usually about knives people don’t own but desire very much, most of the time because the object as something exclusive attached to its image

To be honest it is not at Kansas nd of feeling I experience.

For sure I am excited to get and to test some knives, but the whole concept of “Grail” seems not to be for me ;)

I would put the concept the other way around.
Sometime you find a knife (or any other object) that just make sense to you and to the way you use it.

It may not be the cheapest nor the more expensive, it may not have the best material not the most resistance, it can not be the most functional nor the best looking... but it is what makes sense to you.

IMO this knife is your “spoiler”, it makes any other knife feels somehow “not that good”.

I my small experience from cheaper to more expensive knives so far it happens that I found my spoiler. I have got it to test it but it changed the way I look at knives.
Because of this knife I sold a lot of what I have considered so far as being my benchmarks and I have reduced a lot my collection
My spoiler has just redefined my understanding of what I expect and want in knives

So I don’t have a grail, I have a spoiler.... and i am fine with it ;)
 
Dag nab it !
And you aren't going to tell us what the knife is ?
A life changingly great knife ?
Cuuuuuumonnnnnn . . . please . . . :D
LOL
That will be “cliché” but for me it is a particular large sebenza 21 with insingo blade and red linen micarta inlays.

I say particular because I had some CRK before and I was not very impressed by all The hype around them.
But this one knife has a very special action
The inflayed handle with the standard clip (it doesn’t work for me with the hawk eye clip which I usually like) and without the lanyard is just right for me.

I tested cheaper and more expensive knives,but this one I like most.

I has taught me what I like in knives
I LOVE to carry it and i really have to think twice (haha) to pick something else when I cannot carry this size of blade
 
With certain personal traits a grail could be achieved and the person satisfied for life, but for most knife lovers that are attracted to a forum like BF grail is going to be a moving target. You get what you have always desired and are very happy with it for some length of time, but new desires and a new grail target form and the search begins again. I am not really a safe queen person so in most cases I will EDC my favorite knives. There are a few exceptions where I might not carry something that is worth a lot in mint condition and I have basically the same in a user(say a special CGG Sebenza when I have a user Sebenza already).
The hunt can be almost(maybe more) enjoyable than the actual capture.
 
i dont get into the concept of the grails
but I carry one knife - there is no rotation.

I carried the same knife from about 2005 until 2017 and somehow managed to break the linerlock in my pocket.
over the course of several months I tried a few knives, and had settled on Kizer, when i got a chance at spyderco domino - so i took it, and that my current EDC.
I'm not looking for a new one. not saying i wont buy others, or look at others, but i'm not actively searching for a new EDC
 
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