Recommendation? Budget folder for outdoor use

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Oct 27, 2012
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42
Hi,
lately I often go hiking (1-2 day hiking trips) and decided not to carry fixed blade, all of my gear has to fit into a Maxpedition fatty-sized pouch.
About 95% of time my knife is used for food related tasks and I use SAK or Opinel No8 for that, but sometimes I wish I have more rugged knife so I can do some wood carving, equipment repairs and similar tasks. I don't do fire in outdoors so no batoning and other knife torturing.

As it won't see much use, I would like to be relatively cheap ($70 max), stainless for no maintenance, 3-4" blade and relatively portable. Basically I wanna keep it in pouch and forget on it until I need it.

I prefer mid-end steels like 12c27 for easy sharpening and flat grind for versatility

Any recommendations?

thanks
 
yes, a rat1 or 2 depending on which size you want, using aus8 for about $30

or, if you really want 12c27, look at the stedemon bg01 - on sale for about $55
 
thanks, it doesn't have to be 12c27, I put it as a guideline, surely there are other quality steel with similar spec.
 
thanks, it doesn't have to be 12c27, I put it as a guideline, surely there are other quality steel with similar spec.

you're right - and the rat1/2 in aus8 works, in fact I think aus8 is often overlooked since it is used on 'budget' folders & because it's been around a long time. It is a good knife steel.

in fact, it has a tiny bit of vanadium for grain refinement which 12c27 lacks
http://www.zknives.com/knives/steels/steelgraph.php?nm=12c27,1k6m,aus6,aus8

the newer sandvik steel, 14c28n is a nice upgrade over 12c27, and you can get it in a kershaw skyline for under $50 : )
 
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Thanks. So far, RAT1 looks perfect for what I need

the newer sandvik steel, 14c28n is a nice upgrade over 12c27, and you can get it in a kershaw skyline for under $50 : )

I'd like to give a try to 14c28n as 12c27 is one of my favorite steels, but the blade profile and good reviews of RAT1 make it a winner so far
 
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Hi,
lately I often go hiking (1-2 day hiking trips) and decided not to carry fixed blade, all of my gear has to fit into a Maxpedition fatty-sized pouch.
About 95% of time my knife is used for food related tasks and I use SAK or Opinel No8 for that, but sometimes I wish I have more rugged knife so I can do some wood carving, equipment repairs and similar tasks. I don't do fire in outdoors so no batoning and other knife torturing.

As it won't see much use, I would like to be relatively cheap ($70 max), stainless for no maintenance, 3-4" blade and relatively portable. Basically I wanna keep it in pouch and forget on it until I need it.

I prefer mid-end steels like 12c27 for easy sharpening and flat grind for versatility

Any recommendations?

thanks
Check out Manly knives. They have a few models to choose from in 3 different steels.
 
Buck offers many inexpensive, lightweight, hardy, made in the USA options in this category.

The Spitfire, Bantam, 112 Slim and even the Fluid are easy to maintain and won't add a bunch of weight.

Backed by a great company. Lots of them are on sale over at BHQ.

Lots of.... well, Bang for the Buck.

Also made in the USA and a great knife in your price range is the Kershaw Link.
 
If you go the RAT route, I have been much happier with the D2--not that there is anything wrong with the AUS-8, the D2 just holds the edge longer. The other one I haven't seen mentioned is a Cold Steel Voyager. They fit your budget, come in a variety of blade shapes, and have a Triad lock. When I carve I prefer a fixed blade, but if I can't have one then I prefer either no lock so I don't even try to trust it or a nice strong lock. I usually don't use liner locks because my hands are doing all sorts of thing over the handle and it's one less thing to think about.
 
Kabar Dozier Folding Hunter line knives are excellent in my book. Own the "large"...love it. Kinda like a folding Loveless drop point hunter.
 
I have to also recommend the knives that were originally designed for adventure training, the RAT's. AUS 8 or D2? That's on you.
 
Cheaper the better. Buck 110 is almost twice the price of RAT-1 in Europe so will stick to Ontario for now, it is exactly what I was looking, rugged, flat grind, stainless and cheap. Will take a look on other knives tonight.

If you go the RAT route, I have been much happier with the D2--not that there is anything wrong with the AUS-8, the D2 just holds the edge longer. The other one I haven't seen mentioned is a Cold Steel Voyager. They fit your budget, come in a variety of blade shapes, and have a Triad lock. When I carve I prefer a fixed blade, but if I can't have one then I prefer either no lock so I don't even try to trust it or a nice strong lock. I usually don't use liner locks because my hands are doing all sorts of thing over the handle and it's one less thing to think about.

D2 will rust at some point and I wanna a knife with zero maintenance needed. I live on the coast where everything non-stainless catches some rust sooner or later, doesn't have to be in direct contact with salt water at all.

In addition, after years of my "knifes hobby", the edge retention became among the least important features when I buy the knife, as long as we talking about decent quality knives. I always have DC3 or DC4 in my pouch an can get any "non-super steel" knife sharp in a matter of minute.
 
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