Good first knife

What kind of budget are we talking about?

One idea for a smaller folder is the CKRT Pillar. Excellent small user.
 
IMO, the Rat is a great choice. I agree that the Tenacious is a good choice. Personally I'm not a fan of the Delica, but I know they are very popular.
 
Steel Will Cutjack in D2 if you think he might like a flipper or, alternatively, the Ruike P801 is nice as a gift as it's a very solid performer, but also carries off the look and feel of a much more expensive knife and includes the fidget factor of a bearing pivot flipper.

Another choice for harder use, ease of maintenance and sheer toughness and reliability is the Cold Steel Finn Wolf. The combination of AUS8 and a Scandi grind make it very easy to sharpen and I doubt he'll manage to break it.
 
What's your budget, and is your cousin an adult ?
I only ask because you say " good first knife " and usually it's a kid who needs a first knife.

For a first knife it should be something that's easy for a first timer to sharpen, in my opinion the best first knife for anyone is a Victorinox recruit or tinker which can be touched up on the bottom of a coffee cup and sharpen quickly and easily.
Either way you can't just buy someone a first knife and no way to sharpen it, so factor this into cost.
 
I'm sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong but I believe D2 rusts very fairly easily. If it's his first good knife he may not know how to maintain it or care to. I may be wrong though.
 
CRKT G.S.D is a decent knife for the money, Ive had one for a while, I like crkt's aus8 (new here not sure what others think of aus8, but to me it stands up well, affordable ,and sharpens up with out too much fuss), the frame lock is nice for a first knife, and its SUPER SMOOTH, I know it has a bearing in there but I have other knives with bearings and that GSD is really smooth.. I forget exactly what I paid but I just looked it up on crkt and they have it for $30 and they always have coupons on their face book page, I cant think of a better knife for $30, I think I paid $75 for it when it first came out. https://www.crkt.com/shop/outlet/g-s-d-get-s-t-done-with-veff-flat-top-serrations.html

Good luck, I love giving knifes as gifts, classy and useful...
 
For a kid, a slipjoint is an ideal first knife. SAK are good because of quality, value, ease of sharpening, and “other tools.” For an adult, the same is true. Starting out with locking folders one can develop bad safety habits.

If it has to lock, and be under $50, the Byrd Meadowlark is my recommendation.
 
Bill1170 said:
For a kid, a slipjoint is an ideal first knife. SAK are good because of quality, value, ease of sharpening, and “other tools.” For an adult, the same is true. Starting out with locking folders one can develop bad safety habits.

If it has to lock, and be under $50, the Byrd Meadowlark is my recommendation.
Click to expand...

Slipjoints are definitely a good choice.

My brothers first knife as a kid was a cheapo linerlock which he thought you were always supposed to flick open.
He still swings his arm around to open them and not too long ago hit the wall with his hand , and it flew out of his hand last summer hitting my steel toed boot.
The worst part is with him thinking it's cool to flick his knife open he has no problem doing in the middle of Walmart.


You see lots of idiots around that do this because they started off with these and the YouTube era.
 
Im just a newb. But I suggest Rat 2 in AUS 8 instead of D2, with a Lansky sharpener, and some leather.

That way, he doesnt have to worry about D2 rusting. You can fit them within your budget. And he will have fun sharpening it when it gets dull. For everyday use I use both D2 and AUS8.. and they both do just fine.
 
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