Recommendation? Hello everyone, I'm a newbie, want to buy a starter EDC pocket knife, the budget is 40-60$.

Hi and welcome to BladeForums.

There are a pretty large amount of options available in that price range.

An EDC knife can be both subjective and objective, and should be chosen based on personal preferences.

What do you plan to use it for? Is legality an issue? Do you mind having to maintain a steel that needs attention to slow corrosion? Do you know how to sharpen? What kind of sharpening gear do you have? Are you hard on your stuff? Do you have a preferred lock type or opening mechanism? A certain blade shape your looking for? Preference of scale material?

If you share a bit of info on your intended uses we can help dial in models that you might like.
 
MolokaiRider said:
Hi and welcome to BladeForums.

There are a pretty large amount of options available in that price range.

An EDC knife can be both subjective and objective, and should be chosen based on personal preferences.

What do you plan to use it for? Is legality an issue? Do you mind having to maintain a steel that needs attention to slow corrosion? Do you know how to sharpen? What kind of sharpening gear do you have? Are you hard on your stuff? Do you have a preferred lock type or opening mechanism? A certain blade shape your looking for? Preference of scale material?

If you share a bit of info on your intended uses we can help dial in models that you might like.
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I bought it simply as an accessory and sometimes need to cut something, such as cutting the rope. I think the less maintenance the blade material is, the better.
 
Cold Steel pocket bushman, pretty tough with a 4.5" blade with a tough as nail locking system. It takes two hands to operate but it won't close up on you accidently. Good luck the hunting for a new knife is the best part.
 
You will eventually start a collection anyways, I'd say get both or a random one. You'll learn to see what your preferences are eventually. That's the fun part, at least for me.
 
Civivi makes really good knives in that budget, most of their models are in D2 steel. D2 is a semi-stainless steel, just don't leave it in the sink for days, else it'll be fine. Some steels can get extremely sharp, and gradually loose its sharpness after using, D2 doesn't get crazy sharp, it only get decent sharp, but will keep that decent sharp for a very long time.
 
QSP have some fun knives. I have a penguin wich is quite a nice knif and comes in a range of styles. So you can go a little bit flash with say brass or micata or carbon fibre.

Otherwise the knife itself works fine. A easy flick open and close. A very practical sheepsfoot blade. D2 I think steel.

And it looks attractive without looking dangerous. Which I think would be a good first start for what sounds like pocket jewellery.

 
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Guplay said:
Have any suggestions? o_OI've been going back and forth between CIVIVI and ArtisanCutlery.
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I've owned, used, and tinkered with a bunch of knives from both companies. Civivi has definitely been better quality than comparably priced stuff from Artisan/CJRB. You might also look at Sencut, which is a budget brand from the same company as Civivi. Sencut is probably best bang for the buck on overall quality.

The 9Cr18Mov in the Civivi and Sencut knives gets an exceptional heat treatment and is generally a better EDC steel than Chinese D2. There are a couple of current threads on the forum discussing budget D2.

Also look at Kizer in the $50-100 range. Recent models like the full-sized Domin and Towser K are easy recommendations.
 
Welcome to the forum. Ontario Rat is a good suggestion. Also check out the Cold Steel Voyager. It's at the upper end of your price range. Let us know what you decide to get.
 
KenHash said:
For that kind of budget I'd get an Ontario Rat 1. ($38-39.00)
Aus8 and Made in Taiwan.
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This was going to be my suggestions as well. A good starter, or go for the smaller rat 2. I prefer the smaller one for edc.

The buck sprint select is a good USA made EDC knife. Edge retention won't be the best but it will be easy to sharpen and maintain. Buck's hollow grinds are great for slicing and cutting, not so good for harder uses, at least in the smaller knives.
 
I’ve been pleased with the Civivi Baklash I received as a gift a few months ago. Ergos are very nice, steel is adequate for most everyday tasks, and it’s a looker to boot.
 
Hi - If you don't want to drop a lot of coin yet get a good knife I recommend the Spyderco Tenacious. Around $50.00.


A little bigger brother of Tenacious and $10 more in price is the Spyderco Resilence which is one of my favorite for EDC.

 
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Besides the Ontario Rat1 and 2, three to consider:

Civivi Brazen
Cold Steel Voyager
Cold Steel Airlite

Shop-for the best prices.
 
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PMQ said:
Civivi makes really good knives in that budget, most of their models are in D2 steel. D2 is a semi-stainless steel, just don't leave it in the sink for days, else it'll be fine. Some steels can get extremely sharp, and gradually loose its sharpness after using, D2 doesn't get crazy sharp, it only get decent sharp, but will keep that decent sharp for a very long time.
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What??? That is ridiculous. Any steel aloy will get crazy sharp, d2 isn't magical and can't be sharpened, if you ever had a rat in d2 it's a fine example.
 
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