In your opinion, what is the best general-use production folder made in the past 10 years?

I checked blade HQ for their most popular folder and went through the list looking for the first one that was carried at the big box stores. The winner for most popular production folder in general use was the Spyderco Resilience.

The best innovation to me has been the Demko triad Lock. It really has been an improvement on the classic lock back.

n2s
 
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knarfeng said:
IMO? General Use? Production?
Going to go with the Cold Steel American Lawman in S35VN.
Not the best slicer, not the ultimate steel, not the best at a lot of things. But pretty darn good at most of them.

🔵 It's the only knife with a finger choil that feels balanced and comfortable to me whether I use the choil grip or not. And I do find it very comfortable.
🔵The 3 1/2" blade is a bit larger than I normally carry, but it isn't so large that it gets stared at when I use it.
🔵 The thicker blade just above the primary grind means it isn't a fantastic slicer, but it does improves the toughness. I never worry about damaging the edge. And it still does good at taking down boxes.
🔵 S35VN is easy to sharpen and holds an edge well.
🔵The triad lock is solid.
🔵 The DLC coating improves the smoothness of the action.

Your mileage may vary.
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Good call. I forget about my Lawman a lot, maybe because it isn’t as fidgety as other knives I carry. But man, the Lawman is a great user. S35VN isn’t flashy anymore, but it is rock solid, and I far prefer it over M390, S110V, etc. the Lawman is relatively light and thin too and carries well. I think it punches above its weight in terms of both price and weight/size.
 
I’m shocked there’s so many XMs. I like my XM but I definitely don’t use it for general tasks. The edge angle is horribly wide even after I reprofiled it.

I’ll take the Hogue/Ritter. Came laser sharp, good edge geometry, great materials. Hogue took the Axis lock and made it incredible. I’ve never had a single problem with the Able Lock. Meanwhile my M4 Bugout and Mini Adamas already have vertical play with very light use.
 
My pick is general use for moi, obviously. I could use almost any knife within reason and the Spyderco Millie is not perfect for what I do as a folder, but it is the knife I wear for its size, weight and ruggedness combo. I carry it every day at work and that means something since I am the guy who shows up when things go bad. Been 20 years +/- since I started carrying my first one. I like some heavier knives more but I can’t wear too heavy of a knife because of where I carry my knife and running with a heavy knife that bounces around and potentially coming lose is not an option. The question is “General use” and probably for average sized hands and average uses. No limit on price I see but it has to be a production knife. The best knife in a lot of ways comes down to how it feels in your hand, how often you carry it and that for me means the Millie is the winner but for most, the Buck 110 or the Swiss Army knife would win based on sales and accumulated belt or pocket carry time the last 20 years.
 
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Murdamook said:
I’m shocked there’s so many XMs. I like my XM but I definitely don’t use it for general tasks. The edge angle is horribly wide even after I reprofiled it.

I’ll take the Hogue/Ritter. Came laser sharp, good edge geometry, great materials. Hogue took the Axis lock and made it incredible. I’ve never had a single problem with the Able Lock. Meanwhile my M4 Bugout and Mini Adamas already have vertical play with very light use.
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You picked the wrong xm-18. Try a skinny slicer. You will find it slices better than Hogue Ritter and PM2.
 
Insipid Moniker said:
Probably something fairly simple like a Delica or Rat 1. Knives that do everything you need and nothing that you don't.

I much prefer higher end knives, but the benefits they offer are far more about my personal satisfaction than anything they do particularly well.
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Agreed. I regularly roll with an Endura 4, or a Rat 1. While I have many more expensive knives these two are time proven classics that will get the job done.
 
sharp_edge said:
You picked the wrong xm-18. Try a skinny slicer. You will find it slices better than Hogue Ritter and PM2.
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This is the first time I have ever heard that. I’ve handled a skinny slicer and from what I recall it was still thick behind the edge. Likewise, the reviews I have read or watched on skinny slicers have all stated similar: it’s slicey for a Hinderer, but not so when compared to other knives like the PM2. Anyway, I also won’t be buying anything from RHK ever again for reasons I won’t mention here.
 
not2sharp said:
I checked blade HQ for their most popular folder and went through the list looking for the first one that was carried at the big box stores. The winner for most popular production folder in general use was the Spyderco Resilience.

The best innovation to me has been the Demko triad Lock. It really has been an improvement on the classic lock back.

n2s
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Interesting about the Resilience. I guess the price is a factor.

I agree with you about the triad lock. Before I started using triad locks, my favorite lock was the Spyderco compression lock.
I hope Andrew Demko is receiving royalties for the triad.
 
jstn said:
Good call. I forget about my Lawman a lot, maybe because it isn’t as fidgety as other knives I carry. But man, the Lawman is a great user. S35VN isn’t flashy anymore, but it is rock solid, and I far prefer it over M390, S110V, etc. the Lawman is relatively light and thin too and carries well. I think it punches above its weight in terms of both price and weight/size.
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The Lawman is an underrated edc knife. I rank it with the PM2 as the best overall edc knife I have. And a great work knife.
 
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