looking for a great quality 3-blade pocket knife

M

m.ohrt

Joined
Oct 15, 2011
Messages
6
Hello!

My first post here, and I'm looking for some guidance. I want to get my dad a very fine pocket knife for christmas. He has always been fond of three-bladed knives from Buck and Case. I want to go beyond. I'm looking for a high quality pocket knife with excellent steel, fit and finish, three blades and a size of about 3-3.5 inches closed. I was told Benchmade and Moki are top-notch, but I couldn't find anything in the parameters I was looking for. Any ideas?

TIA
 
Look into GEC, they make great knives in traditional patterns. Queen makes very high quality knives as well.
Check out the traditional knives sub forum here for more ideas.
 
Canal Street Cutlery makes superb knives. One of their stockmen -- which use 440C steel -- would be a very good choice for a 3-bladed pocket knife.
 
Howdy,
Great Eastern Cutlery (GEC), Canal Street, Schatt and Morgan, and Northwoods.
Those are the ones to look for in high end traditionals ($85-$120).
The only further option would be to look at a custom ($250 and up).
 
m.ohrt said:
looks nice. I found the queen for $68, the best price I see the northwoods is $111.
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Yeah, sounds about right. Queen tends more toward making "working knives": they're well-build and use good materials, but not as refined in terms of finish as something from, say, Northwoods or Canal Street would be.
 
I like Queens. However, they typically come from the factory with edges whose only rival for sharpness is a butter knife.

Make sure you have a diamond hone, or else a LOT of time to spend on the sharpener.
 
m.ohrt said:
The Queen stockman looks pretty nice. D2 steel!

http://www.queencutlery.com/honeyamberm.htm

Specifically, the 26ACSB. waddya think?
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I don't think you can go wrong with a Queen pocket knife. I have a Queen large stockman with D2 steel and I like it a lot. Does your dad enjoy sharpening? The D2 steel is fairly difficult to sharpen if compared to the older pocket knives with the 1095 steel and my queen came with dull blades. Once they are sharp they hold the edge really well.
 
Bo T said:
I don't think you can go wrong with a Queen pocket knife. I have a Queen large stockman with D2 steel and I like it a lot. Does your dad enjoy sharpening? The D2 steel is fairly difficult to sharpen if compared to the older pocket knives with the 1095 steel and my queen came with dull blades. Once they are sharp they hold the edge really well.
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Not sure if he *likes* sharpening, but I know he can. Maybe I'll take it somewhere local and make sure its nice and sharp before wrapping it up.
 
knarfeng said:
I like Queens. However, they typically come from the factory with edges whose only rival for sharpness is a butter knife.

Make sure you have a diamond hone, or else a LOT of time to spend on the sharpener.
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Haha, very true.
 
does anyone know, will a place like scheels sharpen a knife, and if so will they not screw it up? :)
 
m.ohrt said:
does anyone know, will a place like scheels sharpen a knife, and if so will they not screw it up? :)
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Not sure, but I know there are folks on this forum who offer sharpening services and will do a superb job with it. Richard J is one guy whom I've heard nothing but good things about. If you're ordering the knife online, you could just have it sent directly to him, and he could then ship it along to you all sharpened and ready to give to your father. :)
 
Just a quick aside. My dad preferred a whittler. He used the small pen blade to clean and trim his nails and he said it was a lot better for tasks like pulling slivers.
 
Before you go and spend your money, take the time to look at the "traditionals" forum here, and then over in the "Exchange". The kind of knife you're looking for is known as a "slipjoint" and those are traditional knives. You'll find a lot of good ideas on those pages, including makers that you probably don't know. They are very well discussed as to quality.

Then, once you know a little more about the knife, the exchange may very well be where you can pick up something that will really be special. Custom makers have knives priced in your range. Look at Alford, Bonney, or Lloyd, to start.
 
m.ohrt said:
does anyone know, will a place like scheels sharpen a knife, and if so will they not screw it up? :)
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We have a Scheels right here in town and there is sometimes a guy in there that sharpens knives. He uses paper wheels and he is only in the store ocassionally. I have my own paper wheel set up so I have never used his services. I did watch him briefly once and he seemed to do a good job but it wasn't my knife so I didn't get to inspect it.
 
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