New Into Knives, the journey so far

[anteck7]

background: I've generally either had a leatherman or multi tool available at work. I've had a couple of touch Kershaw knives over the past 10 years that I've used over the past 10-15 years for camping and general use.

Background, I work mostly a desk top. Most cutting is for amazon boxes, food prep, gardening or for camping tasks. I wont' really carry a knife over 3.5 inches, and wear between XL and XXL gloves

Spin Up Knives, purchased when I was getting interested in folding knives

1. SOG Twitch XL Combo Blade, $40, Easy Carry
I bought this knife as a cheaper Deep carry option for camping. Its great on cutting cord or cardboard, but not up to heavy use. It's not a purchase I regret, but its not a purchase that I would make again.

2. Kershaw 3/4 ton, $10, Cheap workhorse
I purchased this on sale. This has been a great workhorse knife. It dulls relatively easy, and its not any fun to play with. But its practical and hard working. I've used this for everything I've needed and never been disappointed. Sure it could be improved on, but it doesn't fail in any area, and it was $10

Current Stage

1. Kershaw Blur S30V, $75, Returned, Master of none
This was a good, fun and comfortable knife, but came with a bad grind at the edge of the blade, and a difficult to sharpen re-curve. A decent knife, and I think it would hit all the points the 3/4 ton hits, but with a little more fun from the flicking action.

2. Ruike P801, $30, Cheap play toy, surprising slicer, poor mans Sebenza?
Bought this purely as a knife version of a fidget spinner. Its very fun to play with, opens and closes cleanly, and actually slices and holds an edge well. The stock deep carry clip has been great. It doesn't take a lot of space up in the pocket, which is an added bonus. Its one of the few knives I don't feel, and don't annoy me in the pocket. I imagine this is what the CR Sebenza is like, except the Sebenza takes everything to 11.

3. Spyderco Native 5 G10 , $130, super solid, would replace kershaw 3/4 ton.
Nice knife, not amazing, but fun. Came very stiff out of the box and though of returning. The forward choil is great, and I find this useful for heavy but fine tasks, and its great in the garden. Overall wouldn't buy again, but its not a bad knife, and it was much more agile over the Ruike and the Blur. This is almost impossible for me to easily carry in my pocket with keys comfortably. Honestly replaces the Kershaw 3/4 ton, with much better steel and slightly better ergos.

4. Cold Steel American Lawman, $90, new workhorse
Nice knife, love the ergos, and it has great steel. However, the blade came mis-ground. Keeping this for heavy camping tasks and other usage.

5. Kizer IFT-L $90, first taste of premium, likely to return
Very nice knife, but came missing a screw, otherwise fit and finish very good, but we will see how their warranty department responds. Ergos okay, but clip creates a very bad hot spot. Overall, not sure what niche this fits, I feel it could replace the lawman and the P801 in one package, but I'm not sure how the bearings would hold up to dirty usage. Haven't done significant testing due to warranty dept contact and possible return.

 

[lieferung]

I agree, the Native is a solid knife, perhaps the most solid small folder I've held.

I also used to have a 3/4 ton, nothing special but great for the price. Fills the hand good, now that I think about it the Native is similar in that regard (but better because of the choil).

 

[emjay4248]

I had the 3/4 ton and also lucky enough to have the 1 ton. Great knife and hard to find.
Sounds like you need a Spyderco. The ones I will recommend are all knives I own, Para 2, you have a ton of reasonably priced models, Black G-10 S30V, Blurple S110V, Tan S35VN etc. then there is the Manix 2 in Black G-10 S30V, Blurple S110V, Lightweight BD1 and S110V. and also on my list is the Domino, Carbon fiber, Blue weave and red weave. These 3 come in Cts-Xhp. If you want different steel you will have to look for it, there are the Bento Box exclusives in M4 and others but i will attest to the fact that Cts-Xhp is a great steel. These are all new choices that move you into the next league of user/collector.In my opinion these are 3 knives that are must haves in a collection. Watch out though, it is very easy to get addicted to Spyderco's. I didn't like them at all but a friend gave me a Tenacious and next thing I knew I had a PM2 and that's all she wrote. I now have about after 40 trimming down from about 60. Good luck and enjoy, it's alot of fun.

 

[Insipid Moniker]

Welcome! Honestly, it sounds like you've made some very solid purchases in getting into blades. Just be wary, this forum can have the habit spiral out of control real quick!

If you're looking for recommendations I would say try out something with an Emerson Wave opener just to see if you like it. The Kershaw Emerson collabs are neat, solidly made budget options, the waved Spyderco Endura and Delica are a bit spendier, but really nice and you can pick up a Wise Men Company Signet Ring for them of you're want to get a little feel for what a karambit is like, and the discontinued ZT 0620 or 0630 could let you dip your toes into the build quality of Zero Tolerance at a discount price.

 

[115Italian]

You seem to be progressing well in your journey. Your moving up and down in a good price and quality range.

So what's next? Are you looking to purchase another one?

 

[22-rimfire]

The Native 5 is a very good choice in my opinion and one of my favorites. It's a solid performing knife. This knife pushes the edge of the premium category as far as I'm concerned. You might look at some of the other back lock Spyderco models like the Manix. The Delica defines what a knife should be in terms of size for me. The Delica would be a better knife with moderately better steel.

I would try to stop at a store that sells Benchmades and handle a few. They make a very good knife. The smaller Mini Barrage is a good assisted opener. You might prefer the larger Barrage.

Some of the ZT's may appeal to you.

 

[JupiterPaladin]

The Delica defines what a knife should be in terms of size for me. The Delica would be a better knife with moderately better steel.

I agree mostly the Delica is tough to beat in the price range for a useful small blade that is legal most places and non-threatening to the Muggles especially when you go with a bright color. VG-10 is a solid steel for light to moderate users which covers most people. But there are HAP40 and ZDP189 steel upgrades if you find the VG-10 lacking.

 

[anteck7]

Upcoming purchases:

Delica with pakkawood handles and HAP40, on backorder this a while back, probably end up as the knife that is with me the most

Benchmade 940-1501: I really want to try out the benchmade locking mechanism + premium steel.

Paramilitary 2 with S30v: Just to try it out

Updates:

Sog Twitch XL: One thing that annoys me about this knife is there is no possible way to close it one handed, or at least without something to push it against. It no fun as a knife to flick. This seems like it has a lot of overhead. Also the blade isn't really tall for the size of the knife.

Kizer IFT-L: Kizer contacted me, I "Think" they are going to send me screws. Still thinking the best plan is to send this back. The deal seeker inside me tells me that at $90, and possibly some QC issues this is still a good deal, but still iffy.

Native 5: I took this apart, I spent some time with my dremel putting a mirror polish on the back lock surface where it rides along the blade, and also mirror polished the washers. Boredom then took over and I polished the blade as well, this probably ruined any resale value, but I intend this thing to replace the 3/4 ton, and that took a beating. Finally I lubed everything with some reel oil and re-assembled with superglue. Gotcha, I mean blue loctite. It now easily drops shut and can be operated one handed.

More information:

Generally I would be cautious to carry a "scary" knife, anything that looks too militarized is probably not something I want with me on most days. If the advertisement for it has a Delta force operative in it, its probably not something that is a good fit for me to carry.
That being said, anything that would be carried by James bond is probably 100% fine.

Frankly, my old beat up a swiss army knife would meet 100% of my needs, would never cause concern, and would be a cheap fit, but then i can't geek out on this and try to find the best, or at least the best that I can afford.

I've really wanted some of the absolute top super steels like maxamet but I question my ability to sharpen it with the Sharpmaker. Also after some research it seems like the "best" steel is something I'll always be chasing, as companies like spyderco seem to cycle the best steel every 1 or 2 years, its like buying a smartphone. At the end of the day I probably won't be appreciably happier with Maxamet over good S30V. Even in the most extreme circumstances I feel like having something easy to sharpen and stain resistant would end up being more important than absolute edge retention and hardness.

I've been pretty happy with the mid-range to upper mid-range items that end up being highly functional, flexable and something that I'm happy to carry without to much worry on either end. The best gear is the gear that is with you, and I've found that is a hard thing to identify. I.E. I have a little over $2k in a DSLR and lenses, but generally use an RX100III because it doesn't cause people to become lens shy, and I can carry it in my pocket.