WalMart $10 Ozark Trail Knife

My $5.00 Ozark Trail knife was left over from a fistful I bought over the holidays as stocking stuffers. It is a pretty decent-looking knife. The pale olive scales have a nice fine ribbed texture. Hollow-ground saber, drop point with a swedge. It opens with thumb studs or a flipper. It came quite sharp out of the blister pack. And slices paper quite smoothly and silently.

I pulled out a few comparable knives, relatively inexpensive, a Buck 112 Light , a Honey Badger flipper, and a Rat 1. The Buck and the Rat 1 , at least, enjoy som pretty good credibility around here. They all needed a light stropping, after which they all sliced paper cleanly, none of them as quietly and smoothly as the $5.00 Ozark Trail.
 
Delgadonine said:
I'm part of the .001%: Self Defense.

I've defended myself against someone with a knife on 4 different occasions. Not fun. Scary.

I want a knife that will perform at the 99.999% success rate*. Construction, materials and company reputation matter. Not as much as skill**, I'm sure I have no way to prove this.

[*Science, not opinion.]
[**Reality, not Hollywood.]

I don't shop at Wal-Mart.

Buy what you can, use what you buy.

[No one from the Ozarks was harmed in the typing of this message.]
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Even in this situation, edge retention is still a non-issue. You only need your edge to survive a few cuts, slashes or stabs. I guess in your particular situation, pattern, blade shape, etc is much more important that the steel itself.

Mikel
 
eveled said:
I use my best quality knives the hardest. That is why I own them. To have a reliable tool. When I need it.

I wouldn’t buy a Walmart ratchet to keep from using my Snapon ratchet.
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We have the same philosophy on that. i didn’t spend $$$$ on high quality professional tools for them to gather dust. Doesn’t matter if it’s a ZT folding knife or a snap on torque wrench. Tools are meant to be used.
 
Henry Beige said:
My $5.00 Ozark Trail knife was left over from a fistful I bought over the holidays as stocking stuffers. It is a pretty decent-looking knife. The pale olive scales have a nice fine ribbed texture. Hollow-ground saber, drop point with a swedge. It opens with thumb studs or a flipper. It came quite sharp out of the blister pack. And slices paper quite smoothly and silently.

I pulled out a few comparable knives, relatively inexpensive, a Buck 112 Light , a Honey Badger flipper, and a Rat 1. The Buck and the Rat 1 , at least, enjoy som pretty good credibility around here. They all needed a light stropping, after which they all sliced paper cleanly, none of them as quietly and smoothly as the $5.00 Ozark Trail.
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So soft steel is easier to sharpen. I am shocked.
 
If you need ,or just want , a disposable $10 beater , and it is good enough to meet your uses , IMO , go for it ! :cool: :thumbsup::thumbsup:

If you want to carry your $500 or $5000 knife, as a beater , to work in the trades (or whatever) , IMO , that's great too ! 🤪
 
I carry and use my Spyderco knives. I'm not a hard user but whatever I need to cut I use the knife for, and working out in my garage I might scrape something or do minor carving on a piece of wood or even aluminum.
I sharpened my Walmart Orange today and the steel felt like it was reasonably hard. I'll use it and see how it works out. I'll mostly use it only in situations where I might lose it.
A reasonably usable $10 knife throws off my perception of knives. I've been buying mostly sprint/exclusive Spyderco knives to get a better steel. I looked down at most $40-$80 imported knives thinking I would not be happy with their quality, then I see $20 knives on Amazon that might be usable, and now I've bought $5 and $10 knives from Walmart.
 
I snagged the white handled $5 one before Christmas. Carried it a couple weeks, then gave it to my boss because he liked it.

He almost always carries a knife, and they’re usually gas station-esque. So after packing that for such a short time, it was pretty wild to realize how much of an upgrade it was for him.
 
If you bought 3, back a couple of months ago, you rec’d free shipping from WM. So I invested 30 bucks: Have one in each car and one in the garage. They’re handy for occasional use and seem to respond okay to stropping. Better investment than a few shares of the stock I purchased at about the same time. 😕
 
on my way home I stopped by the Walmart and grabbed one of these orange deals. was 10 bucks d2 folder. I'm assuming this is the knife were talkin bout......

20250226_220406.jpg

so lots of side to side blade play. tightened that up but comes loose from opening and closing. haven't tried much to correct that yet. blade came super dull, used brown spyderco stones got it sharp pretty fast and easy. that makes me wonder if it's actual d2, but who knows?

every fastener was loose..had to tighten them all up, except pocket clips ones. feels super cheap constr., but it's 10 bucks so.....

best thing is the axis lock copy is tight and secure and has zero up and down blade play. sadly better than most benchmades I have. the best thing I can't say about it so far. be a good loaner knife at work for someone who doesnt have a knife and needs one. that's my plans for this one.......

it's a thin stock blade, but I doubt it's gonna out cut an equivalent spyderco in cruwear, maxamet or m4 though, sorry......

I'll test it later to verify before I donate it to a coworker. if it does better I'll report it, but I seriously doubt it will.....
 
TLDR, you make those blue jeans look good. Good luck with the sale.

Sam⚔️⚔️

jbmonkey said:
on my way home I stopped by the Walmart and grabbed one of these orange deals. was 10 bucks d2 folder. I'm assuming this is the knife were talkin bout......

View attachment 2803233

so lots of side to side blade play. tightened that up but comes loose from opening and closing. haven't tried much to correct that yet. blade came super dull, used brown spyderco stones got it sharp pretty fast and easy. that makes me wonder if it's actual d2, but who knows?

every fastener was loose..had to tighten them all up, except pocket clips ones. feels super cheap constr., but it's 10 bucks so.....

best thing is the axis lock copy is tight and secure and has zero up and down blade play. sadly better than most benchmades I have. the best thing I can't say about it so far. be a good loaner knife at work for someone who doesnt have a knife and needs one. that's my plans for this one.......

it's a thin stock blade, but I doubt it's gonna out cut an equivalent spyderco in cruwear, maxamet or m4 though, sorry......

I'll test it later to verify before I donate it to a coworker. if it does better I'll report it, but I seriously doubt it will.....
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I know this is a pretty stupid test. I’ve seen the guy use the same technique with a few other d2 knives, they all held up well with little damage. This one, not so much.

I’m sure a lot of guys are surprised by the $10 knife because they never buy $10 knives and use them.
 
Lol, well at least we know it's probably heat treated now.

Sam⚔️⚔️

Jdottinger said:
I know this is a pretty stupid test. I’ve seen the guy use the same technique with a few other d2 knives, they all held up well with little damage. This one, not so much.

I’m sure a lot of guys are surprised by the $10 knife because they never buy $10 knives and use them.
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jbmonkey said:
on my way home I stopped by the Walmart and grabbed one of these orange deals. was 10 bucks d2 folder. I'm assuming this is the knife were talkin bout......

View attachment 2803233

so lots of side to side blade play. tightened that up but comes loose from opening and closing. haven't tried much to correct that yet. blade came super dull, used brown spyderco stones got it sharp pretty fast and easy. that makes me wonder if it's actual d2, but who knows?

every fastener was loose..had to tighten them all up, except pocket clips ones. feels super cheap constr., but it's 10 bucks so.....

best thing is the axis lock copy is tight and secure and has zero up and down blade play. sadly better than most benchmades I have. the best thing I can't say about it so far. be a good loaner knife at work for someone who doesnt have a knife and needs one. that's my plans for this one.......

it's a thin stock blade, but I doubt it's gonna out cut an equivalent spyderco in cruwear, maxamet or m4 though, sorry......

I'll test it later to verify before I donate it to a coworker. if it does better I'll report it, but I seriously doubt it will.....
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Ye of little faith ! :rolleyes:

Test objectively , with an open mind , if you want meaningful results .

Otherwise , you will find only what you expect to find . Proven scientific factoid ! 🤓

This is seriously why valid scientific experiments are always "double blind " .
 
Jdottinger said:
I know this is a pretty stupid test. I’ve seen the guy use the same technique with a few other d2 knives, they all held up well with little damage. This one, not so much.

I’m sure a lot of guys are surprised by the $10 knife because they never buy $10 knives and use them.
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Yeah , I need to do this very thing , with nails , many times , every single day . :rolleyes:

And everyone says JoeX is just stupid . 🤷‍♂️
 
DocJD said:
Yeah , I need to do this very thing , with nails , many times , every single day . :rolleyes:

And everyone says JoeX is just stupid . 🤷‍♂️
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While I agree the test is silly. Nate the machinist has used the same test on knives. Buck still uses the test in advertising and on apparel they sell. So I don’t think it’s completely asinine, just silly.
 
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