What is the cheapest knife you will carry?

Last friday I found a re-profiled Buck 112 with minor wheel 'sharpening' at a garage sale for THREE DOLLARS! Around the 'ranch' I now carry that in one pocket and my scary sharp 110 on my belt.
I also have a rubberized hole-handled half-serrated POS China-cheapie similar in profile to the pictured Ritter RSK Mk1. For $5 it seems pretty fair quality. It was a $10 knife but the local ACE Hardware was out of business due to a nearby Home Depot and is selling out at half price. Not a blade-snob all the time....if ever. ;)
 
the cheapest would be my Vic small tinker.

other then that my buck pilot, its alot of knife for the dollar and its really built well.
 
The Victorinox Soldier model.

I paid about $12.00 for one at Target awhile baand it's easily worth 3X that amount.


Another great deal was the Leatherman Micra at $14.00 (also at Target).
maybe they're trying to sell the Squirt S4, but I thought the Micras were a great deal.

Allen.
 
my 2 cheapie favorites are definitely Opinels (which are fun ones to customize), and Moras. Both available for less than 10 bucks...
 
The cheapest knife that I will carry is either a SAK or an Opinel. A low price doesn't always mean junk.
 
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and yes, it is in pink.
 
Byrd Meadowlark! Not the cheapest as an opinel but i guess a little more "foolproof", because i always tend to forget to twist the lockingband on the opinel!

Nah that Byrd is a great knife!
 
A Victorinox Soldier is the cheapest knife I'll carry. I bought it as a cheap introduction to slipjoints, but it turned out to be a much better knife than other slipjoints in that price range and some costing more!

I still don't know how they can make such a fantastic knife for so little...

Matthew
 
As stated above, a cheap knife does not necessarily mean a poor quality knife. I will pay as little as possible for a knife I want. After almost losing my hand and fingers one too many times by POS knives, I now own these brands

Spyderco
Benchmade
SOG
Cold Steel
CRKT
Buck
Kershaw
Case
Victorinox
AG Russell

and some other brands, but they are all good performers, and I wouldn't be ashamed to carry one, or put my life on one.
 
Today I am carrying (at least at work) a small Camillus pattern clone of the Buck Lancer. I must have lost my mind this morning when I picked it off the edc shelf which contains a Lochsa, a few MT's, some custom and production multiblades and D/A's, small Sebenza and Mnundi and a few others. This Camillus ran me less than 5 bucks when it was closed out a decade ago. :D
 
I think the Moras and their ilk are great, an Arc-Lite for $20 or a Camillus pilot or large boot knife for $28, etc. Lots of utility fixed can be had at great prices.

Personally, I prefer to use a Stanley boxcutter for daily work utility, I'm not gonna snap open some rainbow-colored power assisted thingamajiggy to break down boxes, snip thread or tighten Philips head screws.

But with folders I like all my blades to have strong SD capability, so I usually prefer something $100+ because of the lock failure aspect. I find that price point to be a big divider: the feel, heft, sound, smoothness takes a big leap up... a la Manix, SERE 2000, BMs etc.

It may all just be a function of age and income. First $50 seems like healthy amount, then you save for a $100 ("I'll sell or trade the old blades, and just have this one perfect knife") then you see a custom for $195 that makes you soil your tighty-whities, then you ultimately wind up, apparently, whispering Busse in your sleep or working the word "sebenza" into all your posts. We're all doomed I tell you, get out now at $10-20 buckeroos before it's too late!!
 
The cheapest knife I carry is an Opinel 8 in high carbon steel. It is a fine knife and is cheap in price only (I think I paid $7.99 for it).

Thanks for the reminder, it's about time I sharpened it up for the fresh fruits and vegetables that will be coming to the farmers' markets. I sample before I buy and the vendors are happy to let me cut up a piece of fruit so the prospective buyers can taste their high quality wares.
 
Probably the cheapest knife that I EDC is a Gerber AR 3.0 that I got from SMKW. It was on "Scratch&Dent" sale. I was surprized to see that there wasn't a scratch or dent on it. I've had it for years, but I don't carry as much as I used to. Works fine for breaking down boxes and cutting plastic straps off boxes, etc.
 
Probably not exactly what you had in mind, but if I'm heading to the shooting-range I'll typically swap out my Buck Mayo for a Ken Onion Leek.

At about $50, it's a nice compromise between quality and expense.

Mike
 
The cheapest knife that I carry and use regularly is a Victorinox Tinker that I got for $12 on sale at a Galyans. I have a couple of Opinels, which cost about $5 each, which I carry and use every once in a while.
 
These EDC's may seem like cheapies to some, I got them on good deals.

SOG Blink (off eBay)
Spyderco Ladybug (off eBay, sold as a Delica, got part of my money back)
Spyderco Native III (bought at Country Knives in Lancaster, PA)
Leatherman Squirt blue (Target)
Leatherman Juice orange (Target)

and last but not least, the two fixed blades I keep in my truck, I guess they could be called EDC's.

CRKT Crawford fixed Falcon in a leather sheath (fleamarket find)
Tomahawk machete, looks like a TOPS knife, cheap UC knockoff, but not a bad knife surprisingly. (fleamarket find)
 
These are darn nice slipjoints for a highly economical price. Yes chinese, but 440, have a Rc divot in them, and the craftsmanship is remarkable for the price.

Steel Warrior
 
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