What is your grail knife and do you own it?

Grail Knife?

As an EDC user: One of the CRK folders; Sebenza Manandi etc. in whatever high alloy they are cvurrently made in.

If I won a ridiculous lottery pot: Something for the glass case (or safety deposit box) by Moran or Loveless.
 
Yes I do!!

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Grail Knives Currently in my collections. (In no specific order.)

-Tad Dauntless
-Strider 3/4 Ground SNG
-Emerson M-Wave
-XM-18 3.5 Spanto Flipper w/choil
-Klötzli SBG


Grail Knives I have yet to put my hands on.

-XM-18 3.0 inch spanto, non-flipper w/choil (Not actually certain there's ever been a run in this configuration.)
-Miltner Adams MA-6
-Al Mar Nomad (alleged first release in 5/32nds blade stock. I've heard these exist from a few sources, but I haven't seen one.)

There are probably others, but they escape me just now.
 
I would have to say H Sebenza. No I do not own one nor will I ever I am sure. I do however own the rest of the lineup.
 
I don’t own either of these, but I wouldn’t mind adding a big and bad Gossman BBT spear point in S7, CD1 or Ztuff. But the top grail will always be that damn dastardly SYKCO SOD!
 
I don't yet own a Rotten Evo 3.0. So I'm making do with a Kunwu Padre for now.
 
My current grail knives, of which I own none, are: Boker Sherman EDC Damascus M4, Chris Reeve Large Sebenza 31, Spartan Blades SHF Custom Harsey folder, and Winkler II fixed blade.

Apparently, I'm pretty high maintenance...
 
Found it, and I didn’t even know it until I got it. It is probably the farthest thing from anyone else’s grail, and maybe my definition of a grail knife is different from everyone else’s, I don’t know, I don’t really care.

My three favorite knives are Buck Sprints - two Sprint Pro’s and a Sprint Ops Pro. I love them - how they feel, how they look, how well they’re built, how well they operate, everything about them. But they would not be cheap to replace, and in one case not possible to replace. Basically they’re all to nice for me to want to carry regularly (though I did carry one of the Pro’s for awhile). So few weeks ago, I set out to find something similar but less expensive that I wouldn’t mind beating on, and wouldn’t be heart-broken if it got lost. That’s when I realized Buck has a ‘budget’ version of the Sprint series, the Sprint Select. So I bought one. It got here, and it felt almost as nice as the higher end Sprints (to me, anyway), only at a fraction of the cost and zero concerns about using it to death. Nicest GRN handles I’ve felt, perfect blade shape for anything I’m likely to throw at it, likewise the time-tested 420HC steel. Flipping action is as nice as anything else I own, lockup is good and solid, it’s just a great knife at a great price. Oh yeah, and sharp as hell. I liked it so much, I bought a second one in blue (first one was black), which came in just as nice as the first.

So that’s my story. I didn’t know it would be my grail, but I’m taking a page out of Indiana Jones and calling it that.

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My grail knife is always "the next one", whichever one that happens to be. So of course I don't own it yet.

Over the years (What?!? It's decades already? 😲 How did that happen?) I've chased & owned some knives from makers I admire & respect immensely for artistic vision, knives of utilitarian durability, or historic significance. (Rinaldi, Randall, Rader, Raymond Richard, Siegle, Wheeler, Bussekin, Murray Carter & apprentices, BK&T, Robert Erickson, Wegner, Livesay, Watanabe, Stegner, Okuden, various other Japanese makers, Spyderco, Benchmade, Mac, Vic & SAKs, and I'm sure lots of others I've forgotten, plus the unmarked wares of unnamed craftsmen that "sparked joy"™ every time I used them.) Now a Lochsa, that's one I'll likely not acquire in spite of my admiration for the design, since I have trouble reconciling the higher price with a likely small potential increment in function over knives that cost a small fraction of the price.

I enjoyed past grails while they were in my possession, then sold most of them to fund the next purchases. These days my focus is mostly on kitchen knives, or at least knives that could be used in dinner prep as I try to move away from knives that are "too good to use". But most of my current collection are not all that rare, so are relatively easy to acquire and don't remain grails long enough to count as such.

That said, I do have a Magnacut David Mary Boomerang in the pipeline & the Badger Scout in the picture from him in the mail. So for the moment those are my grails.
 

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It’s a particular Busse ASH1 (well a specific handle material/finish/colour) and yes I have it. Doubt there are many examples of this specific ASH combo out there.
 
Here are mine:
CRK Mnandi - Have one
Small Sebenza with Damascus Blade - Have one.
Grimsmo Rask - In transit after a long search/wait.
Rockstead Shu - It’s going to be several years at least before I can justify buying.
 
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