What knife for a friend who wants a sharp beater?

Chambers

Chambers

Joined
Jul 11, 2001
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1,137
I have a friend who's looking to buy a new knife. He wants to keep the budged under $100. He wants something sharp as hell and damn near indestructible. My first thought was spyderco, until I realised he'd be wanting to pry with this knife. (he's not the most knife friendly person out there) I don't have any real hesitation in reccomending spyderco but if he's going to destroy a knife...well does it have to be a good one? Know what I mean?
The specific task he's talking about is removing monitoring devices from peoples legs. He's a parole officer and wants something thin enough to slide between the leg and band sharp enough to cut (I'm guessing a hard plastic) and strong enough to take the lateral torque he's going to put on it.
The second thing I though of was Cold Steel, maybe a large clip point voyager. Cold Steel makes them sharp as hell, pretty freaking ugly in my book and I haven't broken one yet. What do you guys think? A good folder of decent quality that's wicked sharp, a good cutter and very durable? I don't know enough about Benchmate to reccomend them so if any of you Benchmate folks want to chime in feel free. What have I overlooked? Who am I missing? What knives should I look at?

Thanks ahead of time.
 
how long of a blade does he want?

a 73mm or 93mm rescue would be best for sliding against the skin and cutting a band, least chance to cut

if he just want's tough, the ss dragonfly is hard to beat... 2yrs of abuse on mine and it's still solid lockup. I pry with it too.
 
I would go with EMT shears for that. Well actually I do, on the rare occasion I come across them. If he needs a higher CDI factor, then maybe a Benchmade rescue hook or Spyderco rescue would work.
 
doesn't greco have some indestructible knives?...i think he's selling 'em off cheap 'cos he's stopped making knives....
 
Think of the paperwork you'll have to do if you cut one of your parolees!!

Surely he is given shears for that task....
If you know you're going to be cutting things from people, you've got to go for shears.

A colleague at work received a nasty gash when trying to cut a plastic cable-tie with his Boker folder.
Right tool for the job..........
 
He should be using wire cutters or nail clippers for this task. Next choice would be something without a point like one of the rescue knives. I assume that somehow he is not serious about this as a primary use for the knife, just something he might do occasionally. In that case he wants a more general purpose knife that is tough. When I think tough I think carbon steel. I would look at the Cold Steel Trail Guide with Carbon V alloy blade. A stainless steel choice would be a semicustom Buck 110 folding hunter with BG-42 alloy blade. You order them from Buck's website.
 
I totally agree with Steven and Jeff on this. I like dog nail trimmers for this type of task, like the one I link below. No pointy ends, recessed cutting edge, inexpensive, nearly impossible to hurt someone with.

Dog nail clippers.

Mike
 
Yeah I think it's risky too but it's his job. He wants a knife. I'll suggest the Spyderco rescue and we'll see where it goes from there. Keep em coming guys
 
For a folder that can take some pretty good abuse, have him take a look at the SOG Tomcat or Sogwinder II.
 
It sounds like your buddy wants an excuse to get & carry a new knife.:D

Because otherwise shears are certainly the answer. Is he set on a folder? If I had to do that work with a knife, I'd want something like a CRKT Bear Claw, in the teardrop point configuration. If he wants a folder, an Emerson blunt P-Sark has the right blade - but I'd never recommend a production Emerson for a knife that's going to take a lot of torque. I'd want something really overbuilt at the front end, like a stainless-handled Spydie or a Benchmade Axis with full liners. Maybe get a stainless Harpy and blunt the tip (otherwise it's just a matter of time.....). Hey, wait, he's a Law Enforcement Officer, right? Could he get his boss/office to sign off on an automatic? The Benchmade Auto Rescue Stryker would be great for this. It would be pushing his budget, though, even at internet prices. But he'd get an auto to play with. :cool:
 
If you want to get a bit pricy, also look at the spydie mariner... gin-1 steel, but it's an SS model. I believe the 73mm rescue came in SS at one point too.
 
To quote 28 Days Later: "This is a bad idea. And you know why? Because it's OBVIOUSLY a bad idea!" That said, if your buddy wants to risk his job (and being a defendant in a civil lawsuit) over slicing a parolee's leg open, so be it. In which case I'd suggest a stainless Spydie, since they are thin and sharp and very strong. He might want to go wild and also get one of those Benchmade bottle-openers too, the one with the emergency line-slicer that would work perfectly and very safely for this task. But sometimes you just gotta live on the edge I guess . . . .
 
Originally posted by fishface5
But sometimes you just gotta live on the edge I guess . . . .
Click to expand...

But if your going to live on the cutting edge.....expect to bleed. Oh...and fishface5, your right it is a bad idea to do this with a knife. Now I understand if it was a matter of life and limb and all you had was a knife....then by all means use it. However, when given the opportunity use the right tool for the job. Wanna pry stuff...use a pry bar, wanna cut wire....use wire cutters, wanna pound a nail.....use a hammer, etc, etc, etc.

Wanna cut safety ties close to fleshy, bleedy human parts....then do it safely with a tool that makes sense. Doing the "Rambo" thing just isn't the way to win friends and influence people....especially if you slip.

mike
 
there are special cutters designed by monadnock for cutting plastic handcuffs. This should pose no threat neiter to the "victim" nor to himself.
 
The bands used on these monitoring devices are about 1-1.5in. wide and just shy of 1/8 thick. The material is a flexible plastic or poly.
At least the ones we use. They are not the same as flex cuffs or zip strips. The best way to cut them is with standard EMT shears. The second best way to cut them is to use the cutter that the manufacturer reccomends - they look kinda like efeminate tin snips.

sorry just wanted to put that out there.
 
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