Buying A Knife
So, I'm thinking about buying a knife, the only problem is, I know shit about them, never had one, used it only a couple times (when shooting birds with some friends).
What should I (and anyone for that matter) look for when buying a knife, which brands are good, which are absolute shit, etc.
By the way, I'm looking to buy a folding knife, but any knife advice will be welcome.
What should I (and anyone for that matter) look for when buying a knife, which brands are good, which are absolute shit, etc.
By the way, I'm looking to buy a folding knife, but any knife advice will be welcome.
Comments
they have quality from real cheap to quite nice.
I bought a bowie knife from them for 10 bucks that stays in my truck. It int bad
I was checking the Buck 110, it seems like a good knife for whatever use I make of it, but since I don't know if they have it around here, I would like to know the "basics of a good knife" sort of thing so I can go into a store and not get scammed into buying a bad knife.
DON'T GO TO BUDK
Jesus fuck Mr. Moo there's trolling, then there's just being a dick.
That's a good knife, and affordable.
Buck
Spyderco
Benchmade
Cold Steel
Chris Reeve (you can't afford it)
Canyon River Knife and Tool (CKRT)
Gerber (sometimes)
Bark River knife and tool
Randall (you can't afford it)
SOG
KABAR
If you want a great all around pocketknife, can't go wrong with a Buck. Try to learn about steels and sharpening before you buy. Also this list is just off the top of my head and is by no means complete.
Ok, when choosing a knife, you should have consider three things:
-price
-purpose
-legality
Price should be fairly obvious. As for purpose, you should choose the right knife for the job. Some jobs include: everyday carry (EDC), defense, survival, or even just for fun. Judging by you comment about wanting a folding knife, im going to assume you want a knife just for everyday use.
There are certain features of knives that you should judge them on. How much each characteristic weighs on how good a knife is depends on its purpose.
*weight - no point in carrying a knife that is going to be uncomfortable enough to be a chore to carry around. 1 to 4 ounces (about 30 to 120 g) should be you goal.
*size - it should be obvious that the handle length for a folding knife will always be longer than the blade. Too big of a knife and it will have the problems that a heavy knife would have. Too small, and youre going to have a very short blade that cant do very much. However, for EDC, 2.5 to 3.5 inches should be good
*steel - a big factor that is the most overlooked by people who are not experienced with knives. The vast majority of knives (with the exception of the Stellite-titanium knives that cost $500) are made of steel. Steel is an alloy of iron, carbon as well as other stuff. I wont bore you with the metallurgy, but different steels will have different levels of hardness, which translates to its ability to keep a sharp edge. Different steels will also have different levels of corrosion (rust) resistance and toughness. But lets not focus of toughness so much at the moment. An old rule that you can follow is "plain carbon steels hold edges better and stainless steels dont rust". This isnt always the case. There are some stainless steels that hold edges as well, and stainless steels will rust if not taken care of, or taken into saltwater conditions.
In the industry, knife steels are given names, depending on who makes them. If you see a knife which doesnt say what steel it uses, it is likely to be crap. The exception is with victorinox swiss army knives.
Some common knife steels
-10xx - where xx is a number eg 1055, 1080, 1085, 1095. These are plain carbon steels, the xx is the percentage of carbon. Eg. 1055 is 0.55% carbon, 1095 is 0.95% carbon. These steels are really old, but still popular, since they work so well. They will rust, so you will have to take care of them and oil them and stuff. You only see these knives on fixed blades. For short knives (less than a 10 inch blade), dont get anything less than 1080. This is because 80% carbon is around the eutectoid point for steel, where it starts to produce cementite rather than ferrite. I dont want to bore you, but this makes for a harder steel. But for longer knives (from machetes to swords), you need a softer steel, or else it will likely crack.
-440A, 440B, 440C - these are an inexpensive stainless that is common with cheaper knives. Generally speaking, only 440C is worth mentioning. It is decent. A and B are crap. If you see a knife that just says "440" then it is likely 440A.
-AUS8 - may also be seen as AUS8A. This is a pretty good japanese stainless steel. Not super good and holding and edge, but they are often used in low budget, yet high value knives. So its good for the price. You might also see knives in AUS6 and perhaps AUS4. These are kind of crap and I wouldnt get them.
-420, 420HC - another inexpensive stainles steel. Only 420HC is decent, and is commonly used in leatherman multitools.
-tool steels - D2, A2, O1 and that kind of name. These steels are really tough and are my favorite for fixed blade survival knives. Its likes to rust though.
-154CM - a really nice stainless steel. Used in higher-end folding knives.
-VG1, VG10 - An exceptionally hard stainless steel, often used where the knife is likely not going to face a lot of abuse, like in the kitchen. Good for short folding knives
-S30V - another premium stainless steel. Often considered the best commonly found steel for commercially made knives.
-xCrxMoV - where x are numbers. These are chinese made steels that arent too shabby. I dont have much experience with a lot of them, but 8Cr14MoV is pretty similar in composition to AUS8. its cheaper too.
There are other, less commonly found steels that arent bad a all, but theyre kind of rare/proprietary. If you have any, feel free to ask. the funny thing about steels that it is the most important factor, other than labor costs that affects the price of the knife. for example, if you have two fixed blades, both of the same length and thickness. One is made from 1055 and the other 1095. there is only a difference of 0.4% carbon. Now, carbon is pretty damn cheap, and 1055 is more expensive to produce (as it takes resources to remove carbon from the initial 4% carbon in the blast furnace), but the 1095 knife may cost 4 times as much as the 1055. This is because 1095 is harder and more difficult to work, even when its red hot, and this puts more wear on the forging tools. A strong steel in the the forging process means a strong steel when its in your hands
*Shape - is the shape of the blade. I can describe it, but its better just to look at the picture from wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade
Common blade shapes are clip point, drop point, tanto and hawkbill, as well as a bunch of other unique shapes
Clip point and drop point are pretty similar. The only difference i can think of is that clip points can have the back edge sharpened to create a nasty slashing edge for fighting. Otherwise, the drop point has a slightly stronger tip. Not much difference though. Tantos are good for fighting, since the tip is highly reinforced and good for stabbing, while the secondary tip can cut deep into a person in a slashing attack. However, its crap for utility since the secondary tip will wear away quickly when slicing things on a surface. Hawkbills arent seen in the pic, but it looks a bit like a talon and has a concave blade curvature. This allows you to cut deeply into anything, whether it be a seatbelt (which is why its so popular as a rescue knife) or someones belly. It cant slice things on a surface though, and you cant sharpen it with a flat stone.
-grind -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grind
To be honest, it doesnt make too much of a difference, unless youre talking about a survival knife, where it should be flat or convex ground such that it can split wood easily. Hollow/concave grinding is usually cheaper, since it can be done quickly on giant grinding wheels
- blade thickness - thicker blades at strength and ability to split wood, but also adds weight and cost. 1/8'' (about 3mm thick) is adequate for everyday knives.
-lock - in folding knives, there may be a locking mechanism to keep the blade from closing when you dont want it too. Most knife companies will make folding knives with some kind of lock nowadays, except for maybe Buck and victorinox swiss army knives, where the blade is held in place by a weak spring. Its a matter of comfort. Generally speaking, you have two options: liner/frame lock, and back lock.
The first is a liner lock. It uses an deformed piece of metal inside the handle to stop the blade from closing. Its adequate for most things a folding knife would be used for. Some will claim that its not strong enough. I dont see it. Frame locks are practically the same, except that the liners are the handles of the knife. Just push the liner to the side, then pull the blade down. Back locks have their release on the spine of the handle. This as two advantages: it is suitable for left handed people (left handed people have trouble closing liner locks one-handed), and you can make a lighter knife by removing the heavy steel liners inside.
*handle material - you have two options
-natural - wood, horn, bone, leather. classic materials, but going out of fashion. i dont like them though. wood tends to crack over time, and leather absorbs water.
-synthetic - you might hear a few names: FRN (fiber reinforced nylon), Zytel, G10, micarta. FRN and zytel are the same thing: chopped glass fibers inside plastic. Its adequately strong, yet affordable. G10 and micarta are woven sheets embedded in resins like epoxy, making it super strong. They are pricey, but nice to have. You can feel and see a slight microroughness to it.
*handle texture - not too important, unless you need to have a good grip on the knife (like in combat), but its good to have some sort of texturing on the suface. the deeper and sharper the lines, the better.
*ergonomics - another personal issue. pic one that looks like it would suit you.
*opening - there are a few ways knives can be opened, other than the old school two handed method. The most common are thumbstuds and thumbholes (also consider adjustable, double sided ones for left handed people), also index finger flippers (see: kershaw leek), as well as little pocket hooks where you can snag it on your pocket to open quickly (see: emerson wave, cold steel ti-lite). there are also things like switchblades which open with a button, butterfly knives and out-the-fronts (see: the joker's knife in The Dark Knight). They are cool, and a good choice if you want a fun knife, but they tend to have loose fittings and like wobbling, or are way to expensive for any practical purpose. There are also assisted opening knives, where there is a spring to make deployment easier, though most good manual folders can be flicked open with practice. But even if deployment is slow, its not too important unless its a defense blade. also be aware of legality issues
*pocket clip - an often overlooked feature. things to consider are left/right handed pocket carry, and tip up/down configuration. most people want the clip to be away from the pivot screw of the knife such that the tip is pointed upwards when in your pocket and folded away, this is so when you pull it out of your pocket, its in your hand in the right position. its a personal preference though. some knives can be adjustable (see: spyderco endura 4). Again, even if the clip is in an annoying position, its not too important unless youre using it for defense.
Some other notes: always buy a knife with a brand name on it. Some good brands include: Gerber, Kershaw, Cold steel, benchmade, spyderco, SOG, columbia river knife and tool (CRKT), leatherman, victorinox, buck, boker and kabar. Note that most things by leatherman and victorinox are in the multitool, rather than knife category.
So for your purposes, heres a few ive used before and seem suitable, (look on youtube for reviews). also check their websites for details and make your own judgments:
$15-$25
CRKT drifter
CRKT M16 (the cheaper one)
Victorinox tinker
kabar dozier hunter
$25-$50
CRKT M16 (the good one)
Kershaw leek (the cheaper one)
victorinox super tinker
spyerdco endura
spyderco delica
leatherman blast
$50-100
benchmade griptilian
kershaw leek (the good one)
leatherman wave
there are a lot more out there, but thats a good place to start looking. in addition, there are a few good people on youtube with substantial knife collections and have easy to follow reviews. Cutlerylover and nutnfancy are two really well known ones. check their channels
:thumbsup:
great guide. I'd throw on the Tenacious too, in case OP doesn't want to pay for the Spyderco brand name but wants the Spyderco quality. Also 420HC is used in Buck knives.
Also thank you FATTY_MCFUCKFACE for all the brands and opinions on them (even the ones I can't afford lol).
And Mantikore, you really should make a guide out of this.
Will let you guys know what knife I bought.
Picture is worth a thousand words
Fat-tits pretty much is spot on. Well, is exactly spot on
I really like Benchmade and the quality Gerbers. Gotta watch Gerber though. I think they have two different lines(fattty can correct me on this one). One for cheap bigbox retail and discount store distribution and then the quality stuff. I had an issue Gerber multi-tool, and a quality Gerber folder I bought off base. They both were pretty well made, and held a good edge. I made the mistake of buying one of the cheaper ones long before hand, and it wasn't any better than store brand shit.
Time to read Mantikore's guide. Looks epic. :thumbsup:
EDIT: Doesn't Buck have a cheap walmart line too? Like I said, if you're paying 10 dollars for it- it's probably not worth wasting your money on.
EDIT DEUX: I also PM'ed Mantikore to make a new thread that I can sticky. Very good information. I'm not very knowledgeable about knifes, and if we get bigger we will get a ton of threads on them as we did in old totse. Would be good to have a sticky in the vien of what Mantikore posted.
No worries man. It'll be worth it
Had my Mini My Tighe for a few years. Gets regular use, but I've only occasionally had to sharpen it. About once a year it gets oiled for smoother release. Fairly low maintenance and very reliable.
I also like the S&W M&P I've got. Only thing I like more is it's got a release lock to prevent it from opening completely. Has stayed sharp throughout my ownership, and they're not too expensive.
Mantikore can feel free to disagree with my on the S&W end. Just my two bits.
Give me one advantage a butterfly has over a good folding knife that has a couple extra tools? They are ok knives but not one I'd recommend as a first or truly functional knife. Aside from opening a bit quicker and looking cool they have no real advantage imo.Anyway OP I got my knife from Boker and I'd recommend their products.
but yes, theyre not any more useful than a good old folder.
and the guide is written, but it is waaay long (about 8000 words!). i have also got to put in pics. im working on it about 30 minutes a day on the train
Is it any good? Judging from the reviews it seems top-notch quality stuff.
A Kershaw Skyline would be much better and costs $30.