Knife Suggestions

[kaligaran]

Originally Posted by Chokoloso

and for cool sheaths:
http://www.godspeedtactical.com/

Great... thanks alot Chokoloso!!!

....

like I needed to spend any more money this week...

(omg I want one of each!)

[ElvenSoul]

In production since Lincoln was in Office

Get the carbon...their stainless sucks

Mercator Black Cat Knife http://www.knifecenter.com/item/K55/...eel-Army-Issue

Slim and just the right size to be invisible in a back pocket.

[Foebia]

I got a couple cold steel, recon and ak47. Both nice but the clip is pretty tight on the pocket.

[Chokoloso]

Originally Posted by kaligaran

Great... thanks alot Chokoloso!!!

....

like I needed to spend any more money this week...

(omg I want one of each!)

your welcome! Toys get more expensive as we age hahaha

[Puckinhead]

Originally Posted by NYT

anyone actually read his post? specs requested that it be a folding knife lol.

esee is very nice for a fixed but you'll have trouble finding one for under 100 with a sheath.

That is funny because if you would have read his post his second option would be a fixed knife.

I like the Gerber LMF myself.

[Chokoloso]

I like ther LMF also, but the ESSE 4 is around the same size and price and much more durable. The LMF wouldn't be very sturdy for battoning in a survival situation, but I do like the LMF and probably am going to buy one for my collection, haha

[bombadillo]

Ontario makes a great selection. My blackbird is a heck of a survival knife. I really like my SRK also

[skilletboy]

Originally Posted by gunace89

So im thinking about pickin up a new knife, and im having problems narrowing down exactly what would be a good buy. Unfortunately, im not real knowledgeable about knives. So im hoping the CG Preppers can help me out. These are my specifications, either:

Price: Under 100$
Use:EDC/Tactical/Survival
Type:Folding
Brands:Gerber/Kershaw/Spyderco/......any other suggestions?

or

Price: Under 100$
Use:Tactical/Survival/Camping/Hiking/BOB
Type:Fixed (bowie style?)
Brands:Gerber/Kerkshaw/K-Bar......any other good ones?

Anyone have positive or negative about any othese brands? Recommendations?

For Fixed... I have a SOG Seal Team Elite.. Its a big boy. 7+ inch blade and thick as hell... Full tang, pretty much indestructable. Amazon has it WITH a kydex sheath for $103.

http://www.amazon.com/SOG-Specialty-...EAL+TEAM+ELITE

Saw another quote here that they liked the SOG Seal pup elite.. Its a little smaller and more manageable, if you like that better.

One note about the Seal Team Elite - the back edge of the blade has a spined rasp. I actually dont like this it makes it difficult to use with a fire steel rod.

[OIFVet03]

My personal preference for knives are kukri's. Great tool that makes a great weapon. Great machete's with multiple uses

[jeffrice6]

Originally Posted by Chokoloso

and for cool sheaths:
http://www.godspeedtactical.com/

Any first hand experience with these guys?

[dadeepend]

Originally Posted by bombadillo

Ontario makes a great selection. My blackbird is a heck of a survival knife. I really like my SRK also

+1 for the blackbird. Great thought process behind it.

[Chokoloso]

Originally Posted by jeffrice6

Any first hand experience with these guys?

A friend has one and loves it, I haven't had the chance to look it over yet. And I havent ordered one yet because the kydex sheath the esee came with is good enough to hold me over until I get extra cash.

But I won't hesitate buying one when I can. Especially after this review I found:

http://bushcraftusa.com/forum/showth...Tactical-Kydex

[Mad Scotsman]

Ken Onion Foresight

[Topgun863]

I carry a Benchmade every day. One of the best folding knives made IMO. They lock up very tight and have a dual lock system (not to mention their axis lock is outstanding to begin with). Kershaw is also great for the price.

Fixed blade, look at ESEE. They make great knives for a reasonable price. They're 1095 carbon steel which is pretty hard, easy to sharpen, and holds an edge. They're powdercoated with micarta handles. Only disadvantage is they will rust on the edge of the blade where its sharpened so you gotta keep them oiled and keep up on them. 1/4" thick blades on the larger models (not sure on the smaller ones might be 3/16" or 1/4"). Higher end knives, you could look at chris reeves, strider, or crusader forge...those are some of the best out there IMO besides having one custom made, but they do come with a price tag.

Biggest parts with a knife is the steel, thickness of the blade and whether or not its full tang on a fixed blade, locking mechanism if its a folder, and comfort. There are hundreds of types of steel out there depending on what you are going to do with your knife and what you expect out of it and there are tradeoffs. Carbon steel is great for a field knife, something you're going to use hard all the time, expect to be easy to sharpen and to be extremely sharp though they can chip because they are hard, they rust, and they might not hold an edge as long although it will likely be sharper. Some steels/alloys to look for that I've liked are: 1095 carbon steel, Crucible 3V, CPM S30V, ATS-34 (Japanese 'stainless steel', very high quality), 154CM (stainless). There are others but those are the ones ive used and liked as far as steel quality in a knife (edge retention, sharpness, ease of sharpening, stain resistance, resilience-ability for the knife to bend or absorb blows instead of break) different steels have more of some of those qualities or less/limited amounts of others.

I'm picky about my knives though so I've had MANY as well as doing a lot of research to figure out what I like for a given situation. Good luck.

[Paltik]

I appreciate your comments, Topgun. Growing up in Asia, I had to carry a machete to school starting in 3rd grade. All the machetes there were made from leaf springs. I came to really love a spring-steel fixed blade for its ability to take an edge and not break.

I'm find myself dumfounded at all the recommendations for stainless steel blades.

[jonnyt16]

Originally Posted by Paltik

I'm find myself dumfounded at all the recommendations for stainless steel blades.

Are you serious? Have you not heard of VG-10? My Fallkniven A1 knife uses VG-10 stainless steel and it performs just as good if not better than any of my high-carbon blades. In fact, the Swedish Army adopted it as their official survival knife. I'm actually finding it hard to go back to my carbon blades after how much this knife has impressed me. Best of all, I don't have to worry about rust!

[Topgun863]

Originally Posted by Paltik

I appreciate your comments, Topgun. Growing up in Asia, I had to carry a machete to school starting in 3rd grade. All the machetes there were made from leaf springs. I came to really love a spring-steel fixed blade for its ability to take an edge and not break.

I'm find myself dumfounded at all the recommendations for stainless steel blades.

Originally Posted by jonnyt16

Are you serious? Have you not heard of VG-10? My Fallkniven A1 knife uses VG-10 stainless steel and it performs just as good if not better than any of my high-carbon blades. In fact, the Swedish Army adopted it as their official survival knife. I'm actually finding it hard to go back to my carbon blades after how much this knife has impressed me. Best of all, I don't have to worry about rust!

Stainless does have its place. My Benchmade is a stainless alloy but CM154, but it seems to be one of the better stainless steels IMO plus its a folder and something I use and abuse for work. I dont really want to have to do maintenance on it all the time so it works great for that. But for a fixed blade I would really prefer carbon steel or some sort of alloy steel that is pretty hard, takes and holds a very sharp edge, and is easy to sharpen. I cant speak for the VG-10. Thats a fairly new alloy if I'm not mistaken. I havent seen many knives with that alloy and have yet to use one but I might have to take a look at it. The beauty of knives is they will always continue to advance and come out with different steels as there is pretty much an infinite combination of alloys they can come up with to get certain properties out of a knife. But new alloys with a lot of great properties and that are more difficult to make (or are only made by one small manufacture) are going to tend to be more expensive as well. Unlike standard carbon steel or tool steel (like D2 or 1095), which have a lot of great properties and are fairly inexpensive to make. Many knife makers like those steels because they are so easy to work with compared to some of the more exotic steel alloys.

[jeffrice6]

Originally Posted by Chokoloso

A friend has one and loves it, I haven't had the chance to look it over yet. And I havent ordered one yet because the kydex sheath the esee came with is good enough to hold me over until I get extra cash.

But I won't hesitate buying one when I can. Especially after this review I found:

http://bushcraftusa.com/forum/showth...Tactical-Kydex

Good read, thanks!

[Sumo99]

I have Benchmade, Spyderco, Cold Steel, CRKT and Sog folders. Of those, my favorites (in your price range are):
-Spyderco Caly 3.5 (paid $105 on Amazon, so it's just a little over your $100). Carries really deep in the pocket and is has a very thin handle. This is my current EDC.
-Spyderco is the Endura4, full flat grind, vg10 blade, under $60.
-My favorite Spyderco is the Para2 (also a little over $100, if you can find one now days), but it's a little big for EDC.
-Coldsteel Recon with clip blade (about $55 on Amazon), it's pretty big for edc, but the tri-ad lock system that Coldsteel uses is supposed to be really strong. This is my backpacking folder.

For fixed:
I like my Ka-Bar Becker BK2. Wouldn't mind getting an Esee one day. I have the Gerber LMFII and its a decent knife, but the serrations suck.

[1snakedoc]

i have a ESEE knife the number 3, they work great and last.
http://www.eseeknives.com/rc-3.htm there under 100 and they have many sizes.
also ka-bar and buck.

[Opticalabyss]

-Spyderco is the Endura4, full flat grind, vg10 blade, under $60.

I've been carrying this knife with orange handles for about 6 months everyday and it is my favorite folding knife I have ever owned. Easy to sharpen, and just the right size for tactical/EDC/Combat.

[undrcutr]

The knife should be 4-6 inches 1/8 thick in my opinion. You really have to try them out to decide what feels best in your hands.

My favorite knife is the new Siebert Bushcraft

The steel is the important part. The 3 best commonly available are:

s30V - Best IMHO. A bit hard to sharpen

154 cm - Pretty much equivalent to s30v except not atomized

1095 - takes an edge well but rusts.


Look on wikipedia for an excellent knife steel comparison.

[mcnm]

A SOG Flash II or SOG Aegis find their way into my pocket most days.

They're very light weight, half or even a third the weight of some other popular EDC folders.

Decent steel, AUS8 if I'm not mistaken. Love the blade shape of the Flash II.

Assisted opening, yay.

Reasonably priced. Break it, lose it, no biggie. (haven't managed to break mine yet)

And a very deep carry pocket clip, most people won't even notice you are carrying a knife.

[laabstract]

Here is a list of Survival Fixed Blade Knives I have positive experience with
Ontario Rat 3 ($66.99)
Cold Steel SRK ($79.99)
AK-47 Bayonet ($12.99)

Here are the folders I like
Ontario 8847 RAT Folding Knife ($29.99)
CRKT M16/M21 Series ($29.99)
H&K knives are made by benchmade and a really good way to get a good knife on a budget.

But in my opinion if you want bang for the buck just get a AK-47 Bayonet and retouch up the blade. There is no better or useful survival knife for the money.

[Carlisa]

You can't search anywhere for quality survival knives without coming across KA-BAR. These knives are tried and true and have so much history and field experience that many won't even consider going with another brand.

[DudeDoug2000]

Cheap knives in fact I'm using one now to rip up carpet have five of em. Glock field knife. They run around 25$ and work. While not "fancy" compared to others they work. I could have bought four for the price of one of my SOG knives. Oh well...

[Slicksho3s]

i just ordered a HEST. a few friends have been using them for a while and are quite please at the results for a 4in fixed.

[1911ShooterPhil]

My two favorite fixed blades are the Glock 81 Field Knife and the Ka-Bar Short Plain Edge. They are both well made, durable, relatively easy to sharpen, and inexpensive.

My two favorite folding knives are the Ka-Bar Mule and the Ka-Bar Dozier Folding Hunter Knife. Both are lockback knives, which, at least in my experience and opinion, for a field/work/chore knife is a must. Both knives are very durable, have pocket clips for easy carry, can be sharpened easily, and are inexpensive.

Cheers! --1911ShooterPhil

[jonnyt16]

If you guys are serious about knives then look no further.... http://calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=726612

[Kanoodler]

You might want to spend some time giving a thought as to whether your main focus is survival or EDC. For survival your best blade format is going to be a fixed blade knife, which doesn't have a weak point that folders have. ( The pivot mechanism is potentially the weakest part of a folder) If your focus is EDC, then of course folders are more convenient! Much of your decision will have to go into where you live or where you plan on being when you have the knife with you.

Not knowing which you would need for your situation, I would fall back to the general rule that having a knife is better than not having one.... So my recommendation would be for a stout folding knife of any of the reputable makes that have been mentioned. You could always use a strong folder in a survival environment but more likely it's the knife you would probably have on you if it is your EDC.

As you gain more interest in having a general utility or survival life I would highly recommend adding to your stable by purchasing a strong fixed bladed knife. It's surprising what a small 3-4 inch fixed bladed knife can do!

I would also recommend you try to find a used model down the road. Had you $100 cash instead of a gift card, that same $100 would perhaps buy you an excellent used $150 or $200 knife.

In the price range you mentioned, I am a big fan of Kershaw, Spyderco, and Benchmade. I try to get S30V steel blades when possible.

[bombadillo]

After all this, just get a bunch of knives, go for broke, and figure out what you like the best. You're out a grand, and have a bunch of knives for the next 20 years.