I know nothing about knives but I'm planning to buy an affordable folding pocket knife for edc. These are my requirements:
1. Preferably does not exceed U.S. $20.00
2. Out of the box, must be sharp enough to shave hair off arm (not that I'm going to do that)
3. Holds a decent edge.
4. Does not have to be spring-assisted, but capable of one-hand operation: thumb pushes a little knob (don't know what it's called) then you flick your wrist to fully deploy the knife.
5. Not too big, not too small, whatever that means to you. Something comfortable to carry in my pocket.
6. Last but not least, must absolutely be capable in a self-defense situation.
7. With serrations or not? (is serration the right term?) (as shown in second picture)
Also, I saw this "maxpedition" in a local store: Where I live it's retail price is about $39.00, yes it's over my preferred budget but I would like your opinion on that knife and is the price reasonable?
Feel free to show your bias against anything China-made, and please suggest a good one as I really know nothing. Thank you for your time!
Thats a really low budget and your not really going to get quality for $20 honestly. My personal opinion would be do it right the first time so you have something you can count on. Your not really going to find something that is ridiculously sharp out of the box and stays sharp for a long time at $20 or can stand the test of time. My vote for a sharp knife that can be used for self defense would be the Spyderco Delica 4 with the wave. I am a big spyderco fan when it comes to cheaper productions, the Mantra is one I like the most probably.
Well, Coupe goes for the custom knives, so his idea of "quality" is different from mine.
When we talk about "quality" without putting any other words alongside it, things can get awfully confused. Knives continue to get better as they get more expensive, but there is a point of diminishing returns, around the $120 mark. After that, you don't see the big improvements in fit and finish that you see as you go from $20, to $40, to $60, and so on.
I'm going to go backwards through your list, because this is the Internet, and I can.
7) Serrations are a personal choice. I don't like 'em, because they snag in the cut. People who advocate for serrations say that they will keep cutting even when the rest of the blade has gotten too dull, but it will be an ugly cut. With a ceiling of $20, you may want to have them, because you will need to touch the sharpening stone more often.
6) I don't know what kind of training you have with a knife. If you don't, get some. There is enough text to fill a library on the subject of self-defense with edged tools, and in general, my advice for a $20 SD knife is: don't.
Just don't. You get what you pay for, and trusting your life to a $20 knife is... undervaluing your mortality, to put it nicely.
5) 3" blade seems to be about the sweet spot for everyday, and has the advantage of being legal in most places.
4) The knob is a "thumb stud", although I personally like the disk that you see on Emerson knives. Being able to open the knife by snapping your wrist is really a matter of making sure the pivot screw isn't too tight.
I don't recommend it. There is a controversy right now about "gravity knives", which allows police officers to call it a "gravity knife", if they can get it to open by flicking their wrist. Then, they charge you with a weapons felony. The state of New York is infamous for this, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it go on in other places.
3) "Holds a decent edge" is a matter of heat treat, edge geometry, what you're cutting, and personal preference.
2) Hair shaving sharp out of the box, at the $20 level, is purely a matter of chance. That being said, if you want a knife that sharp, you can learn how to get a knife that sharp. Start with "Murray Carter" in the Youtube search bar, and plan to be there for a while.
1) Ah yes, the central challenge. Here we go:
The Kershaw Emerson 60740. I don't know why the hell they give them numbers, instead of names, but it's worth a look.
Some of Kershaw's other offerings may appeal to you, although they climb out of the $20 range pretty quickly.
I'm going to bring up Gerber knives. That's right, they don't just make baby food.
Joking. The two companies aren't related.
Gerber knives makes some stuff that falls into your price range. Just be aware that the edge-holding qualities are not much to speak of. Some people swear by the Gerber Paraframe, and it may be just the thing you're looking for. Among the knife snobs over at a certain Forum (for) Blades, the Paraframe is considered the "best worst knife" out there right now.
There is a company called "Bad Blood", and their knives aren't too bad, for what they are.
Sanrenmu and Enlan Knives, our friends form overseas. Some people like them, some people aren't impressed by them, and some despise them for making copies of the Chris Reeve Sebenza. I would say they're a little overpriced for what you get, and if you shop at the "value" end of companies that have a tax ID number in the States, you'll get more knife per dollar.
Finally, we come to the Maxpedition "Ferox", the last picture in your original post. I have no personal experience with this knife, but it's probably good stuff. The rest of their gear seems to be a good value for the money, but I think you'll find the Kershaw Emerson that I mentioned earlier is comparable to the Ferox in the way of numbers, for a lower price.
If you're willing to buy used, you can lurk the Ebay, and find something that's been "pre-loved". This possibly allows you to get a knife that MSRP'ed for more than you want to pay.
Welcome, by the way. This is a deep, deep, hole you're climbing into.
Last Edit: Nov 19, 2017 12:33:51 GMT -8 by Shorttime
Well, Coupe goes for the custom knives, so his idea of "quality" is different from mine.
When we talk about "quality" without putting any other words alongside it, things can get awfully confused. Knives continue to get better as they get more expensive, but there is a point of diminishing returns, around the $120 mark. After that, you don't see the big improvements in fit and finish that you see as you go from $20, to $40, to $60, and so on.
I'm going to go backwards through your list, because this is the Internet, and I can.
7) Serrations are a personal choice. I don't like 'em, because they snag in the cut. People who advocate for serrations say that they will keep cutting even when the rest of the blade has gotten too dull, but it will be an ugly cut. With a ceiling of $20, you may want to have them, because you will need to touch the sharpening stone more often.
6) I don't know what kind of training you have with a knife. If you don't, get some. There is enough text to fill a library on the subject of self-defense with edged tools, and in general, my advice for a $20 SD knife is: don't.
Just don't. You get what you pay for, and trusting your life to a $20 knife is... undervaluing your mortality, to put it nicely.
5) 3" blade seems to be about the sweet spot for everyday, and has the advantage of being legal in most places.
4) The knob is a "thumb stud", although I personally like the disk that you see on Emerson knives. Being able to open the knife by snapping your wrist is really a matter of making sure the pivot screw isn't too tight.
I don't recommend it. There is a controversy right now about "gravity knives", which allows police officers to call it a "gravity knife", if they can get it to open by flicking their wrist. Then, they charge you with a weapons felony. The state of New York is infamous for this, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it go on in other places.
3) "Holds a decent edge" is a matter of heat treat, edge geometry, what you're cutting, and personal preference.
2) Hair shaving sharp out of the box, at the $20 level, is purely a matter of chance. That being said, if you want a knife that sharp, you can learn how to get a knife that sharp. Start with "Murray Carter" in the Youtube search bar, and plan to be there for a while.
1) Ah yes, the central challenge. Here we go:
The Kershaw Emerson 60740. I don't know why the hell they give them numbers, instead of names, but it's worth a look.
Some of Kershaw's other offerings may appeal to you, although they climb out of the $20 range pretty quickly.
I'm going to bring up Gerber knives. That's right, they don't just make baby food.
Joking. The two companies aren't related.
Gerber knives makes some stuff that falls into your price range. Just be aware that the edge-holding qualities are not much to speak of. Some people swear by the Gerber Paraframe, and it may be just the thing you're looking for. Among the knife snobs over at a certain Forum (for) Blades, the Paraframe is considered the "best worst knife" out there right now.
There is a company called "Bad Blood", and their knives aren't too bad, for what they are.
Sanrenmu and Enlan Knives, our friends form overseas. Some people like them, some people aren't impressed by them, and some despise them for making copies of the Chris Reeve Sebenza. I would say they're a little overpriced for what you get, and if you shop at the "value" end of companies that have a tax ID number in the States, you'll get more knife per dollar.
Finally, we come to the Maxpedition "Ferox", the last picture in your original post. I have no personal experience with this knife, but it's probably good stuff. The rest of their gear seems to be a good value for the money, but I think you'll find the Kershaw Emerson that I mentioned earlier is comparable to the Ferox in the way of numbers, for a lower price.
If you're willing to buy used, you can lurk the Ebay, and find something that's been "pre-loved". This possibly allows you to get a knife that MSRP'ed for more than you want to pay.
Welcome, by the way. This is a deep, deep, hole you're climbing into.
Yeah I figured I would sound like a real snob if I said that most of the time my knives are custom and are like $450 and up easily heh heh. M390, M4 hold a edge for a long time and aren't bad to sharpen but cpm S-90v, S110, S125 hold a edge forever though they are murder to sharpen sometimes. I have a lot of customs in CTS-XHP it takes a nice and edge and isn't hard to sharpen at all.
I spent an awful lot of money on $20 knives, because I didn't know any better, and because if I saw something I liked, I could buy it: who cares? It's twenty bucks.
I learned what I liked, and I slowly moved on to more expensive knives. I'm fighting hard to stay below $200 now, but I will still purchase some in the 40-60 range, because there are good knives to be found there, too.
There are merits to the "buy once, cry once" philosophy, but from what I've seen, people don't think that way: they have to learn by experience, and that often means learning where their personal cost-to-value zone is, by starting with the cheap stuff, and working their way up. The same could be said of boots, booze, knives, watches, flashlights....
Booze! I said booze!
I'm not accusing you of being a snob, Coupe. Believe me, I would be there with you if I didn't have offspring-related priorities. But I'm not going to sit here and preach the same old sermon to somebody about "well, if you're willing to spend a little more....", because that way lies madness. If a beginner wants to spend $20 on a knife, then I'll do my best to find something decent at that price point. I know it won't take long before they talk themselves up by five dollars. Then another five dollars. It's only a little more expensive, why not?
Thanks guys, truly appreciate it. Just out of curiosity, have any of you ever tried Russian knives? Are they world -famous like the American made? I'm only asking because I'm currently learning about Russian culture as I am quite fascinated by it. No I'm not a Communist.
Post by itshardtoknow on Nov 22, 2017 4:01:11 GMT -8
kershaw leek is an inexpensive, pretty good knife that I would look into if I were looking.
I have a esee...something (odd name, I'll look it up in a bit) thats not too bad. Not made in USA, but its very slim and I like it.
Both are just over your 20$ budget
I'll go with the others - dont spend twenty on a knife. Go a bit more and get something decent...twenty aint going to get you much in the way of quality (at least not new).
As for use in self defense - I'd say a lot of that lies on you and your abilities
Forget it. Think I'll try your suggestion of either gerber paraframe or kershaw-emerson. If you had to choose between the two, what would it be?
The Kershaw/Emerson. They pay attention to their heat-treating protocols, and they are getting some of the best performance of anybody out of the 8Cr14MoV and similar "alphabet soup" steels that you find at these prices.
I spent an awful lot of money on $20 knives, because I didn't know any better, and because if I saw something I liked, I could buy it: who cares? It's twenty bucks.
I learned what I liked, and I slowly moved on to more expensive knives. I'm fighting hard to stay below $200 now, but I will still purchase some in the 40-60 range, because there are good knives to be found there, too.
There are merits to the "buy once, cry once" philosophy, but from what I've seen, people don't think that way: they have to learn by experience, and that often means learning where their personal cost-to-value zone is, by starting with the cheap stuff, and working their way up. The same could be said of boots, booze, knives, watches, flashlights....
Booze! I said booze!
I'm not accusing you of being a snob, Coupe. Believe me, I would be there with you if I didn't have offspring-related priorities. But I'm not going to sit here and preach the same old sermon to somebody about "well, if you're willing to spend a little more....", because that way lies madness. If a beginner wants to spend $20 on a knife, then I'll do my best to find something decent at that price point. I know it won't take long before they talk themselves up by five dollars. Then another five dollars. It's only a little more expensive, why not?
Yeeeessss.
Best $20 knife? Any Mora. Hands down. Kershaws or crkts are about all the same sub $90. I vote mora- and I'm a folding knife guy.
(About Q's package) Willydigger:
"Is it mailed? Did you mail it? Where's the tracking? I'm pretty excited. I hope he cries. Think he'll cry? What a bitch."
"Q is an asshole, but he's so dumb I feel like hugging him all the time."
-Willydonker
"I'm waiting for Digiorno to cook. Three meat, stuffed crust. It's not delivery, but no place delivers here. So. "
Is 60740 a "steel type"? Because in Kershaw website, kershaw.kaiusaltd.com , if I'm filtering the knives by "steel type", there are no 60740. There are others like 8Cr13MoV, 4Cr14, etc.
About the kershaw cqc series, is it one design for one type of cqc? For example, if I search for CQC-5K in knifecenter.com, I get only one result, which is your suggestion I think. Does that mean there is only one CQC-6K, one CQC-7K, one CQC-8K, etc.?