Do we also like knives?

[RustyIron]

I've been waiting for a Spyderco Stretch 2 XL LW to become available, and the first one to hit the streets is a sprint model in Micro-Melt PD#1. I couldn't help myself and bought two.

 

[Kyle1886]

Since I'm always in the need to cut, slice, or punch holes in something I carry a variety of blades daily. Probably the most used is an old standard folding box cutter. I work a lot with mule tape which just kills knives in my opinion. I also carry a Klein Tool folder; I know not in the class most think of fine cutlery but it does what I need very well.

I also carry a folder that I carried in high school, back in the 50's; an old Schrade that now has 2 1/2 blades instead of 3 blades. I carry it to remind me to cut the juice when doing electrical work!

Nothing fancy but all have a job and they do what is required.

I must admit, you guys have some fine looking blades.

Respectfully Kyle

 

[Malibu]

Really hate how fixed blade knives can't be concealed here. I would love to carry a small fixed blade in a sheath on my belt. As a result, I pretty much only buy folders.

Incredible that I can legally carry a concealed firearm, but I cannot carry a concealed fixed blade knife.

Yea, I’m with you on that. Fixed blades are IMO superior in nearly every way to any folder when used as a weapon. Having had a good bit of professional instruction on how to use edged weapons, the fact that carrying one concealed here in t Kali is really disgusting to me personally. When I travel abroad to America, first thing I do is swap out the folder(s) for a decent fixed blade stab/slash tool.

 

[ocabj]

Multiple Chris Reeve Knives Sebenzas with carbon fiber.

 

[RustyIron]

While there's always a knife in my pocket, the knives that see the most use are in the kitchen. I have a variety, but these are my most used.

The top knife in the photo is a Chad Kelly custom. It sports a 7" Vanax Super Clean blade. The handle is desert ironwood, titanium, and G10. Not only is it gorgeous, but it cuts as good as it looks.

The middle knife is a Murray Carter designed Itamae Gyuto from Spyderco. The 10" blade is Aogami Super Blue clad in SUS410. The handle is G10. This is a great off-the-shelf knife.

The bottom knife is a Spyderco Mule in SPY27 that I finished off with melaleuca wood that grew in my yard. This is a small, handy knife. While you might not think of a Mule as a kitchen knife, it performs nicely in this role.

 

[ACfixer]

So yeah, we like knives.

CRK small sebenza with box elder burl.

 

[ACfixer]

We like fixed blades too...

Chris Reeve Pacific in magnacut.

 

[DrJonesUSA]

We like fixed blades too...

Chris Reeve Pacific in magnacut.

a) GORGEOUS knife!
b) Is Magnacut really all its hyped up to be?

 

[Hopi.]

 

[ACfixer]

a) GORGEOUS knife!
b) Is Magnacut really all its hyped up to be?

A) Thank you.

B) I honestly can't answer that DrJones, I have heard from the knife guru next door that magnacut is superb in edge and retention but it's a bear to resharpen when you need to. I haven't used the knife and knowing me I probably won't because I am just stupid like that. I have guns I don't shoot, knives I don't use and guitars I don't play. Of course have other battle/camp/tac style knives that I carry with my pack when I hunt or hike, most notably an $80 Ka-Bar right? I can say it is ridiculously sharp, I could never get a knife this sharp on my own.

C: I have a Chris Reeve Green Beret that has been used and is forged from S30V coming in the mail tomorrow I think, it's a beautiful thing, you know, already used and sharpened so I can't worry about it. I will probably send it in to CRK for a dressing. This will make it in to the rotation for sure. Here is it:

 

[DrJonesUSA]

B) .... I haven't used the knife and knowing me I probably won't because I am just stupid like that. I have guns I don't shoot, knives I don't use and guitars I don't play. Of course have other battle/camp/tac style knives that I carry with my pack when I hunt or hike, most notably an $80 Ka-Bar right?

C: I have a Chris Reeve Green Beret that has been used and is forged from S30V coming in the mail tomorrow I think, it's a beautiful thing, you know, already used and sharpened so I can't worry about it.

View attachment 9063

uh........WTF........



Feels like I'm talking to myself here....!
Buy nice stuff, too afraid to use it?
Yep. That's me.

Buy cheaper (ok, but still less expensive) stuff & use THAT, instead of the far nicer & more expensive fancy gear?
Yep. That's me.

Purposely Buy stuff lightly used because then my OCD will actually let me USE it?
Yep, that's me too....


What's wrong with us???

i hate to admit this, but I recently discovered chinese clones / replicas on ebay...... I took a bit of a gamble, tried a few.....holy freakin they are amazing. I'm so over the moon happy, ESPECIALLY for the price. I don't feel terribly bad because I'd NEVER actually consider buying the real thing; these are minimum $2-400+++ knives. Each.
But $30-50? ..... I can swing that...and for that cheap, I'll even USE them!
I ended up getting 8 different beautiful knives for ~$270.00

Anyway, these clones I'm finding are truly amazing. They really seem high quality. The fit & finish is amazing, and they just FEEL amazing; you can tell quality when you pick it up. They've come a VERY long way from when it was blatantly obvious when you picked up a chinese knife. Again; really pains me to say it, but damn.... can't deny it.

From what few reviews I've seen, most of these clones are actually halfway decent, if not outright amazingly sturdy. Most all of them claim to be D2 or similar and it seems like they actually are, in general. Usually decent heat treat, too. I Found some torture / durability tests & such of various cheap / ebay / aliexpress / chinese knives, and the results are shockingly good.

These "cheap clones" held up damn well; far better than one would expect.
And either way; I've slowly become one of those weird people who uses the right tool for the job; I'm not going to pry with any of these knives, not going to hammer it into a tree & use it as a step; not going to use one to disassemble a car; none of that. Crazy, huh?

Anyway; again; that Chris Reeve is damn beautiful! Hope you actually use the used one coming to ya!

 

[ACfixer]

I'd NEVER actually consider buying the real thing; these are minimum $2-400+++ knives. Each.
But $30-50? ..... I can swing that...and for that cheap, I'll even USE them!
I ended up getting 8 different beautiful knives for ~$270.00

Here's the thing Dr, I used to see things the same. Something might change in your life at some point where you'll actually consider that perhaps one $300 knife made by an American craftsman, plus a cheap backup perhaps.... is maybe better than 8 cheap knives even if the quality is acceptable. Just speaking in my own life, no judgement on others.

Look at that gorgeous collection ocabj posted in post #24, I don't personally feel there's a production knife out there in that price range that can touch that stuff.

​

​

 

[drunktank]

b) Is Magnacut really all its hyped up to be?

In my humble opinion it is.

For my use of fixed blades, 3V is the gold standard in which I’ve compared every blade I have to.

My Magnacut blades all have noticeably better edge retention and corrosion resistance. Although Knife Steel Nerds (Larrin Thomas) rates its toughness as less than 3V, I haven’t been able to damage mine yet. For reference, I haven’t broken or chipped any of my Esee’s in 1095 either even with regular abuse at work. So with that said, theoretically Magnacut is tough enough to withstand reasonable abuse, let alone in a folding knife. Sharpening is easy as well with my Wicked Edge.

Really depends on your use.

 

[DrJonesUSA]

Here's the thing Dr, I used to see things the same. Something might change in your life at some point where you'll actually consider that perhaps one $300 knife made by an American craftsman, plus a cheap backup perhaps.... is maybe better than 8 cheap knives even if the quality is acceptable. Just speaking in my own life, no judgement on others.

Look at that gorgeous collection ocabj posted in post #24, I don't personally feel there's a production knife out there in that price range that can touch that stuff.

​

​

Hey there,
Totally understand. I take no offense and "get it"
I actually do have several $300-500+ knives. As I said previously; I'm afraid to use them because they're too rare / special / valuable.
Same with a few fancy-ass guns I have...
And to be perfectly frank; from a fit & finish standpoint, the knives simply aren't 10x+++ better than these current clones. (Guns is a different ballgame...)

Again; we're not talking $50 vs. $100; we're talking $30-50 knives, vs. $300, $400, $500 and way up.
I already HAVE knives in the multi-hundreds of dollars, and while I don't regret getting them and will never sell / trade / give away; I can't see myself buying any more knives anywhere near that price range.

Trust me; it REALLY pains me to admit this - I hate it - but these clones are damn nice. I get it & agree about American made craftsmanship; really I do. I TRY to buy American whenever possible. I sure do for tools.

In fact, I'll gladly pay a more for American-made; sometimes a good bit more. Hell; if I was to choose between a $50.00 chinese knife and a $100 American, I'd def get the American.
But the American knives that have ever caught my eye are almost all $3-600. Just not worth it to me. We're talking 10 times+++ the cost. That's nuts to me / I personally can't justify it.

I am afraid to use them, so they sit in a drawer (MAYBE I'll carry them on occasion) and collect dust.

It's not that the expensive knives aren't nice; it's that these clones have gotten so dang good.
Put another way;
Would you rather have ONE, $1,000,000 Rolls Royce, or TEN, $100,000 Mercedes?

I'm honestly embarrassed I even admitted to buying the damn things, but I just have to give credit; they are amazingly nice for the money.

Maybe I have to work on that weird OCD part of me that won't allow me to use nice knives..... LOL....
Speaking of which; strongly suggest you check these guys out, so that you never need to even think about abusing your fine knives:

Rogan

100% handmade with pride in the USA

roganusa.com

ROGAN

ROGAN

roganknives.com

I have several of these, because they are sanely priced, and they are awesome!

 

[DrJonesUSA]

In my humble opinion it is.

For my use of fixed blades, 3V is the gold standard in which I’ve compared every blade I have to.

My Magnacut blades all have noticeably better edge retention and corrosion resistance. Although Knife Steel Nerds (Larrin Thomas) rates its toughness as less than 3V, I haven’t been able to damage mine yet. For reference, I haven’t broken or chipped any of my Esee’s in 1095 either even with regular abuse at work. So with that said, theoretically Magnacut is tough enough to withstand reasonable abuse, let alone in a folding knife. Sharpening is easy as well with my Wicked Edge.

Really depends on your use.

Awesome, Thanks for the info!
I've been out of / not paying attention to the knife world for a loooong time, and lately I've been dipping back in, and need to get caught up with all the fancy new hotness.

 

[ACfixer]

Hey there,
Totally understand. I take no offense and "get it"
I actually do have several $300-500+ knives. As I said previously; I'm afraid to use them because they're too rare / special / valuable.
Same with a few fancy-ass guns I have...
And to be perfectly frank; from a fit & finish standpoint, the knives simply aren't 10x+++ better than these current clones. (Guns is a different ballgame...)

My apologies, I misunderstood and didn't realize you were as sick as me... well I hope you get better.

I got the Chris Reeve "user" today, I paid $225 shipped for it... and it's awesome! I carry a Microtech I bought as a user, and sometimes an older SOG. Yeah, the pretty ones like this Buck auto elite sit in the safe.

 

[DrJonesUSA]

Ahhh...ok..... Thanks! I was a bit confused by your post. As I said; it really hurts me to admit how nice these stupid clones are & not buy American, and I'm like, "Damn, he's really rubbing it in!! "



All good man..... Gorgeous Buck... what's the deal with that? Why's this "Elite" so special? It is very beautiful! And looks totally abused....

Speaking of which......this is a test;
Do you remember the Buckmaster Mod. 184? It's only the all-time coolest, most bad-ass knife ever made......

Did you know they just came out with a v.2?????

It.
Is.
RIDICULOUS.

And I want one.....
The price? Psshhhh..... if you have to ask......
Mere $800.00.........

https://www.buckknives.com/product/084-buckmaster-2024-legacy-collection/

 

[DrJonesUSA]

Dude! I totally forgot! BALISONG!!!

I got really heavy into Balisongs during the pLandemic, and built up quite a collection really quickly. I've got around 20-30 or so.
Lately, I'm kinda sorta get back into it - a bit. I can't flip at home too much because I can't have my kids getting interested & grabbing the knives....

BUT..... I have a bunch of Balis that are hundreds & hundreds of dollars. I think my most expensive was about $800-ish.
These are all AMERICAN made, by very small shops (usually one-man shops) and completely hand-made / hand fitted & tuned. Balisongs are truly an incredible art form & require a LOT of skilled hand-fitting / tuning to sound & perform their best.

So; for Balisongs, I make BIG exceptions to my new little "rule" of not spending much on knives.

You into bali's at all, MrACFixer?

 

[ACfixer]

Do you remember the Buckmaster Mod. 184? It's only the all-time coolest, most bad-ass knife ever made......

Did you know they just came out with a v.2?????

I was considering one off of Ebay (complete kit) a while back for $800 but he balked at my questions on provenance and after further grilling the knife appeared to have been refurb'd and some of the candy (including the box) was re-issue. He made an attempt at making it look pretty much NOS/NIB without ever actually saying it. Perhaps not totally dishonest in a legal sense, but IMO not the way honest men do business. Of course I passed.

That new Legacy 084 looks sick, but for that money I would buy the original. They pop up NOS-ish for just a bit more than that.

Gorgeous Buck... what's the deal with that? Why's this "Elite" so special?

Thanks! The elite has a polished blade and micarta scales, just a bit more refined I suppose? Buck guys, feel free to correct me if I am wrong on that. I bought it off a guy locally that wasn't impressed with how it opened and to be honest it was atrocious so I bought it. I knew Buck would fix it no matter what... A couple drops of Rem-oil and a few cycles and it's just sa-weeeeet!

You into bali's at all, MrACFixer?

So we used to go to Mexico some 20+ years ago and buy fireworks and knives etc and you could get a very decent crappy balisong for what, $5? We'd get them and *ahem* somehow lose them when we were in California. A guy I know that looked a lot like me kept one or two and started practicing while watching Seinfeld reruns and that guy got darn good at looking very impressive with them! No clue what he did with those things... but now that guy lives in Tennessee and they are perfectly legal here. So I am thinking of buying a practice butterfly and see if I still have it, if so I'll shell out a few bucks for a benchmade or something. I think the usefulness is pretty limited but they sure are fun and flashy at family BBQ Sundays.

 

[DrJonesUSA]

Holy - the original Buckmaster 184 is going for $800 now????
Damn.... I'll NEVER sell mine!!! I better check & make sure I still have the box!