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Welcome! The blade rubbing the liner really started to hack me off! That familier grinding sound when I opened the knife made me wince:( it was a nice knife but flawed in my opinion. At least it had a proper opening hole in those days;) .

The Military is a better knife in every way, no flex, better blade shape etc etc etc! The omly thing I would add is you aught to have gone for the CPM 440V model and I wish they would offer a black M2 model... D R OOL!:eek: .

All I can say is try a BM 710 in M2 and a Sebenza...:p
 
Welcome to the forums. If you are willing to pay the price, the Chris Reeve Sebenza is the way to go. The quality will blow you away.

Paul
 
The Microtech LCC sounds like it would be right up your alley. You just can't find a production blade (outside a Sebenza) this close to a custom. They are an awesome knife. The Tactical is even one step closer IMO. You are loosing about 1/2" of blade however. I had an AFCK, the Military uses what I believe to be the same construction as my Starmate and the LCC easily runs rings around both of them. I would actually choose my large Wegner over either the AFCK or the Military and the LCC is a better knife yet. Double stainless liners, bolsters, carbon fiber, bronze washers. Stronger, better finish, better looking all for just a few bucks more. Sounds like a winner to me.
 
SERE 2000, BM Axis 710 or the Emerson Commander. Those would by my choices. The Emerson Commander (I have 2 Commanders and one CQC7) has become my EDC.

You will read lots of threads about Emerson and their quality. Overall I found the Commander to be very light weight (for its size), sturdy and the wave feature puts it completely in a league of its own. The simple idea of pulling your folding blade out of your pocket, already opened, is just fabulous.
 
I THINK the steel used on the Leatherman blades is 420 HC (at least I've hear such, and they look and feel like 420HC).

You might want to look at a knife already mentioned above, the Spyderco Wegner. It has a full stainless steel back spacer, which would mean no flex. However, it doesn't come with any black coatings, and is tip-up carry.

Last week I bought a Benchmade 550 Griptilian. It sells for under $100, and so far I've found it to be an excellent user knife. It has an oval opening hole, excellent edge geometry, very strong tip, good edge "belly," Axis lock, and cuts solidly. However, it has a Zytel-like handle, and also carries tip-up, which may or may not fit your goals in a knife.
Jim
 
Welcome to the forums, BlackRazor! Your first post displays a great deal more knowledge than the average first post. Very impressive.

I've been a pretty zealous reader of the forums since I joined. Believe I'm still waiting to find my first negative comment about Tom Mayo's TNT. Am not holding my breath either.

FWIW, I was strictly a tip-down person for a long time. Couldn't imagine how or why someone would want to use a tip up carry. Well, now my most 2nd most often carried knife is a tip up. I still carry at least one tip down pretty regularly, but vastly prefer the tip up carry.

Don't have one yet, but must admit that the BM 710 is kind of "the knife" to buy, unless it is the Sebenza. Many think it will be one of the defining knife of the tactical production folder in future histories of knifedom. But, wouldn't recommend your getting the M2 steel with your rusting problems. Go stainless.

Having said that, the main carry knife I referred to is the Spyderco Wegner. I just plain like it better than any other knife I own, including my Sebenza. (But, I carry the Sebenza in a sheath all the time, never without it.)

One other thing -- most of the black coatings don't survive much use and continue looking good. If appearance is a factor, wouldn't count on that for long if you use it.
 
Robert, welcome to the Forums!

I follow Bug's note about your first post :) Man, you seem really know what you do want!
This is good and this is also bad for you because it is not easy to put knowledgeable and experienced man into fascination ecstasy. The standard you have pointed mentioning SPYDERCO Military and BENCHMADE AFCK is really high, these knives are hard to beat with any production knife in each price limits.
No one knife is ideal. If you will think hard for years on the project on Ideal Knife of Your Dream and finally you (or someone for you) will make this knife - even in this case I bet you will consider it is not ideal after some first trials.

On the other hand The Ideal is something what is better to aim at than to reach. If someone would make really ideal knife - wow! - it would be hard to imagine all after-effects of such event!
Just some loose thoughts... ;)

To don't leave you without any practical advice - take a look onto BENCHMADE 710 Axis Lock if you need ambidextrous knife and can reconcile yourself with tip-up carry or onto their 750 Pinnacle if the ambidexterity is not an issue but you definitely like tip-down mode. This last is quite rust-resistant because it has minimum steel parts in titanium handle and the ATS-34 (145CM in recent run) is available with BT2 coating. If you like it - hurry up, they are going to discontinue it.
 
I had typed up a long reply with a bunch of links but got an error and had to reconnect...lost it all:(
So here's the short version:
In addition to the Mayo TNT www.mayoknives.com
check out the Darrel Ralph Apogee and EDC www.darrelralph.com
and the Carson Model 4 http://www.kvnet.org/knives/
I'm a big fan of the AFCK, and the Apogee was the embodiment of my "ideal" knife. Funny, it's the CF EDC that I find myself carrying the most, though.
Check out:
www.bladeart.com
www.knifeart.com
www.robertsoncustomcutlery.com
www.arizonacustomknives.com
to get a feel for maker's names, and the type of knives they make.
You may find one that makes exactly what you're looking for. If not, it'll give you a good idea as to who makes the same type knife you want, if you decide to go with a full-blown custom.

Might be a good idea to give it some thought, and write down the size, length, blade shape/style/materials, handle materials, etc. that you want, before searching. That's what I did, and when I saw the Apogee, I said "that's it". It was exactly what I had pictured in my head-and some guy in Ohio was already making it:D
Good luck finding your perfect knife-hope it's as easy as it was for me:)
 
Regarding rust resistance, there is a new line of liner lock knives made by Boker that features blades made of a new type of stainless steel that supposedly is virtually rust-proof. I cannot remember the name of this line or the steel, if I can find the article by Jeff Randall in TK or the ad I saw once, I will re-post. But I do not think they are quite at AFCK or Military level of value as far as cost, which, again, may or may not appeal to you. The handles are of colored Zytel I think, with Kraton inlays. Retail for under $100.
Jim
 
Robert,
I'm not sure as to Robar NP3 coating if they can put it onto stainless steel. They mostly use it on carbon steel guns. Teflon coating certainly will not affect heat treating, it is put onto already heat treated blades.

I have a lot of doubts if it will be sensible to make such deep Military customizing and certainly it will not be cost efficient. Also from technical side - Military liner is nested into the scale, so you can't increase its thickness. But the Ti liner should be a bit thicker to provide the same strength as steel counterpart. Titanium is almost as strong as steel if we are speaking about tensile strength but it is noticeably more flexible and able to take less load in direction along the plane, like locking liner works. This is the reason why Ti liners on for ex. BM AFCK or GERBER M. Walker are at least 1,5 times thicker than Military steel liner. I don't think to replace it with Ti liner of the same thickness is any good idea.

But even if the strength will not be affected (in my opinion it will be) such customizing will be quite expensive ($100-200-more???) and will display low cost efficiency. The result will be closely comparable with production knives you can get in $110 range, BM Pinnacle for ex.
Sure, CPM 440V is good stuff and in certain circumstances it can outperform ATS-34 or 154CM but not so much to justify such costs as itself. Especially working in serrated edge...

Please don't get me wrong, Military is one of my very favorites and I use it far more frequently than my Pinnacle. I'm just trying to follow the terms you have specified for yourself.

OK, if you don't like Pinnacle - try to contact Darrel Ralph if he could make for you his Apogee (titanium handle with mono lock - integral lock - frame lock) with teflon coated blade.
 
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