65 dollar fun knife

Man I had the same itch last weekend. I scrapped some brass and had a little knife money left over after buying my wife a new phone. I've been wanting to get a recon 1 but last minute ordered the AK-47. I had the aluminum version a long time ago and liked it so I figured the new one wound be a fun knife to beat up at work. Should be here tomorrow but anyways I think SC makes some fun $65.00 knives. I'm not feeling the lawman but the clip point recon 1 is still on the list.
 
Cold Steel Recon 1 is a winner. Best bang for the buck of all my recent purchase. Lock back will be very stiff when new but breaks in pretty quickly.
 
My kids got me a Recon 1 for father's day. I was extremely disappointed! HORRIBLY STIFF! Why put thumb studs on a knife that it takes 2 hands to open and close?I knew my kids would be disappointed if i didn't carry it.

I oiled it up and determined to wear it down and smooth it out! It took some time and effort, but it was well worth it! With just a little wrist action i can snap it open, with a click/snap that demands respect. All that flipping got my hand very familiar with the feel of the knife. It is now so smooth that it's unbelievable that there is no blade play. This knife is now a pleasure to own, given by my kids and instills great confidence.
 
Any of the 3 CS are fun and tough. Cant go wrong with em....imo
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I have no problem with grip strength and nothing I wrote about is dependant on grip strength. A knife with a stiff spring, long lock throw, and a lockbar that rides the blade tang is not a fast knife. It doesn't effortlessly open and close while manipulating the lock, like some other lock designs. But flipping a knife open and closed might not be the OP definition of a fun knife like I stated before. No where did I say it requires a lot of strength so I don't know where the need for grip strength got pulled out of. There are obviously some people who are compassionate about cold steel so maybe there is the need to defend from anything that might sound at all negative, though what I have said really wasn't. Even with a loose pivot to the point of blade play the knife isn't very fast and easy to manipulate compared to others. I think you're lying to yourself if you say otherwise. If you just want a knife you can chuck in a vice and hang weight off of or baton through logs then Triad lock knives should work great.
 
It was actually stated repeatedly in this thread that the knives could be opened or closed one handed. That's where the grip strength comments were directed.
 
No offense intended, I think they break in nicely. Mine is actually pretty fast on the flick. I do need a bit of wrist action to open it fast but I find that with any lockback i've ever owned. One knife that wasn't mentioned is the Kershaw ET. Many debate the knife's usefullness but I've used mine a ton. It has a unique opening system that some find hard to master. I think it has a great hollow ground blade, very sharp as well and with good steel.
 
I'm a moderator here at BladeForums, so you MUST take my advice :). Get a Cold Steel American Lawman...Or if you want a slightly larger folder, get a Cold Steel Recon 1.
End of.:D.
 
yep, the recon1 or lawman....the ak47 knife looks goofy to me, like allot of cold steels offerings, but that's me. i dislike cold steel for many reasons, but even i a cold steel disliker knows a good knife when i see one, and the recon 1 and lawman are great knives for the money. very easy to open one handed, but for me it requires two hands to close, unless i push the blade closed on my leg or such. like any lock back, for me. i don't get the stiff thing? maybe compared to an axis lock or liner lock it's stiff, but compared to any other larger lockback it's not bad at all.

i use mine hard and it's allot of fun, i don't worry about breaking it as i can get another for around 60 bucks....plus and more importantly.....i don't think it will break easily.
 
On closing CS Triad locks: the lock bar sits on a very strong spring and the area of the bar that nestles into the notch in the tang is much longer than "regular" lockbacks. So, harder to depress and harder to overcome the tang channel to release the lockbar. I have always closed lockbacks against the back of my thigh since I was a wee kid so I have no issue with it. There have been posts on softening up the spring by keeping the knife partially open over night IIRC.
 
ThePharce said:
Yep, if you have problems with them, there's a company call Ironmind which makes a whole line of grip training equipment....
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Ironmind rocks. If you want improved grip strength, they are the experts. It's because of them that I have dreams of someday crushing a coconut with my bare hands.
 
topher said:
Ironmind rocks. If you want improved grip strength, they are the experts. It's because of them that I have dreams of someday crushing a coconut with my bare hands.
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Hell, if you want to develop other worldly strength in general, they are who you need to see!
 
ThePharce said:
It was actually stated repeatedly in this thread that the knives could be opened or closed one handed. That's where the grip strength comments were directed.
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Yeah and I never said it couldn't be a one handed knife, though using 2 hands can make things easier when closing it. Even with its stiff spring and long lock travel to unlock, it doesn't take much strength. It just makes it more slow and cumbersome than a knife with an AXIS, Hawk, or improved compression lock, and probably a few others. They are all strong and reliable locks that allow the blade to be flipped open and closed without changing hand position much, if at all.

But without knowing what the OP defines a fun knife as, maybe that makes no difference. Maybe fun is trying to use a folding knife as a step to climb a tree? I would think he knows the CS knives aren't fast by this point so if he buys one he isn't looking to repeatedly flip a knife open and closed while sitting around a TV or camp fire.
 
"Fun" is so open-ended. Hell, I have fun just flicking open and closing my Endura 4. I will agree with countless others in this thread that the Recon 1 is fantastic for that price point. I've beaten the crap out of it and the AUS 8 has held up fairly well. I had the edge roll just a bit when I sliced through some fence post wrappings and struck the edge against a post, but I was able to sharpen it back to fighting form in no time flat. I've been extremely pleased with it and will likely be getting an AK-47 and American Lawman as well.
 
Kershaw Speed bump. Limited edition for sale at amazon for $40. Definitely a fun knife and a bit less than $65.
 
I have a recon 1 and a lawman. I use the lawman while Im working on the farm almost everyday. I don't know which one I like better though. The recon 1 is just so big is the reason I don't carry it as much.
If you want a "fun" knife for $65 you can't beat the benchmade griptilian imo. It is a fun knife to open and close because the axis lock allows the blade to just swing closed. Just make sure your fingers are in a safe place!
 
ac1d0v3r1d3 said:
For a "fun" knife check out the Spartan or AK-47. Not the most useful knives, but they're fun.
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+1 on the Spartan. BTW it is extremely useful! Also check out the CRKT Natural. Great looking and a very useful style of blade.
 
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