Affordably Awesome EDC

timberweasel · Feb 27, 2011

They may not be super knives, but Im super-impressed by these three little guys: Buck Nobleman, CRKT Drifter stainless steel frame-lock and CRKT Drifter G-10 liner-lock. Check them out if you havent already! :thumbup:

Calebklyne · Feb 27, 2011

Had the drifter liner lock and while I was impressed for the price I still haven't found a better knife under 50$ than a plain old opinel

Blueskat · Feb 27, 2011

How does the Buck Nobleman sharpen up? I have had a Buck Squire since 1976, and it has always been difficult to re-sharpen to just where I want it, hair-popping that is. Must be the bevel on it.

bigrob911 · Feb 27, 2011

I have carry a buck nobleman and it's great.

nightman · Feb 27, 2011

I had a Buck nobleman. It was well made it just wouldn't hold an edge.

Chocula · Feb 27, 2011

I had a G10 drifter and thought it was great but tiny. Its amazing what a bit of G10 can do to make a knife feel high quality.

timberweasel · Feb 28, 2011

Blueskat said:
How does the Buck Nobleman sharpen up? I have had a Buck Squire since 1976, and it has always been difficult to re-sharpen to just where I want it, hair-popping that is. Must be the bevel on it.

Well, the Nobleman's blade is 440A steel with a high hollow grind. It's easy to sharpen and can get scary/scalpel sharp with little effort. Being relatively soft steel, it's also easy to roll the edge. Definitely not a hard use knife.

Harayasu · Feb 28, 2011

I had a Buck Nobleman and liked it, but sold it to buy an other knife. Do you feel the CRKT Drifter line is comparable in quality with the Nobleman? And which of the Drifters do you like most? I saw both models in a webshop, but don't know what I would like most. I think the G10 handle would be most comfortable and suitable for outdoor use, right?

Redeye · Feb 28, 2011

The Nobleman is made by SanRenMu, and they make the same knife under their own name for a lot less money.

I wouldn't say these knives are 'awesome', but if they float your boat then that's a good thing.

timberweasel · Feb 28, 2011

Harayasu said:
I had a Buck Nobleman and liked it, but sold it to buy an other knife. Do you feel the CRKT Drifter line is comparable in quality with the Nobleman? And which of the Drifters do you like most? I saw both models in a webshop, but don't know what I would like most. I think the G10 handle would be most comfortable and suitable for outdoor use, right?

I think the Drifters and the Nobleman are similar in overall build quality, but I think the materials are better on the CRKT knives.

The G-10 and stainless steel Drifters feel like two completely different knives, to be honest. I kind of like the heavier stainless one myself (I like the thicker lock,) but yeah, the G-10 version would probably last longer in the elements (the blade is also TiNi coated on the G-10 version.) Neither are suitable for hard use though.

Redeye said:
The Nobleman is made by SanRenMu, and they make the same knife under their own name for a lot less money.

I wouldn't say these knives are 'awesome', but if they float your boat then that's a good thing.

Yes, Buck outsources to SanRenMu. Yes, SanRenMu makes a nearly identical model.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=763269

SRM are also 'affordably awesome', IMHO. Any of these knives I've mentioned are good add-on's to any knife order--easier to do with a Buck than an SRM.