American Knife Idol - Hard Use Folder Edition

averageiowaguy

averageiowaguy

Joined
Mar 22, 2011
Messages
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Hey,
I'm looking for a real hard use folder. I was recently very disappointed when I bought a supposedly hard use folder. I watched and read about 30 reviews of the knife and they must have all been made/written by fanboys.

Here are the rules for my American Knife Idol (LOL) Contest:
1) G10 cannot be a main structural component of the knife. I don't want a frame lock titanium side with G10 on the other side.
2) I don't want the locking mechanism to be the standard one that is on the back of the handle. Frame locks are OK (I guess) as long as the other half of the knife isn't plastic. Liner locks are OK (I guess) as long as they are very very very sturdy. I'm open to other locking mechanisms.
3) It needs to be full sized. I am not super concerned about price because I just canceled an order from the same maker as my supposed hard use folder disappointment.
4) It needs to be readily available. I'm not military so I can't get stuff from the guys who are so busy they will only sell to active duty military. Custom knives are OK as long as it is more or less ready to ship.
5) Made in the US is a big plus. Made in China is a dis-qualifier.

I'm really interested in what you think. If you have a candidate I'd love to know about it. My problem is that I am not a knife encyclopedia and I don't know everything that is out there. I'd appreciate a push in the right direction. Thanks in advance,
AIG
 
Well Moonberrys beat me to it. I just got a Benchmade 275 in the mail and it is probably the toughest built Benchmade to date. It has a thicker than average blade that is thick all the way to the tip. The AXIS lockbar is a larger diameter than normal and the pivot appears to be beefy but I haven't pulled it to see. It just has a very solid feel and I trust the AXIS lock much more than liner and frame locks. Not quite as big as a full size Ruckus but it feels even more strong. I have also been impressed with Benchmade D2 and I think it is the best steel they use (with their heat treat) except for maybe M390.
 
Zero Tolerance has some models that fit.

benchmade Lum tanto? 4 inch blade, titanium framelock, M4 steel.
 
I've recommended this a lot....the ZT0550

STP80436.jpg
 
ZT 0200 and 0550, Spyderco Gayle Bradley, and the CRK Umnumzaan are all good.

What was the knife you had before, and how did you break it? There are some things no folders are meant to do.
 
The ZT 200 is an excellent all around hard use knife though the agressive texture on the G-10 handles can tear up pockets that aside I still think highly of mine.
 
It's interesting almost everything suggested is a framelock. A framelock that works correctly should be plenty strong enough for anything a knife should be made to do. But there are other locks that have been shown to be quite a bit stronger than framelocks.
 
If you can break a decently made framelock, you need a fixed blade for that job. besides, you aren't cutting with the back of the knife.
 
Just wondering what you will be using the knife for ?
Can you tell us what you consider "hard use" to be.
When people say "Hard use" I find it hard to figure out if they mean

1) A knife designed and build tough and stronger then normal knives.
or
2) A knife that will be used hard.

English is not my first languish, so there might be some fine distinction in the wording of the text, I'm not picking up on, even if I do consider my understanding of English to be sufficient for the Internet
 
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