American made, affordable flipper?

kingston73

kingston73

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Oct 14, 2013
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I'm wondering what the best affordable, American made flipper currently available would be? Affordable to me means under about $50 give or take. I know there's several versions of the buck vantage but I've read many poor reviews of them. There's the skyline and the leek, but what other blades are in the same category? If you had to choose just one, what would it be?
 
Does they Skyline fall into the category? I can't remember at what price point comes in at.
 
I was always real happy with my Kershaw junk yard dog. Slightly more than 50, iirc it was around 75.
 
WadeWilson said:
Does they Skyline fall into the category? I can't remember at what price point comes in at.
Click to expand...

My Skyline was $40 new (not blem) for the standard stonewash model. It is an excellent knife for the money, for light duty EDC it is hard to beat.

There is also the Kershaw Shallot, standard bead blasted models can be found under $50.
 
Another vote for the Kershaw Link. Nice USA flipper for the money 👍 Kevin
 
Link is a good knife and great flipper, but it is assisted, if that makes a difference to you. I had two different models of the Vantage, and would recommend both as good knives, but neither was a great flipper.
 
Just echoing the recommendation of the Link.

Links_20150525_5_800x432.jpg


The Onion line-up (Chive, Scallion, Leek, and Shallot) are also all US-made and can often be found for under $50, likewise with the Skyline. There's also the Knockout and Piston that are a bit over $50, but also both US-made and great flippers. The Camber runs closer to $70, but that too is an excellent knife.

ZT0770_Link_Camber_open_800x453.jpg


I've had a couple Vantage Pro's, and while I like the design, the execution was so-so (the small was good, but F&F, lockup, and opening action on the large was not good).

Leek_NeedsWork_Cryo_Vantage_open1_800x577.jpg
 
Among the manual flippers that are made in USA for less than $50, your only real choices are the Kershaw Skyline and the Buck Vantage. The problem with the Buck; I've never seen one that was a good flipper and most that I've seen from the Select and Avid line have had fit and finish problems. Between the two, I'll take the Skyline. It's an incredible knife at this pricepoint.

If you're looking for Assisted Open USA made, you have a few more options. Kershaw offers the Link (my favorite from this group) and all the Onion designs (Scallion, Leek, Chive and Shallot). Buck has a couple of offerings that I don't know much about; the Inertia and the Rush. If you can stretch the budget a bit Kershaw has the Knockout, Piston (currently discontinued but still available), the Rake, the Camber and a myriad of different Blurs. In my opinion the Knockout, Piston, Rake, Camber and Blur are all worth the little extra money over the cheaper AO knives. You might be happier to save a bit longer and go for one of them.
 
If you want to try out a Vantage for just the cost of shipping, drop me an e-mail, I'll send you one I have with G10 scales and 420HC blade.

If you need the knife to be a manual flipper (not assisted-opening), you might try contacting a dealer like whitty here and see if he cannot check for a Kerhsaw Link with a proper detent that can be de-assisted for manual use...
 
I'll vote for kershaw camber, one of the best perf/price ratio. I can fund it for $68 right now and it's with S30V steel.
 
Had personal experience with the Skyline. Really good flipper for under $50. The link looks pretty cool, kinda reminds me of a ZT.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I like the look of the link but how does the steel perform?

I also like the camber, a little more expensive than what I was looking for but not that much.

I really wish the vantage was a better knife, it looks great to me but I've just read far too many cases of it having poor build quality and not flipping well.

I was looking at Kershaw guy and they've got some good prices on some blem's, I might go there once I decide what I want. Any reason not to get a blemish knife?
 
If you go a few bucks more (no pun intended) you can grab a Buck Marksman. Not only is it a phenomenal flipper, but it may very well have the strongest lock that can be found on a flipper.


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