Recommendation? Any Thoughts on Damned Designs Basilisk?

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Harko

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I'm continuing my poking around the internet looking at knives again today at work, got a lot of downtime lately here.

My search is drifting into some other budget options for a general utility knife for camping. I came across the Damned Designs Basilisk and the Ruike Jager. Both are 14C knives, are easy on the wallet, and are of a comparable size to the Guardian 4. I'm sure there are going to be large quality differences between these budget options and the Bradfords, but does anyone have anything good or bad to say about these knives?

I saw that Damned Designs is a user on here and there was some discussion about their products a couple years ago, but not much since.
 
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unwisefool said:
I got to tell you, most of those designs look like they were created by someone who wanted a knife to look cool for a movie or video game, and not for actual knifey use.
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Haha! It struck me as pretty similar to the Kabar Becker Harpoon, which was another knife I was looking at, just a big ol fat belly knife. But the Basilisk has, for me, the advantage of being a more corrosion resistant steel
 
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Looks like the DD Basilisk is a folder and the Jager is a fixed. Are you looking for a folder/fixed combo or just a fixed blade? I didn't see anything that the Basilisk also comes in a fixed blade.
RUIKE has a pretty good rep for being a good, budget knife. The P801 is a classic recommendation on budget folders at $30. They do a good job on their 14c28 from what I've read.

Nothing wrong with the RUIKE imo. I know nothing about DD knives.

You could always go with a Buck 105 or large Selkirk too if you want a sub 5" blade.
 
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gazz98 said:
Looks like the DD Basilisk is a folder and the Jager is a fixed. Are you looking for a folder/fixed combo or just a fixed blade? I didn't see anything that the Basilisk also comes in a fixed blade.
RUIKE has a pretty good rep for being a good, budget knife. The P801 is a classic recommendation on budget folders at $30. They do a good job on their 14c28 from what I've read.

Nothing wrong with the RUIKE imo. I know nothing about DD knives.

You could always go with a Buck 105 or large Selkirk too if you want a sub 5" blade.
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Here's the fixed version of the Basilisk, I think it's an older design of theirs so it has been replaced on their site https://www.bladehq.com/item--Damned-Designs-Basilisk-Fixed-Blade--143300
 
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Geez, my initial search only found the folder. I feel like a n00b.

What size glove do you wear? The handle on the RUIKE is 4.25". A tad on the small side imo. I do wear 2xl+ gloves tho.

If you think the handle will be ok on the Jager, I might lean that way. Reason? RUIKE has a good rep on heat treating their 14c28. I don't know much about DD and their heat treating.

Either way, I think you will be fine tho. Hopefully someone who owns a DD will chime in.
 
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gazz98 said:
Geez, my initial search only found the folder. I feel like a n00b.

What size glove do you wear? The handle on the RUIKE is 4.25". A tad on the small side imo. I do wear 2xl+ gloves tho.

If you think the handle will be ok on the Jager, I might lean that way. Reason? RUIKE has a good rep on heat treating their 14c28. I don't know much about DD and their heat treating.

Either way, I think you will be fine tho. Hopefully someone who owns a DD will chime in.
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No way are you a noob, I'm finding these knives in the most noobish way possible, going to bladehq and getting obsessive about steel properties and then looking at knives from each steel type.

I have pretty small hands, I usually wear a M in garden gloves and nitriles. I like the look of Ruike, I just also like that big belly on the DD and the wide blade. The rest of the DD knives seem well-received, it just doesn't look like the Basilisk fixed was too popular, but the other reviews seem to speak highly of their quality. I think my interest in it is coming from the fact that I like the Becker Harpoon and it's the knife I was initially going to pull the trigger on before remembering that I've had kind of a bad experience with 1095 corroding in the past. I might just be willing to be a guinea pig for the forum if I decide to grab the DD
 
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