Been away 10 years, what key knives have I missed?

T

triz neena

Joined
Aug 4, 2007
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Hello,

After a long hiatus I fell down a youtube rabbit hole of knives and got the itch to buy something new, so: What are the production folding favorites of the last ~3 years?

From what I gathered, the Spyderco Shaman was clearly a hit but I would be mildly irritated with the compression lock together with the blade maybe pinching the finger when closing. Also the prices are considered obscene? If it comes in axis type lock in the next version I could see myself buying that. Liking the Manix 2 also.

Other than the shaman nothing really popped out. When I last was into knives the grail knives were a Strider SMG and a CR Sebenza but I did not have the funds I do now. However, I would still like to keep it <400 dollars so "31" is an option.

The collection that I ended up keeping these years is:
- ZT 0560bw, stone washed blade : I actually dont use this much since it is a beast, but it is just such a beautiful thing and so fun to flip open. It's like a satisfying little car door that whacks open followed by a nail gun pop that thuds closed.
- Spyderco tenacious: international trips, backpacking, around the house, dont care, do anything knife. Think I bought it for 35 bucks new back in the day and could not believe the quality for what I paid. It was controversial to have a chinese made knife by Spyderco at the time but look where we are now.
- Spyderco Pacific Salt : no full flat grind available back then which I would want but this works good enough. Use it for overnight kayaking or also camping, anything where corrosion or salt water is a thing.

I regret selling a Spyderco Delica zdp189 that had some corrosion on it which I sent to Spyderco who reground into a full flat grind which you could not buy at the time. Sold it to a friend for peanuts and that shmuck sold it 6 months later without telling me. I would have bought it back. Sold it since it wasnt getting used. The blade and handle is too small for my hands.

Last week I ordered:
-Benchmade bug-out. Always wanted an axis lock. Now I see the doug ritter is no longer with benchmade but luckily his knife is still available with some upgrades so I would like to get that also.
-WE Banter. Saw some good reviews online and just went for it.
-Civivi Brigand. Just wanted to try it as a beater.

Any opinions would be appreciated.
 
You have some good knives already it seems. The Manix 2 is phenomenal, a great edc knife.

If you like the axis lock, its patent ran out so it’s used by various companies now. The Hogue Deka is a nice, inexpensive knife using it. It will be coming out in MagnaCut sometime this year. Magnacut is the hot new steel right now. Created by Dr. Larkin Thomas, it is a great all-around steel: very tough for a PM stainless, very good edge retention, and almost completely corrosion proof. I’m loving Magnacut.

Another really hot knife is the Demko AD20/20.5. It features Demkos new shark lock, which is supposed to be the strongest lock out there, and it’s very easy to operate. The 20 is over your budget, but the 20.5 is easy enough to find and a great little blade.
 
Some must tries, in my opinion. We'll do a few brands.

Spyderco: straight spine stretch K390, Carribbean
Benchmade: Freek M4, Adamas CRUWEAR
SOG: nothing
Cold Steel: American Lawman, AD10/15
CiWEvi: Elementum S35VN, Kitefin
Kershaw/ZT: nothing, maybe the 0707?

When I say nothing, I don't mean nothing from them is good, just saying nothing really pops out as must try...
 
triz neena said:
What are the production folding favorites of the last ~3 years?
Click to expand...

A lot of production folders have come and gone w/in the past 3 years.

The knives you owned and considered "good" 10 years ago are still "good" now but not all of them made 3-10 years ago are still made now.

Striders and Chris Reeves are still considered "grail" knives by some. You could add Hinderer, CFK, Koenig, Chaves, Olamic and Shirogorov (among others) to the list of limited production/semi custom folders to consider, if they weren't on your radar 10 years ago.

Hard to make any recommendations w/o any specific criteria but, based on the knives you've kept, bought and want to buy, I'd say that:

1) The only ZTs made in the past 3 yrs that you might want to consider are the 0308 and the 0640.

2) Spydercos that you may not have considered previously are the: Emphasis, Resilience, Smock, SpyOpera, Pattadese, Kapara, Native Chief, Swayback and SpydieChef.

There are also many newer variants of long established Spyderco models -- like the Manix, Police, Military, Para Military, Shaman, Endura, Endela, Delica, Native, etc. -- that have been released w/in the past 3 years. Too many to mention here.

3) With the exception of a Grey G10 Crooked River, the only Benchmades that I own are autos and balis but the Bugout and the Doug Ritter (in all of its variations) have always been popular and should serve you well.

Beyond this, I can only suggest that you let your fingers do the walking while you browse thru the online catalogs of the major knife dealers and makers to see what else you've missed in the past 3 years.
 
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Not in any particular order except for #1, still smile every time I use the Neutron..

1. TRM Neutron 2 - possibly still my favorite folder of all time
2. BM Mini Adamas Cruwear or BM Freek
3. Demko AD 20.5 - great fidget factor
4. Shaman - not really worth the asking price imo, but still a good knife
5. Protech Malibu - if u want a button lock its pretty good

Idk, just a few off the top of my head lol. Welcome back to the addiction 😂
 
The Tenacious and Resilience have blue FRN lightweight versions with S35VN steel. I have one of each I modded for pointier tips and thinner grinds, and another Resilience I shortened to be a leaf blade slightly larger than the Tenacious.

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1. Protech- Malibu for smaller knife. Mordax for larger. Should be out soon in Magnacut this year.

2. Hogue- Doug Ritter RSK mini or regular size. Deka in Magnacut or 20cv. Can wait for en exclusive for different scales and colors.

3. Integral- Will leave this open to any company and knife you find appealing and available.

4. Benchmade- Adamas, Super Freek, M4 Bailout, and Crooked River.

5. Spyderco- Spydiechef, Shaman, PM2 Tanto if you can find one.
 
You missed grossly overpaying for a Spyderco Slysz Bowie on the secondary market.
A lot of people apparently have Koenig and Shiro money.
Half Face is doing their thing with a SHPOS
 
Welcome back to the insanity! Prices have also gone parabolic in the last 10 years.
I don't think you're going to easily find an SNG or Sebenza 31 for less than $500 unless it's somewhat used.

I'll add:
Spartan - Harsey Folder - I need one soon.
Microtech - Exocet - many flavors (Bounty Hunter, Jedi Knight/Master, Storm Trooper) available of this sub 2" blade CA legal OTF.

One word of warning:
Avoid Hoback until you read the dumpster fire in the GB&U forum and decide for yourself.
 
10 years! Welcome back. 🥳

Off the cuff, in no particular order, and sticking to your budget:

• Front flippers. You'll probably love them or hate them, but they're now prevalent enough that there are good ones in every price bracket. My favorites have been the Pena Trapper (made by Reate) and the EMP EDC Nymble (made by QSP).

• CPM CruWear and CPM MagnaCut are both pretty hot blade steels right now. I've tried CruWear and liked it, but don't own any MagnaCut knives yet.

• The rise of WE and Reate, and on the budget end of things the WE sub-brand CIVIVI. The Snecx Mini Buster is probably my favorite WE knife; for Reate I tend to prefer models where they're the OEM, like the Pena X-Series Rhino. I've never owned a bad CIVIVI.

• The Sebenza 31 has been polarizing, but I love mine. Right on the cusp of your budget if you can find a gently used one.

• Demko Knives. Demko has been minting money with the AD20, AD20S, and AD20.5. I've only owned an AD20.5, but it was neat; I prefer the Axis lock, though.

• Lots of boutique companies. Maybe this isn't new, but it feels like it's a lot more prevalent now than even five years ago? I'm thinking of folks like MBK, EMP EDC, Something Obscene, and the like, who contract with an OEM in China to make mid- to high-end production knives and sell them in small batches.
 
Definitely check out the Hogue Deka in MagnaCut. The steel was developed for an ideal balance of properties by Larrin Thomas. It ended up being stainless enough for Spyderco to start using it in their Salt series.

Another thing that has changed is the explosion in quality Chinese manufacturers. They aren't just doing OEM work anymore, and they have a lot to offer. The best examples from my perspective are probably WE and Kizer.

You've already got a couple of WE knives on order. Here are some of my favorites from WE, including their sub-brands Civivi and Sencut. (Civivi has become WE's budget-ish mid-tier while Sencut is their new entry-level brand.) From left to right in this picture: the WE Beacon in 20CV, the Civivi Appalachian Drifter 2 in S35VN, the Civivi Elementum in S35VN, and the Sencut Neches in 10Cr15CoMov (a Chinese analog of VG-10). The Elementum has been an extremely popular knife and a whole bunch of variations exist. This one is a BladeHQ exclusive and totally worth it. Besides the upgrade to S35VN, it has slightly thinner blade stock for great slicing.

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Kizer has a whole bunch of interesting designs. The Gemini, designed by Ray Laconico, remains one of my favorites. This exclusive from Mojave Outdoors in burlap Micarta and N690 might be the most recent. The Mini Begleiter is one of their more popular designs. It is available in a few different steels, a couple of different blade shapes, and various handle materials. This one runs N690 and is wearing a smoothly finished red Micarta.

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