Recommendation? Belt knife question

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DMG

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Dec 30, 2005
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Every few years I get the hankering for a new belt knife. This has led me to a bunch of different knives. The First was a Carbon 5 SRK 30 years ago and more recently, the Benchmade Bushcrafter, Spyderco Aqua Salt, Esee 4, Blind Horse Bushpig, Hogue EX01 and a White River FC5. Etc.

I use these knives when hunting, camping and working around our property.

I have been looking at some of the Carothers and Winkler offerings around 5-6 inches long. I am wondering if I will notice any real performance improvement over the knives I have and use.
Has anyone here owned a FC5 or BM Bushcrafter and a Carothers, Winkler, Survive! or similar and compared them? What do I need to know?
 
I’d say it sounds like it’s time to have a custom hunting knife made for yourself. For a little more than some of the production knives listed, a Journeyman Smith could forge you something really nice. I hunt, camp, hike, etc and don’t need a knife to stab through car doors or chop cinder blocks, then again, I don’t know how hard you are on your knives.

For all of the common tasks in the outdoors, you’ll likely not see the difference in steel makeup, but more so the difference in the knife itself. How it carries, how it feels in hand, how comfortable it is while cutting for longer periods of time, etc.

If you’re against carbon steel, well, there’s a crap ton of guys that make knives in stainless also!
 
Jsega51 said:
I hunt, camp, hike, etc and don’t need a knife to stab through car doors or chop cinder blocks, then again, I don’t know how hard you are on your knives.
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It seems I sometimes damage knives just by looking at them the wrong way, so I try to get the toughest and best I can. So far it's been Busse and Carothers.
 
Carothers knives ... you will get an exceptional knife at an amazing value. You will definitely notice a difference not only in performance but in feel and appearance they really are one of the best values available IMHO. I carry one of the EDC2s almost daily ... I have for years and it has impressed me more times than I can count.

They make knives that are meant to be used. The Delta heat treat Nathan developed for his 3V knives is really incredible. They are not extremely hard to sharpen as some steels and they hold an edge a long time ... and they are great cutters ... even the big choppers will cut extremely well. If you watch some of Nathan's testing the toughness is beyond anything I'll ever need in a knife but it is nice to know it's there in a pinch.

With CPK you get some of the best knives you'll ever own at any price. And from a small company that cares about their product and about their customers ... bar none the absolute best at taking care of their customers.

I own a few Winkler knives and I do like them but they all needed thinned down a bit to be good cutters. They are built for harsh use and they are tough but they give up some cutting performance to achieve it IMHO. They don't match CPK knives in handle comfort but they are not uncomfortable in hand. For the same or more money I can't recommend them over a CPK.

I owed a Survive and without getting into their poor business practices and out right lying to people their knives are run of the mill compared to these other brands. And you may wait years to get anything from them if you get it at all. I sold mine long ago.
 
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unwisefool said:
It seems I sometimes damage knives just by looking at them the wrong way, so I try to get the toughest and best I can. So far it's been Busse and Carothers.
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I’m sure you’re not the only one! I cringe at some pictures I see posted here lol. Ever watched a Journeyman Smith test where they have to bend a forged blade past 90* without it breaking, chipping, or damaging it in anyway? Seems like they can take a beating, but really, I don’t know what guys are doing to break and damage knives in normal use. I am interested to hear though.

I don’t need to baton through chunks of wood, I use a camp axe. When hunting, I don’t see how people can break a knife. I’ve field dressed plenty of animals with a pocket knife and many people use those thin replaceable blade razor knives, like Havalon.

From the OP’s first post, it sounded like he’s got plenty of knives to beat on, I figured maybe he’d enjoy a custom made one to stand out from the productions. But from the comments, guess he needs to buy a Carothers. This will give him time to save for that custom order next year :D
 
Jsega51 said:
I’m sure you’re not the only one! I cringe at some pictures I see posted here lol. Ever watched a Journeyman Smith test where they have to bend a forged blade past 90* without it breaking, chipping, or damaging it in anyway? Seems like they can take a beating, but really, I don’t know what guys are doing to break and damage knives in normal use. I am interested to hear though.

I don’t need to baton through chunks of wood, I use a camp axe. When hunting, I don’t see how people can break a knife. I’ve field dressed plenty of animals with a pocket knife and many people use those thin replaceable blade razor knives, like Havalon.

From the OP’s first post, it sounded like he’s got plenty of knives to beat on, I figured maybe he’d enjoy a custom made one to stand out from the productions. But from the comments, guess he needs to buy a Carothers. This will give him time to save for that custom order next year :D
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I don't know, I'm just clumsy I guess :(.
 
unwisefool said:
It seems I sometimes damage knives just by looking at them the wrong way, so I try to get the toughest and best I can. So far it's been Busse and Carothers.
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I have looked at Busse and they are somewhat appealing but they seem to be too thick and heavy. I am going to decide which knives to part with and which Carothers blade to purchase.
 
Carothers knives live up to the hype; but, if you're just now starting to think about selling knives to fund one, and haven't considered the models, you're at a disadvantage. These aren't high production knives with availability that allows one to purchase any model at any time. You get what he's making when he's making it, or you buy used. He's been selling off Blade show inventory; so there has been a decent selection available; but the options are getting fewer. The bad news is that some of the most favored models aren't going to be offered again for a while (if ever)...the good news is that there are other models coming.
 
unwisefool said:
I don't know, I'm just clumsy I guess :(.
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Maybe I’m just extra cautious haha. Don’t take my comments as criticism. I have no experience with the knives the OP was mentioning and damn if I don’t see myself looking at Carother’s knives myself when I see the sales pop up lol.
 
hhmoore said:
Carothers knives live up to the hype; but, if you're just now starting to think about selling knives to fund one, and haven't considered the models, you're at a disadvantage. These aren't high production knives with availability that allows one to purchase any model at any time. You get what he's making when he's making it, or you buy used. He's been selling off Blade show inventory; so there has been a decent selection available; but the options are getting fewer. The bad news is that some of the most favored models aren't going to be offered again for a while (if ever)...the good news is that there are other models coming.
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I have a bunch of knives that never get used so I would like to sell them to buy more but if time is of the essence I can move faster. I would like some variation of the field knife or the utility fighter.
Hopefully those are all still available.
Where do I buy them?
 
The utility knife is out of production & out of stock; so you're left with the secondary market unless Nathan revisits/revises the pattern.
There may still be some FK2s.

Check out his forum here for sales (direct and secondary).
 
DMG said:
I have a bunch of knives that never get used so I would like to sell them to buy more but if time is of the essence I can move faster. I would like some variation of the field knife or the utility fighter.
Hopefully those are all still available.
Where do I buy them?
Click to expand...

You could post what you're looking for in this thread or start a thread here.
 
DMG said:
Carothers, Winkler, Survive! or similar and compared them? What do I need to know?
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I've owned Carothers, currently own 7 Winklers, lost count on the amount of Busses I've owned in the past 22 years... what I've bolded in your quote above.

That SURVIVE! Knives are nothing more than scam artists that fail to deliver.
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/survive-deserves-a-permanent-post-in-the-hall-of-shame.1613748/
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/survive-knives-forum-should-be-closed.1613828/
https://www.bbb.org/us/id/kellogg/profile/custom-knives/survive-knives-1296-1000035317/complaints
 
Jsega51 said:
Maybe I’m just extra cautious haha. Don’t take my comments as criticism. I have no experience with the knives the OP was mentioning and damn if I don’t see myself looking at Carother’s knives myself when I see the sales pop up lol.
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LOL! CPK knives are usually gone in minutes! I think many people sleep at their computer waiting for one to come up for sale...:D
 
DMG said:
I have a bunch of knives that never get used so I would like to sell them to buy more but if time is of the essence I can move faster. I would like some variation of the field knife or the utility fighter.
Hopefully those are all still available.
Where do I buy them?
Click to expand...

I just put some ECAM scales on my gorgeous UF! Sorry, it is not for sale.

UF-ECAM-5a.jpg
 
000Robert said:
LOL! CPK knives are usually gone in minutes! I think many people sleep at their computer waiting for one to come up for sale...:D
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In the last sale thread of Blade inventory, it was open for quite a while before the 20 spots were gone and there were plenty of options. Sometimes waiting isn’t a bad thing. Once the crazy frenzy is over and most people have the knives, it’s not that hard to get in line.
 
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