Best action on a budget knife?

For $26 I bought a Tec X (by Case / made in China), because I wanted to try out a few cheap gut hook knives at work.

The sheath absolute shite, and it had dangerously early lock up which I was able to remedy easy enough, but the action on that thing is amazingly fast and smooth... smdh
 
TwoSun Night Morning designs have all completely blown me away in quality, drop shutty action nearly matching my Skaha, and a good heat treat on the steel so it holds an edge. Sadly it's made with rather thick stock, so it doesn't cut amazingly, but it's ground pretty thin considering the 3.8mm stock.

Aside from TwoSun, the best action on a budget knife is from my Stedemon BP02, loosen the pivor to give it a smidge of lateral play and it's an absolute guillotine. Even tightened it's still drop shutty, but sometimes it needs a slight shake to get going.
 
skyhorse said:
The Kershaw Atmos has a good action for a $30 folder.
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Much agreed, I'm really loving mine, for a cheap and small EDC
 
The Steel Will Cutjack surprised me. I checked out 7-8 samples, and they were surprisingly nice in action.
 
Moki Fishowl, Pliant, & Red Fox. Though without one handed opening you don't get the full effect.
The Spyderco Chaparral is pretty smooth, so I assume the FRN version is the same.
The Ferrum Forge Gent is pretty nice.
 
LMD300 said:
Much agreed, I'm really loving mine, for a cheap and small EDC
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I'd read some really good reviews on this knife so I had to check it out. I was impressed for a $30 knife.No blade play with a tiny shake drop shut action.
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Ag Russell medium folding Gent's knife, very smooth action to open and close, I almost thought it was too easy, but it is not loose, no blade play.
 
Massdrop/FF/WE Gent Knife for $80 has exceptional action. For an even more budget friendly knife, the Steel Will Cutjack has a nice action and detent, especially for the price. I got the mini on the big A on sale for $31.
 
Real Steel T101 Thor. Big, heavy 3.75-inch blade of Sandvik 14C28N steel, captive ball bearings, flipper with a decently strong detent, super-reliable flipper, drop-shutty on closing.
 
Massdrop x Ferrum Forge Gent for me. $79.99 when I bought it. Caged bearings, ceramic detent ball. Great opening and closing action for a small knife.
 
aleforme said:
The Steel Will Cutjack is a good flipper.
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On my list.

PWatkins said:
Ruike p801 has a nice action
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Just picked this one up, price was well below asking so...
Verdict: :thumbsup:.
Took it apart (I do it to every knife I have owned), created a detent ramp on the blade, cleaned & lightly greased the washers & bang. She opens very quickly with the thumb studs w/o that unnatural thumb movement; shocking, I know. Closes without feeling the detent ball. Last but not least, contemplating blasting the frame for more grip. Right now, I'm diggin the smoooooovness.

Funny how I'm getting more :) outta this than my large Inkosi I used to own.
 
skyhorse said:
I'd read some really good reviews on this knife so I had to check it out. I was impressed for a $30 knife.No blade play with a tiny shake drop shut action.
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I've been tempted by this knife. But wondering if the construction is similar to the original Natrix with the stop pin sitting directly into unreinforced g10? With my Natrix giving such poor performance and life span, I have been very hesitant to dump any more money into these most recent g10 models.
 
I had an early production Taiwan made Gerber Air Ranger that was incredibly smooth with awesome lockup. Could thumb it open lightning fast. Apparently the early ones were better quality than the later ones.
 
The ontario rat is one of the smoothest BP knives I know of and it is also arguably the best value knife out there.
 
I own most of the above and I think the Kershaw Leek, Link, Steel Will Cutjack and Ontario Rat 1 knives open great for the $$$. Can’t go wrong with either.

Note: the scales on the Chinese (not M390 Italian) D2 Cutjack can be a bit rough on the thumb without a light sanding IME.
 
bflying said:
I've been tempted by this knife. But wondering if the construction is similar to the original Natrix with the stop pin sitting directly into unreinforced g10? With my Natrix giving such poor performance and life span, I have been very hesitant to dump any more money into these most recent g10 models.
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I passed on trying the Natrix after hearing about the issues, so far the Atmos has been ok although the stop pin is just press fit as well.
 
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