best all around knife and why.

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malmais

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Aug 22, 2014
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Ok I'm very new to this forum and decently wet behind the ear with knives. So I'm here to absorb as much information as I can.
First off, what is the best steel in your opinion I.E. carbon, aus 8, Damascus? I'm looking for strong enough that it doesn't need to be sharpened everyday, but not so hard that it will break on me.

Secondly in your opinion, what is the best full tang knife of manufacture? I spend a lot of time in the woods, camping and hunting and I own the ka bar black tanto and it is a great knife but it's to long for many task, and I'm a little nervous to use it to pry or bash when making kindlen.

Thank you for any and all advice

Greenhorn
 
No such thing. Flawed question. Give us a specific use case, or series of use cases, and the answers will be forthcoming. However, there's one fact. There is no best all around knife. There are countless different tasks that knives can or do perform, which is why there are different designs, steels, and so on.

Just saying.

Also, welcome to the Board. You're definitely in the right place to learn more about knives. :thumbup:
 
Welcome to BF!
The best steel and best knife depend entirely on what you want to use the knife for. If you want a woods knife, you need high toughness - carbon steels, INFI, SR101, Sandvik stainless, maybe D2 or O1 tool steels. If it's an office carry, you might prefer greater wear resistance - 154CM, S30V, S90V, ZDP189, etc. Damascus is designed purely for looks and while it'll do fine for light tasks, it won't excel in either toughness or edge retention.

If it's a woods knife you're looking for, carbon steels always perform admirably. You will need to sharpen pretty frequently though. Don't be afraid to beat on that Kabar though, they can hold up to a lot more abuse than you think. If you want something a bit smaller, I would suggest an ESEE-4, Becker BK16, or Mora Bushcraft (least expensive option, not full tang but plenty tough anyway).
 
Welcome. That's a fair question that won't be answered in this thread. The only way to figure out the answer for you is to read, read, read.

And don't pay attention to the people who give you smart aleck answers. Those guys are jerks.
 
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For the uses you mentioned (hunting and camping) I might recommend something from ESEE. I can't give a specific model since you didn't give a specifics length you were looking for, but maybe something like an ESEE 4, or an ESEE 6. Main reason I'm recommending ESEE is because you said you were afraid of using your KABAR for prying or batoning. With ESEE your fears are meaningless since no matter what, if your ESEE breaks they will replace it.

Second knife I might recommend, if your budget permits, is the Zero Tolerance 0300. While ZT's warranty is not quite as good as ESEE, it is none the less great. Also with the CPM3V blade, you can thump on it worry free.

However, repeating what Quiet said, you need to be more specific. I don't know your budget or use cases, etc.
 
malmais said:
Ok I'm very new to this forum and decently wet behind the ear with knives. So I'm here to absorb as much information as I can.
First off, what is the best steel in your opinion I.E. carbon, aus 8, Damascus? I'm looking for strong enough that it doesn't need to be sharpened everyday, but not so hard that it will break on me.

Secondly in your opinion, what is the best full tang knife of manufacture? I spend a lot of time in the woods, camping and hunting and I own the ka bar black tanto and it is a great knife but it's to long for many task, and I'm a little nervous to use it to pry or bash when making kindlen.

Thank you for any and all advice

Greenhorn
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First, I would suggest reading up on steels. Carbon steel is its own category--there are dozens if not hundreds of types that are used for knives. There are also in-between steels like INFI and D2 that are semi-stainless. Damascus itself is a rather vague category--it refers to the visual style and sometimes forging process, but does not refer to a specific type of steel or wear properties. Most Damascus I have seen is not marked with the type of steel used--in this scenario, assume it's not a very good one. For a woods knife I think 1095 is great for the price (it's what your Ka-Bar is made out of), and 5160, 52100, SR101, and INFI are all terrific performers as well. These are all types of carbon steel (except for INFI which is an in-between steel).

Best full tang knife? Anything made by Jerry Busse--but expect to pay a lot. If you want a good woods knife that is shorter than the Ka-Bar, I would get a Swamp Rat Ratmandu. It's my all-time favorite ~5" woods knife. It's $159 and is made to order, giving it a wait time of at least a few weeks if not a month or more. If you want something cheaper I would get a Becker BK10--it's another favorite of mine in the 5" range. The Becker BK16 is another good performer in the 4" range, as is the ESEE 4. If you want stainless (always a tradeoff--it's usually more brittle than carbon steel or harder to sharpen), look at Fallkniven. The F1 and S1 are great woods knives in the 4-5" range.
 
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There is no "best" when it comes to knives, only what suits your needs and personal preference. To some extent it's kind of like cars. If you want a no frills car that gets great gas millage and takes you to point A to point B and is cheap to run and dead reliable a Prius may be your answer as their hybrid system is extremely reliable and they get great gas millage. If you want a "street legal go kart" type of car that focuses on driver experience and fun handling a Mazda Miata (MX-5) may be something that interests you. And the list goes on, same thing with knives.

For me the most practical blade shape of a knife seems to be the one from Opinel or Victorinox main blade, the Opinels carbon steel is high up there on my list on steels I like from what I've put one through and I would personally take it over what most people consider vastly superior steels. But I would still take the S110V Opinel. Only thing I dislike or am not a fan of Opinels is pretty much everything but the blade which I can't express how much I love.

Best bet is to list what you want in a knife, what you plan on using it for and your budget along and see what kind of suggestions we throw out at you.
 
There on tons of good comments on this thread.

Best all around overall is a Spyderco "Delica" (my recomendation is on the number of Spyderco knives sold, not on my personal EDC).


Here is a good youtube review of this "Delica". I think it would be a good starting point for any serious knife user.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ4A6ItKCn0
 
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Best for what? Box cutter will do 80% of the work you need a knife for. (I admit 80% is really just an arbitrary number) ;)

Are you a ranch hand, office worker, farmer, school teacher, student, FBI agent, doctor or teenager if we figure out what you are then we can figure out what's best all around for you.
 
A Delica? Are you saying the Delica has outsold all other knives? Where are you getting your information?

Just curious. Where does a basic Swiss Army knife stand? I cannot imagine Delicas outselling a basic SAK. Shoot, even women and children get them, and it's often everyone's first knife.

Original Poster, you're getting stellar advice. Welcome to the forum!
 
Since I'm a Fallkniven junkie I recommend any one of their fixed blades. Beautiful styles, great steel which stays sharp for the longest I've seen. Check em out as I'm pretty sure one will catch your eye. Little pricey but it's something you will have forever and most likely cherish as I do mine
 
Malmais stated he wants a durable woods/hunting knife that is shorter and stouter than the Ka-Bar Tanto, not a pain to sharpen, is not brittle, and is full-tang. It will be used for prying and bashing when making kindling. I'm not sure why people are asking what the knife will be used for or why anyone would recommend a folder.
 
Ok maybe i was a little vague, I appologize. I'm looking for something with a 7" blade, full tang with a thick blade. I t. has to primarily good a wood cutting, for things like kindlen, prepping, and other. ssociated task. I'm partial to 1095 carbon steel, partially because i have heard so many good things about it and the ka bar name. But as for me i am in my mid 20s. And i am always in the woods huntin and camping. I have 2 primary knives a kershaw flip which i sharpen almost every day and my ka bar. And i apologize on my. Grammer I am on a pos cell phone
 
Quiet said:
No such thing. Flawed question. Give us a specific use case, or series of use cases, and the answers will be forthcoming. However, there's one fact. There is no best all around knife. There are countless different tasks that knives can or do perform, which is why there are different designs, steels, and so on.

Just saying.

Also, welcome to the Board. You're definitely in the right place to learn more about knives. :thumbup:
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EXCELLENT answer.
 
The Wildsteer WX folder is the best all-round knife and the best knife in the world.

If you don't want one of those, one of the DPx HEST II's sounds exactly like what you might want.
 
malmais said:
Ok maybe i was a little vague, I appologize. I'm looking for something with a 7" blade, full tang with a thick blade. I t. has to primarily good a wood cutting, for things like kindlen, prepping, and other. ssociated task. I'm partial to 1095 carbon steel, partially because i have heard so many good things about it and the ka bar name. But as for me i am in my mid 20s. And i am always in the woods huntin and camping. I have 2 primary knives a kershaw flip which i sharpen almost every day and my ka bar. And i apologize on my. Grammer I am on a pos cell phone
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Ontario rd 7 bush or Becker bk7
 
I would suggest the following. In stead of getting the "best" knife, get a decent quality starter knife and use the saved money getting the basic 3 stone Lansky guided rod sharpening system.

Decent low cost knives include the Mora Bushcraft 2000, Mora Companion and Buck Bucklite Max large fixed blade.

The Lansky system is like training wheels. It aids you in the process of learning. With an inexpensive knife, sharpen the heck out of it. It is disposable and there just for you to learn. Ignore the Scandi grind on the Mora. Sharpen these knives with a 17 degree back bevel and 20 degree primary bevel. There are other ways to sharpen but this is middle of the road and will introduce you to the idea of a back bevel in a controlled way. IME, getting this is an important step in getting freehand sharpening.

After a while, pick up a folding diamond stone like those from DMT and spend 15 minutes at night raising a burr a de honing it off. Again with your dispensinle knife, who cares about edge loss.

Once you can raise a burr with a hand held diamond stone, the world is your oyster. You can pick whatever steel you fancy for the most part.

On steels, my simplistic groupings are: fine grained carbon steels, fine grained stainless (12c27, 420hc, Aus 6, Aus 8, 440a) and larger grained stainless ( most everything else). That's an over simplification. But it's a start. Fine grain is easy to sharpen, takes a fine edge but wears fast. Large grain last longer, is harder to sharpen and may chip.

In terms of knives, I recommend something with a drop point, thin blade stock and 4" in length, maybe a bit more.

Ideas here:http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/708156-Post-up-your-4-5-quot-Bushcraft-blades
 
+1 on starting with a Mora (probably Companion in Carbon Steel, or maybe the Heavy Duty). They don't meet your size 'requirements' but will cut incredibly well and be easy to learn how to sharpen.

You could look at ESEE's as recommended by others but I'd still opt to start with the 3. If you really want bigger, go with the 6.

I have almost come full circle on Super-steels due to the advantages of ease of sharpening. To fit that need, I really like A2 but 1095 or 1075 will work...

Welcome by the way, and enjoy your knife learning journey!!!

Ben
 
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