Many of you know i sell fossil shark teeth for a living, and my wife surprised me a few weeks ago with a knife as a "for nothing" gift, well, im not really a good person to give a knife to as a gift, since i generally dont like a knife unless it has a pretty high price tag and is of exceptional quality. Well, i was all ready to pretend to love this crappy knife that i just knew would suck, but, turns out, i really like it, because its a surprisingly well made knife, and she got it off Ebay for $11!!!
Its a Lightfoot "Urban Shark" made by CRKT, smallish aus8 blade, but VERY sharp. Surprisingly thick liners and excellent lockup, with ZERO play and a perfectly centered blade, and smooth action too, did i mention it was $11!!!
The reason she got it for me, and the reason i mentioned i sell shark teeth is because on the non clip side of the handle, there is a small engraving of a shark, and even better, on the clip, is a perfect little engraving of a shark tooth! So, its perfect for me, funny thing is, she bought it because of the shark tooth on the clip, she had no idea it was actually the design of a well known custom maker and, as it turns out, this knife is amazingly well made for a cheap knife, i was really shocked when she told me she got it for $11! So, i would say that if you look around you really can find a decent knife for about $10 on Ebay or elsewhere.
But, having said all that, here are my choices. Under $10, well, my shark knife comes close. Under $20, i have to go with the Vapor. Under $30, definitely the Chive, i mean come on, an all steel framelock with generally no play, centered blade, good lockup and the speedsafe opener, all for about $25 or so, you just cant beat it IMO. Under $40, hmmmm, ill go with Jason and get some sort of CRKT Carson knife, theyre pretty nice knives for the money. OK, finally, the under $1,000 category, well, i have to go with a Mayo TnT. Oh, wait, wasnt there an under $1,000 category?
OK, im going to add my own category, seriously, if you want the absolute best knife for $300 or less, Mike Obenauf, well, i lied, it'll actually run you $325 but for $325, you are honestly getting a $600 knife, and i have seen a pile of knives that cost 2, 3 even 5 times as much that werent even in the same league as his knives are in terms of quality, fit and finish. Get one, you'll thank me. A carson will run you $500 or so, Mike's knives are just as good, in fact, they are both as perfect a knife as you can get at any price, its just that Mike's are much cheaper, doesnt mean i wont buy a Carson, just means i can afford to buy MORE Obenaufs! Im just so impressed with him (Mike), i'll shout it from the rooftops, or even hi-jack a thread slightly to tell people, if it saves just one child, it was worth it...
OK, im done, sorry i got carried away, been a strange night.
I'm going to go play with my Obenauf now...
