So many variables that go into "best" like Gary said. Maybe you can tell us what your important qualities are. For example, does price matter and do you have a price range to stay in? Are you looking for a user or more of a collector's piece for the safe? Or maybe somewhere in the middle like best bang for the buck? For me, my budget limits the ones I can go after so I have found several makers that make outstanding quality for what I can currently afford.
Thanks for all the feedback guys! My question was driven by two things - my recent increase in interest in simple classic slip joints, and a general curiosity about whether there was an obvious short list of makers preferred by most. I should have realized the impossibility of answering the latter question definitively, obviously there are too many excellent makers and a broad spectrum of tastes and preferences. Still, I appreciate the info as it gives me some names to research and discover more about.
As far as what I'm looking for…well, that's easy enough for me to answer as I'm pretty specific about that. I usually buy the best that I can afford and hope that it serves me well for a long time. So budget is less of an issue than quality, attention to detail, fit and finish, design and blade size. What I'd like to find is:
- Something classic, along the lines of what Tony Bose does (and it certainly could be a Tony Bose, I admire his work immensely).
- I intend to keep it and carry/use it daily. It will not be a collector's piece, safe queen, etc. Price is not a factor regardless of this purpose.
- I have a great appreciation for detail work, so the more attention paid to this, the better.
- Single blade preferred, two blades ok. But it's going to live in my pocket, so nothing too bulky.
- Stag handles, ivory or even modern materials considered. Nothing too loud or outlandish though. Again, classic or modern take on classic preferred.
- Up to a 3" blade size preferred. If it's a tiny bit larger, that's ok, but I prefer the smaller blades in general.
- It must have a lanyard hole. I have lost too many knives over the years from slipping out of shallow pockets, so I affix a small chain to them now and attach it to my belt loop - problem solved, never lost once since. So the lanyard hole is key and critical to me and that usually means single bolster, which is ok and actually preferred. But not all makers offer the hole, so that rules out quite a few I suppose.
I have a Hiroaki Ohta that is beautiful and I love it. But I'm looking for a step up from even that. As I said, I like Tony and Reese Bose, I've seen some of Jerry Halfrich's work that's very nice as well as some pretty spectacular Ryuichi Kawamura. Any other thoughts and suggestions based on these rather rigid parameters would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks all!
