Best engineered knives

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microtech85

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Dec 1, 2015
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Hi, what do you all think are the best engineered and designed and well executed folding knives in your experience. Personally, from my experience of the knives I have owned or handled, I believe the benchmade 940-1 has excellent engineering and design and finishing. When I examine the knife, I find myself admiring the very tight tolerances, and how useful the shape of the handle and blade are. I think it is a nice touch that the liners lay so flush in the carbon fiber and how they are beautifully polished even though they are hidden on the inside of the liner. It's kind of like how Rolex. Finishes the movement even though the wearer may never see it.

I also would like the mention the native and delica. Both just so seemingly simple yet exceedingly useful.

Opinions?
 
I have taken apart well over 1000 brand new knives for anodizing. I have always been amazed by the build quality and tightness that goes in to a typical Zero Tolerance Knife. The most recent two that I had to stop and really marvel the engineering involved was the new Hinderer Half Track and MP-1. The way everything goes together on these 2 knives is absolutely impressive as hell. Honestly never taken another knife apart quite like them. Very simple yet brilliant.
 
if you goto amazon and look at the reivews for the 940-1 there are all sorts of quality issues noted. but yea, its a great knife otherwise. its one of my favorites and i really like that it has very minimal steel liners and mostly carbon fiber. not to mention one of my fav steel S90v ... other than that i dont think its extremely engineered. there are some really stellar CNC guys doing some ingenious engineering.

check out this unique thing... it has no screws. now thats engineering.
[video]https://youtu.be/QBf-3U01ML0[/video]
 
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CRK would be the top that I have personally handled.
I would think Andre Thorburn would be up there, but I haven't handled any of his knives yet to speak from experience.

For traditionals I would say the GEC 98 Whittler would be near the top of the list. A new splitback whittler in a large frame takes a lot of knowledge and technical ability to pull together, especially if it is a first run.
 
CRK Sebenza and Mnandi are the best quality knives I've ever personally owned. Flawless engineering executing (IMO). I'm sure fit and finishes get better with price, but the laws of diminishing returns definitely still apply. This is the price range where I've found a good jump in quality while still staying under a fortune.
 
are you guys mixing up engineering and tolerances and quality? where is the engineering in CRK? i mean dont get me wrong, the tolerances are perfect, but thats in the manufacturing. nothing much to those knives as they are just frame locks. the CRK with the tilock is a hawk and gavin invention and is an awesome feat of engineering. same with the Hawk Mudd and its ingenious sealed lock mechanism . but a regular frame lock crk is not really in my opinion best engineered, per the title of the thread.
 
Material selection plays a big role in engineering. Strength to weight ratios are important with handles. It is always nice to get the strongest handle with minimal weight while for some maintaining a high quality appearance or feel. A useful blade shape and handle are critical for a good knife. It is important for a grip to be comfortable in many positions. The grind and shape of a blade is also critical. I really think my native 5 excels in this aspect. I also highly rank the blade of the m390 benchmade barrage And from what I can tell from pics; the sebenza blade as well. Those blades all have useful shapes and grinds while maintaining ease of sharpening.
 
I have to agree with Whitty, I wasn't so sure about buying my MP-1, but after I got it, WOW, it flips so smooth, it locks up fast, great detent, and simple design (CRK), but just beautiful with great ergos and finish, I went with Stonewashed, it beats my CRK's, its my only EDC now
IMG_0102.jpg
 
Lol, this thread and the spine whack thread need to fight. There you have a bunch of guys saying spine whacking is stupid and they're just folding knives and you shouldn't abuse them. Here you have guys talking about using the strongest and lightest handle material ever, because zombies. Sorry, back to the thread. Just thought it was ironic enough to find amusing.
 
thanks microtech, its a great knife, it has a great handle to blade ratio, its just great, fit and finish are so good, and as a flipper, its just great and easy to open, I can use the hinderer "push open", but it works just as good as any flipper, really smooth since day 1, no break in necessary
 
This is a thread for appreciating and recognizing good engineering and design and sharing our findings with others. It is not a competition. I believe this is the spirit for which this forum was created
 
CRK has to get mentioned as they've engineered a great minimalist knife. What not to add in engineering counts for a lot too.

I do believe many brands have models that have kickass engineering it's such a broad topic. The Domino while not my favorite knife was designed quite well for example.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
bodog said:
Lol, this thread and the spine whack thread need to fight. There you have a bunch of guys saying spine whacking is stupid and they're just folding knives and you shouldn't abuse them. Here you have guys talking about using the strongest and lightest handle material ever, because zombies. Sorry, back to the thread. Just thought it was ironic enough to find amusing.
Click to expand...

yea I'm out its too generic and broad of a topic. too confused between what's being talked about, title of thread says engineering, then he reclassified it as anything. you could name almost any knife under these terms. thought this was going to be about actual engineering like the examples I brought up, instead they say crks which are a basic framelock is highly engineered. no hate just feel like everyone gets a participation trophy for any blade named off here. sorry maybe the op should be changed to clarify.... ie talk about knives you like.
 
That's a tough subject but I'll take a swipe.
I believe the best engineered knife would have to be Victorinox. With a Vic you have a knife that constantly has great walk and talk, is always tight, lasts for years and years. Yet you can pick one up for less than 20 dollars and you still get 2 blades, can opener, screwdriver,corkscrew, toothpick and tweezers.
I accept that most here won't agree, but the reality is that if we weren't enthusiasts, over 95% of us would get by just fine with a Vic Spartan and have more uses for it than what's being carried now.
At the least, Vic is the best dollar for dollar.
 
I'll stick with the plain old Sebbie, titanium slabs, 0.125" blade...all the blade thickness that MOST of us need. MORE is not always better...it's just MORE, and heavier with a thicker grip.
 
I'll go with CRK for the tight tolerances AND the engineering. I mean, he did invent the Reeve Integral Lock, otherwise known as a framelock and he did this way back in the 80s, which was very innovative in the engineering department for its time. It surely has withstood the test of time and look how many knives now sport the frame lock. Not to say that others aren't well engineered, but sometimes the ingenuity of engineering is to keep it simple!
 
bt93 said:
That's a tough subject but I'll take a swipe.
I believe the best engineered knife would have to be Victorinox. With a Vic you have a knife that constantly has great walk and talk, is always tight, lasts for years and years. Yet you can pick one up for less than 20 dollars and you still get 2 blades, can opener, screwdriver,corkscrew, toothpick and tweezers.
I accept that most here won't agree, but the reality is that if we weren't enthusiasts, over 95% of us would get by just fine with a Vic Spartan and have more uses for it than what's being carried now.
At the least, Vic is the best dollar for dollar.
Click to expand...

Yup! Totally agree.
 
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