Byrd (spyderco) Starling vs. S&W SWAT II

[lachy]

Thanks for your input. I guess my first real knife will be a spyderco then!

 

[morgoth]

Thanks. Would that guy happen to be Tassienerida Knives? If so, Im looking at his knives on ebay right now, they seem decently priced .

Thats him,
You have to bide your time and cherry pick what is on offer.
I got the short Ka Bar for under $50 (I regret it now) too small for my hand.
Dont worry about importing from the States Mate, mostly reputable sellers with realistic prices, i have bought a bit from a seller called mountainclimber.
Its all been good.

MM

 

[lachy]

Alright, thanks man. I was just worried about importing from the US because of my age. wouldnt want my parents getting in all sorts of legal troubles .
But I suppose it usually turns out good, I have heard from a lot of Aussies that customs has usually opened the package to check out the knife, then just say its fine and deliver it. Thanks again .

 

[Herr_Noobien]

Actually, from what I've seen we can have Tenacious' anywhere from $60-$80+.
I really would like to import a knife from America (larger variety, less money) but theres just to much legal work that needs to be done. In Australia if you want to import knives you have to get permission from both 1. Some customs goverment person, and 2. Your local police, which can take up to 3 or more weeks. So I guess Im stuck with the high prices.

That only applies to certain knives. Off the top of my head, you only need a permit if you are going to import
-Daggers
-Assisted Opening knives
-Automatic knives
-Balisongs

You should have no problems ordering from overseas. Just tell the seller to tighten up the pivot screw because if the customs officer can flick it open (without touching the blade) then it will be classified as a gravity knife.

 

[Herr_Noobien]

S&W knives are made by a cheap china company and if its really 440c it probably got a crappy heat treat, I would not even give them a second thought. Anything spyderco is 10x better.

ten multiplied by zero is still zero

 

[BenLankford]

Wait is the Australian doller equal to an American one? Cause they are selling a Buck 110 for $150. That's insane.

 

[ryanh121]

I would not buy any knife from S&W. I bought two a few years back. Both of them have chipped blades from minimal use or an accidental drop. Anything from Spyderco is better. Not to mention, the have excellent customer service. I have a few Militaries and absolutely love them. These are by far the sharpest knives straight out of the box that I have ever owned.

 

[lachy]

Thanks for tellin me that Herr Noobien. Being new to knives, I didn't really know the different types, so yeah, thanks. And Ben Lankford, no, the Australian dollar isn't equal to the American dollar. For example, a Spyderco Bug. You guys would pay around $5 to $7 for one, where as we would pay anywhere from $10 to $15 or maybe higher... And that's just the cheap knives.

 

[FTO_dude]

Wait is the Australian doller equal to an American one?

They are actually pretty close these days. which is actually another reason to just import from the states. i just checked now and $1 AUS=$.88 US.
I think it was like .9-.92 a while ago and thats close enough for me to call them equal