on_the_edge said:
I was just wondering if you could tell me what your personal favorite top two or three knives are and briefly why.
A few knives that I generally think very highly of, not in any particular order, and likely forgetting a knife or knives which will be obvious if you asked me the same question tomorrow :
1) 1095 paring knife, custom, Alvin Johnston :
The black is just a marker to show the primary grind, it isn't a coating. This is 66 HRC, high hollow grind, sharpened flat to the stone, edge at 3-5 degrees per side. It is one of, if not the best cutting blades I have. It makes a SAK look like a crude wedge in comparison. The hardness not only makes it able to cut materials softer blades can not, it also gives it very high edge retention and ease of sharpening. It was supposed to be a paring knife but I use it as general utility knife and have done everything up to and including cutting up sods and digging with it. I don't have anything negative to say about it aside from the fact that it isn't M2 at 65 HRC.
2) Spyderco's Calpyso Jr. ZDP-189 :
This has all of what you would expect from Spyderco taken to the next level. One of the highest initial sharpness and highest levels of cutting ability I have seen, solid lock, comfortable and secure in hand, nice clip, and a very high hardness steel which is also stainless. It sharpens really nice, crisp, no burr issues. No real complaints, this is about the best I have seen for flat ground production blades for what it is designed to do. Hopefully Spyderco releases new versions in S125V and M4 at similar hardness.
3) Spyderco Paramilitary :
Spyderco has a lot of nice offerings in this range, the Endura 4G, D'Allara, etc., however the Paramilitary is the one I would reach for most often, ignoring cost, this is more of a general utility knife vs the Calypso Jr. which is just a focused cutting tool. For wood working I would want the Manix (better chopping power) but generally the Paramiliary has enough blade length and robustness. I have some issues with the clip ergonomic wise, the newer models have much better comfort, and the inside of the handle slabs could be a little more rounded, but these are minor and move it away from a ten to about a nine or so. Some people have reported problems with the steel, I have seen it on some blades, but it works well here, however for what I generally use it for, AEB-L is probably a better choice based on just materials properties.
4) Phil Wilson Coyote Meadow, 62.5 HRC :
This is a light utility / hunting knife made out of a very hard and extremely highly wear resistant steel. The blade stock is 1/8" and it has a full distal taper to a very fine point. It sharpens efficiently due to the thin edge and tends to have minimal burr formation and is an extremely aggressive slicing knife even on abrasive media, essentially what CPM-10V is designed to do. The only thing I would change is the blade design to the South Fork which Wilson also makes, I like the South Fork blade on the Meadow handle, that would be perfect, and then make one out of S125V and one out of 15V and then soak both very hot and temper very hard and see which one can out cut the other, make one out of REX 121 at 72 HRC as well just for fun.
5) Busse Battle Mistress, straight handled, no clip, 0.275" :
The handle is too thin and the hook is too sharp and the blade is too short for extended brush work, however it is the best I have seen for a general wood long blade to date. I have tried about a dozen blades of various types, RTAK, RCM, Valiant Golok, Patrol Machete, machetes from Barteaux, Martindale, Tramontina, etc., even a custom bowie from Murray Carter, etc., but they all had more severe problems. This is the blade I would generally take for wood work if I really didn't know what had to be done exactly because it is so capable over a wider range of work. The 18" Ang Khola will outperform it for felling and bucking and is a lot more fluid in the wood, and I would generally pick it for just heavy wood working, but the Battle Mistress is generally more functional for utility knife work and it easier to use as a pry bar given the blade/handle orientation and has a more versatile tip, so it edges out the khukuri overall. It also has much better edge retention in general and sharpens more efficiently and has better corrosion resistance and handle and sheath durability.
For each of the above, I have other blades which are generally really close, such as the U2 for the Calypso Jr., but they generally either fall behind (ease of opening, size and ergonomics for the U2 limit scope of work), I have not used them extensively enough (Johnston's M2 skinning blade), or they have a couple of critical problems on otherwise very solid blades (Extreme Judgement). There are also blades which I have not used such as Benchmades 710 (vs Paramilitary) which are possible replacements.
There are also knives like the Mora 2000 and Tramontina bolo which have pretty significant problems due to limitations with materials or designs, however from a performance/price ratio ranking, especially for niche work, they function very well. The Mora makes a very nice blade for light wood work and the bolo does well clearing brush and can handle even hard wood vegetation without durability concerns. The bolo's main drawback is the edge retention is very low, both blades have low lateral strength and the handles can't take heavy batoning.
-Cliff
