assassino, be careful of the hardcore, adamant, in your face, leave no air in the room fan boys that champion a knife. As you can see, there are a lot of good suggestions here, and not a dud in the bunch of knives you see or have been suggested.
As long as you manage your own expectations, you will be happy with any of the knives suggested as far as performance within its price class. Will more dough buy you more knife? Likely. But if $15 is your budget (been there, done that myself when other financial responsibilities came calling) then get the best knife you can for $15 you can get!
I see you are new here, (welcome aboard, by the way!) so you should know that these threads ALWAYS go the same way.
ALWAYS. If you ask for a $25 blade, someone will suggest that you spend $50 and get a better knife. If you ask for a $50 blade, others will trash the suggestions made and tell you to spend just $25 more and you will get a much better knife. You just go up the dollar scale until one of the Chris Reeves/Sebenza guys pop in and tell you "get a Sebenza and be done with it".
Fan boys will come and tout their favorite knife, then bickering and posturing follow. Then the classic, gentle warning from the moderator to keep on topic occurs. This is the classic Blade Forums
"Circle of Life" when asking about a blade within a budget.
Find something you like that has a satisfactory steel, looks good to you (if you are just getting into knives, this won't be your last!), has a good reputation and a knife that folks here actually own before they suggest it.
After looking at this whole thread again, I am sticking my earlier suggestion of the Kershaw Crown which has been a solid performer for me for about three years or so. Great little knife, and as noted
actually falls into your requested budget!. And since Kershaw gives the same ironclad guarantee for their economy line that you get with their expensive stuff, that makes this $12 knife really hard to beat.
How about Tac force or M tech? Any experiences with these 2 anyone?
Seen both of these at the gun shows in the "gas station knife" category. They look and feel cheap, and are made for looks over performance. Thin liners, flimsy locking mechanisms, plastic handles, and unknown steels are the mark of those knives. I would suggest you stay away. As an example, compare them to the Crown's pic posted by
G&B. and you can see the difference just from the picture. The Crown has an indestructible handle of real micarta! Look at the size of the solid, stainless steel bolsters... made for long term work. The combination of the micarta and those large, solid bolsters make the knife feel really nice in the hand. And a pivot adjustment/assembly screw as well as screwed together construction for easy cleaning and repair, as opposed to a pinned together knife that you can't repair without some higher level skills. And while the Crown knife's version of the 8Cr steel isn't the hardest I have used, it is plenty for a good work knife, compared to an unknown quantity, or something simply marked "surgical steel" or "440 series steel".
I hope you come back here and let us know what you decided to get!
Robert