Civivi knives?

EatingSarma said:
I have to agree on that.

Well, my Recon1 did last well over a year in there and it's still kicking.

But I must admit that Civivis do feel more flimsy than something like ColdSteel...
Click to expand...
Agreed. Cold Steel is a good budget knife. They aren’t fancy but work! I didn’t wear out my CS at work, I just decided to gift it away after a year. Haha!
 
EatingSarma said:
I have to agree on that.

Well, my Recon1 did last well over a year in there and it's still kicking.

But I must admit that Civivis do feel more flimsy than something like ColdSteel...
Click to expand...
I remember thinking the American Lawman's linerless G10 scales would be weak and crack or split. Still running solid and I carried and used that knife off and on for years now. Only complaint is the standard Cold Steel complaint of their pocket clip designer hates you.
 
Maximumbob54 said:
I remember thinking the American Lawman's linerless G10 scales would be weak and crack or split. Still running solid and I carried and used that knife off and on for years now. Only complaint is the standard Cold Steel complaint of their pocket clip designer hates you.
Click to expand...
So true!!! I used the American Lawman as well. That was the one I gave away after a year.

What pocket clip? You mean that soft, hotspoty metal thingy on the side? Hahaha.

And to the original poster, you can see why there seems to be “no love for Civivi.” Even in this thread there are so many budget quality folders to choose from. All depends on purpose.
 
Sharp & Fiery said:
E EatingSarma

the user who wants one knife to EDC for multiple types of tasks.
Click to expand...

That's an important distinction to make. The functional user vs the collector. Personally, I view my more expensive knives as collector pieces that I like to admire and handle just for the pleasure of admiring the design and craftsmanship. These blades I try to keep immaculate. Even though they are quality enough to use at that construction site you mentioned earlier, I couldn't do that personally. I have a couple of older Recon 1's that I'd rather use in those scenarios. That's my collector's mindset. If I was strictly a functional user looking for a single jack-of-all-trades folder I agree I wouldn't get a Civivi knife, I'd stick to a Recon 1.
 
Just me sitting here wishing I had an Elementum in my pocket today now that I've seen this thread pop up often enough. But I carried a SOG in 440C today instead to keep testing out. Maybe I'll grab the Wharncliffe Elementum for the evening.
 
Sharp & Fiery said:
If you use a Civivi in a construction environment, it won’t last a year. I’ll bet on it. They are light duty EDC carry for the urban fellows.
Click to expand...

Full disclosure, my carry rotation has gotten totally ridiculous and carrying a different knife every day means I barely have to sharpen anything.

Still, I have various knives around the house that get used for all kinds of stuff. I don't do construction as a job but I do sometimes get into stuff, projects around the house, etc. I generally keep my thumb on the spine for a lot of uses. Still, the worst thing that I've encountered with this class of budget knives is developing lock stick in a couple of liner-locks that get borderline abused. They still lock up safely. They still work. They still have the good action but I have to press a little harder and the lock pops to unlock.
 
Chronovore said:
Full disclosure, my carry rotation has gotten totally ridiculous and carrying a different knife every day means I barely have to sharpen anything.

Still, I have various knives around the house that get used for all kinds of stuff. I don't do construction as a job but I do sometimes get into stuff, projects around the house, etc. I generally keep my thumb on the spine for a lot of uses. Still, the worst thing that I've encountered with this class of budget knives is developing lock stick in a couple of liner-locks that get borderline abused. They still lock up safely. They still work. They still have the good action but I have to press a little harder and the lock pops to unlock.
Click to expand...
The word you’re looking for is “janky.” Hahaha. 😁
 
BoCen said:
That's an important distinction to make. The functional user vs the collector. Personally, I view my more expensive knives as collector pieces that I like to admire and handle just for the pleasure of admiring the design and craftsmanship. These blades I try to keep immaculate. Even though they are quality enough to use at that construction site you mentioned earlier, I couldn't do that personally. I have a couple of older Recon 1's that I'd rather use in those scenarios. That's my collector's mindset. If I was strictly a functional user looking for a single jack-of-all-trades folder I agree I wouldn't get a Civivi knife, I'd stick to a Recon 1.
Click to expand...
My Recon1 did it all, from cutting bagels, bacon, spreading butter on my bread, to opening stuff, cutting zip ties, wires, tubes, scraping...

It still is the knife I carry most often. It was something I had in my pocket during a lot of events in my life too.


And yeah, Civivi is so relevant that we keep talking about other brands on here 🤣
 
Said I would so I did:

fyhfP9S.jpg


Just finished a three mile walk with this little thing in my pocket. Pruned a couple of thorny weeds growing by the street edge. Strictly for kicks, not because I had to. Nah, I had to...
 
I have several Civivis and I've given a couple as gifts. The Synergy 4 in Nitro-v is a solid work knife, and the G10 scales have very little give. Nope, it ain't a Hinderer, but I didn't expect that. It IS a helluva good fishing knife. I have the Synergy 3 in damascus, with G10/CF laminate scales. I consider it a gentleman's folder, it cuts well enough, but it's more about looking good while doing it, and it does! I also have the WE Synergy 2, with integral Ti handle and M390, and that one is my EDC folder. It's also the most expensive folder I've ever bought, at just over $200. And, yeah, I dig the Persian style blade! I also have the Trailblazer XL, a damascus drop point slip joint, with a very solid action.

I prefer made in USA, but, if I like a knife, I don't care where it's made. And while I carry one every day as a convenient back up to whatever fixed blade I'm carrying, a folder is just another tool. It's been decades since I carried one as a primary, although this excepts some social gatherings, hospitals, sheriff's office, churches, sporting events, etc. Basically, all the places you wouldn't carry a knife in the first place, and most of which I try to avoid whenever possible.
 
Chronovore said:
. Still, the worst thing that I've encountered with this class of budget knives is developing lock stick in a couple of liner-locks that get borderline abused. They still lock up safely. They still work. They still have the good action but I have to press a little harder and the lock pops to unlock.
Click to expand...

I have that in a brand new Microtech Socom Elite. It came out of the box with severe lockstick. To the point where it physically hurts to unlock it. The wear mark on the lock surface reveals the lockbar doesn't fully engage the surface. That's an expensive brand new Microtech. I've also had a $375 Jack Wolf Scuffle come out the box with a visibly bent blade. I did a thread on that before. That's what I meant earlier when I said you don't see that with We / Civivi knives. While these budget Civivi's might not survive hard use, the fit and finish is always immaculate.

Socom Elite:
fb4c7212-0ac7-4759-8bfd-82cedf3e8c9e.jpg


Jack Wolf Scuffle:
79deb59a-0fb3-4dd1-90ea-921e23122760.jpg
 
While I'm at it, here's some more things I've encountered over the years:

Here's how a Spyderco K2 found me, brand new out of the box:
35112446-2118-4e10-ad05-2d41f3d08c72.jpg


Here's a Gen 1 ZT0300BW with a sweet near 100% lock up straight from the box:
ce74d389-f422-46b9-86d0-7f4f0260286d.jpg


There's your higher end quality. Now ask me again what my experience is with We/Civivi ;)
 
BoCen said:
While I'm at it, here's some more things I've encountered over the years:

Here's how a Spyderco K2 found me, brand new out of the box:
35112446-2118-4e10-ad05-2d41f3d08c72.jpg


Here's a Gen 1 ZT0300BW with a sweet near 100% lock up straight from the box:
ce74d389-f422-46b9-86d0-7f4f0260286d.jpg


There's your higher end quality. Now ask me again what my experience is with We/Civivi ;)
Click to expand...

I've had hundreds of knives and I've had lemons from lots of brands, including Spyderco. I've also had problems or failures with different brands, including Spyderco.

The fact is, there are folks who have certain preconceived notions that knives from certain places or brands are better, worse, or outright junk no matter what and there is a whole spectrum to that. I'm sometimes reluctant to get into that because some people can get upset by that kind of talk.

So here, I just confirmed that by really cranking down on some budget liner locks, I've had a few of them develop lock stick. The ones I was thinking about here, in the class in question, were from Civivi and Bestech. I've actually done it with other knives and even took it to the extreme once but I'm reluctant to mention the brand for that one...
 
Sharp & Fiery said:
Mtech are janky new. Haha.
Click to expand...

Coincidentally, I don't think MTech was ever a manufacturer. They are a rebranding distributor like Eafengrow (but less shady). The difference was that they were doing it long before the modern renaissance in Chinese manufacturing. They have distributed a few nicer knives, including titanium frame locks made by CH Knives. Mostly though, they've been a primary supplier of "gas station knives" for longer than some members here have been alive.
 
BoCen said:
I have that in a brand new Microtech Socom Elite. It came out of the box with severe lockstick. To the point where it physically hurts to unlock it. The wear mark on the lock surface reveals the lockbar doesn't fully engage the surface. That's an expensive brand new Microtech. I've also had a $375 Jack Wolf Scuffle come out the box with a visibly bent blade. I did a thread on that before. That's what I meant earlier when I said you don't see that with We / Civivi knives. While these budget Civivi's might not survive hard use, the fit and finish is always immaculate.

Socom Elite:
fb4c7212-0ac7-4759-8bfd-82cedf3e8c9e.jpg


Jack Wolf Scuffle:
79deb59a-0fb3-4dd1-90ea-921e23122760.jpg
Click to expand...
That is true. Civivi’s have nice fit and finish.
 
TripleB67 said:
As someone just coming back to finding a new EDC after years with the combo of the Spyderco Dragonfly2 and Spyderco Para 3 Lightweight, I've been doing a ton of research* recently trying to find my new EDC.

As others have mentioned here, Civivi, from everything I've read/watched during my hours of research, has really gotten a lot of praise (and not a lot of criticism) - especially in terms of quality for the money. Really the only negatives I've heard are they have a lot of different models coming out often which leads to some confusion on the models - really the only Civivi models I had heard of were the Elementum, Baby Banter, Praxis. Otherwise it seems like a huge number of people love them, especially compared to other knives around their price point.

And to be honest, my next EDC will probably be a Civivi with a damascus (always wanted a knife with damascus) blade: Elementum 2, Mini Shakan, or Faeger.

What led me to these models is I was wanting a quality knife, under $100, under 3 inch blade, looked good, had a button lock, had a rear flipper, and also allowed me to fidget with it. All three meet all of these criteria. The Mini Shakan and Faeger have many ways to open the knife: flipper, thumb studs, or with the button lock, which seems to allow for a lot of fidgeting. The Elementum 2 is missing the thumb studs, but it looks so good it's in the running as well.

Although it keeps trying to pull me in, I'm not going to allow the WE Banter 1 or 2 get on the list of my possible new EDC list 😄

My apologies for rambling - I'm sure others before me have mentioned all of this already but I thought I'd add my 2 cents.

TripleB67

*I learned that I should do a thorough search before posting multiple questions is what led me to this post from several months ago
Click to expand...
Civivi is good for the money, don’t get me wrong. But if there is a perfect EDC folding knife that philosophers and theologians can agree on, the Para 3 comes very close to it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top