Cliff Stamp's top folder choices?

T

Tracker81

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There's been a lot of talk on these forums lately on which folders are the best value. Does anyone know if Cliff Stamp has ever made such a listing based on his reviews? I enjoy reading his performance evaluations on knives and try and hunt them down on the net prior to making a purchase.

I've recently decided to place a one year freeze on my knife buying as well as haunting of knife stores. Namely because I want to see if I can resist buying knives for a year but also to see what other interests I'm capable of maintaining (luck being such, this will probably be the year I find a $50. CUDA MAXX :rolleyes: )

If I can make it through untill Nov. 13th 2006 without buying a knife I want to reward myself by purchasing a top-notch quality folder along the ranks of Cliff's reviews.

Cliff if you're reading this can you please give me some suggestions on which production folders have held out the best in your tests and are the best value?
 
I think for liner lock or frame lock styles he'd probably go with this one over a Sebenza or Strider or some other high dollar one..
http://www.robertsoncustomcutlery.com/rmartin123.htm

For a regular beater he may surprise us but it will probably be something similar to his Kershaw Vapor.

Reading his reviews he seems to rate Spyderco knives very highly so any choice from them would be no surprise. The Para Mil, or perhaps the Manix or Chinook.

Personally for the money the best values I see are the Dozier designed mid lock folder by Kabar called the folding hunter. At around $20 it is hard to beat. Next would have to be the now available at Wal-Mart Spyderco Native in CPMS30V blade steel for about $40 and some change.
 
Tracker81 said:
... which production folders have held out the best in your tests and are the best value?
Click to expand...

What is a rough list of the qualities that are of importance to you in a folding knife in order of their importance.

-Cliff
 
I know you posed the question to Tracker81 but I figured that more people than him will list it for ya :)

-Strength
-Good Blade Profile
-Fit and Finish
 
Cliff,


Thanks for taking this on. I've been fortunate enough to have come across several folders that I felt were well built and top-quality. However, being a non-science based individual, my analysis of knives is from a superficial standpoint and lacks the technical detail you incorporate into your reviews.

Knife collecting on certain levels is not cheap by any stretch of the imagination. Being a student, it takes months of planning before I can confidently purchase a new blade. As such when I do go back to buying knives late next year I want to make sure the folder purchased will be a lifer that will be as reliable as they come.


The main points in a folder I'm looking for are:

-Versatily: multiple clip positions (having broken my right hand before, I know the value of being able to have an alternative clip slot), can be opened with either hand, lanyard hole if possible, preferably either a g-10, zytel or micarta handle for hot or cold scenarios.

-Durability: blade strenght for cutting and chopping and ensuing mileage for hard use, lock strenght after repeated use along with direct stress.

-Blade: Lenght between 3-4inches,decent edge retention, ease of sharpening is not a significant factor for me, should have decent corrosion resistant or be coated for that reason. Which blade design (tanto v. drop-point) would you recommend as having the largest base of cutting capabilities?

Cost: Since I do have a year to plan for this $500.00 or below.

Factors such as weight and bulk are not imporant and I'm open to anything as long as it delivers on the above mentioned criteria. I realize the list I made does have a lot of factors in it and I apologize for bombarding you as such. I trust your reviews and would like to make a solid investment of a knife, something I can have for many years and cover some ground with.

Thanks in advance for your help.
 
I thought all of Cliff Stamp's knives were broken. :D
 
I think you should have a custom made by one of the great knifemakers instead of buying a production knife if you are waiting a year. Don't let someone elses review make your choice. I don't want to get started on why, but just know that you are buying this for yourself and shouldn't base your purchase on a list from someone who can only give you opinions. Find a maker who appeals to you. Call him, or her and explain what you want to them. They will make something that fits all your needs. Case in point. I need a knife to perform self defense as a dagger, but also cut well as an edc. I am a lefty who has trained himself to be comfortable with right handed knives, but I wanted a lefty. I called Darrel Ralph and told him I wanted a 4", S30V dagger blade, with a blood groove, and a flat grind on each bevel. I also wanted it to be a frame lock, and I wanted the handles to be carved titanium for grip and I didn't want any inserts that can break or wear out. I also wanted the handles to be carved in a design that I wanted. I lastly asked for the whole thing to be DLC coated in black. He took all that info and my knife will be ready in a month. It will have taken about 5 months to get it made, not because it takes that long to make, but he has a bunch of orders to fill. So you can design a knife and it will probably take close to 6 months depending on the makers back log, but you will get exactly what you want in a knife from a maker who knows how to make knives, not a opinion from someone who doesn't. Oh did I mention that the whole custom project with Darrel Ralph is costing me $525.00 which is only $25.00 more than you suggested as you price point? Do what you will, but whatever it is, do it for yourself. Worse comes to worse, if you buy a knife that someone else thinks is the best then hopefully they will buy it from you when you end up hating it. Oh, and Cliff, before you take this as a personal attack, don't. I just think that people should be original and get something made for themself, if they are willing to spend the extra money.
 
USAFSP said:
I think you should have a custom made by one of the great knifemakers instead of buying a production knife if you are waiting a year. Don't let someone elses review make your choice. I don't want to get started on why, but just know that you are buying this for yourself and shouldn't base your purchase on a list from someone who can only give you opinions. Find a maker who appeals to you. Call him, or her and explain what you want to them. They will make something that fits all your needs. Case in point. I need a knife to perform self defense as a dagger, but also cut well as an edc. I am a lefty who has trained himself to be comfortable with right handed knives, but I wanted a lefty. I called Darrel Ralph and told him I wanted a 4", S30V dagger blade, with a blood groove, and a flat grind on each bevel. I also wanted it to be a frame lock, and I wanted the handles to be carved titanium for grip and I didn't want any inserts that can break or wear out. I also wanted the handles to be carved in a design that I wanted. I lastly asked for the whole thing to be DLC coated in black. He took all that info and my knife will be ready in a month. It will have taken about 5 months to get it made, not because it takes that long to make, but he has a bunch of orders to fill. So you can design a knife and it will probably take close to 6 months depending on the makers back log, but you will get exactly what you want in a knife from a maker who knows how to make knives, not a opinion from someone who doesn't. Oh did I mention that the whole custom project with Darrel Ralph is costing me $525.00 which is only $25.00 more than you suggested as you price point? Do what you will, but whatever it is, do it for yourself. Worse comes to worse, if you buy a knife that someone else thinks is the best then hopefully they will buy it from you when you end up hating it. Oh, and Cliff, before you take this as a personal attack, don't. I just think that people should be original and get something made for themself, if they are willing to spend the extra money.
Click to expand...
Yup, what he said!!
 
cliff has done a good review of .... opinel No8
and with the money you'll save, buy yourself a "knifemaking" course for Christmas (or jewel for your wife, but personnaly, i'll take first choice !):D
 
Tracker81 said:
-Versatily: multiple clip positions (having broken my right hand before, I know the value of being able to have an alternative clip slot), can be opened with either hand, lanyard hole if possible, preferably either a g-10, zytel or micarta handle for hot or cold scenarios.
Click to expand...

Versatility of clip positions is problem with many of the better production folders, it likely just isn't in much demand. However I would not let this stop you because you can easily get a custom maker or just a machinist to set the necessary holes in the g10 slabs to allow you to move the clip around.

That being said the Manix can reverse the clip from side to side and top to bottom. It has a laynard hole and fairly thick g10 slabs. It has a thick strip of steel down the back though due to the backlock. Liners/compression locks have reduced metal contact but are also much lighter in general so there is little chopping ability.

-Durability: blade strenght for cutting and chopping and ensuing mileage for hard use, lock strenght after repeated use along with direct stress.
Click to expand...

Lock back or compression, the chopping eliminates a lot of folders as even the fairly large ones are really light. There are some really heavy ones like the ER Fulcrum, but that isn't a knife as much as a sharpened poker due to the very thick cross section. You want something here like the Manix or one of the bigger Strider folders. The MAXX series from Ralph has has the necessary length and weight, but the handles are not well suited for utility use.


-Blade: Lenght between 3-4inches,decent edge retention, ease of sharpening is not a significant factor for me, should have decent corrosion resistant or be coated for that reason.
Click to expand...

None of these are hard to obtain, and they don't much limit choices except in extreme. Corrosion resistance for example if you are working around salt water may demand H1 or similar, but otherwise most cutlery stainless does fine. That is also the most common blade length.

Which blade design (tanto v. drop-point) would you recommend as having the largest base of cutting capabilities?
Click to expand...

The sharp american tanto popularized by Cold Steel has its uses, but in general a more sweeping arc is more versatile. In general as you get more focused you lose performance in the outside areas. For general work, simple, uncomplicated shapes tend to work best.

It is too bad you didn't ask me this question a few months ago when I still had a Manix, which is pretty much the exact folder you described in the above. I do still have a Paramilitary which matches some of but not all of the above.

However if you were to use it and carry it for a few months (no restrictions) it would put you in a much better position to know exactly what you want because you can then base every thing off the performance of the paramilitary.

Drop me an email if you are interested.

-Cliff
 
Sledgehammer said:
-Strength
-Good Blade Profile
-Fit and Finish
Click to expand...

The first and second are at odds with each other, assuming by good in the second you mean cutting ability, ease of sharpening, and similar.So the first thing you need to decide is what is the critical level of the first one.

What are some of the harder things you would want to do with the folder. What would you do on a regular basis, what rarely and what would you never do?

Fit is generally not an issue with higher end production, they all have problems on occasions, but are in general fairly solid and customer service handles any issues.

If you are using the blade finish doesn't matter, but this is also rarely a problem anyway. The only folders I have even seen this commonly described for on the forums are Striders.

-Cliff
 
Cliff Stamp said:
assuming by good in the second you mean cutting ability, ease of sharpening, and similar.
Click to expand...

This is a very interesting input re: "ease of sharpening" - this actually seems to be at odds with ultra hard, ultra wear-resistant steels such as most of the BladeForum favorite premium steels of the more recent years......

My own take of "favorite" cutting blades as the "second" criteria are Victorinox SAKs (surprise!) and stainless steel Opinels - neither of which have premium steels yet they can be made seriously scary sharp without much effort and they cut like mothers...... mainly because they are well designed and have outstanding blade geometries.

yet they are some of the least expensive knives readily available......

--
Vincent
http://UnknownVT2005.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net/
 
UnknownVT said:
This is a very interesting input re: "ease of sharpening" - this actually seems to be at odds with ultra hard, ultra wear-resistant steels such as most of the BladeForum favorite premium steels of the more recent years......
Click to expand...

This is from a combination of wrong steel for the knife and/or wrong blade grind, combine the two of them and it just makes a mess for the user. Benchmade is one of the worst examples of this using ATS-34 at 62 HRC for a "hard use" tactical folder and leaving the edges thick and highly polished.

The steel was hard to sharpen because it chipped easily even though the edges were thick which also made is harder to sharpen as both of these factors mean more material had to be removed. Which was further made worse by the low cutting ability which lead to more forces being applied in the cutting.

Now take the same steel in an edge geometry which is minimized and sharpen through use of micro-bevels and it is now easy to sharpen. Honing consists of two steps :

-shaping the bevel
-sharpening the edge.

The first should be fast irregardless of the steel, just use a coarse SiC waterstone, it will reshape the edge on a tactical folder in just a few minutes let alone just restore a heavily worn one. The second should be near instant, just a few passes per side on each grit. If machinability is an issue with sharpening then something is seriously wrong with the knife.

There is a further side issue which is that some people like Jeff Clark have extreme viewpoints on what sharpness actually means, this is far beyond the ability to cleanly slice a piece of paper and when you start looking at shaving as a starting point and not an edge goal then steel types will start to make a difference, especially when you drop edge angles at the same time.

-Cliff
 
Cliff Stamp said:
looking at shaving as a starting point and not an edge goal
Click to expand...

Again a very significant and relevant point.

I like knives that cut well - this seems a silly redundant thing to say -
but there are plenty of knives that will shave - yet have difficulties cutting through things.

Can't claim any expertise - but from my own experience - which I realize is prone to misinterpretation or even not tying in cause/effect correctly......
but just from sheer usage (albeit ancedotal) I like SAKs and Opinels in terms of their cutting ability.

Similarly my favorite kitchen knives are a Victorinox paring knife and an old Chicago Cutlery "Walnut" 62S utility/boning knife (unknown stainless steel).

I do realize that harder more premium steels could conceivably be made "sharper" by working the edge geometry - but I am more than satisfied with the edges and cutting ability on SAKs and stainless Opinels and those kitchen knives - caveat - for my usage.........

--
Vincent
http://UnknownVT2005.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net/
 
Tracker81,

You should have a look at the Pass-Around Forum and get involved in some of the passes. There are plenty of great knives going around that fit what you are looking for (Chinook, Manix, Large Sebenza, Strider AR and many others) and what better way to find out if a knife is for you or not than by having it in hand to use for a week. :thumbup:
 
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