Dirt Cheap Folders for Knife Instruction?

I don't need a decision right now, so I took Esav's advice and ordered several from SMKW.

here's what I ordered:

Poorman Sodbuster
Victorinox Solo
Sawmill Cutlery Lockback
Schrade Apex
Camillus What-A-Knife
Ontario Legacy

I have really no doubts about the Vic. I trust Ontario, Schrade, and Camillus, just have never handled any of their cheap as dirt stuff. The Poorman I have very low expectations for. The Sawmill cutlery one is interesting--I've never heard of them, but it's 7 bucks for a bone-scaled lockback made from an annealed file blade so I figured I'd see if it was worth a damn. I hope this selection gives me a decent idea of the quality of some different brands in my range.

Unfortunately, I do have to use folders. It's actually BSA policy now that fixed blades are "discouraged", and a camp rule that they are not allowed. The rule doesn't make a bit of sense to me; I've never seen anyone fold a fixed blade over onto their hand or cut themselves while putting it away.
 
Schrade went out of business and the name is now owned by a company having the knives made in China. I don't know how good they are. People generally look for stainless steel, but a cheap, poorly heat treated stainless is a bad idea. I trust those old file blades more. Camillus also fell on hard times and is now largely a transshipment point for Chinese made knives.

However, all your choices are worth investigating, and I bet you end up pleased with most of them for light utility purposes, at least. Please let us know how they do. Something else to put in our ongoing investigation of reality! :D
 
kjbenner said:
I don't need a decision right now, so I took Esav's advice and ordered several from SMKW.

here's what I ordered:

Poorman Sodbuster
Victorinox Solo
Sawmill Cutlery Lockback
Schrade Apex
Camillus What-A-Knife
Ontario Legacy

I have really no doubts about the Vic. I trust Ontario, Schrade, and Camillus, just have never handled any of their cheap as dirt stuff. The Poorman I have very low expectations for. The Sawmill cutlery one is interesting--I've never heard of them, but it's 7 bucks for a bone-scaled lockback made from an annealed file blade so I figured I'd see if it was worth a damn. I hope this selection gives me a decent idea of the quality of some different brands in my range.

Unfortunately, I do have to use folders. It's actually BSA policy now that fixed blades are "discouraged", and a camp rule that they are not allowed. The rule doesn't make a bit of sense to me; I've never seen anyone fold a fixed blade over onto their hand or cut themselves while putting it away.
Click to expand...

Well, I'll tell you now that I owned a couple of Poorman knives when I was younger. They are like, ready to fall apart, bad quality. The Vic Solo will be great obviously. The Schrade Apex lockback WAS an outstanding starter lockback before Schrade went out of business, I just can't speak for it now.
 
I agree,look to smkw,last I checked they had some close out wenger swiss knives,most of them were sports related.I bought a soccer for $3 or $4 It has a comination tool-can- bottle opener-screwdriver,nice spear blade and a cleat tool that I altered into a ferro rod striker.
 
smkw has a wenger rollerblade for $3. It has a large blade, a screwdriver, and a couple of allan keys on it. For $4 they have a swiss roller, which is similar to the rollerblade but has a few more tools.
 
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