• The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
    Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
    Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.

  • Today marks the 24th anniversary of 9/11. I pray that this nation does not forget the loss of lives from this horrible event. Yesterday conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was murdered, and I worry about what is to come. Please love one another and your family in these trying times - Spark

Do you know of a knife that meets this very specific description?

M

Meety Peety

Joined
Jun 10, 2013
Messages
9
Ended up going with the BM 470.

Hey guys, so I am extremely picky on my EDC knives. I am currently due for a new one (Since my wife claimed the LAST new one) but I am considering making a change. Now, please understand that I am not just asking for people to say "Well I used this Griptilian and its great", I am basically asking if anyone knows of a knife that might fit this description because I simply do not know what all is out there. I have been looking for a while and as of this point I have not found a suitable replacement. It's quite possible that what I currently use is the best fit for me and I will not find anything better. But I figured before I pull the trigger maybe I'd post here and see if there's something out there that I overlooked or just haven't seen yet. I am not an encyclopedia of all knives ever produced, so its a strong possibility there are models I haven't seen before.

So what I currently carry is a CRKT M16-01KZ as seen below. The only other knife I have seen that meets my desired feature is the Benchmade Emissary. Perfect knife, feels great in the hand, but no flipper. This kills it for me. The thumb stud is just too hard to manipulate on the particular knife. Some thumb studs may work, I will have to try the knife out before buying it. (This is just my personal preference, some people may love thumb studs, and that's fine. I don't)

What I love about this knife is this:

- It's slim and slender, I don't like a fat grip. I can't even feel this knife while it's in my pocket, and even better, it doesn't take up my whole pocket.
- The blade is a plain edge spear point, some drop points may work too, but I like thin, narrow slicers.
- 3" blade or somewhere near that. I do not like big knives, 3" is about my "sweet spot".
- Has flipper deployment. I find most thumb studs very cumbersome. This is the hard part that disqualifies most of the knives I have found.

Features I am neutral about:

- Not spring assisted, but due to the flipper design, it deploys very fast. I would typically prefer spring assisted.
- "AutoLoks" locking mechanism. Pretty cool and I'm happy this knife has it, but it wouldn't be a deal breaker to have a knife that didn't have this.
- The CRKT knife is very cheap in price. While price doesn't really matter to me if the knife is the "right one", it certainly doesn't hurt that this one only cost me about 25 bucks. If I should drop it in a tough spot while working or damage the edge etc, it's not a big deal. Dropping a $150+ knife down a shaft might wreck my day a little bit. I am more interested in getting "the right knife for me" rather than trying to save money. My budget would be up to around $200 for the right knife.

Things I dislike:

- Cheap feeling build quality. I use my EDC knife almost every day, it has to be sturdy.
- While Aus 8 is an 'OK' steel, I just don't prefer it. Easy to sharpen but at the expensive of being too soft. Comes with the territory of a cheap knife I guess. I would prefer something in S30V or similar.

CRKT
CRKT_M16-01KZ.jpg


Benchmade Emissary, a very close match, and still on the list of possibilities, if I can get over the thumb stud.
BM470.jpg
 
Last edited:
Kershaw Leek sounds right up your alley. Has basically everything you want, and depending on how much you want to spend, a few diff steel choices.
 
+1 on the leek, disappears in the pocket and slices really well. Also the D2 on the cb leek holds up really well.
 
Kershaw Composite Blade Leek. 3" cutting edge, CPM-D2 (comparable edge retention to S30V in my uses). Assisted opening w/ flipper. Extremely slim (unnoticeable riding in pocket).

The Skyline is also good. It's a manual flipper, but it flies open as quick as an assisted. The Zing is also good. It has been discontinued, but there are still a number of places that sell it. Both of those use Sandvik 14C28N, which is also a great steel that I'd rank just above AUS-8. Both are also very slim and ride comfortably in pocket.

If you want to stick with CRKT, the Ripple, Eros, and Swindle all look pretty nice. I haven't handled any of those personally. The Acuto+ is supposed to be comparable to 440C. Those are all ~3" blade and manual flippers with IKBS. From what I've seen, they're also all very thin and should ride comfortably in pocket.
 
u admitted you are picky, but you have a modest knife at best, no disrespect. If you want a 10 year knife, that is beyond img. step up and get a benchmade 790 subrosa Lerch 3.7 blade spring assist ti frame lock or a Benchmade 940 osborne 3.4 both fly open and are lifetime sharp program. both can be found in the $200 range if you dig or someone on site that sells.
 
leek is good as is eros but both have much thinner handles than the crkt, swindle too. Hard to find better steel for cheap. check kershaw zing & skyline or nura for flippers, but also look at the new emerson collaborations - no flipper but they have the wave feature and are easy to open with thumb disc too. Also look at Columbia River 5270 Tighe Coon and maybe the Heiho and sampa. BM 943 is great but 3.4" blade and no flipper (although any axis-lock knife can be opened super-quick by pulling back the lock and flicking the wrist) and pricier than you'd prefer.
 
Last edited:
I agree with the Delica. Nothing against the Leek recommendations but the Delica is a nice step up in quality from the Leek (IMO), and certainly from your CRKT, without breaking the bank. It fits all your criteria except the opening mechanism, but I'll bet you'll have no problem with the Spyderhole for opening. I prefer it over any flipper tab.
 
With your oddly specific criteria, complete with suggested "perfect" knife that doesn't really meet it (unless the emissary has developed a flipper and is on sale some place for $100 less than usual), I'm confused as to why you wouldn't just buy another M16? Maybe the titanium version, so it feels a like an upgrade?
 
What you call a "finger trigger" is commonly known as a "flipper", it might help you if you do any searches on the forum.

Anyway, I think Kershaw has a couple of knives that meet your criteria perfectly.

-Skyline. Flipper, decent steel, affordable, very thin and lightweight.
-Leek. Flipper, lots of variants (I'd go for the S30V one with G-10 handle or the composite blade one).
-Blur. Flipper, several variants (I love the S30V Blur).

All are good knives that can be had for a decent price (especially if you get a blem). The Blur is my favourite out of the three, it's comfortable to hold and use, has a nice blade (sharpening a recurve could be a problem if you don't have much experience) and is compact enough to carry comfortably even in thin fabric pants.
 
^^The blur is not a flipper btw. However, I find the ramped thumb stud easier to use than a traditional. However, I find thumb holes to be the best. I'd go with a delica in zdp-189.
 
You've got plenty of options:

Flippers:
Kershaw Leek
Kershaw Skyline
Kershaw Chill
Kershaw Drone
Kershaw Nerve
Kershaw Volt-II

Kershaw's got some new ones out there on the horizon:
1301BW Starter
1303BW Manifold
3870 Amplitude
6054BRNBLK CQC-4k (Emerson)
6094BLK CQC-1K (Emerson)
6034 CQC-6K (Emerson)

CRKT Ripple
CRKT Swindle
CRKT Eros
CRKT Carajas

Boker Kwaiken



Non-Flippers:
Spyderco Delica (a bit broader when closed, but super light-weight and the thumb-hole is a nice easy way to deploy)
Spyderco Native 4
Benchmade 943
Benchmade 585 Mini Barrage
Benchmade Mini-Presidio / Mini-Presidio Ultra


Good luck with your search!
 
Thanks for all the input and suggestions guys. Much appreciated. I will start looking through the replies from those who actually read the OP (Just poking some fun, but some of the replies were a bit on the retarded end) and see what I can come up with. Also, I will mention that while the Kershaw Leek does seemingly fit my requirements, after handling a few of them at a local knife shop a while ago, it just didn't fit me. I don't know if it was the balance of the knife or what, but it just didn't feel good in my hand. It Happens. That being said, the Skyline looks promising. The clip looks a bit cheesy but I'll see if I can find one locally to try out. The impression of quality that I got when holding most of the Benchmade products (whether they fit me or not) was not the same feeling I get when holding a Kershaw. I'll be honest, that is a somewhat discouraging factor.

The Kit Carson website actually has some knives that would probably be perfect if I could actually afford them. Without actually holding them, they appear to be a fancier, likely better quality, version of the knife I currently carry (Go figure, he DID design it). I can't spend $500-$1000 on a knife though, and my knife certainly wouldn't be "art" after a month of two of use. Beautiful blades though.. I'll be drooling over those for a while.

It seems as though many of the Spyderco options have a really wide blade that I do not like. I am likely using wrong terminology again (Sorry!) but the blade height is as important to me as the width is. My CRKT while closed is approximately 7/8" at it's widest point with the blade itself being only 3/4". Spydercos appear to have a "leaf like" blade that increases that wideness much further. Again, probably not the correct terminology, but the overall profile that I like in a knife is similar to a "dagger", with minimal curve in the blade or handle.

I will reiterate the fact that I am not desperate to find a new EDC knife here. I am simply going to buy a new knife soon and wanted to explore my options and see if I can find one that fits me better than the one I use now. I am in no way unhappy with the knife I have now, and if it ends up that I can't find one I like better, that is perfectly fine with me. I am always looking for new and better ways to get the job done, this is no different. It is very possible that the "tried and true" will prevail.
 
Last edited:
I did read your original post and one suggestion that has been missed is the zt566, its assisted, has a flipper, is slim in the pocket both in thickness and width. The blade length is 3.25 and is elmax. Just another suggestion.
 
Kershaw Chill. It's my current EDC and the only thing that doesn't fit your criteria is that the blade isn't a spearpoint. It's a drop point. I carry it because it's slim in 2 dimensions and still has a blade around 3-3.25 inches.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top