EDC recommendation for a newbie?

Z

zliegen

Joined
Feb 3, 2011
Messages
5
I just started my search for a premium knife and have had my eye on either the Benchmade 710 or the 940.. but I don't feel like buying a benchmade now after reading so many reports of spotty quality control. I don't want a knife that I need to fiddle with AT ALL besides sharpening once in a while, you shouldn't have to tighten a blade or loctite it yourself when you're spending premium cash. I've never seen any problems like this with Kershaw's and they're much cheaper and made in the USA (atleast the ones that I own are).

I've seen sooo many of these Quality Control reports.. what are you ex-benchmade fans that have lost faith in the company carrying now?

Currently I daily carry a Kershaw Leek 1660ST in 14c28n, and I've had no problems at all with the knife. Its as tight as it was from day 1 (which is very tight). The assisted opening still works very quick, and I play with it all day every day for over a year now. I love it, but I'm simply looking for a nicer knife with better fit and finish, and a premium steel that will hold an edge better. 14c28 doesn't hold its edge too well IME.

I think that I want something like D2 or S30V.

Any recommendations?

Thanks!
 
if you like the leek you could get the CPMD2 composite blade version, or the G10/S30V version. you could also take a look at spyderco. maybe a paramilitary 2?

welcome to the forums :thumbup:
 
what ever you do dont buy a cold steel great sword...lol...sorry im of course gunna say buy an emerson or look into some of cold steels knives. im not sure what your budget is but zero tolerance knives are good and strider isnt bad either. spyderco militarys are very good as well...
 
First -- Welcome to BladeForums!!

I've been edc-ing Spyderco Sage Carbon Fiber Plain Edge in S30V for about 6 months now. I own about 40 folders (mostly Benchmade, Spyderco, Kershaw, CRKT and SOG) and haven't found another that gets as much pocket time as the Sage.

Depending on where you live and what your needs are, you might also want to consider a fixed blade option, such as an Izula, a small offering from Bark River, OR one of the awesome customs offered by one of the fine Makers on this forum.

Good luck in your search. It seems to be a life-long quest for the "perfect" EDC knife.
 
welcome to the spyderco forums...... ;)
if you like the fit and finish of kershaw, you owe it to yourself to get a blur. they can be had in s30v or CPM154. they are great knives. if you are willing to spend a little more, and don't mind the extra weight, the zt 0200 or 0400 are both great knives.
 
If you've never tried S30V steel and are curious about it, I'd recommend the Spyderco Native 1. It's a very affordabe way to acquire CPM S30V and a nice little knife. Took me a while to warm up to it, but I really dig it now!

Good luck!
 
Welcome to BF!!

Tough question, what is your budget, what ergos are you looking for? There are many choices, even in S30V.

I would second BrewCity59 with the Sage 1. I have a few dozen blades and still the Sage 1 remains my favorite EDC. It fits my hand perfectly, great ergonomics, nice CF scales, strong MW liner lock, easy hole opening (multiple flick/drop variations), wire clip sits deep and wont shred your pocket. You could also try the Sage 2 or 3, para 2 and caly series, all very nice.

Benchmades are nice as well, look at the 940, 710, 14210/205 and the 707, though not all in S30V, still excellent choices.

I really feel that you need to hold them in your hand and try them out.

Good luck!!
 
HOLY **** KERSHAWGUY IS AWESOME!

I sent him payment on saturday morning and my knife is already here, at the best price! :O From Oregon to Indiana in 1 business day, blew my mind.

The ZT0350 is great, fits in my hand very nicely and feels like such a solid piece of knife in your hand.

The assisted opening action is just about as fast as on my leek, which is surprising considering how much heavier the blade is on the ZT0350.

I'm very impressed! With both the knife and the seller.

No problems here opening my ZT0350 by the studs, I've heard thats a common problem for some folks.
 
If you were willing to shell out the cash for a BM940, then you should check out the Spyderco Gayle Bradley. If you've never owned a Spyderco, you may be put off by their looks/presentation at first, but once you do own one, you'll realize why everyone loves them so much.
 
If you don't check out the Buck Vantage series your doing yourself a HUGE injustice. They have several models in varying blade lengths and in 3 steels, 420HC, 13C26 Sandvik and S30V. I just picked one up the other day and it is possibly the best EDC knife I've ever owned and lets just say I'm over 50 so I've had a few knives. I would venture to say they would easily equal knives costing 2 and 3 tiles as much. They are simply amazing quality blades for the money.
 
zliegen said:
I don't feel like buying a benchmade now after reading so many reports of spotty quality control.
Click to expand...

dont believe the hype more people are gonna complain vs happy people post on an internet forum .. i own over 30 BM's and short of having to mail a knife back for free sharpening ive had zero issues
 
I currently EDC a Spyderco Paramilitary2 in S90V and Carbon Fiber. My experience with it thus far would suggest that the S30V and G10 version is just as excellent:thumbup:.
 
I've had great experiences with Benchmade. Honestly, if I had to buy a knife from the Big 3 based on quality control, it'd be a Benchmade, although I'm a kershaw guy mainly these days.

The 710 is a great knife with an excellent track record. A legend really.

Also, you mention liking USA made knives. Benchmade now produces all of their knives in the USA, I believe, after a few years of Taiwanese/Chinese manufacture. Kershaw and Spyderco use both China and the USA (and Japan with Spyderco, but I actually like Japanese made knives).

Another big quality leader is Zero Tolerance. They're quite "hardcore" so they won't appeal to everyone, but I've found their F&F to be excellent so far, well beyond even the nicer Kershaws.

But I'd second the recommendation of the Para 2. The ZT Mudd is FANTASTIC if you can find one. Same with the Ti Tyrade. I like the Spyderco Phoenix a lot but I haven't been able to handle one yet, so I have to suspend my opinion somewhat. I've been eyeing the ZT0200 as well. The Junkyard Dog CB is really cool too and is a great value. So many good choices available to you.
 
Well,

Let me begin with a story about my experiences from Benchmade. I purchased a Benchmade 710 because it was a great deal and nutnfancy said that it was really near to perfection! Thus I figured it would be a good go. It was my first benchmade and I really didn't use it very much simply for the fact that it was just too big. Shockingly I also didn't like the recurve. I found that knife to really just be over hyped and fairly impractical in an EDC type role. I was also not impressed with the fact that after only about 20 mins of playing that it had developed severe lateral blade play. The axis lock was tight but the blade wiggled like a worm. After applying some lock-tite, it was totally resolved but one of those things that really would have pissed me off if I had paid full price. After getting on this forum, I traded that thing away.

After a few months of just carrying Spydercos, which are as close to perfect in any EDC role as one can get, I decided to give good ole Benchmade a try again. This time, another great deal came my way. A mini-griptilian. I figure that I might as well give the flagship knife a try. Archman (Iamboognish) said that the mini-grips are much more high quality feeling over the full sized grips, so thats what I got. I have had ZERO problems with this knife. It is a great little utility blade. It sharpens up really sharply and holds the edge decently. One cannot expect too much from 154cm. After playing with the knife for a while, I have been noticing that it loosened up considerably from the initial conditions in which it arrived. However, it has stayed tight laterally.

I think that the blade shape sorta looks like a hinderer or a sebenza. It allows me to pretend that I am using a much more expensive knife while mine is cheap, also they don't make lefty hinderers :(. It's awesome for lefties as well because of the axis lock. I find that the 3ish inch blade is just perfect for a lot of tasks.


In conclusion, I love spydercos and will almost always have one on me, but getting a mini-grip is also a great move. I agree that the 710 ain't the best, and the 940 is a bit chisel-esque. Another option is to go for a Ritter-Grip. They give you a better blade shape and s30v which has really impressed me in its use....at least spyderco does a great job!

I'd say if you don't want a mini.....look for a sage, a delica, or a PARA MILITARY 2!!!!!!! getting the paramil, military, manix or native series is definitely a good starting point. Look for a sprint of the manix though because you will get a FFG blade and a better steel. The native is coming out in its 5th installment with g10 and an FFG s35vn blade. That should be pretty good. If you can, always pick up spyderco sprint runs despite their price difference from regular production, they will have better steels, grinds, and re-sell values.
 
Don't let a few reports about spotty BM QC turn you away from their knives. They make great knives, and every company has the occasional QC disaster. My experiences with Spyderco, Kershaw, and Benchmade have been about the same, and I like all 3 companies. Glad to hear you like your ZT, those are solid knives. Now take another look at the BM 94x series and Spyderco Gayle Bradley. My 943 and Gayle Bradley are my two favorite knives.
 
I think on a forum this large, you are going to find people that have opinions about every brand in pro and cons. I would say BM is a good company overall. I own a 940, a 755, a 3150, a mini grip with wilkins grips and have the new 3800 on order. Overall, the 940 was my go to for a year or so before I was turned on to chris reeve and ZT. I have noticed the lockbar on the 755 sometimes has some slop but I love the knife so I get over it. I own BM, ZT, Chris Reeve, Brian Tighe, Microtech, and strider and I can find problems with each one but the custom Tighe. Overall, buy what you like, its great to get ideas, assisstance and recomendations. That being said, the ZT 301 and 550 are 2 of my all time favorites for the money and you cant go wrong. Plus they're built like a tank and backed by a great warranty.
 
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