Gateway knives!

[Comeuppance]

A lot of people outright object to certain styles of knives, seemingly more often due to perception than experience. There's generally one or two knives of a style that most people can agree are good representative (and possibly opinion-changing) examples.

In my experience:

Smaller knives, ≤3" blade: Mini Griptilian, Spyderco Delica
Slipjoints: Boker Subcom 42, Spyderco Squeak
Traditional "nail-nick" knives: ???
Friction folders: Svord Peasant
Flippers: Kershaw Strobe + Nura, ZT 0808
"Overbuilt" folders: ZT 0801, 0550
Assisted knives: Kershaw Blur/Link/Leek, ZT 0770CF
Automatic knives: Kershaw Launch series, really anything by Protech, Boker AK47
Tantos: Kershaw blur/link, Ontario Utilitac, Hogue EX-01/EX-03, Cold Steel Code 4 / Voyager
Budget knives: Ontario Utilitac, Lansky Responder, Esee Avispa, Kershaw Chill

Those are the knives that have allowed me or others to appreciate those categories that I had previously eschewed. What are some other categories and/or examples?

 

[evanPGH]

For traditionals, there are too many patterns to specify a single knife. Each has they're own following, some are more popular than others but they're are at least a half dozen at the top.

But, I would say anything made by GEC is a good representation of a well made traditional folder.

I'll throw in OTF's; while I'm not a fan of Microtech, I would be willing to bet the general consensus would be that the Ultratech is a good representative of that category. The Scarab would be better, but its price tag limits a good chunk of people from buying one.