Good Inexpensive travel knife, suggestions?

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lonestar1979

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Mar 2, 2014
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I am looking for inexpensive ,but well made edc knife that will be used for cutting and preparing food, cleaning fish,cutting meat and other edc tasks that might come up.Knife should be light to carry and have optimal geometry for cutting.Also I do not want the knife that looks scary or too tactical.Blade length should be around 4 inches.All suggestions are welcome!
 
Don't have a specific recommendation (since I don't have any 4" folders), but I really like all metal frame locks for food. Their open structure and simple textures are much easier wash food out of.

I have a pricey Spiderco Ti handled knife for this, and an $8 Sanrenmu 710. Both are nice for food because they don't have a flipper or other big guard that would stick down and interfere with cutting on a plate.
 
Spyderco manix LW s110v. Best buy of all knives imho. It kicks 400+ dollar knives out of my pockets quite often.
 
Opinel. An Opinel #10 if you need the 4" blade, otherwise a smaller #8 or #9 would do nicely. Price would be about $15-$20.

The beech wood handle makes it look like a nice friendly knife. :-)
 
If you don't mind carbon steel, try a Douk Douk:
post-26628-0-98948200-1410288058.jpeg
 
First suggestion was a Victorinox swiss army knife in the larger 110mm size (about a 3" main blade length). For a fixed blade, I would lean toward a Mora Companion which won't scare many people and they are inexpensive.

Another favorite is the Spyderco Native. The Mannix mentioned above gives you a bit more blade. That is one I will probably pick up eventually. I really like the Native, but it may be too small for you. I however do not consider these Spydercos "inexpensive".
 
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I am carrying Swiss army knife anyways, have Douk Douk but find the blade to rust easily in humid environment and the handle is not comfortable at all.Also find the opinels not resistant to water .I might take my large Victorinox locking blade and that's all.Thats what I used to carry before and it handled all tasks easily, plus knife sharpens easily and doesn't rust.Cuts like crazy.
 
How about a Spyderco Resilience? Takes a really good edge, easy to touch up, and I believe is stainless. Can be had for great price if you shop around.
 
spyderco military maybe.
skip the digicam to avoid the scary/tactical feel.
should be able to find a light user for under $100.
 
Lately, my travel knives have been a SAK Super Tinker and one of the Kershaw-Emerson collaboration pieces (CQC-5K or 6K, or sometimes both).

4" is a pretty large blade. The ones that get the closest I can think of that might be less intimidating would be an Opinel No. 10 (4" blade) or an Endura (3.8" blade). Obviously, there's a big price difference between the two ($15-$65). The ZT 0454 is at 4.1" and looks pretty classy, but I think it doesn't meet the "inexpensive" criteria.

Assuming you are referring to something like the Victorinox One-Handed Sentinel or One-Handed Trekker, that's actually only a 3.2" blade. If you like that size, then something like the CQC-6K or RAT-1 would work well for you.

1252171_comparison1_800x540.jpg
 
lonestar1979 said:
I am looking for inexpensive ,but well made edc knife that will be used for cutting and preparing food, cleaning fish,cutting meat and other edc tasks that might come up.Knife should be light to carry and have optimal geometry for cutting.Also I do not want the knife that looks scary or too tactical.Blade length should be around 4 inches.All suggestions are welcome!
Click to expand...

No one will think any lesser should you go for the obvious victorinox or opinel folders.
In fact common looking generic traveller's pocket knives as these should not set the bells off.
But, I see that you specifically called for a 4" knife which seems pretty attention grabbing...
No matter, your preferences might be better met with something like a buck silver creek folder
buck-silver-creek-folder-bu222blxb.jpg

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn6Jxn56rdA
Which by all accounts would fit your holiday tool requirements.
Best of luck with your search.
 
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Victorinox Trekker would be a good choice. Non threatening looks while having a OHO locking blade. I also find the tools come in handy when traveling and I don't have access to my normal tools.
 
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