Recommendation? Graduating from “budget” knives

I changed my mind a little after seeing all the suggestions and comments. I still eventually would like to work up to CRKs and such, but for now I took a step back and figured that I should handle a few different knives/manufactures to figure out what I do and don’t like.

I found a couple good deals in the exchange here. I have a para 3 and bugout on the way.

I did make a spreadsheet of all the suggested knives, seems like a pretty solid list to work through.We’ll see what the next purchase holds
 
Op,
Congrats on your choices, and your new approach.
Nothing quite like getting the knife in hand.
Good Luck in your quest...
BTB
Shorttime said:
Finally, this $11 slipjoint. Does everything a knife "needs" to do, and is actually a rather brilliant case-study in value engineering.
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Also, I'm curious about this $11 slipjoint...
I like it, any more info avail.?
BTB
 
Forgive me, please. But I have to ask:
If the "budget" knives do everything you need, why "upgrade"?
Co-workers (if applicable) and family won't be "impressed" ... fact is, they may think you're crazy for "spending that much" for a knife (if they don't already).

Good luck with choosing whatever you decide to get. :)
 
afishhunter said:
Forgive me, please. But I have to ask:
If the "budget" knives do everything you need, why "upgrade"?
Co-workers (if applicable) and family won't be "impressed" ... fact is, they may think you're crazy for "spending that much" for a knife (if they don't already).

Good luck with choosing whatever you decide to get. :)
Click to expand...

I understand your thought on that. I don’t buy knives, or anything, to impress others nor do I give any thought to how others view my spending habits. I know that I am responsible with my spending and very rarely do I ever spend money on “things” I don’t need. But I have come to realize that it does do you good to reward yourself every now and then, knives are just one way of doing so for me. I set personal goals for myself and when I achieve them, I reward myself. As Cvrobinson stated earlier “ you can’t go wrong with something that makes you feel proud to have in your pocket.” The pride for me isn’t just because of what the item is or what it cost, it’s from the work I did to earn it for myself.

I know, a little deep, but that should answer your question.
 
If you want smaller knives, the para 3 and bugout that you just bought are great. Otherwise, your M390 Manix 2 will perform just as good as or even better than many knives people suggested in this thread.
 
AntDog said:
Fair enough. Just try not to get roped into the belief that more expensive = better. In many cases one’s purposes would be easily fulfilled by what they already have.

Knife “zen” is hard to reach though. Post up whatever you end up with.
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Yup. I started off with mid-grade knives then got a few fancy-pants ones...and as I began to understand the degree of influence that different variables had on performance, I ended up going to value-minded knives and tools. Basically everything I use regularly at this point would fall under the "budget" category but will cut circles around a lot of knives that sit in the higher price brackets because they have the geometry dialed in, and good heat treatment on "good enough" steel while remaining quick and easy to touch up with a few licks of a basic stone, and the price tag stays low because of mechanical simplicity and not using materials that are above and beyond the functional requirements of the application. As I like to say, Benjamin Franklin was right when he said that there was never a good knife made from bad steel, but he failed to mention that many a mediocre knife has been made from top-shelf steel, and that many phenomenal knives have been made from merely "suitable" steel.
 
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