heavy duty EDC for under $35

Bear Claw Chris Lappe said:
RAT 1, or Ontario's Utilitac II both in your price range, and solid knives.
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Exactly. They both rock the house. :cool:

On a side note; being afraid to lose something expensive isn't a good reason to not buy something expensive. I'd be very upset if I lost my Sebenza 21, which is why I don't lose it. :)
 
Also, if you carry your knife clipped to the inside of your pants (IWB) you will never lose or break another pocket clip again, at least in my experience.
 
rat or esee zancudo are great. but may I suggest you too look into H&K large Ascender. great knife. it's discontinued but you can still find it under $35.
 
Kershaw Thermite is around $35

Edit: Wait, why did my phone quote someone :confused:
 
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As has been mentioned already, the RAT-1 is a great knife. If you want something smaller, the RAT-2 or Zancudo are both good as well. The One-Ton also looks fairly beefy.

If you are okay with assisted-opening (just minus the safety lock on the bottom), you might check out the Cryo, Cryo II, or Thermite. The Blur is also fairly heavy duty and is US-made. You may be able to find a blem or second-hand one within your budget.

If you don't need something too heavy duty, you might also look at the US-made Skyline or Zing.
 
Kershaw Injection 3.5 or even the 3.0 can be had for $35 or less. Not sure if it would classify as a heavy duty folder but its a steal at that price point.
 
IMHO: I see some of the Chinese brands were offered already, also mentioned some of the "US" sort of brands...
For $15-$20 I would stick with Ganzo 704 which is essentially copy of the H&K Benchmade.
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I got 712, that is Bedlam's copy and I abuse it a lot, without much of a wear shown on the knife, steel is decent,
mechanism is just a good copy of proven design... In the pictures thread I posted a picture of this knife that I was using to cut a square hole in a 2X4 metal beam for a power outlet,
it did not show any wear after this...
An actual picture of my knife:
v20z.jpg



My first choice would be a US brand and someone already mentioned Thermite, which is excellent knife for the money, size wise and as design,
but here's what happens with the frame lock on the Thermite after few days only opening and closing the knife:
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It's not a big deal, I guess, whoever knows how to fiddle with the knife would probably be able to fix such small things, otherwise I absolutely love the design of this Kershaw,
along with t he size.

Talking about size, the mentioned Zancudo is the same size as the small Rat - the second edition, they are both fine edc knifes, I also prefer the Zancudo but the truth is that they both are on the small side...
I personally would like a knife as the original Rat size.
If they had a larger size Zancudo I'd love to have one...
I heavily abused my small Rat and I have to say - it was a 0 (zero) play of the blade, impressive knife IMHO, along with the Zancudo, unfortunately I'm not happy with the sharpness retention of the Rat 2 but it could be my knife only, a bad batch or something, I don't know, my Zancudo is also made in Taiwan but if has excellent sharpness retention...
The only downsize of those both knifes that I can think about besides the size is the fact that it is effortless to close the blade if you hit it on the back, the liner lock does not hold at all, especially on the Zancudo, but they are not tactical knifes, when steady pressure is applied on the back of the blade they hold just fine...

If the OP shys away from Chinese productions ( I should say probably "brands") I'd say, go with the Kershaw Skyline - in my opinion - excellent design, good Sandvik steel and around $30-35 bucks...
 
Travis91 said:
Ive narrowed it down to the Rat 1 or 2 Or the Buck Bantam BLW.
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I have a Buck Bantam BLW, and while I like the fact that its made in the US, I can't get it to hold a decent edge. If I had this problem with other knives, I'd blame myself, but that isn't the case.

I have a Rat 1 and 2 on the way. I have high hopes for these knives.
 
Travis91 said:
I always carry them inside my pocket..
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When carried in the pocket the clip is exposed to the ouside world, and can get snagged on things, scratched on things, bent out of shape, and even broken off. Sometimes taking the knife with it in the process.

Seriously recommend IWB carry if this is an issue with you.
 
Salt said:
Just ordered a Rat II thanks to this post
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You will like it, I believe... It is a very comfortable little knife, especially for forward saber grip. I hope you didn't order the model with the black blade because it is just a cheap paint and will be gone soon.
 
Travis91 said:
Ive narrowed it down to the Rat 1 or 2 Or the Buck Bantam BLW.
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Since you titled this "heavy duty EDC", I want to point out, that RAT 1 or 2, have full steel liners in the handle, while the Buck Bantam does not. The handle is all synthetic. I like the Bantam, but depending on what you mean by "heavy duty", you might consider the lack of liners.
 
Bear Claw Chris Lappe said:
Since you titled this "heavy duty EDC", I want to point out, that RAT 1 or 2, have full steel liners in the handle, while the Buck Bantam does not. The handle is all synthetic. I like the Bantam, but depending on what you mean by "heavy duty", you might consider the lack of liners.
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Very true, here is how the Rat2 compares to the Zancudo, it has same thickness of the liners but one more screw, otherwise the washers and pins are with almost identical size...
IMHO: I would still go with the Rat1, the small Rat is just to small for my hands, nothing else...
brk-r1_z-do_008_81903_30976299.jpg
 
Still holding out hope for the ESEE Izula folder and made in the US.
 
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