Help choosing first knife

gazz98 said:
Welcome to the forums. Well, you have a ton of choices really. Of the two you mentioned, the Buck is the better blade but it costs more. There is nothing wrong with Byrd line from Spyderco. It is a great bang for the buck. I guess it really depends on how much you want to spend. You seem a little hesitant to spend toward the top end of your budget (based on the comment about the Buck). Since this is your first knife, I'd suggest spending less and see how it goes. The Delica and Minigrip are both great choices, but I'll pick a few at half the price.

1. Ontario Rat 2 about $30
2. Kabar Dozier about $20\
3. SAK (Swiss Army Knife) I'd highly suggest getting one with the scissors. They are handy. Maybe the Super Tinker or Explorer.
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What do you typically find yourself using the scissors for? I used to carry a multi tool all the time and after enough years never found myself needing the scissors or pliers much so went to just a Sak Farmer.
 
As many have said and will continue to say:

Delica - the FRN is great for a knife that you don't want to worry about scratching or beating up. drop it on the ground, toss it in your pocket with keys, etc. etc. it'll look the same and function very well. Get one with a blue handle and almost anybody will agree - it looks tame.

Endura - the delica's bigger brother - to me it's a bit on the large size for everybody to think it's "tame" but it's also a great knife and one of my favorites.

Rat 2 - super useful, well built, no nonsense.

You can't go wrong with either of them.
 
Kershaw 1660cf Leek. Real carbon fiber handles, only weighs 2.3 oz., CPM 154 blade steel, 3 inch blade length, USA made & very "tame" in a crowd of people. Usually go around $70-85.
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The Buck Vantage Pro has CPM S30V steel, it will hold an excellent edge. It will outperform the Byrd lines 8cr13mov and 420hc steel by a mile. The only 2 disadvantages that come to mind is cost and it will be more difficult to sharpen. Considering that this is your first knife, and IF you are a novice at sharpening, you may want to go with a steel that will take an edge easier. Have you considered Spydercos Salt series offerings. H1 steel takes a killer edge very easily, it is rust proof, so other than sharpening it is pretty much maintenance free, and the knives have no liner, so they are super light. If you go with the serrated edge which is what most people seem to prefer, you may never need to sharpen it, because it will hold an edge for a loooooong time. The cost also falls into your price range, definitely worth a look imo.
 
cravethedave said:
Hello All, I am looking for some guidance from those who know better than I. I have never bought a pocket knife before and I was looking to add one to my EDC. I have had a couple in the past but they were gifts and I was young and I lost them as young people tend to do with things they did not work for themselves. I have read and researched and looked around and I think I have narrowed my search down to two knives (though I am open to other suggestions). 1. The Spyderco Byrd Meadowlark 2 G10 or 2. The Buck Vantage Pro/Avid Small.
the reason I put both the buck pro and avid is I am not sure I want to spend the money for the pro but I like getting a metal that holds a better edge.

things that matter to me.

1. I don't want to spend more than $100
2. I want something less than 4 oz
3. I want something "tame" that I could take anywhere.
4. I don't want a bare metal handle

Are these good choices? Are they worth the price? If they are then which is better? If not, what else should I look at?
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Does it have to be a folder?

If you are willing to jump into a carbon/tool steel blade, the Mantra 1 has the same handle size as the Delica, but offers an M4 blade, a flipper tab as well as a thumb hole, and Ti slabs.

They can be found on the secondary market for around $115 at times.
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Dr Rez said:
What do you typically find yourself using the scissors for? I used to carry a multi tool all the time and after enough years never found myself needing the scissors or pliers much so went to just a Sak Farmer.
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Well, I do IT work and I use the scissors to cut down stickers/tape to label and color code wire, ports, and other things. Although I usually carry a dedicated type scissor for the job, if I walk out of the server room and into office, I always have my SAK scissors if I need them. I also carry a MT quite a bit too. The pliers come in handy for IT work too. I get more use out of SAKs or MTs at my job vs a knife.
 
The Meadowlark is an excellent budget folder. However it seems the G-10 Delica is probably more what you're looking for (not FRN). I would also recommend the Skyline as a general EDC, not hard use but it's great for almost everything else. Plus it's cheap.
 
Buck has a good heat treatment I'd recommend one over 8cr13mov. Tho the Spyderco has a slightly better cutting geometry which can help. I'd prefer the Delica as it's got a great cutting geometry, great edc size and vg10 which is better than both 8cr13mov and bucks 420hc Bos HT.

One other option which was also already mentioned, the rat 1 in d2. If the rat1 is too big, the rat2 in d2 should be out by Christmas.

D2 is better than vg10 but also a bit harder to sharpen. They do run it a Lil soft so it's not too terribly difficult tho. It also has a decent slicing profile behind the edge.

There are a variety of Chinese brands with Sandvik steel that are in your price range that is decent enough. Ruike, real steel, etc.

Steelwill have a great d2 affordable flipper too. The cutjack. It's not an idea slicer, but still good for edc tasks, is a flipper on bearings and everyone raves about it.

You could also just keep an eye on the bladeforums exchange and find more expensive knives at lower prices used. This could open your search to more knives that aren't in your price range new from vendors.

Also avoid eBay and Amazon. Buy from authorized dealers on the forum here. Lots of great vendors if you don't get something in the exchange.
 
Thank you all so much for your input! I cannot thank you enough for the guidance. I think at this point with the overwhelming number of recommendations I’m going to follow the prevailing wisdom and get a Delica. Should I look on the exchange for one? It seems like people would only use the exchange to list higher dollar knives cause the cheap ones aren’t worth the trouble. Might be wrong. Like I said I’m new here and only just started looking.
 
cravethedave said:
Thank you all so much for your input! I cannot thank you enough for the guidance. I think at this point with the overwhelming number of recommendations I’m going to follow the prevailing wisdom and get a Delica. Should I look on the exchange for one? It seems like people would only use the exchange to list higher dollar knives cause the cheap ones aren’t worth the trouble. Might be wrong. Like I said I’m new here and only just started looking.
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Delica is popular enough - you will see them go for sale. I got mine here anyways.
 
Solid choice ctd. I bet you will come to appreciate the lightness of the FRN scales.
 
Welcome to the forum! To be honest with you, you'll probably end up with almost all of the knives recommended here at some point or another. I know I did. All of the them are great suggestions, all are great knives. But which one is good for you is personal preference, and you won't know what you like until you try them. For that I suggest buying used knives from the exchange here. Awesome deals where you can experiment with what you like and don't like. If you buy one and don't like it, you can upgrade to a gold membership and sell it to fund more experimenting. Before buying knives, it would be best to read or watch reviews on them to help narrow down your search. You can find reviews here using the search function. I suggest checking out Nick Shabazz at YouTube for video knife reviews.

I personally recommend the Benchmade Mini Griptilian. It is my favorite knife, it is compact and light, but packs a nice size blade. It uses 154CM steel which is a well balanced steel that holds an edge well but is easy to sharpen.The AXIS lock is easy to use and strong, at the same time it's downright fun to play with. It lives up to it's name with really nice jimping and texturing. A solid choice.

A couple others to look at is the OKC Rat 2 and Spyderco Dragonfly 2.
 
cravethedave said:
Thank you all so much for your input! I cannot thank you enough for the guidance. I think at this point with the overwhelming number of recommendations I’m going to follow the prevailing wisdom and get a Delica. Should I look on the exchange for one? It seems like people would only use the exchange to list higher dollar knives cause the cheap ones aren’t worth the trouble. Might be wrong. Like I said I’m new here and only just started looking.
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Nice choice. A good definition of an EDC knife. They pop up on the exchange frequently because of their popularity.
 
cravethedave said:
the Kershaw Skyline looks nice but it isn't much less than the sale that bladehq has on the buck at the moment, is it worth paying more for the buck? how does the steel Sandvik 14C28N compare to the steel on the Buck?

Thank you so much for all the feedback! Please let me know what you think
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Seen you made your choice, but I'll respond anyways.

Buck's 420hc is a very basic steel. Good basic steel, and their Bos heat treat maximizes it's performance, but still basic non-the-less.

The sandvik steel used by Kershaw was specifically designed for KAI (kershaws parent company) to be a "better" all around affordable knife steel. It's very fine grained, takes a very keen edge, and kershaw heat treats it well. As such it does out perform Buck's 420hc.

s30v by Buck, (the vantage pro), heat treated by Bos, out performs kershaws sandvik in edge holding, but it also a bit tougher to resharpen as a result...

None are a bad choice by any means.
I have the premium version skyline with s30v and carbon fiber, a small vantage avid, and a large vantage pro.
(Plus a Kershaw blur in sandvik)

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cravethedave said:
Thank you all so much for your input! I cannot thank you enough for the guidance. I think at this point with the overwhelming number of recommendations I’m going to follow the prevailing wisdom and get a Delica. Should I look on the exchange for one? It seems like people would only use the exchange to list higher dollar knives cause the cheap ones aren’t worth the trouble. Might be wrong. Like I said I’m new here and only just started looking.
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Not true at all, while there are high priced knives here you’ll often find knives in the $30 range, and new deli as are usually cheaper than even online retailers, plus all I have dealt with have been way more helpful in general!
 
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TortugaNH said:
In case you haven't noticed, the Spyderco Delica has been the gateway knife for many of us.
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I very much like the Delica and I'll add the Native 5 to that gateway classification. Hard to go wrong with either of these. They are very tame in the Spyderco world although you can go tamer. I also like the Victorinox line for EDC use. If you like the scissors option, the PioneerX is a good choice but of course it has the meal scales and no clip.

I recently purchased the Steel Will Mini Cutjack in M390. It ran over $100 but it is a great knife with a premium steel. The flipper feature can be done slowly and creates less attention. They have their Chinese made line that are less expensive, but I read are good knives.
 
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Can't go wrong with a mini grip or a delica. I have both and wouldn't give up either.
Also I really like the Kershaw leek. Though I hate the factory clip, it's great with a MXG deep carry clip.
 
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