Help me choose my first knife!

Welcome!

The "basics" of outdoor recreation like you are planning on are not "chopping and batonning". The vast majority of tasks are more "slice-y."

People love ESEEs and they are well-built, but I think you are looking at the worst size for any outdoors knife. That 5-6 inch range (especially when sabre ground) does everything, but nothing particularly well.

The flat ground ESEE 4 is going to be excellent at what you will be doing the vast majority of the time -- slicing.

The Fallkniven F1 mentioned would also be a great choice...and with its convex edge and stainless steel would be easier to maintain in the field in my opinion.

Don't worry about carbon steel. Just eipr it off on you pants leg when you are done. It will be fine. People have used carbon steel outdoors for a long time. Frontiersmen, trappers, buffalo hunters, etc etc etc.

Finally, honestly, I wouldn't even suggest as fixed blade to you.

Get a Alox Victorinox Farmer. It will do everything you need. You'd be surprised what it along with some skill and thought can accomplish.

All of this goes out the window, if, by "camping," you really mean "going out in the woods drinking beer and bashing the bejeebus outta innocent trees." Nothing wrong with that. If that's the case get a 7-9 inch bomb proof chopper/basher/smasher. I am partial to the Ontario Ranger RD7.

Or a Tramontina Trail Machete (from baryonyxknife.com!). They are a blast for whacking stuff with.
 
Harleybane said:
Just the basic chopping, batoning etc.

Im leaning towards a Fallkniven A1, SOG Seal team elite, SOG Force or a esee 4-6. I mainly want a stainless knife.
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Chopping and batoning beg for a longer blade, especially chopping.
The ESEE 6 would be okay in that regard. I'm a little biased, but check out the Becker BK-7 too.
Neither would be a great chopper though. You'd still need to step it up to a longer blade to chop well.

If it's just a camp/bushcraft knife you're after, the ESEE 4 or the Becker BK-16 would be good choices.
 
Another vote for the Fallkniven. Excellent quality knives. Also at some point, after you have used said knife you can have it rehandled to make it truly yours. Good luck
 
for what you said you will be using it for, I would go with the Esee 5 or 6. Great fixed blades that take a ton of abuse and keep an edge VERY well. Just make sure to keep it clean and dry or it will rust on the uncoated parts but that's not an issue as long as kept clean and dry.

I personally have the Esee 3 and the Candiru. My old lady has the izula and we love them all.
 
Out of your first mentioned choices the Fallkniven would be the best. They are hard to beat. The Esee knives are very nice, too. If you can wait, Cold Steel is coming out with their Master Hunter in 3V steel.
 
I wanted a stainless blade on my field knife, so I got a Benchmade 162. Very happy with it.

I can see the merit of buying a cheaper knife though. I think that Ontario makes a stainlees fixed blade that would work well for about 95 bucks. I would consider that over the Benchmade.

Also, they are not cheap but, look at the GSO series of fixed blade knives.
 
Harleybane said:
Hello!

Im going to buy my first knife with a fairly large budget, around 200 dollars.

Its the knife im going to carry while camping out in the woods. And i want a knife thats good at pretty much everything. I ont be hunting so no skinning required. Just the basic chopping, batoning etc.

Im leaning towards a Fallkniven A1,............!
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For about 1/2 the cost, the Cold Steel SRK should be on your list. It's pretty much the same as the Fallkniven with just slightly different blade steel. Save some dough and get your second knife sooner!

http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Steel-Black-Kraton-Handle/dp/B0030DBGXY/?ie=UTF8
 
Well I can't help you with stainless recommendations because I am a carbon steel guy. If they do not have a coating, I oil w/ any food grade oil (usually mineral oil but coconut, olive, etc works). If after long use without oil they rust up, no biggie, just sand it off with high grit sandpaper, sharpen, oil and as good as new. If the knife has a coating, then it doesn't matter much. Any rust spots come off when sharpening.

As far as fixed blades I recommend, I love my ka-bar Becker 14, 16, 2, 10, 7 and 9. I love my esee izula, 3, 5 and junglas. I also love my bark river bravo 1 and my swamp rat rmd cg. Anyways after years of buying and selling, those are my favorites. Maybe I can save you some time and money by passing that along.

If I was you, I would start with the ka-bar Ethan Becker line. Awesome bang for your buck and it is what I usually grab when hitting the woods.

Good luck.
 
I had the same problem, picking a knife that suited me. I found a good infographic about hunting knives that explains it pretty well. Check it out, it might help you :)

I use my knife for camping/survival situations so I decided upon a short bladed folding knife that can handle a beating.. :cool:
 
If you're serious about it and thinking of straying from designated 'campgrounds', I would put that budget toward a good leuku/pukko combination (either in a nice piggyback sheath or separate) by a Nordic maker selling in the U.S. or a good U.S. manufacturer...and a suitable Swiss Army knife for your mandatory backup folder.

In time and after gaining some experience, if you find any shortcomings with these, you can make an educated buy on something else and branch out a bit in your choices.

You'll find that the rigs that really work best for you in a snowfield or on a stormy mountainside aren't necessarily those on the glamour path of brand name and password steels. For example, basic 1095 and Becker/KaBar Cro-van are good outdoor steels.​

If you do become starstruck (and who could blame you in that budget range), a few of the fancyblades I CAN recommend, ranging in price and size, are:
-Cold Steel Trailmaster san mai
-TOPS B.O.B.
-ESSE 3 Mil-spec
-DPx HEST II series
-Becker BK-11

for the backup folder:
-Grayman Dua
-DPx HEST 2.0
-a Cold Steel 4" of your choice
-Buck 110
-Ontario Utilitac

The Fallknivens and Swamp Rat fixed blades are very good too with great reputations. The only caveat on ESSE's and Bark Rivers--be sure the handle ergos won't fatigue your hand during a long work session.

You have a lot of selection in that budget range. Good luck.
 
Removed, Sorry about that. I didn't realize this thread was 5 years old.
 
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toal299 said:
Hi there Harleybane, Welcome to the forum! Your question states that you are making your first knife purchase with a budget of $200 but I see that you now have two knives listed on the custom knife for sale forum at $3k and $9k each?
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Check the date on this thread...

He might have built up some disposable income in 5 years. :rolleyes:
 
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