Help me decide on a Gentleman's Folder, Please!

So I went with the Chaparral, with the full expectation that I'll be buying another knife after carrying that for a month or so. The next one will be an Al Mar or a Le Thiers knife, most likely, or something like an ultra thin Benchmade (but still with around a 3.2" blade). Even the Sage 1 is less than 3", which is why I decided to go with the Chaparral for the smaller pocket profile.

About Mcusta, I have seen some reviews where the liner lock was referred to as "painful". After that I looked at screenshots and compared them to other knives, and in the pictures Mcusta is definitely on the low end of "amount of liner lock available to press".
 
tr3nt00n said:
About Mcusta, I have seen some reviews where the liner lock was referred to as "painful". After that I looked at screenshots and compared them to other knives, and in the pictures Mcusta is definitely on the low end of "amount of liner lock available to press".
Click to expand...

I hope you enjoy the Chaparral. I think your above statement is too general. There may be some Mcusta's where the lock is hard to accuate but certainly not all of them. I have no issue at all with the Yoroi, nor did I with the Tactility I owned. I did have a Tsuchi as well but that one I had trouble opening because of accessibility of the thumbstud. They make very good knives so don't right them off.
 
The only times I have heard about difficult locks are on the ultra-thin frame lock models (MC-11xD). The liner lock I own is really easy to use.

Enjoy your Chaparral though. It's a fun lil thing.
 
I had a pretty shocking experience today. My home town doesn't have a knife store, but I was traveling for work and I had some free time in a big city. So I popped out my phone and found a store dedicated to knives (mostly folding knives). I stayed there for at least an hour evaluating knives, with the full intent to purchase one before I would leave. I was hoping to check out all of the candidates for "gentleman's folder" that I'd been looking at for the past week.

Al Mar - I looked at 5 ultralights, in 3 different sizes. The eagle is comically large in person. Other than that, I would have sworn these were Chinese made. The blade centering was about the only "well fitted" aspect of them. ALL of them had broken lanyard hole liners. All of them had blade play up and down. All of them were so flimsy (Micarta handles with no liners) that they flex side to side with minimal force. The finish was noticeably better than the CRKT Tribute, but not perfect by any means. I think these are all hype, no substance.

Mcusta - Moneyclips with no scale on the non-clip side... ugly as hell and a little too small. The other model I can't remember the name but it was a small gentleman's folder size with a liner lock and some scales that didn't fully cover the liners. Strangely the liner lock was actually completely fine, it was the rest of the knife that felt really rough and uncomfortable.

CRKT Eros - I liked it okay, but it was a little to small for me. I'd say I liked it more than expected, but not enough for that price.

CRKT Swindle - This came out of nowhere and blew me away. I hate almost everything about the knife except the feel in the hand, and that was so good I almost bought it anyway. I'm going to be looking for more knives with this form.

Spyderco - I tried most of the models he had, and liked ALL of them. Some I wouldn't want to own, but for the most part the Spyderco knives were amazing. I'm glad I ordered the Chaparral. My only dislike in Spyderco knives is the ones with large handles that ALSO have the choil-on-the-blade design. That just leaves like 1.5 inches of wasted handle sticking out of my hand, which is annoying.

CRKT Tribute - Nifty little knife design, but lots of blade play and poorly finished, just as people were saying.

Benchmade - High prices and none of them fit my hand except the mini-grip, which is ugly as hell. If not for the axis lock I would have no interest in these. The store did have a Megumi which I played with for a little while... and got the same impression as the Al Mar knives. It does nothing to justify the price.

Kershaw - I didn't try many of these because I just didn't see anything appealing. He had hardly any Kershaw flippers, which was strange. I tried the leek and confirmed it's a little too small and I'm not a fan of the blade shape.

So I ended up buying a Spyderco Tenacious! I didn't have any need for one, but it's a damn enjoyable knife to play with... and it's prettier than an Al Mar in person.
 
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tr3nt00n said:
Al Mar - I looked at 5 ultralights, in 3 different sizes. The eagle is comically large in person. Other than that, I would have sworn these were Chinese made. The blade centering was about the only "well fitted" aspect of them. ALL of them had broken lanyard hole liners. All of them had blade play up and down. All of them were so flimsy (Micarta handles with no liners) that they flex side to side with minimal force. The finish was noticeably better than the CRKT Tribute, but not perfect by any means. I think these are all hype, no substance.
Click to expand...

I have three Al Mar Knives and they all have quality build and none of the symptoms you describe: Falcon UltraLight, Mini SERE 2000 and an old Rexroat Designed Nomad Limited Edition from 2005. The broken lanyard hole liners is not that at all. It's not a lanyard hole, it does look broken but it's not and it's to switch the clip from one side to the other. My UltraLight is very sturdy with no blade play.
 
I normally edc my grey Delica 4 ffg. But my Mini grip 556, or my Buck Vantage select small are my "Gentleman's" knives.
I'd suggest the Benchmade
Mini Presidio, or the Spyderco Persistence. Maybe the Caly 3.
 
The Case Slimlock series at 2.5" and BG42 is a pretty little light use gentlemans type. It's been around for years and is available in any number of colors and materials. I have wood, but there is bone, MOP, Mammoth Ivory, any number of different materials and colors. Pretty expensive though. I couldn't imagine anyone but a very rich person collecting every release in that series which has been running probably over 10 years. It's small, pretty and the BG42 always cuts well.

Joe
 
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