Help me pick out a high end knife

wizzard1717 said:
Elishewitz, Steven Kelly, Terzuola, Laconico, Dozier, Zermano, Fellhoelter, Shirogorov, Peter Rassenti, Jeremy Robertson, Hinderer, Les George, John W Smith, that should give ya a good start :D
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Yes and most or several of these guys will be at the California Custom Knife Show here in the O.C. in October. May i suggest you find and attend a Custom Knife Show somewhere and spend some time looking and shopping. Mick Strider and many of the above makers are at these shows with knifes to sell. I cant wait until October...
 
If I were to get a "higher end" knife. And I were a righty (I'm not but I'm assuming you are I'd pick either of the following:

A.G. Russell Acies 2 (Titanium and ZDP blade, might be a bit small for your purposes but I like that size.)
Yuna EQ either secondhand or order one and wait quite a while

Or if you'd want something bigger the Acies 1 or maybe a Yuna Hard or Mini Hard.
 
Get an SMF in CPM-154, I have heard great about their CPM-154. Then you will be happy with the size and toughness. That's what I would do with your guidelines
 
I would go custom...

You will have to wait a while but you can get exactly what you want.
 
BladeChick777 said:
My suggestion:
Spyderco Lionspy.
If you like the Lionsteel SR-1 this is a knife built like one but not one piece so it'd be easier to take apart and clean and reassemble. This one has Elmax steel - which is a great steel that I enjoy very much. It has the Thumb hole - which makes it that much better to me lol. It's a really awesome knife so I would pick that one up. If you don't like the 0560 - check out the 0550/1 as well.
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i have a 0550 on its way to me now so i will know tomorrow if i like it lol, I'm not a huge fan of the linospy, its a great knife but i think I'm looking still for something a little higher end

Hi Zack -

I have quite a few knives - I love my Kershaw Tilt, but those can be hard to find.

The ZT0560 is a great knife - I just won one from Knives Emporium - and I am REALLY liking this one - it has the Kershaw/ZT ball bearing system, and it flips open and locks up like a dream - plus it is just plain old cool!! I currently own a 0560 and for some odd reason its not for me :/ i love the look the feel the fit and finish, everything but i never will edc it. so i need to find it a new home

Darrell Ralph is making a special run of Gunhammers for the forum folks - that will be a $360 knife - but it is customized for the forum folks - check out his forum and see if you like that knife - you can still get in if it is appealing to you. i like his work a lot but after owning a gun hammer it again just wasn't a knife that got carried so i have since found it a new home even though i was so close to ordering on, i just couldn't because i never used my last HTM gunhammer

Many people on this forum love Sebenzas from CRK - and it would be hard to go wrong there - good knife from a good company.

AG Russell has the Acies - the larger one is all sold out but you can find them on the exchange occasionally - probably nearly as hard to find as the Kershaw Tilt.

It's hard to find a Hinderer - those are pretty darn cool - and the ZT0560 is a Hinderer design collaboration, which is another reason that one is so neat.

Then you can get into a custom - maybe - for your price range.
best regards -

mqqn
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as for all this mention of custom I'm headed to the custom knife maker forums now for ideas
 
SO i think for now i need to get a strider as i have wanted one since i started collecting knives. but the issue now is i am being particular and need a hand finding a dealer with what i want

SMF CC spear point, with either black or digi camp blade.
handle scales tan preferable then green, lastly black
TI lock side cannot be stonewashed
 
Don't forget Brad Southard. There's also kungfomo, Dalibor and PeterR here, if you want a beefy Ti folder, they deliver in spades.
 
All kinds of great options out there.

My personal EDC is the HTM Gun Hammer (I'm getting the forum knife mentioned previously though). HTM also has a giant folding dagger (Madd Maxx), and Darrel also does the AXD that Statham used in the first Expendables movie. Darrel does blade:handle ratio better than virtually any other designer, in my opinion.

The ones you mentioned, of course, great. CRK and Hinderer tend to be popular as well.

Will Zermeno has some great ones (Azrael, maybe)
Peter R is one of my favorite folder makers on here.

ZT 560 is popular, and affordable compared to many others.

Please do throw up some pictures when you decide what you're going to get.

In your place, I'd go custom. I don't know if you've gotten to the point where you know exactly what you're looking for in a knife, but if you do, best to have it custom built. If you don't, I submit you're better off saving your money and buying cheaper knives until you know exactly what sort of features you're looking for. My (current) grail knife is a full custom Darrel Ralph Gun Hammer with his M390/Chad Nichols Damascus San Mai blade (until he comes out with something better), textured moku-ti scales, bolt action or other AXIS-type lock, and malachite inlay. Manual, maxx glide bearing pivot. Or, gasp, imagine if I could get some Julie Warenski engraving work done on the handle... Yikes.
 
A Shirogorov model 95 flipper, amazing fit and finish and is as sturdy as my Hinderer xm18. Or save a few hundered more and get an xm18 :).

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The finest folding knife I own or have ever owned is my Shirogorov 95 "Hati." That said I would personally recommend a plain Sebenza (@ $350-410) or "lego" Strider (@ $400-475). Pushing the price of a Strider SmF CC to $550 is, IMO not worth it. I've had a few CCs & I think the design works/feels better in the lego version anyway. I mean it looks cool & is a good theory, but IMO Strider takes off too much material in the process. If they shaped it more like the mSJ75 it would be much better. The current build of CCs is toooo slim. I can easily recommend the Shirogorov over the SmF (in any configuration) if in-hand/in-pocket comfort is a concern.

The Lg Sebenza is my most tried and true folder, but my go-to EDC, though not always, (I'm a raft guide in the Summer & a carpenter in the Winter/Spring) has been a variety of Striders for the last several years... Having gone through all flavors, I think the best all-arounder, Strider wise, is the lego SnG.

CRK & Strider are sooooo thoroughly discussed her and on other forums that it really does seem like were all drinking the kool-aid. But they are what they are. The Sebenza is the yardstick to which all folding knives are measured. Nobody makes folding knives like Strider. They are hyped up and amped up. In the 10-12 that I've owned of each they display their differences & deliver as described. All things considered, I would go with a Sebenza simply because it is, indeed, the yardstick. It may or may not be "the one" but if you're like me you'll continue looking anyway. Either way, I GUARANTEE it will change the way you look at folding knives.
 
This is a fair observation and I tend to agree having owned a half dozen of each over the years. My favorite SMF is the Lego variety by far.


archieblue said:
That said I would personally recommend a plain Sebenza (@ $350-410) or "lego" Strider (@ $400-475). Pushing the price of a Strider SmF CC to $550 is, IMO not worth it. I've had a few CCs & I think the design works/feels better in the lego version anyway. I mean it looks cool & is a good theory, but IMO Strider takes off too much material in the process. If they shaped it more like the mSJ75 it would be much better. The current build of CCs is toooo slim. I can easily recommend the Shirogorov over the SmF (in any configuration) if in-hand/in-pocket comfort is a concern.
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archieblue said:
The finest folding knife I own or have ever owned is my Shirogorov 95 "Hati." That said I would personally recommend a plain Sebenza (@ $350-410) or "lego" Strider (@ $400-475). Pushing the price of a Strider SmF CC to $550 is, IMO not worth it. I've had a few CCs & I think the design works/feels better in the lego version anyway. I mean it looks cool & is a good theory, but IMO Strider takes off too much material in the process. If they shaped it more like the mSJ75 it would be much better. The current build of CCs is toooo slim. I can easily recommend the Shirogorov over the SmF (in any configuration) if in-hand/in-pocket comfort is a concern.

The Lg Sebenza is my most tried and true folder, but my go-to EDC, though not always, (I'm a raft guide in the Summer & a carpenter in the Winter/Spring) has been a variety of Striders for the last several years... Having gone through all flavors, I think the best all-arounder, Strider wise, is the lego SnG.

CRK & Strider are sooooo thoroughly discussed her and on other forums that it really does seem like were all drinking the kool-aid. But they are what they are. The Sebenza is the yardstick to which all folding knives are measured. Nobody makes folding knives like Strider. They are hyped up and amped up. In the 10-12 that I've owned of each they display their differences & deliver as described. All things considered, I would go with a Sebenza simply because it is, indeed, the yardstick. It may or may not be "the one" but if you're like me you'll continue looking anyway. Either way, I GUARANTEE it will change the way you look at folding knives.
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thank you all for the great opinions.

i have reached the point in my collecting career where i know what i need, what i want, and what i can't have. i have owned any knife worth having from emerson, BM, ZT, sypderco, Ontario, Hest, micro tech, and everything in-between. the only knife i have not yet traded off is the military.... and any knife with a non coated blade gets traded in a week. idk why its just something i need ha.

that being said i think I'm going to look for what i want in the lego version due to your recommendation. next question is steel type?

i am not a lover of the s30v, cpm154 i like a lot and 3v isn't stainless :/ whats the differences between the s35vn and cpm154? besides edge holding being superior on the s35vn and the cpm154 being tougher and more giving ?
 
Strider used to send their S30V blades out to Paul Bos for the HT years ago. They broughtt the HT process in-house a while back but still use Paul Bos' recipe, considered by many to beone of, if not the the best S30V HT in the industry. Frankly speaking in my humble opinion, Strider S30V might possibly be the best S30V on the production market today. Unless you can get into a small run of some other high end, special steel from Strider, I'd choose their S30V almost any day of the week. And you'll know what I mean the first time you put their S30V to a rod.

As for S35VN, that is probably more in the category of typically HT'ed S30V and was intended to be an easier to machine, close equivalent to S30V but I'm not sure if the outcome was exactly as expected or not. I still prefer S30V at 60 HRC over any S35VN.

Ran hard, like 62, CPM-154 is good stuff but in the 58-60, I'd still take the S30V from Strider over it.

One key element is Strider has probably done more S30V with Paul Bos' recipe than any other steel by a HUGE stretch in their knives.

Strider S30V FTW as a general rule with Striders from my perspective :)


jwblack911 said:
thank you all for the great opinions.

i have reached the point in my collecting career where i know what i need, what i want, and what i can't have. i have owned any knife worth having from emerson, BM, ZT, sypderco, Ontario, Hest, micro tech, and everything in-between. the only knife i have not yet traded off is the military.... and any knife with a non coated blade gets traded in a week. idk why its just something i need ha.

that being said i think I'm going to look for what i want in the lego version due to your recommendation. next question is steel type?

i am not a lover of the s30v, cpm154 i like a lot and 3v isn't stainless :/ whats the differences between the s35vn and cpm154? besides edge holding being superior on the s35vn and the cpm154 being tougher and more giving ?
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And at least the strider warranty is rock solid if for some crazy reason i did pry with it, alrighty time to shop around for a lego haha will update with progression.

any more input on steel would be great though you never can get to much info
 
Reeek said:
Strider used to send their S30V blades out to Paul Bos for the HT years ago. They broughtt the HT process in-house a while back but still use Paul Bos' recipe, considered by many to beone of, if not the the best S30V HT in the industry. Frankly speaking in my humble opinion, Strider S30V might possibly be the best S30V on the production market today. Unless you can get into a small run of some other high end, special steel from Strider, I'd choose their S30V almost any day of the week. And you'll know what I mean the first time you put their S30V to a rod.

As for S35VN, that is probably more in the category of typically HT'ed S30V and was intended to be an easier to machine, close equivalent to S30V but I'm not sure if the outcome was exactly as expected or not. I still prefer S30V at 60 HRC over any S35VN.

Ran hard, like 62, CPM-154 is good stuff but in the 58-60, I'd still take the S30V from Strider over it.

One key element is Strider has probably done more S30V with Paul Bos' recipe than any other steel by a HUGE stretch in their knives.

Strider S30V FTW as a general rule with Striders from my perspective :)
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One can really tell the difference in Strider's S30V compared to others as you said, it's really something to work with.

I did get lucky and got 2 Umnumzaan's, the last run of S30V before the change over to S35VN and it was done right, had one of them HRC tested and it came out at 59.5 HRC and both of them feel just like Strider's S30V and they really hold an edge.
 
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