Help with choosing a folding pocket knife

S

sea11sun

Joined
Apr 22, 2007
Messages
3
For years I had a Fiskars ballisong type knife with plastic hadles, about 3.5" long SS blade, kind of wide blade. I liked it because it was effective and light, and could be used for security. In a recent flight abroad I found a note in my checked-in luggage that it was inspected by US security. Later I also found that the knife wasn't there anymore.

My main question is that I woud like to replace it with a good light knife of similar blade length, that is unobtrusive, easy and light to carry in my pocket, can be opened quickly with one hand, and that can also serve general purpose duties.

Fiskars seems not to make my type of knife any longer, and I am discovering a variety of suggestions in these forums. The cost is not too important. Can you please give me some advice, as I don't know much about the subject?

Thanks a lot.
 
I just got a Benchmade mini grip and i love it, but it is a little smaller than the knife you are describing but the lockup is excelent and it comes scary sharp. It is also a bit bulky for its size but a great knife you might want to go with the full size model.
 
If you're looking for a balisong type knife to EDC, check out the Benchmade BM32 Morpho. It has a quality steel (D2), is decently grippy, and is one of my favorite EDC knives. The blade length is right at 3.25" I believe. It is light, has a spring latch, and almost unnoticable in my pocket.

Otherwise, I'd recommend a Spyderco. The Delica 4 or Endura 4 should do what you need to do. The Delica is 2.75", but has more than enough blade to do most tasks. The Endura is 3.75", and will cover whatever else you'll be needing to do with a folder. They feature the Spyderhole, which is by far my favorite way to open a knife one handed. They both also come in a "waved" version, which will open as you pull it out of your pocket it. The waved Delica has a blade of 2.9" and the waved Endura's is 3.8". You can get the regular models in a very hard, very nice stainless (ZDP-189) that will do any cutting that you ask of it for a loooooooong time without losing its edge. However, it's very hard and will chip against hard objects. The standard steel is the somewhat softer, but still very nice stainless VG10, which will perform with many of the best. All of this is for under $100.

:thumbup:
 
Welcome to Bladeforums!

Take a look at this butterfly knife, sold by Ragweed Forge: http://www.ragweedforge.com/AhtiCatalog.html -- it's the last item on the page. This is the knife once sold by Hackman. I'm not familiar with Fiskars selling one, but they are Finnish also.

I just noticed he carries a red handled version now. I've already got the black. NICE knife, lightweight and strong and very sharp.

If you want something more conventional to avoid confiscation again, there are hundreds of good choices. Spyderco provides many of them. Take a look at the latest version of the Endura (4" blade) or Delica (3"). Go to www.knifeworks.com and search for Endura 4 or Delica 4 to get all the variations: FRN or stainless steel, plain, combo, or serrated edge.

Also Check out the Kershaw Storm II at 3.5" and the new Junk Yard Dog II at 3.75".
 
Great answers, thanks a lot, the red Ragweed Forge is the one I had!!! BWY, why would one choose a red handle?
 
Years ago, Hackman sold the red handled version, supposedly as supplied to the CIA in Vietnam. This story made it popular as a romantic item.

At the same time, they also sold a fixed blade designed by Tapio Wirkkala, a reknowned Finnish artisan. I got one -- a great knife, a modern style of the traditional Finnish puukko.

I never got around to ordering a red handled butterfly, and only years later picked up a well-worn black handled butterfly. Then Ragnar came up with the Sorsakoski version, and I got one of those, and it seems that Sorsakoski was the source all along. At that price, there's no reason for me not to pick up a red. :)

Why red? Why yellow or orange for rescue knives? Visibility. We often think in terms of stealth, especially for our legally-questionable knives. But as a useful item, in the woods, red is a lot easier to find if you lay it down.

Incidentally, the current version has a slightly thinner blade than the original run. But the handles are exactly the same size. So they put a spacer alongside the tang to make the fit right. Both versions have an exceptionally nice sharp blade.
 
Esav,
Thank you.
Sometime I think in the late '60's but might have been the early '70's I also bought a red handled butterfly and a black handled fixed blade. The butterfly is a dead ringer for the one in Ragnar's catalog. The wood working catalog I bought them from called them both "Finnish Puukko knives". No mention made of CIA. But they did have a story about how Puukko knives were what the Finnish resistance fighters killed a bunch of Germans with during WWII. (Don't even ask me why I still remember that. I think I was in high school. Can't remember the name of the catalog.) I still have them both. I EDCed the butterfly for a couple of years. Used the fixed blade a couple of times hunting. They've been in my dresser drawer for quite a spell now. And the butterfly says "Hackman Finland" on the handle. The fixed blade has "Hackman Finland Tapio Wirkkala" etched on the blade.

Thank you for telling me what I have.
 
knarfeng, that fixed blade has been recreated by Cold Steel as the Sisu. VERY expensive, especially since the original only cost me something like 30 bucks. CS also just came out with a hollow-ground bargain version, the Finn Bear.

Finnish resistance fighters killed a bunch of Germans with during WWII
Click to expand...

Russians, not Germans.

Immediately prior to WW II, Stalin was looking for an edge, realizing the Germans would be invading him soon, and he wanted the Finns to part with some territory he could fortify. The Finns naturally told him where to stuff his request, and the Russians invaded. The Finns naturally kicked them out. :) AND allied with the Germans, as insurance against the Russians coming back.

Finland had been part of the tsarist Russian Empire, and the Russian territory to the east of Finland, called Karelia, is actually an ethnic Finnish area also. Finnish peoples originally came from north Central Asia, and their language is closer to Hungarian and Turkish language families than to most western European languages.

Sorry about carrying on like this. I'm typing and I can't shut up. :eek:
 
Well, the Russians always held Karelia, anyway, just as they held what is now Finland. Karelia never did get its independence.
 
Quick follow-up: I ordered a red-handled butterfly from Ragnar (and got it two days later!) and it is a beautiful knife. What a bargain. If the law wasn't so distorted about butterflies, I'd carry it in my gear bag as a beater and reliable utility knife.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Quick follow-up: I ordered a red-handled butterfly from Ragnar (and got it two days later!) and it is a beautiful knife. What a bargain. If the law wasn't so distorted about butterflies, I'd carry it in my gear bag as a beater and reliable utility knife.
Click to expand...

Aww.... you forgot the pic. :D
 
Sorry about that. I'm going to need some sunlight to get anything worth looking at. I will post all my butterflies, hopefully tomorrow.
 
:eek: I too orderd one from Ragweed and got it 2 days later, it is beautiful. What are the laws about them?
 
sea11sun: We DO have a knife laws section here. I encourage you to check it out and to check YOUR local laws.
 
Butterfly knives are restricted carry just about everywhere. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Especially since these butterflies are more like folding Moras than the flippers that the law is thinking of. As if even they are somehow more dangerous than other knives. :(

You really have to check in your own jurisdiction. Every state and city can be different.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top