I'm ready to spend $400 to $500 on a knife that's worth it - ideas?

Reeek, go full custom. It's where you're going to end up anyways, trust me. My Yuna is one of my favorite knives, well worth the wait and the wait isn't even that long. I have a soft spot for Striders but don't own any anymore. Good knives at their USED price, not worth the sticker price in my opinion. Ray Laconico here has a great new pair of framelocks too. There's custom stuff on the exchange all the time too but there is so much good stuff. I'd say grab one good custom and then grab some semi-prod knives, such as:

CRK
Strider
DDR
Hinderer
Les George
RJ Martin (A must, I think)
Randy Doucette (more custom than not?)
Dozier (more custom than not?)

For custom check out:
Yuna
Todd Rexford
Deviant Blades
Ray Laconico
Anso
Crusader Forge
Chuck Gedraitis
Sniper Bladeworks
Kirby Lambert
David Mosier
Willumsen

You're welcome, and I'm sorry :D
 
I'm intrigued by the HTM's for sure. I'm just trying to come to grips with the flipper in general and that long flipper on the tang.

Does that flipper get in the way when the knife is closed and in the pocket?

Tiger84 said:
DDR (Darrel Ralph) HTM Gunhammer or Trigger Maze. Can get the HTM model or custom from Darrel. IMO it has no match. Great in assisted Flipper. Ergonomics, materials ,fit and finish are 1st class. Blade geometry is very practical. Pick one up and you will know many hours of thought and research went in to designing the perfect knife.

IMO the Strider is a good knife but poor ergonomics, and will tear your pockets up.
The Hinderer is a great knife but IMO very overpriced and a bit rough on the pockets as well. Blade on Hinderer looks cool but not really as usable for daily life chores.
I do like my Sebenza. You will not go wrong with a SEB. Simple and smooth. Very well made.
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Even though I have a new Sebenza coming I have a PM into Ray Laconico now regarding that Framelock you posted about.I also ordered another HEST folder preorder since the site had the 10% off everyting going on and it worked for the preorder too ;)

I tried to get on Yun's site last night and it was uselessly slow. I'll look again. I'm very familar with his work and expect to get one soon.

Thanks!

Mr. Clean said:
Reeek, go full custom. It's where you're going to end up anyways, trust me. My Yuna is one of my favorite knives, well worth the wait and the wait isn't even that long. I have a soft spot for Striders but don't own any anymore. Good knives at their USED price, not worth the sticker price in my opinion. Ray Laconico here has a great new pair of framelocks too. There's custom stuff on the exchange all the time too but there is so much good stuff. I'd say grab one good custom and then grab some semi-prod knives, such as:

CRK
Strider
DDR
Hinderer
Les George
RJ Martin (A must, I think)
Randy Doucette (more custom than not?)
Dozier (more custom than not?)

For custom check out:
Yuna
Todd Rexford
Deviant Blades
Ray Laconico
Anso
Crusader Forge
Chuck Gedraitis
Sniper Bladeworks
Kirby Lambert
David Mosier
Willumsen

You're welcome, and I'm sorry :D
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Tiger84 said:
.

IMO the Strider is a good knife but poor ergonomics, and will tear your pockets up.
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I've heard A LOT of negatives about Striders,however ergonomics was never one of them.I think that's the SNG's best feature,the way it fits the hand.

....to each his own
 
Reeek said:
I'm intrigued by the HTM's for sure. I'm just trying to come to grips with the flipper in general and that long flipper on the tang.

Does that flipper get in the way when the knife is closed and in the pocket?
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No it does not. That is important to me as I wear nice slacks every day and one thing I really like about the HTMs. Mine is an assisted Flipper. Nothing catches and it slides in and out of the pocket smoothly. Seriously this knife will blow you away and I have zero ties to DDR. Prior to getting this knife my daily EDC rotation was a Sebenza, a custom Andres Devilliers, a Spyderco para2, a custom Crawford Shark , a custom Brian Tighe and a BM710. The HTM Gunhammer now stays in my pocket. I will still cary the others but less frequently.
I recently sold my Strider and XM18 due to geometry and ergonomics. They are good knives.
 
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I'd also recommend a Trigger Maze.Buttery smooth flipper,3.25" blade.They're around 475 unassisted.AO is a little more.
 
That's quite a testimony. Thanks!

Tiger84 said:
No it does not. That is important to me as I wear nice slacks every day and one thing I really like about the HTMs. Nothing catches and it slides in and out of the pocket smoothly. Seriously this knife will blow you away and I have zero ties to DDR. Prior to getting this knife my daily EDC rotation was a Sebenza, a custom Andres Devilliers, a paramilitary, a custom Crawford Shark and a BM610. The HTM Gunhammer now stays in my pocket.
I just sold my Strider and XM18
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Reeek, I just have to mention John W Smith folders again. Though they may look a little fancy to carry as a hard use knife, they aren't. John builds these knives to perform, and to keep performing.

I have a HTM Madd Maxx, and just love it. It is also built very tough. The only drawback, for me at least, is that I do not like the spearpoint/dagger style blade. I always loved the bowie style blade that he designed for the Camillus Madd Maxx and wrote an email to the HTM Custom Shop about building me one with that bowie style blade. Got back an answer today that they can do it, and the extra cost is very low for having this done.

You done good with the Sebenza!:thumbup::)
 
I'll take a look now :) Everything is on the table and I appreciate the reminder . . .

cutter17 said:
Reeek, I just have to mention John W Smith folders again. Though they may look a little fancy to carry as a hard use knife, they aren't. John builds these knives to perform, and to keep performing.

I have a HTM Madd Maxx, and just love it. It is also built very tough. The only drawback, for me at least, is that I do not like the spearpoint/dagger style blade. I always loved the bowie style blade that he designed for the Camillus Madd Maxx and wrote an email to the HTM Custom Shop about building me one with that bowie style blade. Got back an answer today that they can do it, and the extra cost is very low for having this done.

You done good with the Sebenza!:thumbup::)
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motts said:
I also would recommend the Chris Reeve Umnumzaan, the Lionsteel SR-1.
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My thoughts exactly, and in that order. I especially like the Zaan:

knifeart_2097_34521893.jpg
 
kda89508 said:
How about an Andrew Demko custom with a tri-ad lock? If you dont want to wait then shop around for a Rick Hinderer XM18. You will have to wait a few months if you order a Demko but it is my understanding that it is well worth the wait. Good Luck. Kevin
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Its more then "a few" months to wait, I have to wait till November for mine, witch is an entire year after I placed the order. And the custom AD-10 starts at $500.00 for the base model. It will be worth the wait though! :thumbup:
 
jill jackson said:
I bought a large Lahar back in November and it was very rough to open, couldn't even get it to flip at all and it sounded gritty. So, I sent it back to Tim and he said he'd take care of it. I Haven't got it back yet. But, I don't think there would be a problem with him being able to repair a knife he'd made.
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I haven't had an experience with sending a knife to Tim, BUT, when I got my small Lahar, it was the same. I just oiled the detent and it was good to go.

with that said, for that price, I'd go Kirby Lambert, absolutely. I've had XM-18s, plenty of them, and Umnumaans, but in the end, the only knife out of those that I kept is my Kirby Lambert Inferno. Kirby drilled mine so it's L/R clip-swappable.

DSC_0036.JPG

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My Demko Super Lawman will be ready in 1 month. It's been a long wait, I hope it's worth it. CPM154 3 3/4" "working" blade, Ti backspacer, black g-10. :D
 
What was the total wait consider the remaining month or so?

cziv said:
My Demko Super Lawman will be ready in 1 month. It's been a long wait, I hope it's worth it. CPM154 3 3/4" "working" blade, Ti backspacer, black g-10. :D
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Reeek said:
What was the total wait consider the remaining month or so?
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I ordered in July - so about 7 months + or -. He'll have a batch done 1st week of Feb. and mine will be in it. The Ti backspacer was an extra $50 but looks classy - so total I was quoted was $550. G-10 brings it down to $500.

Things may have changed since then, like the wait time the price - God forbid - that's a lot of $$ :eek:

Heck I'm wondering why I'm buying it after doing my stripped, stonewash, spanto Recon-1. It's freaking awesome. I got a little more of the belly out of the tanto corner this weekend and a mirror polish edge, it's really looking nice!

My wife thought I lost my mind (not really she's used to my antics :)) but I was able to stab it through two empty 2 litre soda bottles, repeatedly last night! :D
 
I'd say place an order with Andrew Demko, Better get your name in while you still can. Mine has Carbon Fiber Scales. CPM154 Blade and Titanium Backspacer! Its gonna be hard to be patient for almost a whole year but when that day comes, I will be one happy guy. The lines of the AD-10 seem almost perfect to me. It will be my grail knife for sure.
 
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