Inexpensive folders with premium steel blades?

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Sami P

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Aug 7, 2011
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That's a very loose and highly subjective question, but what in your opinions are the least expensive folders that have higher quality steel usually found on more expensive knives?
 
Spyderco Gayle Bradley and Native, Buck Vantage Pro, Kershaw Speedform II.
 
An excellent idea dude, lets throw the type of steel in each post and a rough price.

+1 for the Vantage Pro, S30V $60
 
Kershaw Blur and Random Leek, both in S30V are pretty good buys, but the Native and the Vantage Pro are your best bet for a S30v,

However, there are many other premium steels that may perform similarly to S30v, like 154cm on the Benchmade Mini Grip which is a great buy. If you want super performance, the ZDP-189 on the Delica is your best bet for extreme cutting performance and value.
 
Excellent examples so far. I'll add the Kershaw JYD II Composite and the Kershaw Rake.
 
However, premium for some may not be premium for others, for many people, VG-10, many Sandvik Offerings, Well made 440C are all premium steels, so i think you need to know what you are looking for
 
Just another Point, D2 is a great steel, and If you are into a more traditional look, Queen Cutlery almost exclusively uses D2, and their Sodbuster is around $20, and they have many much nicer models that are around $40-50

Svord Peasant Knife Uses L6 Carbon steel, a very high quality steel, and those can be had under $20

Higonokami a very traditional Japanese friction folder with a long history uses a very high end Carbon Steel Japanese Blue Paper Steel, and again those are under $20
 
You can order a custom made Buck 110 'Folding Hunter' - in S30V - with Nickel Silver bolsters - choice of woods - or blue Dymondwood (see below) - for ~$86 delivered from Buck Knive's 'Custom Shop'. It just takes 4-6 weeks - and you can get it with finger grooves - engraved, etc - for a few bucks more. A custom knife - in S30V!

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Stainz
 
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The Japanese Higonokami Carpenters knife is like 25 bucks and features Hitatchi Blue paper steel the same steel used in Murray Carters neck knives if I'm not mistaken.
 
i think that when it comes to premium steels we are talking about, 440c from benchmade, 154cm, cpm 154cm, to me not so much D2 becuase it is not stainless, vg-10 is one of my favorites, s30v, s35vn, zdp189, m4, 3v,and elmax.

i use benchmades 440c only because they make 440c great and for really cheap.

some of you may not like what i said about D2 but i think a premium steel should have all aspects of a good steel, espesially when 154cm out performs it in strength and on pare with it in wear resistance and way more corrosion resistant.

yes m4 and 3v are not stainless but they are amazing steels so they are with the premium steels.

most everyone will agree with this. some of you may have a problem with what i say about D2. but if you do some reaserch, any bar graph you see of D2 and 154cm will show that 154cm is better.

also my griptilian in D2 started chipping really bad where as the griptilian with 154cm barely got any damage and i used the 154cm blade way more. they both dulled around the same time but the only chip the 154cm blade saw was on the tip when i dropped it at work. sense then i sharpened both back to normal and sold the D2 model
 
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Sami P said:
WOW! S30V for $45!!! Thanks for this!!
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Might want to snag a Native 4 sooner than later because the Native 5 is coming out soon. I doubt Spyderco will continue to produce the model 4.

(Native 5 has a steel upgrade to S35VN and apparently costs around $120)
 
AG Russell's 3.0 Ti lockback - small folder in vg-10 for $35

Boker Plus Ti Drop point - large folder in 440c for $50, I believe the 440c boker uses and BM both are HT to the same rc so they are quite similar in my exp. as for temp cycles i have no idea
 
Kershaw Blurs in S30V and CPM 154 are very good buys at about $80. The Griptilian series if you get it discounted is awesome 154cm for about $65 which is always nice. I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Kershaw Speedform 2 though! ELMAX for $75 is a hell of a deal if you ask me. As mentioned the Endura and Delica series are great bargains, especially the sprint runs and special editions with the even better steels.
 
Sami P said:
Inexpensive folders with premium steel blades?
That's a very loose and highly subjective question, but what in your opinions are the least expensive folders that have higher quality steel usually found on more expensive knives?
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That depends on your definitions of "inexpensive" and "premium steel".

As so many others have mentioned, the Buck Vantage Pro and Spyderco Native both have S30V alloy and can be had for a bit over $50 if you shop around.

You can buy a Queen Sodbuster with a D2 blade for about $30.

You can buy a Benchmade H&K Monochrome with Bohler N690 blade steel for about $40.
(N690 gives performance equivalent to VG10 or 154CM, or maybe even a tad better.)
 
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