Is there a perfect folder?

bladerunner01

bladerunner01

Gold Member
Basic Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2024
Messages
148
I'm sure this has been done before, but in all honesty, is there a perfect pocket knife for you? The right design, the right execution, size, looks, performance, action, build, etc and whatever...

For me it's a yes and that's the CRK Small Inkosi Insingo. Guess that's the reason I have 3 of them, and an considering my 4th already.

CRK Small Inkosi Insingo S45VN.jpgCRK Small Inkosi Insingo S45VN CCC'd.jpgCRK Small Inkosi Black Canvas Insingo Magnacut.jpg
 
I do so many different things with my knives that it would be very very VERY difficult for a single folder to excell in all tasks. For example:
- EDC: I gravitate toward leaf shaped, 3", non-threatening looking folder. Pretty much anything I feel like carrying.
- Hiking: Plain edge, 4" leaf shaped, as light as possible, non serrated. (Benchmade Bugout, Spyderco Centofante III, Dozier Hunter D2....)
- Climbing: Serrated just in case I need to deal with ropes or webbing and blunt point for safety (Spyderco Rescue, for example)
- Arround water (canyoning or fishing): Same as above BUT in a totally stainless steel, usually a Salt knife from Spyderco (Spyderhawk H1 or Pacific LC200N)

That's why I find hard to stick to a single folder as the BEST of the BEST.

Mikel
 
I'm not sure I could find the "perfect" folder...there are so many options out there and, as mentioned above, a knife is a tool and you need the right tool for the job. You can buy a lot of variety for the price of just one Inkosi. It's not that I don't like them and I actually do want to own one someday, I just want to experience more of what's out there! I have also been bored with frame/liner lock knives and have been seeking out more exotic locks like buttons, axis bars and compression locks like the Shark Lock. If I had to pick a favorite folder right now...I would have to choose the Demko AD20/20.5 series! But again, It's certainly fun to experience as many as you can! :cool:
 
No, but my knife collection is the perfect knife collection. :) I have the perfect folder for the city, the perfect folder for the boat, the perfect folder for cardboard...
If I must pick one, it's the Tom Mayo TNT. But I always keep it at home and carry a Chaparral as urban carry, a Native as EDC in the warm season and the Military and Stretch 2 XL as it gets colder. The serrated Dragonfly Salt is my perfect spa knife. The "I can have just one for the rest of my life" folder is the Inkosi Insingo. The perfect expendable is the #9 Opinel. The perfect beater is my Ruike. The perfect keychain knife is the Alox Minichamp, and so on.
20220426103711-IMG-2577.jpg


bark-river-and-spydeco-burls.png
 
Last edited:
I have "several" knives, and I keep buying more. But no matter what new favorite I buy, I always end up back to carrying a Chris Reeve, or a traditional Buck 110 or 112. Perfect? Maybe not, but that's what works for me.

Then there's these Opinel thingies. They cost <$20, they fold, and they cut stuff.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry — 'Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.'
 
ferider said:
More than one. Finding more for different applications is the hobby.

2022010414344509-IMG_1526-X2.jpg


2022010514571407-IMG_1535-X3.jpg


2022042407530035--5679280628507741107-L1002256-X3.jpg


_DSC0315-X2.jpg


i-FSmgxpv-X2.jpg


i-tvWqR2b-X2.jpg


i-73BcXdP-X2.jpg


i-7b5GKBb-X3.jpg


i-cbHDvJr-X2.jpg


Etc.

Then again, maybe I discriminate less than others ...

Roland.
Click to expand...
Interesting take. Makes complete sense! Difference of lifestyle I'm guessing. I have no use for a knife almost ever, so finding any use would be a miracle, let alone multiple. Maybe that's what allows me to name just one. Good point you bring up.
 
Of course there is, I've had at least a dozen different folders that were absolutely perfect. But they were all different and at different times in my life when my life style had changed. It all depends on what stage of life you are in.

When I was a young troopie in my 20's and serving in the army, the perfect folder was different than in my 30's in the civilian world, where I was driving a mini van and being a budding soccer dad and Boy Scout dad. In my 40's the perfect folder changed again, the kids were older, more independent and life was a little less hectic. In my 50's it changed again, and in my 60's it was a bit different. My dad was right, it all depends on who you are, what you're doing, and where you're doing it. My perfect folder has went from a Buck 301 stockman teamed up with a medium SAK, to a Buck 303 stockman still teamed up with a SAK. to a Case peanut and smaller SAK, to a small SAK in my senior years. Things change. Needs change.
 
Last edited:
I am not concerned so much with visual style, but with build quality, materials used, comfort in hand, "feel" and general functionality, especially cutting performance. By these metrics, these are all perfect folders for me.

dAYozSp.jpg


There are others I should have added into the picture like the Cold Steel Mackinac Hunter and Recon 1, Spyderco Sage 1 and Manix 2 LW, and custom shoppe Buck 110. Size and weight ratio is also typically important to me, but some heavier knives like the Sage 4 are just so cool that I don't care.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top