Is there a perfect folder?

jackknife said:
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.
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This is a well timed comment
My neighbor who I believe just turned 60 a little while ago bought himself a swiss army and a classic, we met in the mailroom today and he used some smaller kershaw knife to open the package and then closed up the knife and tossed it in the trash, then proceeded to pocket the swiss army knives. He saw me confused but knew why and said " my grand kid has been bugging me forever to start carrying a bigger locking knife, said it was safer and better, I finally got one so he'd quit being sore, but these damn things are so blocky in my pants and aren't so sharp, I grew up on slipjoints and never had cause to change, even when these young'n knives came about everywhere. Anyway I tried it but can't do it, so here I am. Better this way"
Then walked off.
I stood there for 5 minutes taking it all in.

As per the thread question, the perfect knife to me is a knife with the most multi purpose and utility value.
Spear or drop point folding
 
Gary W. Graley said:
My grandmother used to tell the story of me around 5 years old, sitting on the curb and rubbing the blade of a pocket knife to sharpen it up, I don't recall it myself but I never doubted the story. That was 65 years ago and through those years I've owned and handled a good number of knives, some I've owned several times over but that's another story.

Right now this one is riding in my right front pocket and I rely on it daily, good blade size not too large or too small, thin enough to cut, solid lockup, fairly good steel of magnacut and the scales are machined with texture that provide a solid grip while using.

Ritter_H_BW by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

and if I need a bit larger knife, a fixed blade isn't too far away

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

G2
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My spicy take is that Hogue makes the best Griptilian.
 
I love many of my knives , but "perfection" is an illusion .

The Grail may be pursued , endlessly , but never possessed .

If you can learn to accept , embrace , and treasure , the inevitable flaws and shortcomings , inherent in all real things ...that perhaps is perfection . ☺️
 
DocJD said:
I love many of my knives , but "perfection" is an illusion .

The Grail may be pursued , endlessly , but never possessed .

If you can learn to accept , embrace , and treasure , the inevitable flaws and shortcomings , inherent in all real things ...that perhaps is perfection . ☺️
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You mean the Japanese art of wabi-wabi????

Embrace and find beauty in the imperfect.
 
Most of us would not be here if such a thing existed. I'd argue such forums and communities wouldn't exist if there was a perfect knife/folder. Why bother, when you have two knives to serve all your needs. Reality is we all have different use cases, needs, and most of all tastes. Very small percentage of us get to make their own grail, and even then I'm willing to bet money those people have a rotation too.

In short, no, there is no perfect knife. There might be knives we prefer, but there's always a cooler knife out there.

For me the closest thing to "perfect" is the CRK Inkosi, ideal blade shape, hollow grind, good steel and built really really well. But I also like the Spyderco Gayle Bradley 1, Microtech Socom Elite, MSI, Hinderer XM-18 3.5" Skinny, Spyderco Manix 2.... it goes on
 
Kwon Kwang said:
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.
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U mean these as well
 
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