Junk knives you can't stop loving (and using).

I have many cheap knives that are good knives and that I love to use, Opinels and Moras at the top of that list. Then there are junk knives that I keep around because they are too horrible to visit upon anyone else, like the Pine Ridge folder that was left in an old Ranger that I bought, or the CRKT M16-something that was left on the floor of another car I bought recently. There are junk knives I hated and gave away, like the SOG Flash II and the CS Pocket Bushman.
 
I come from a steel country, so I grew up with good, moderately priced knives like Mora and Eka and never really got in contact with Chinese made junk much. Even to this day, I don't really have any need to use any real junk.

For beater/frequent user knives, there is Mora, Eka, Victorinox, Opinel etc. For axes there are the Fiskars light weight, plastic handled ones, that are way cheaper than stuff like Gränsfors Bruks, but definitely not junk.
 
I don't know if it's junk but I use a leek a lot
 
I don't use it anymore because it's up in my display case, but I loved the Benchmade Rift. It's so crap compared to all my other ones but just kept using it until it got a Spyderco Military Ti in s110v.
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It's a nice knife sure, but I have much better alloys, much better handles, with nicer grinds. I would say this is the best beginner knife, not for someone that had 20 knifes and none costing less than $100 at that point.
 
My wife has several junk paring knives in the kitchen that she uses often (I keep them sharp) but I don't have any myself.
 
Cvrobinson said:
Yes :oops:
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Yes is right!

My son got one of these way back when, and just moved on from it so I tossed it in to the junk pile.

I ended up packing it around as a money clip, at which it excels, and pressed it into service now and then.

That little POS has taken so much abuse and it just keeps coming back for more, and still holds cash firmly.

I might have to re-evaluate this thing... it might not be junk at all.
 
Not really "junk" but I still use my Ontario Rat 1 in the original AUS-8 for a lot of cardboard breaking down. Flat ground blade and easy to touch up steel means that i can go though a good amount of cardboard and then just take it to the sharpmaker medium grit rods for a touch up right after. 10 swipes on either side and its ready for the next bunch of boxes.
 
Not really a junk knife, but I never carry it. It's my designated mail knife and lives on my countertop.

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SOG Twitch 2
 
Has to be the humble Opinel No 8, I have had one for over 30 years, and still use it on and off. But as junk knives go, I am loving the coldsteel Kudu, great camping knife and sooo cheap
 
I love my Cold Steel Trailmasters, yet keep this Mtech clone in my truck. Removed the top guard which works better for me. It has done all I've asked it to do, seems tought as nails and holds a decent edge. If I lose it in a truck break-in, I wont be as sad as if I had lost one of my CS Trailmasters.

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Mikel_24 said:
I was about to say that I don't have any junk knives but... I do have one (sort of). I bought it while I was an exchange student in the US arround 22 years ago. It is a Colt AR15
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(not my picture, just found it on Google)

I consider it junk because the backlock does not lock the blade securely. Not talking about spine whacks... just some moderate pressure on the lock (on the table or something) is enough to make the lock fail.

Surprisingly, once I reprofiled the edge (tedious task as I used an auxiliary military surpluss field sharpener with a stone about 10mm wide and 60mm long), it cut well and hold an edge for a fair amount of time. The action is good also..

Again, just rendering the knife as junk due to lock failure.

Mikel
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I have that same knife. I also consider it junk. My gripe about it is that the automatic scale button has a habit of being easily depressed while in the pocket, causing it to partially open. Blade is kinda wobbly too and although I haven't had the lock fail it does feel insecure.
 
DangerZone98 said:
Not really junk by any means but not as flashy as your ZTs and CRKs—the Spyderco Resilience. I just like the blade shape and how well the scales fit to my hand. Also cuts extremely well.

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Seconded, both the "not junk" point, and the knife itself. Of course you've never really experienced the true potential of this knife until you've reground it thinner, and smoothed out the pointy transition on the thumb ramp. I've done a lot more to it than just that, as you can see, but the two changes I mentioned are game changers for this knife.

But the rest is also great to elevate this "value" knife to a truly comparable level to something like the military. I increased the liner skeletonization, and reprofiled the blade shape, bringing the weight down to 4.0 oz. Replaced the factory pocket clip with a deep carry clip, and radiused all the edges of the scales, making the knife three times as comfortable in my bare hand, yet every bit as usable in my winter gloves. You can bet I will be doing the same modifications one I get the FRN/S35VN plain edge version. Of course, I expect with that one, no handle scale mods will be required. I'll still increase skeletonization and no doubt be amazed at how super light weight it will feel.

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I had a SPEW ,and loved the knife, but I gave it away because the sheath retention was nonexistent. Ironically, this was mere weeks before I got into making my own Kydex sheaths. 😒
 
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