Knife design features that you now find unacceptable in new purchases

Recurves.
2 hand open or close.
Nothing less than VG10.
Black G10 or FRN.

 

No bearings (inappropriate feature for working folder).
Dumb placed stop pins that require half-moon cutouts in the base of a blade (which greatly weakens the knife).
Stupidly designed assists (I'm looking at you, Kershaw).

 

Biggest things that bother me are design elements that actually detract from how the knife performs. Soft HT, bad steel, poor blade geometry, chisel grinds, bad locks, etc.

 

My preferences are a bit of a moving target (which I kind of enjoy!), but at the moment I avoid these features:

• Assisted opening. I find manual knives much more satisfying, and every time I buy an A/O knife I re-realize this.
• Bead-blasted steel, be it the blade or handles. It's humid and rainy here in the PNW, I don't need to invite corrosion in and offer it a cold drink.
• Blade steel less corrosion-resistant than D2. Ditto.
• Combo edges. I like full plain or full serrated, no real use for a mix of the two.

Having posted this pretty much guarantees that my next knife will be an assisted opener with a combo edge and a bead-blasted 1095 blade, because preferences were made to be ignored when the right knife comes along.

 

Bad edge (not just blade) to handle ratio, and also edge to weight ratio (but to a smaller extent)

Rules out a lot of Spydercos. For example, the PM2 and Benchmade 710 have almost identical handle lengths, but the 710 packs a whole extra inch of edge. The other way, the 707 has almost an identical amount of edge with an inch less of handle. Shaman is atrocious, too.

 

1. Recurved blades
2. Assisted opening
3. Front Flippers
4. Serrations
5. Proprietary screw heads (I thought they looked cool)
6. Restrictive warranties (no disassembly, etc.) - never liked these but wanted to complain.
7. Backlocks

It looks like I’m generally part of the flock.

 

I will avoid mentioning what I have never been interested in (serrations : one try, never again / black blades / recurves / compound grinds... well, the list is long). Never mind. One thing I have really wrote off is thick blades / scandi grinds / sabre grinds (unless applied on very thin blades, doesn't happen often...). I have a lot, liked them at some point, and just threw them in a drawer.... And consequently, quite sneakingly, I have drifted away from production knives, not entirely, but still. I use to sift through Blade Forums' Knife Makers' Market and there I find a feast for my eyes and sometimes I just can't resist. There lies the thrill. Let's just say I'm spoiled and got picky ! And happily so.

 

Rubber handles inserts
Handles without a pocket clip
Flipper tabs
Nail nicks on blades
Combo edge
Blade choil

 

I hate any and all Victorinox toothpicks that people call knives and anything made in China... Also hate thin liner locks. And serrations...


God Bless the USA!
Made in USA!!!

 

Quite the boasty statement. And not that relevant, if I may say so. This said, you are free to hate all along.

 

1) Slip joints. For me the differn't locking systems makes a knife more interesting.

2) Neck knives. The meaning of them is simply lost on me.

3) Partial serrations.

4) Knives with straight razor style tails.

 

Neck knives are one of my loves. How can you consider ever being without a blade ? Keep a neck knife !

 

...Probably because I don't own a single pair of pants that don't have pockets!

Neck knives IMHO are either to small to be useful for me, or they are too large and heavy to be worn around the neck.

Just think about it. You hardly ever see folding neck knives. The reason is most people after a week will realise how uncomfortable it is and put it in their pocket.

 

Assisted open, thumb studs, liner locks, mall ninja styling, 8cr13mov, american tanto, and zombie green. Although I never really did like zombie green.

Serrations and recurves as well.

 

Thumb holes, thumb studs, waves, discs, nail nicks, pocket clips.

 

Forgot to mention the main one I TRULY HATE AND DESPISE - TEFLON WASHERS!!! Whoever puts Teflon washers in the knife should burn in hell together with the Chinese knife counterfeiters!!!

 

Tumbled finishes on expensive knives.

 

You anti China guys are missing out! Reate and WE make some great knives!
The one thing I hate on knives is the damn lanyard hole. Useless to me.

 

I never have not will I ever use a lanyard.

I can't stand Hinderer style clips. Also bothers me when the mounting holes are so far forward that even with a deep carry clip the knife sticks out significantly.

I don't like to advertise. At this point I try to match the knife clip to what I'm wearing. I've got a lot of custom low ride clips because of that.

The blue clip on my Spyderco Domino is all but invisible when when wearing jeans. Black pants--ZT 0095S90BLK and Kershaw Launch 8.

It doesn't have to be completely deep carry, but not ridiculously shallow like the Hinderer.

 

[Neck knives IMHO are either to small to be useful for me, or they are too large and heavy to be worn around the neck.]
It seems you have yet things to discover in the knife world. This here (bottom one) has a hefty blade (4".2) but is a very light knife, quite neck carryable. At least for me, and I'm not a bull, neckwise.

@cbrstar