Knife group for budget friendly knives

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I think you'll enjoy the forums after you look around and read more ... most members are more than willing to help out ... and there is something here for anyone with a passion for knives.
 
Joshua1973 said:
You got me thinking on that Kershaw Knockout M390. Looks like a great blade and imo a good value.
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IMO the Knockout M390 is one of the great values in our hobby. I stay away from assisted flippers these days or I’d be all over that folder.
 
There are plenty of folks who like inexpensive knives here. I own some very expensive knives, but I often use and really love knives like this one too:

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Check out Kizlyar Supreme, Stedemon, many from Cold Steel are still budget friendly, and i've been so far impressed with Kilimanjaro Gear knives.
 
welcome to the forum and like everyone else has said we all like to find companies like steelwill that offer great knives at really affordable prices with their quality being way above their price point.
 
Welcome to the forums!

I don't know what your preferences are, but in terms of <$100 knives, you may want to consider traditional knives, especially GEC knives.
 
Joshua1973 said:
I just want to find a group which is more open toward budget knives being I cannot afford $500 to $2000 custom knives and I may be new here but I know there is a hatred for budget knives in this forum. And I am not here to get pissed on and called out because I cannot afford what many of you consider a real knife. So can anyone please recommend a more fitting knife group for me that gets more into budget knives? I looked online and could not find any
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As long as they are not clones or rip offs of others designs... There is no hate for budget knives. So just keep to legit budget knives and its all cool.

Ontario rat is one of my favorite budget knives.

I generally don't buy budget knives because of the poor qc, design and construction. Done with it. I want something I can disassemble and put back together without fuss and have a good heat treatment with decent quality control. But usability and lifetime matters too. At around 40-50 is where I draw a line and generally prefer either usa made or a good factory from China. Price is deceiving because not all knives in this range are good. Heck alot of expensive knives can be trash.
 
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It's a pretty varied group here. All sides of the knife appreciating groups of real users, snobs, collectors, know-it-alls, hands on guys, and everyone in between. It's a public forum, so you should expect that. There's some minefields, no doubt, and the worst of those have been mentioned above more than once. You will learn which guys post to just about every thread/topic and use this venue as a soapbox for their world views on economics, the downfall of American manufacturing (and its society in general), etc. Ignore those guys.

There is a ton of good information here and there is a real appreciation for a value knife. You will find some of the folks that carry expensive knives on a regular basis giddy as a kid at Christmas when they find a new Kershaw or any other knife they like that is well made and very affordable. I use the snot out of my knives on the job site so I am not interested in taking a $500 knife where it can be damaged or broken by accident. But I like a "better" quality knife for other activities that aren't as rigorous, so I have a few of those, too.

In both cases I started my search here, and there was a lot of information in the archives that you just can't find anywhere else. Good reviews, great threads, some linked to videos, etc. This place has great archives! I have bought many knives based on reviews (from inexpensive to my limit of spending) and suggestions here and haven't been disappointed yet.

Hang around and check out the general knife discussion. When a favored maker such as Kershaw comes out with a kickass design at the $35 mark, you won't believe the buzz from all kinds of folks. That also goes for other makers as well, some so obscure I have never heard of except here.

Robert
 
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You will find a lot of appreciation for low-cost high-value knives in the Traditional sub-forum: Opinel, Mora, and many more working knives that deliver a lot of performance for not a lot of dough. There are $600 custom slipjoints, but a $100 GEC IS CONSIDERED FAIRLY EXPENSIVE, AND THERE IS A LOT OF LOVE FOR TEN-dollar Rough Riders. (Sorry about the caps).
 
My most used knife is a $11 Mora SS Companion used while fishing

:)

Folders, man I'd like a Benchmade full sized Grip in 20CV!!
 
I wouldn't say there's a hatred for budget blades here :D opinels and moras for example are really budget and are generally loved. If you consider the endura you have budget the delica has a cult following on here (rightly so) ;)
 
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Yeah, this is not a snobby forum where everyone hates less expensive knives. I'm sure most(all) of us hate crappy knives, but I bet no one hates an affordable/budget high quality knife. I own a few expensive knives, but I have several under $30 knives I like a lot.
 
I agree Joshua, I was not at all a fan of this place when I first started partaking. I too looked around for other, more friendly places, because I was fine with clones. And I did find another place called budget flashlights forum. They also talk about budget brands knives, a lot!

However the amount of knowledge for all things knives, including sharpening and true assistance in searches, is unparalleled here. So I sucked up my pride, took some on the chin like a champ, and kept looking around in here.

What I found is that there are budget friendly brands that even some of these snobs support and will recommend. Lol

You'll still get the Chinese hate from some, but that's to be expected. And there's always some rumor going around that no matter what brand you buy, if it's Chinese, and unless you're paying $100+ for something, that money is being funneled into these evil Chinese replicator companies somehow. Then they add all kinds of other BS excuses to support their snobbery, but you just have to ignore it.

So, brands I've found that seem okay:

Ruike ($20+)
Steel Will ($40+)
LAPG (get one of their TBFK for $35)
Cima ($20+)
Bestech
Harnds
Two Sons

There are others, and I personally will very very highly recommend Kershaw as the best bang for buck brand you'll find out there, and it's totally legit. Second on the list being Spyderco.

The fact is that this forum is a business, and because of that they cannot have it's people spreading around stuff about fakes which undermine their vendors and relationships which earn them money. So even if snobbery wasn't at the heart of this, money is.

I personally won't judge you for buying from ripoff scam artists. I still have a few I bought before I knew they were and I really love those knives! They're, quite frankly, of completely equal quality! Eek! Shhhh I didn't say that. But the reality is, they still ripped off someone else's hard work to achieve that product, and that's the line one must decide if they're willing to cross or not. I came to the conclusion, based on my own moral compass, that I'm simply not willing to knowingly do that.

And you can sit there and tell yourself that you're only buying their products that aren't blatant design copies. That's just a justification for a lack of moral fortitude, because you are still giving your hard earned dollar to someone else who cheated to "earn" theirs. And, yes, those who spend tons and tons of money on their one of a kind, limited edition, some guys name or initials on the frame, type of knife also use justification to thumb their noses at, and chastise, other, very worthy, knives that achieve just as much quality at a insignificant fraction of the cost. So we all do it. It isn't about the justification, it's about what's right and what's not. You must choose for yourself.

As a question, what do you consider budget friendly? Maybe you should stick with slightly used but still mainstream?
 
Check out SVORD KNIVES. They are affordable but have good steel and ht.

Cima definitely look like bad knives and also clones.
Harnd knives look ehh. I wouldnt touch them but some models look not terrible while others I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot poll. Kinda mtech looking.

I don't really understand collecting low end budget knives (say like mtech for example). The money spent on 5 to 10 mtechs could be spent on one knife that would be better than the 5-10 combined.

Check out nicks playlist of terrible knives. Mostly mtech. At least they are not clones but they arnt really good knives.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUmtWgxAY2QCU8114i3iV1qxxN5QS0M8-
 
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Joshua1973 said:
I just want to find a group which is more open toward budget knives being I cannot afford $500 to $2000 custom knives and I may be new here but I know there is a hatred for budget knives in this forum. And I am not here to get pissed on and called out because I cannot afford what many of you consider a real knife. So can anyone please recommend a more fitting knife group for me that gets more into budget knives? I looked online and could not find any
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Stick around Joshua (great name btw)
its like anything or anywhere else - there might be some snobbery, but more so its good people that appreciate a quality tool.
lots of quality knives out there to fit any budget and lots of opinions about which ones are the best bang for you buck

check out the forum sponsors and their sites and keep an eye out for good deals
 
Mo2 said:
Check out SVORD KNIVES. They are affordable but have good steel and ht.

Cima definitely look like bad knives and also clones.
Harnd knives look ehh. I wouldnt touch them but some models look not terrible while others I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot poll. Kinda mtech looking.

I don't really understand collecting low end budget knives (say like mtech for example). The money spent on 5 to 10 mtechs could be spent on one knife that would be better than the 5-10 combined.

Check out nicks playlist of terrible knives. Mostly mtech. At least they are not clones but they arnt really good knives.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUmtWgxAY2QCU8114i3iV1qxxN5QS0M8-
Click to expand...

I don't care about copies, what I care about are ripoffs, stolen patents. Cima might copy a look, but so does Ontario or Esee or etc, etc, etc. Generic is a better description, an actual accurate description, and that they are. However they are also, actually, not bad at all for $20. Yes, they are brittle because of their "special" heat treat. Dutch Bushcraft guys do a test on one and it breaks twice under abuse. But most people don't abuse their knives and once you know an item's limitations you can properly allocate its intended purpose. For me, mine are (got 2 of them recently) backups to backup camp knives. The ones I'll let my buddies use to make feather sticks while I'm teaching them making kindling and to practice whittling with.

I will, however, agree, that it makes more sense to save up ones money to buy one solid $100 knife, than 5 barely passable as "okay" $20 knives. Personally, I like having each type. I like having junkers to study and practice sharpening with.
 
J Joshua1973
I don't know if you're interested in Traditional slipjoints and friction folders, but if you are, check out the Traditional's subforum. In addition to the GEC/Queen and other not inexpensive knives, there are also discussions on less expensive knives like Case, Schrade, Rough Rider, Buck, and others.
Admittedly, most of the Buck knives discussions take place in the Buck subforum.
Welcome to BF. I'm sure you'll find what your looking for here. :)
 
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