Knife Pet Peeves

[RugerNurse]

When a blade is 2.5-3” and over 1/8” thick

 

[abo4ster]

Spyderco Salts when they ship with black hardware and not the black lock bar; yet they advertise all black and will eventually move to it when the inventories settle. Argh

 

[Terry M.]

Maybe not a pet peeve but I am getting to the point where I don't even want a knife with a pocket clip anymore. I hate the holes left behind when I remove the clip. I also hate plastic/FRN type of handle material. I just don't buy knives anymore with that kind of handle material. I don't care about it's advantages-I just hate the stuff.

This ^ I can’t stand plastic or FRN handles anymore

 

[1911bphil]

The main thing I don't like is cleaver style blades. In my mind, a cleaver belongs in the kitchen not in my pocket.

 

[Locutus D'Borg]

Yeah, giving plasticky scales names like Elforyn and putting them on expensive knives. Reminds me of polyester clothes. For many years polyester clothes were considered inferior. Then a brilliant marketer came up with the idea of calling polyester Techical fabric, and now you see tons of men's pants made with Technical fabrics flying off the shelves. Hilarious.

 

[moonpath]

This is a very interesting thread. I agree with most of the posts. My pet peeve is not about some technical issue with "a" knife but the fact that knife prices keep going up and up for essentially the same product. A second pet peeve is that too often, knives I am interested in buying (from dealers) are sold out. This has changed in just a few years. Not that long ago I was able to buy GEC traditional knives at many dealers. No longer. The wait time for high end folders is now so long, I might die before they make mine (I am 72). This makes knife collecting more stressful than it needs to be.

 

[DMG]

The Native is the one knife with a choil I like. Took me awhile though

I bought and still have an original native. It was made a backup knife shortly thereafter. I tried a Native Salt. That one got sold.

 

[dogstar]

1. Finger choils
2. Folding pocket cleavers
3. Harpoon designs
4. Anything such as the above, which are cosmetic gimmicks, like air dams on Toyota Carollas

 

[Burke]

I’m kind of over pet peeves with knives. I don’t love exposed tangs as mentioned upthread but I’ve had enough knives with them that I liked anyway it doesn’t make sense to complain unless the design makes it otherwise problematic. Same with thick edges (which might make sense for certain uses/warranties) and cheap steel (which doesn’t matter all that much if the design is either being built down to a certain price point or compensated for elsewhere by quality of design etc).

I do have pet peeves with people.
I am over sellers who have an exhaustive list of demands to be allowed to purchase one of their knives, usually listed in all caps, sellers who are trying to sell “bundles” of knives for the fair value of each individual knife PLUS ten or twenty percent, buyers who ask for “more pics” of an already well-documented knife without specifying what they actually want to see (and then ghost you once you’ve sent them a dozen), buyers who flip their lids if sellers don’t reply with shipping info within twelve minutes of being asked and sellers who have the time to do six deals a day but not make one trip to the post office a week, the guys who post their “special day” carry in six different groups (what, you had a Demko, a Strider, an Emerson, a Curtiss, and a Grimsmo all in your pocket for your wedding anniversary at a mid-range steakhouse? You don’t actually have “a” special knife, you’re just posting for clout and your wife probably hates you for taking knife pictures instead of paying attention to her), the guys who are constantly in dire financial straits and having to sell their collection of $3K MSCs (pro-tip: you obviously can’t afford them), guys who jump into a brand and drop $30K in six months on “flavor of the month” knives.

 

[stillshot2]

I personally prefer not having thumbstuds that can snag on the pocket, so a flipper or even better yet a thumb hole is my preference. Used to care about blade to handle ratio until I realized how a knife carries is far more important. For instance the Spyderco Police 4 in my pocket has way more handle than I need, and even a dreaded choil yet still more sharpened edge than most people carry in a folder and being slender and only about 4 oz I always forget it's in my pocket. FWIW I like choils or flippers, it's a little added insurance that if a lock fails there still may be something left of my fingers afterwards. Oh yeah and nothing made in China please.

 

[RustyIron]

1. Recurves

2. Scales that don't fit perfectly

3. Button head screws in recessed holes.
The Bugout in the picture looks like someone made it in their garage.
Buy some countersinks, Benchmade!

 

[nhobo]

EDCs that look like weapons instead of tools.

 

[jude_061]

I won’t buy a knife with a metal handle. Everything else, like grip shape, etc. is more of a preference. Metal handles are a deal breaker for me.

ETA: I’m not talking about bolsters, like on a Buck 110 or Barlow knife for example. I mean a fully metal grip.

 

[DrHarmony]

Some garbage sheath supplied with a fixed blade just because, instead of being useful or safe.
Over sensitive lock bars.
Sharp Spyderco holes

 

[barrabas74]

I have a Laconico custom that pushes hair down my arm . Love his designs and maybe I got a bad one. I also have a Shamwari that is less than ideal for a $1500 knife.

John, you should have brought this up with Ray. This really surprises me as all of his knives I've owned were crazy sharp and one cut TP. He fell asleep at the paper wheel? Lol.

I hate Emeraon Tanto or New Age Tantos.....useless to me. FALSE back edges....they should be sharp.
Karambits
Super thick prybar "indestructible" knives which are useless cutters
SOG knives
Most CRKT knives
uneven grinds
Expensive knives. Say over 300 dollars with flaws of any kind. At a certain price that shouldn't happen.
"Sprint Runs"

There are more.

 

[stillshot2]

Sharp Spyderco holes

It seems every Seki City made Spyderco I buy comes with too sharp of a hole but that's an easy fix with a ceramic rod passed around it on both sides. What does bug me is that the holes have tooling marks on the inside where drilled out, where the American made ones do not or are at least less obvious. I get that it's a lower cost knife and that cost cutting has to be made somewhere but still..

 

[DocJekl]

Recurve blades

Persian blades that swoop up like it’s bending over backwards.

Weak detents on a flipper knife

Black coatings that won’t stand up to the test of time and use

Dull blades in any price range

Scales that flex when you squeeze the two sides together

8cr13mov steel

 

[RugerNurse]

Some garbage sheath supplied with a fixed blade just because, instead of being useful or safe.

Hit the nail on the head with this one.

 

[EngrSorenson]

Pardon the multiqoute from hell, but you guys said my thoughts better…

I dont like a small blade:handle ratio.

In 2018 this was one of my most finicky criteria. Unless it’s a traditional multi blade or some kind of carving knife, it just feels like wasted space.

Choils. I dislike choils on a fixed blade, i absolutely hate choils on a folder.

A sharpening Choil should be called a recurve prevention upgrade

A choil to me is a snag point that takes away valuable edge from an otherwise useful area of blade.

A 3/16 recurve prevention upgrade is nice.

“recurve prevention upgrade” I’m dyin’.
Usually love a sharpening choil, but my ESEE 3 taught me I hate finger choils.

Liner locks.

And frame locks. Realizing this encompasses most modern folders, I bow out, but it bothers my desire for symmetry.

Recurve blade design

Cannot stand recurve in my regular knives. Makes sharpening a pain and I can’t see a reason for it. Other tools require it, and fine, but my 2021 BF knife didn’t.

Obscene jimping.

Is that like… jimping shaped like a mud flap girl?

Some garbage sheath supplied with a fixed blade just because, instead of being useful or safe.

I don’t need anything fancy, but it does drive me nuts when I buy a beautiful knife and the sheath is an afterthought. Then I have to go make a sheath.

 

[Chronovore]

Hot spots - I don't like crisp scale edges, pokey corners, sharp jimping, and little spots that press into my hand. Jimped lock bars that extend past the scale like little teeth are no good. Shadow-boxed or proud liners can look cool but rarely feel good. (Kizer does a few that work but most of those would probably feel better if they weren't that way in the first place.) That also goes for burs or sharp corners where the lock-bar interfaces with the blade.

Sharpened edge or point too close to scale edge when knife is closed - I've noticed this on some very expensive knives and it really bugs me. When a knife is closed, neither the point nor sharpened edge should be easy to touch. If I miss the flipper tab for some reason, my finger shouldn't run into the heel of the blade. If I squeeze a hand past my knife in pocket, or somehow fumble my grip a little in picking up or otherwise handling my closed knife, there should be zero chance of me bleeding. Seriously, this isn't hard to figure out. Most of my collection manages to space everything with a margin of safety.

Folder blade is too thick - What is the point? A perception of sturdiness or value based on chunkiness is neither accurate nor helps it cut better. A blade is like a wedge and a wider base creates drag when passing through materials. Yes, a knife can taper down but why not just start thin? Honestly, anything over 0.125" in a folder feels either superfluous or contrary to function for my use.

Lanyard hole prioritized over clip placement - It isn't just that I don't care about lanyards on modern folders. There are better ways to do this, such as having a pin between the scales and protected from the blade by a back spacer.

Screws protruding into deep-carry loop-over - Unlike a few other people here, I love deep-carry loop-over clips. For years now, several companies using them have figured out that flush-fitting screws are the way to go. Having button-like knobs of metal sticking up into this space is just dumb.

Empty clip recess or fill-plate on show side - Yeah, this sucks. Sometimes, it can create a hot spot. Usually, it just wrecks the aesthetics of a knife and sticks out like a sore thumb. But lefties need love! Okay. What's wrong with just a couple of screw holes on the show side? That has such a lower impact on the aesthetics and at the end of the day, having a deep-carry loop-over that sits on top of the scale has never given me grief.

T6 hardware, permanent thread-locker, or complicated assembly - Seriously, WTF? But nobody needs to take apart their knife! Sure they do. Plus, some people want to...

Blade smiles up at heel and/or edge runs into plunge - Another contrary point, I like a nice roomy sharpening choil that gives me plenty of space and room to sharpen lots of times without messing around. Even without a choil, terminate the edge at the heel in a way that makes sense.

Glass Breakers on EDC folders - Really?!? On the handle of an EDC folder? Even if I was in a situation where I might want a glass breaker--and I've actually been in a few serious car wrecks--would I want to be using it that close to the flesh of hand?

8Cr13Mov in knives costing more than $20 - Seriously, it's 2023. This was a cool steel back when Kershaw was rocking AUS-6. The world has changed since then. Too many companies are using better budget steels now. From all the $20-something folders in Chinese D2 to the 9Cr18Mov, 14C28N, and N690 we've got at around $50 or less, it's time to retire 8Cr13Mov. Hell, even the chemically similar AUS-8 can be noticeably better.