Knife Pet Peeves

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FOLDERS

-Over built hard use stuff with crappy geometry
-flippers with big tabs
-thumb studs that are in the cutting/sharpening path
-compound grinds
-cleaver blades
-generic pocket clips that are on nearly every model of knife made by a company (spyderco and benchmade)


FIXED BLADES

-knives that come with no or a really crappy sheath
-kydex sheaths that have lots of extra plastic
-scandi grinds
-crappy cutting geometry
-most blade coatings
 
I'm sure I've broke many of these over the years, but I'm much more picky these days than I used to be.

Features that are going to make a knife a hard sell to me in 2023:

  • If the price is over $175 and the blade is s30/35. It better be M390, 204p, s90v, 20cv, magnacut, s45, etc. if it's $200+
  • Smooth slippery handles, it better have texture/grip. I typically avoid CF for this reason.
  • Metal handles, suck in the winter, suck in the hot sun, most are not textured for grip.
  • Plastic, FRN, Grivory, call it what you want, plastic handles suck unless the knife is under $75.
  • Front flippers.....just no
  • Tip down carry
  • Blades with too much belly, this honestly is probably the one thing that turns me off of more purchases than anything else. I only need a deep belly for my skinning knife.
  • Handles that are too small/short. I understand the use case for tiny knives, due to laws etc. but I'd like to see more full size handles with shorter 2.5-3" blades.
  • Finger choils that are too small to be useful and really just cost you edge length, or designs where the handle is a horrible shape to choke up and use the choil.
  • Thick pry bar blades folders with edge geometries only good for pry bar or screwdriver use.
  • Bearing pivots, it won't stop me from buying a knife, but as long as it opens I'd rather have less moving parts. Plenty of bushing knives open super smooth/easy.
  • Knives that seem to be more concerned with being a fidget toy than an actual tool. These seem to be popping up a lot more lately.
  • Buying knives new, prices have gotten insane, and the marketplace deals are super good.
 
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ToddM said:
I'm sure I've broke many of these over the years, but I'm much more picky these days than I used to be.

Features that are going to make a knife a hard sell to me in 2023:

  • If the price is over $175 and the blade is s30/35/45. It better be M390, 204p, s90v, 20cv etc. if it's $200+
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I'm okay with S45VN and Elmax in this price category. I'd also add Magnacut to your list of appropriate steels.
 
Locutus D'Borg said:
I'm a boomer, so I tend to blame everything wrong on Millennials or Gen Z.

The whole flipper fad seems to target both groups, as does this drop-shut and fidget thing. Not sure why a whole generation of younger people have this deep need to fidget. Maybe it is due to nuclear radiation in the air. lol.
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Gen Z here, lol. Tale as old as time, I think. We’ve always been fascinated with the newest, blingiest, feature-packed toys. I don’t really fidget with my flippers, but I appreciate the convenience of the deployment method.

It’s still a pretty niche hobby though. I haven’t encountered a lot of folks crazy about knives as we are.
 
In case it hasn’t been said. The open holes left for clip choice.
I‘m a boomer and love flippers.
You have, manual open, slow open or fast open. Lock open. You can field strip them. Pocket clips put them in your hand immediately. I know, slips offer some of these options, but all together you’ve got a flipper.
I will never carry a slip joint again. It’s almost annoying to use one. They roam around in your pocket. The only thing I want in a “sock” is my foot.
And yet, I have 4 flippers & hundreds of slip joints,, that I can’t part with. Do you see a problem here?
 
Assisted / SpeedSafe BS. It’s crap. I hate the feeling / opening / closing - grown men shouldn’t use springs. Many good knives ruined with this crap. Lookin at you KAI.
Thumbstuds - more of an aesthetic issue, don’t like the opening action either. Yet I still buy some of these. Flipper + ThumbStud is just wrong.
Benchmade (Bitchmade)
Giant choils
Button-locks. They’re just crap. They really are. Half have lock stick, the other half just suck. BLs are way thicker than needed to accommodate for the button lock crap.
Way overpriced knives just for the sake of it
Front Flippers
Recurves
Fake/bad Micarta (the super hard stuff that might as well be G10.)
Pocket Clips (what a great way to ruin a perfectly good knife)
Fake bolsters - I freakin hate this aesthetic trend of putting fake bolsters on flipper knives. Looks like crap. Many good designs ruined by this.
Tiny knives
I’m growing tired of G10, yet I realize it has its place.
95% of traditional knives/Case etc - I just can’t
Heavy knives that don’t need to be heavy for their size - heavy is lazy

I realize many of the above are not popular opinions and I don’t care :D

Solid GenX’er here..
 
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I only have pet peeves for true crimes against humanity, like people who think "literally" means "very." Knives are for relaxation and joy. Okay, when I see Dollar Tree selling pocket knives, I do laugh at them: "What's the blade made out of, Dude, Silly Putty?"
Our Earth is degenerate in these later days; there are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end; bribery and corruption are common; children no longer obey their parents . . . and the end of the world is evidently approaching.
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—Assyrian clay tablet, c. 2800 B.C.

I'm a boomer, and old people were saying that young people suck before pants were invented. It would be a hell of a coincidence if they finally did just start sucking today. People deserve to be judged as individuals.
 
KVT said:
Button-locks. They’re just crap. They really are. Half have lock stick, the other half just suck.
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I've done my best to explore the recent button lock craze. Most have lock stick but it feels like a different animal than when a liner or frame lock has it, more like a feature than a defect. I'm not sure how I feel about it though. I definitely prefer a good liner or frame lock but button locks do eliminate the risk of hot spots or otherwise janky ergonomics in the access area. While Spyderco's compression lock has been my favorite of such alternatives, most of the button locks I've tried so far have been better for me than most of the Axis-style locks I've tried.
 
Oh boy do I have plenty of pet peeves when it comes to knives.

Choils. If the handle is well designed, then I shouldn't have to rely on the tang of the blade for a comfortable grip. Spyderco used to be my favorite brand, but after a while I got tired of every design having a choil that pretty much had to be used for the grip to feel comfortable for me.

Knives that are tall when closed. . Sadly, a lot of Spyderco designs fall under this too. A lot have tall blades and handles, and they end up being real pocket hogs when closed.

Folders with bearings. I contend that a knife made for serious use will not use bearings. They introduce even more moving parts into what should be a simple tool.

Flippers. Again, any knife made for actual use shouldn't just depend on a flipper for opening. You should be able to control the knife's opening through it's entire arc. If you can't, it's just a toy.

Assisted openers. I feel the same way about those as I do about flippers.

Deep carry pocket clips, mainly because they all stick too damn far off the side of the knife and they dig into my palm.

Drop shut action. Such a nonsense term that has nothing to do with the actual function of the knife. Just like the opening process, the user should be in control of the blade the entire time it's closing. You know what kinds of folding knives drop shut? Broken ones.

Jimping. Yet another useless attribute that doesn't add enough function to be worth it. Again, a well designed handle doesn't need jimping to allow the user to hold on to the knife.

Finger grooves, or ergonomic handles.

Sharp or pointy thumbstuds. I came this _ close to buying a Sebenze when I got my Christmas bonus this year, but I couldn't get over those asinine pointy thumbstuds. Same reason I got rid of my Kershaw Blur. Loved the knife, but the thumbstuds were sharper than the edge.

That's not all of my pet peeves, but I think it's most of them.
 
On modern one hand openers;
*Glass breakers
*CRKT auto LAWKS (have some that were gifts and I took them apart and deleted that),
*seat belt cutters on a knife.
* anything resembling a stiletto. Don’t care for the looks

Traditionals;
*tiny shallow nail nicks I can’t get my thumb nail in
*nail nicks that set too low in the handle to get any leverage on
* nail breakers of any type
* excessive blade wobble in the joint (s)
* proud pins

One thing on any knife that is a deal killer for me is a steel that takes so much to sharpen that it angers me. If DMT diamond stones take an hour or more per blade it’ll find a new home.
 
No guard or choil on the handle
Large choil instead of ricasso on a folder
Scandi grind
Round handles
Wharncliff
Sheepsfoot
Metal handle
Axis lock
Assisted
Auto
Balisong
Glass reinforced sheath
Rat tail tang
8Cr or lower steel
Steel below 1070
N690 and similar steels (always overpriced for mediocre performance)
 
When handle narrows too much towards blade like with Izula. Feels like your hand can't crab the handle good enough in hammer grip and the choil irritates your index finger if you put it to use.
 
I share many of the aforementioned pet peeves, but for me the biggest one is that the blades for most folders, esp the smaller ones are 25-50% thicker than they need to be, making them heavier and worse at slicing. This has been a trend for 30 years now, and I wonder if it will ever end.

Unrelated note, I have to get a goddamn email every goddamn time I want to sign in and comment now? Tech is fast becoming my biggest pet peeve...
 
A.L. said:
When handle narrows too much towards blade like with Izula. Feels like your hand can't crab the handle good enough in hammer grip and the choil irritates your index finger if you put it to use.
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100% agreement / especially when the handle is rounded ( broom stick ish ). Horrible for heavier cuts ( carving ). I like the izula because it’s tiny.. on bigger knives ( BHK Highlander, Scout platoon ) it drives me crazy. I feel a lack of Blade control and a weird balance - I’m ranting now. Apologies
 
axtalan0 said:
I share many of the aforementioned pet peeves, but for me the biggest one is that the blades for most folders, esp the smaller ones are 25-50% thicker than they need to be, making them heavier and worse at slicing. This has been a trend for 30 years now, and I wonder if it will ever end.
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I absolutely agree. I can get by with 0.125" but too many otherwise wonderful knives are rocking 0.15" or more. That's just too much and it offers no real benefits for anything I'd ever want to do with a folding knife. I'd love to see more modern folders running in the 0.08-0.11" range.
 
Many of my Hinderer XM-18 are the "Skinny" models, for the thinner blade. It's still plenty thick enough.
 
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