Looking for a good knife

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xoxozxizox

Joined
Sep 29, 2005
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Hey everybody. I'm looking for a high quality, military/tactical folding knife. It should have a one hand opening mechanism.

Some knives I have looked into so far:
-Gerber Applegate-Fairbairn Combat
-SOG Pentagon Elite II

I should be able to buy it for around ~$80 but that does not have to be the MSRP. For example, the MSRP of both the above knives is above $80 but a quick froogle search shows new ones for sale at around $80.

Any suggestions from somebody with some experience? I'd like to know a bit more about which brands are good and whatnot. Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
In that price range, I would reccomend a Benchmade Griptilian. They can be had for about $75 with shipping, and you can get different models with tanto points, black coated blades, combo edges and all the tactical stuff your heart desires. All Griptilians have the wonderful Axis lock and are very well made.

www.benchmade.com

www.knife-depot.com
 
Look into Spyderco and Benchmade. They are among the favored production companies. With either company you can't really go wrong.
 
I'll recommend my usual two, the Griptilian or minigrip and the CRKT M16. It's harder to deploy a knife faster than these two, including most assisted openers.
 
cabron50 said:
In that price range, I would reccomend a Benchmade Griptilian. They can be had for about $75 with shipping, and you can get different models with tanto points, black coated blades, combo edges and all the tactical stuff your heart desires. All Griptilians have the wonderful Axis lock and are very well made.

www.benchmade.com

www.knife-depot.com
Click to expand...

I second this BUT I would suggest that you get the Cabela's version which comes in D2 Steel.
www.cabelas.com

Search benchmade
 
Thanks for the replies everybody.

I see that there is a general opinion that the Benchmade Griptilian is a good model. Now, could somebody tell me why this is so? Is there something which makes Benchmade knives better than other brands? Also, why the Griptilian? I'm just being curious.

I also have a few general questions.

What sort of point is the best? I see tanto point blades as well as numerous other types. What is the best point to look for in a combat knife.

What about black blades? Are they any good? Any advantages/disadvantages? I prefer most of my things to be black but I'm not sure if this is a good quality in a knife. Will it scratch easily? If I sharpen the knife, will the black coating start falling off and getting funky?

Also, I wonder if a titanuim knife any better? For example, the CRKT M16-14T I'm looking for something that will last the longest amount of time without breaking in any way.

tim8557, could you post a link to the one you are referring to?

I'm sorry if I'm asking too many questions here. I've just become interested in knives recently and it'd be great if there was a place to become a bit more educated about them without asking questions about every little thing. Any recommendations on a good book or website to get started learning?

Thanks again for all the help everybody.
 
I am not really a SD (self defense) or MBC (martial blade craft) guy, but as far as I can see, there are many different approaches to a combat knife. On one hand there are the Strider type knifes which are brutes in size, choice of materials, blade profiles and geometries. They used to build an unsharpend tanto tip that would provide maximum strength for digging, prying etc. On the opposite end of the spectrum is a knife like the Yojimbo which has a very fine point which will slip even through thick clothing like nobodies business enableing cutting at tactical points, but it is definitely not the right tool to pry.

Aside from that comes the question, if you want to use the knife for EDC as well as for SD. Many Strider knifes for example have a full flat grind which allows the knife to be a very good cutter despite the thick blade, and personally I would say that a leaf shaped blade is much more versatile in EDC use than a tanto point but others might disagree with me.

The Griptilian offers a very strong lock with a well shaped handle and a very useful bladeshape and a good blade steel. Even though it is not as flash as some other "tactical" knives, it probably makes a much better all around tool than most.

Also , somebody trained in MBC is able to make a very "ordinary" well made knife into a devastating weapon. AFAIK Michael Janich has taught his courses with Delicas and Enduras (for which there are also trainers), which are very "unfancyful" but very well made $40 knives.

Lastly, I would suggest the Spyderco Manix but it is a bit more expensive, about $115.
 
I hope it actually posts this time.

Benchmade:
Benchmade is just a great company. They make all of their knives except for the red class models at their facility in Oregon. They have innovative designs, good materials, excellent quality control, super customer service and lifetime warranties. They will also resharpen you BM knife for as long as you own it for $5 a pop (they won't resharpen serrations). That's a good deal for people like me who have questionable sharpening skills. I wouldn't say Benchmades are better than all other knives, but they are definately among the best.

The Griptilian:
The Grip is popular partly because it is the least expensive BM that uses the Axis lock, and the Axis lock is arguably the best lock out there. It is also an all around winner with great ergonomics and comes in a variety of models to suit any taste.

Points:
Tanto points are seen on many combat style knives because they make for a super strong point and stab very will. The drawback is that, especially on short folders, they take away from the belly of the blade. That is the part of the blade that you will be using most if you are doing anything but stabbing, prying or digging. As was pointed out earlier, some keep the secondary edge dull for prying and digging. I can see the utility in that but much prefer drop or clip points for my own use. They can still stab but give you more belly.

Black coated blades:
Black coated blades are good for sneaking around without reflections from a shiny blade giving you away. That is not a feature that most of us will need. Coatings also prevent rust. That is more of a concern with carbon steel than stainless. Any coating will sctatch with use but will not usually flake off. If you are picky about the appearance of your knives and scratches are going to bother you, I would stay away from coated blades. If you are going to get a carbon steel blade but don't want to oil it, consider a coating. Scratches look better than rust. If you are concerned about a shiny blade reflecting light, you might look into bead blasted blades.

I can't help you with the CRKT M16. I have never owned one. I do know that CRKT enjoys a good reputation.

If you want to do some learning, check out www.benchmade.com and www.spyderco.com Also use the search function on this forum.
 
Thanks for the reply.

If I were to get a Griptilian, then, would you recommend the coating? I'm just wondering if the blade will rust without a coating? Also, is it possible to get it bead blasted?
 
If you decide to go for the D2 Grip from Cabelas, you'll have to get the coating. There is no uncoated variation available. I have heard that BM's BT2 coating is one of the less durable coatings, but D2 is awesome steel.

If you get a Grip in 440C, I would go uncoated. BM's satin finish is very attractive, and 440C is corrosion resistant.

You probably could get the blade bead blasted, but I have no idea where or at what cost. Trouble is, it might void your warranty.
 
xoxozxizox said:
Hey everybody. I'm looking for a high quality, military/tactical folding knife. It should have a one hand opening mechanism.

Some knives I have looked into so far:
-Gerber Applegate-Fairbairn Combat
-SOG Pentagon Elite II

I should be able to buy it for around ~$80 but that does not have to be the MSRP. For example, the MSRP of both the above knives is above $80 but a quick froogle search shows new ones for sale at around $80.

Any suggestions from somebody with some experience? I'd like to know a bit more about which brands are good and whatnot. Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Look at the Spyderco Police and Military versions. Great knives!
 
Hmm, I might even suggest my favorite blindly here too.

How about look at the BM 710 series, or 960 series.

710
http://www.benchmade.com/products/product_detail.aspx?model=710

960
http://www.benchmade.com/products/product_detail.aspx?model=960

The grip is nice unit too, dont get me wrong, i just find the handle design is not up my alley so to speak.

Have fun looking around man, theres many great choices to be had.


WR

Edited due to stupidity on my behalf, i just noticed the $80 limit.
Sorry for leading you a stray.
 
Ok, I'm pretty much set on the Grip.

The final issue is whether or not to get a serrated edge. What are some of the benefits and shortcomings of a partially serrated edge such as the one on the Grip?
 
A partially serrated edge allows a little bit more versatility, and it goes through rope and stuff like nothing else (Some of the sharpening I-can-cut-a-free-hanging-string-with-just-one-stroke-of-my-knife people will disagree, but for those of us whose knives are merely sharp...) but it also cuts down on the amount of plain edge blade available, and it's not quite enough serrations to be ideally useful. When choosing between serrated or non, I'd get fully serrated or full plain edge. Plus, serrations can be tricky to sharpen. Still, they're handy for tearing through stuff.
 
sprokker said:
Benchmade Griptilian RSK Mk 1 (aka the Ritter Grip, for the search engines). Axis lock, S30V blade, uncoated, plain edge, ~$100. Available in big & small. Mmm-mm.
Click to expand...

Is that just a different type of steel? If so, how is it better? Is it worth ~$25 extra?
 
A lot of people would say yes, its worth the extra money. It all depends on what you are going to use the knife for and how often and what materials you think you will commonly cut with it and how good your sharpening skills are.

S30V is an excellent steel, it offers superb wear resistance and is relatively tough (Tough = not brittle or liable to chip in knife-speak, hard is the ability to resist wear or going blunt) It can be a pain in the rump to sharpen if you dont have a decent sharpener or you leave it too long between sharpenings so that you need to remove a lot of material (a lot is actually a miniscule amount but when talking about sharpening it means more that a few minutes for touch up)

I havent heard anything bad said about S30V, I love it and put it up there with D2 and some of the traditional carbon steels. A lot of people scorn 440C now but until quite recently it was considered a high end steel. It still is, there are just more glamorous metals available now.

Check out S30V from the manufacturers web site.
http://www.crucibleservice.com/eselector/general/generalpart3.html
 
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