Recommendation? Looking for a high quality, tough 5"+ fixed blade

dylan_d said:
Lots of great recommendations here, thank you everyone.

I live on a large piece of land, the majority of it is wooded. I end up doing a bit of everything with my knives. Chopping, digging, dressing game, even a bit of light prying from time to time. I don't mind spending $300+ on a quality knife (like the CRK Pacific) but less is always better! I lean towards a non stainless for this application, in my mind non stainless is tougher. But if I am wrong, I welcome a stainless blade.
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non stainless can still make one hell of a good blade ... the CPK HDFK if you can find one is my favorite knife ... not only in that size range but overall my favorite fixed for an all around knife ...

LT Wright makes alot of great knives in everything from 01 or A2 to 3V and the stainless AEB-L that so far has shown me it's pretty tough ...

Battle Horse Knives also has some great blades in that size range ...

and a maker I like that ... and his knives have really been good IMHO ... Winkler knives ... the camp knife would check most if not all of your boxes ...

another option you may want to check out some of the custom makers on here ... Shannon Labs ... Big Chris ... Gollik Knives both non stainless and Elmax ... JK Knives ... all offer great blades some will work with you to design exactly what you want.
 
I've been trying to think of items that are like the CRK in character, as it's not really my style, and hasn't been recommended. I was reminded of the Lon Humphrey reaver, which is bigger, but the hellhound or bridger might be right in line with your tastes. The latter especially looks like it has slimmer handles which may be the ticket. And 52100 steel can take a lot of abuse while holding a nice edge.

Also, you could watch the knifemaker's market on the forum as there are some great maker's of fixed blades and that's not an uncommon size. There are so many good makers, I would have a hard time recommending just one unless you really specified your desire on look and character you're looking for. Not to knock the US makers, but some of the guy's in Europe using the more premium steels do a great job with elmax, V4e, and similar. I think the US maker's are doing some really interesting stuff with forging and the more simple carbon steels and tool steels. They're all great but in different ways. I do have some specific preferences based on what I'm looking for though as you can start to see their specialty if you watch the sales threads over there enough. And I watch them mostly because I like looking at them.
 
dylan_d said:
Lots of great recommendations here, thank you everyone.



I live on a large piece of land, the majority of it is wooded. I end up doing a bit of everything with my knives. Chopping, digging, dressing game, even a bit of light prying from time to time. I don't mind spending $300+ on a quality knife (like the CRK Pacific) but less is always better! I lean towards a non stainless for this application, in my mind non stainless is tougher. But if I am wrong, I welcome a stainless blade.
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To address the stainless piece, there are some very good stainless steels for his application, like AEB-L/Sandvik 13c26, any of the sandviks really, and z-finit/LC200N. CPM 154 is pretty decent as well. This is according to Larrin's research on knifesteelnerds.com.

These are from the recent article about O1 tool steel but a similar chart is in most of the articles about the history of a specific steel.
O1-vs-stainless-toughness-8-22.jpg

O1-vs-high-alloy-toughness-8-22.jpg

O1-vs-low-alloy-toughness-8-22.jpg

Retrieved from https://knifesteelnerds.com/2019/08/26/o1-steel-history-properties-and-how-to-heat-treat/
 
Those steel charts are really interesting. I have not kept up with the latest in steels in a looong time, I don't think S35VN existed when I was last up to date with things. 3V is the steel I am certainly leaning towards and on paper AEB-L appears to offer very similar performance. That is surprising! I will definitely take a hard look at it.

Also, after further thought I am really considering going with a shorter blade, maybe in the 4.5-5" range. The Bradford Guardians really do look nice, the 5.5 seems just about right. The Survive GSO's look really nice too but seem to be really hard to get a hold of?
 
aeb-l is very much like sandvik 12c27, 13c26 - all around great stuff BUT the edge retention isn't stellar, easy to touch up on any river rock if you needed to

quite a few bf members/makers use it now - which is really encouraging

http://www.zknives.com/knives/steels/steelgraph.php?nm=13c26,19c27,aeb-h,aeb-l

all of the old knife makers are still using 12c27 as the default, it's that good:
opinel stainless
mora (check out a kansbol, really)
helle
laguiole
eka
bestech (thorn, beluga, spike)
and other brands that charge a heck of a lot more
 
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CPK HDFK, CPK UF . They make great knives. I carry a FK2 daily .

Cold steel SRK 3V. Solid tough knife. Decent price point for what you get.

Spartan blades difensa. Great knife with good ergonomics.

I have or have owned all aside from the CPK UF. So I’m just speaking from my own experience.
 
dirc said:
if you want the best bargain in a tough 5" blade, check out ontario 1075 in the spec plus alpha - an absolute bargain around $30 with a minimalist but highly effective handle
I have an Ontario Cerberus in G-10 & awesome Ontario D2 that has a similarly shaped handle, and It has my favorite grip of all my knives. The alpha series knives look like they have a handle design a lot like the Cerberus, so they're pretty intriguing to me. Have you used this much? What other impressions do you have about the alpha?
http://imgur.com/gallery/zzfdEKK
timthumb.php
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dirc said:
aeb-l is very much like sandvik 12c27, 13c26 - all around great stuff BUT the edge retention isn't stellar, easy to touch up on any river rock if you needed to

quite a few bf members/makers use it now - which is really encouraging

http://www.zknives.com/knives/steels/steelgraph.php?nm=13c26,19c27,aeb-h,aeb-l

all of the old knife makers are still using 12c27 as the default, it's that good:
opinel stainless
mora (check out a kansbol, really)
helle
laguiole
eka
bestech (thorn, beluga, spike)
and other brands that charge a heck of a lot more
Click to expand...
12C27 is basically European version of 420HC or Aus6a.
So you might as well recommend most of Buck's offerings in that list.
 
Another vote for CPK HDFK or Cold Steel SRK. Could also check out the CS AK-47 Field Knife, with slightly shorter blade (5.5"), and G10 scales instead of the kraton rubber.
 
It is interesting that Nathan Carothers uses AEB-L. He wouldn't use a below par steel.
 
All the praise for CPK makes me want to get one. We'll see?

My woods knife (in the 5.5"> 6" size range) is the Bark River Wilderness Explorer in Cruwear. I have been pleased with the knife, but honestly it feels a little big for me to carry in the woods at times considering my limited use. Anything over 6", I tend to leave home unless I know I need to use it. I have a couple Kepharts that fit the 5 > 6" range as well and I like them.
 
If you'll go with 4-1/2", look at the White River Knife and Tool Sendero Classic. Jerry Fisk design, S35VN, good leather sheath.
 
If you're willing to look outside the US (there is a world out there) you might consider a good leuku from Finland with a Lauri blade in 80CrV2 steel. One of the toughest steels you can get. The larger of the Varusteleka puukkos, the 140, falls into the size bracket you are after. These are not fancy, no nice micarta handles, but they are bloody tough and pretty comfortable to manipulate. You could get the whole series of them (from the mini puukko/skrama bare tang through the 110 and 140 puukkos to the Skrama) and you'd be set for life for the price of one high-end Fallkniven or a semi-custom.
 
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