Looking for a new knife, with THIN handle

Steve MacAdam said:
Good day mates :)

I'm currently on the market for a new knife. It would be my first quality knife dare I say. Budget is around 150$.

Currently, I have quite a few traditionnals (Opinels, Doudouk, Higonokami) and a Spyderco Tenacious among others.

And I'm looking for a knife that would have the thinnest handle possible. I think my dream knife would be my Higonokami or my Doukdouk, but with a locking blade.

Ideally, I'd find something with a 6 to 8mm handle thickness (around 0.25 - 0.3 inches for my fellow Americans ;) ). The weight is not really a matter (I'd say no more than my 4 ounces Tenacious). My ideal blade length would be around 8.5cm (or 3.35 inches). I kinda prefer narrow designs, but I do not really care as long as the handle is really thin.

I generally prefer quite thick blades, and I prefer a stronger tip.

For the locking mechanisme, I don't care as long as it's not a lockback and it's strong/secure.

For the blade steel, I'd like something a bit more premium than what I'm used to (and I want some stainless steel). Whether VG-10, S30V or something else, I do not really care.

If it can have a deep carry clip, bonus point.

And for blade shape, I hate tanto blades (but love reverse Tanto a lot), the rest is generally fine with me.

Finally, the intended use is for EDC, provided that I live in a quite rural area but work in a big city. So nothing over the top like a ginormous Cold Steel, but nothing too flimsy either ^^ (I might have to do some quite outdoorsy/DIY stuff on a regular basis but nothing like cutting down an oak :D ).

From what I've researched, I've encounter both the Benchmades Bugout and 940. Apparently they have the same overall thickness (if somebody can confirm ?). But they are still a bit too thick for me at 10.5mm (0.41 inches).

So feel free either to suggest other models or to comment on the adequation of one of those two with my needs ;)

It's quite a long post, so thanks to have read it all, and hopefully some goodness will come from this all :)
Click to expand...

You wont get, nor would you really want, a blade handle thinner than this guy:

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/new-edc-fixed-blade-jp-bladesmithing.1645606/#post-18898959

If one really wants thin, fixed blade is the way to go.
 
My Ikuchi will be here tomorrow, I'll post my opinions on it sometime over the weekend.

The thing is, getting a thin handled knife with a robust blade stock is a difficult quest. I've never broken a tip, but I don't use my knives to pry except in an emergency. Actually, it happened for the first time yesterday. We got to the gas station and the gas door release malfunctioned. Had to use the Yojimbo 2 to lightly pry open a plastic panel to get to the emergency release. From there I was able to fix the electronic release as well.
 
Another thought I had.

Spyderco Superleaf
It's discontinued but appears to still be available on the Spyderco Site at $150 Sale Price.

3.44" Blade
4mm thick blade
Really thin appearing G10.
Don't know what the overall width is though.
 
Not sure if a slipjoint is okay for you. But if you want to be safe from the Police confiscating it you could try the UK (PK) Pen Knife from Spyderco. Very slim and light. And has the best Spyderco pocket clip they make.
 
Steve MacAdam said:
Good day mates :)

I'm currently on the market for a new knife. It would be my first quality knife dare I say. Budget is around 150$.

Currently, I have quite a few traditionnals (Opinels, Doudouk, Higonokami) and a Spyderco Tenacious among others.

And I'm looking for a knife that would have the thinnest handle possible. I think my dream knife would be my Higonokami or my Doukdouk, but with a locking blade.

Ideally, I'd find something with a 6 to 8mm handle thickness (around 0.25 - 0.3 inches for my fellow Americans ;) ). The weight is not really a matter (I'd say no more than my 4 ounces Tenacious). My ideal blade length would be around 8.5cm (or 3.35 inches). I kinda prefer narrow designs, but I do not really care as long as the handle is really thin.

I generally prefer quite thick blades, and I prefer a stronger tip.

For the locking mechanisme, I don't care as long as it's not a lockback and it's strong/secure.

For the blade steel, I'd like something a bit more premium than what I'm used to (and I want some stainless steel). Whether VG-10, S30V or something else, I do not really care.

If it can have a deep carry clip, bonus point.

And for blade shape, I hate tanto blades (but love reverse Tanto a lot), the rest is generally fine with me.

Finally, the intended use is for EDC, provided that I live in a quite rural area but work in a big city. So nothing over the top like a ginormous Cold Steel, but nothing too flimsy either ^^ (I might have to do some quite outdoorsy/DIY stuff on a regular basis but nothing like cutting down an oak :D ).

From what I've researched, I've encounter both the Benchmades Bugout and 940. Apparently they have the same overall thickness (if somebody can confirm ?). But they are still a bit too thick for me at 10.5mm (0.41 inches).

So feel free either to suggest other models or to comment on the adequation of one of those two with my needs ;)

It's quite a long post, so thanks to have read it all, and hopefully some goodness will come from this all :)
Click to expand...

One of the most shockingly thin knives I know with a slicey blade too is the Boker Exskelibur 1 full titanium framelock.

Make sure to only get this version of the Exskelibur 1 (only the 1 not the Exskelibur 2) because some of the other versions aren’t nearly as thin and the carbon fibre front scaled framelock tends to have issues.

Here it is next to my large Inkosi to show how thin it is. The blade is ground super thin too and is very slicey and thin behind the edge. One of the sliciest modern knives I have ever seen.

0cPKK74.jpg


(Mine is a cf front scale model. Avoid this one, only get the full titanium framelock Boker Exskelibur 1) steel is s35vn with a very good heat treat on the examples I have owned.

Opening method is a front flipper which almost no one knows what it is when they look at it. (Even people fairly knowledgable about knives) The untrained person picking the knife up will almost certainly think it is a two hand opener.
 
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Steve MacAdam said:
Hi guys :)

Thanks again for all the suggestions :thumbsup:

I'd prefer not to buy second hand. So any discontinued or too high above my budget options won't do the trick. Sorry ^^'

The Sandvik and EKA options are nice little knives, however they are more on the traditionnal slipjoint side of the force. I'm after something more modern, since I'm already covered by both my Doukdouk and my Higonokami.

The Gent X Massdrop is gorgeous and seems like a great value for money. Sadly, one has to wait 'till july to hopefully get one, it is a bit too short for my taste, and above all, it is listed as thicker than a Bugout. But definitly nice to know it does exist :)

After a second look, I've seen the Al Mar is AUS-8 :( Would it have S30V or something, I might have given it a shot. But at least in France, it's exactly the same price as a 940, and almost double the price of a Bugout or Code4. What is it that command such a price tag ? Cause that knife is super tenting to my eye, but I can't really see where the money goes on that one. Can somebody explain ?

Kershaw Dividend in M390. Boy, that's a great value for money in the USA :eek: I was shocked. But it seems that it is almost impossible to source one in m390 in Europe. I'm still looking around just in case. The shape is still quite scary, but knife seems good. Are Kershaws considered good ?

Lastly, the Boker. Damn, I thought that was it. But I've seen something strange, and I'd greatly appreciate if someone can provide some more info. Apparently, you have two choices for this Exskelibur. Either D2 and G10, or S35VN and CF/titanium. And apparently, the D2/G10 is 0.35 inches thick at the handle whereas the S35VN CF or titanium is 0.52. Is there so much of a difference ? Is it not a typo ? Cause if the S35VN versions are 0.35 in handle thickness, I might have my new knife.

Once again, thanks a lot to everybody involved. Hoping to have more infos on the questions it raised to me :)
Click to expand...

I explained in my previous post which Boker Exskelibur model you should get.

I am literally surprised each time I pick up this knife how thin it is.
 
The Boker Urban Trapper is very thin closed. It is a nice edc type knife that you can forget you have it with you until you need to cut something. It's a liner lock flipper.
 
I think the Spyderco Caly 3 is a thin carry, perhaps no the thinnest but I keep coming back to it.
The Boker exskelibur I Ti is a great knife but the QC has been spotty on them, at $124 not a problem but the price seemed to jump $50 in the past few months. I would purchase another because of the thinness but will not because of the QC.
 
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