Looking for budget EDC. <$30

jason41987 said:
I'm just going to go with vanilla as a first Opinel. No 8 carbon steel model with their standard blade shape.
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Pro tip: Baryonyx knife would be the better place to purchase one.
Longtime Bladeforums member, and inspects his inventory before shipping.
 
They were either out of stock or their cart system wasn't working so I ordered it from BladeHQ instead. I am not going to focus my search in the $50-$75 area and see if I can find something really nice.
 
While the Opinel 8 is great and a "safe" choice, you mentioned food prep. If so, I would get the 9 or 10, and then the 8 or 7 for EDC and other uses. In my experience, for EDC, the 7 is really nice, and the 8 works fine too. For dedicated food prep, I would go with the 9 or 10. After all, you want to slice through that entire melon lol.

Bottom line is that the Opinels are so affordable, you just can't go wrong. You will out-slice knives that cost ten times more.
 
I have larger chef knives but I don't have a really good paring knife. I was actually slicing a tomato today and wishing I had something smaller, like a paring knife for the task over what I was using. So I am looking for one to work as a paring knife more than a chef knife.
 
Actually, I am thinking of trashing the entirety of my kitchen knives that I currently use because they are all just cheap Walmart-special stuff with unknown stainless steel blades that hold an edge about as well as cardboard.
 
Is there anything you guys could say to dissuade me from a Spyderco Tenacious? I know the Rat 1 has better steel at the same price but I cannot help but like the Tenacious. I like the style of it over the Paramilitary 2 due to me not really liking forward finger choils and I don't think the Polestar is enough of an upgrade to pay an extra $20 for. So I am strongly leaning towards the Tenacious even though the Rat 1, statistically speaking, is the better knife. But the Tenacious is an entire inch shorter for the same cutting edge length.
 
I've had both, and would choose the rat 1 over it. The tenacious isn't a bad knife though. You would be happy with either one. It wouldn't hurt to go to a walmart or basspro and handle both of them yourself.
 
I do not have any place near me that would have either one in stock. I can however find a site selling both that have a good return policy, order both, then return the one I don't like.
 
jason41987 said:
Is there anything you guys could say to dissuade me from a Spyderco Tenacious? I know the Rat 1 has better steel at the same price but I cannot help but like the Tenacious. I like the style of it over the Paramilitary 2 due to me not really liking forward finger choils and I don't think the Polestar is enough of an upgrade to pay an extra $20 for. So I am strongly leaning towards the Tenacious even though the Rat 1, statistically speaking, is the better knife. But the Tenacious is an entire inch shorter for the same cutting edge length.
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I have a better option for you. Spyderco has a budget line called Byrd. The Byrd Raven 2 is about the same price as the Tenacious but had BD1 tool steel which has a lot better wear resistance but less dtain resistance. Basically a budget Manix 2. I really would love to see s Tenacious with upgraded steel tho ,)
 
Also, your consideration of Efengrow... They are not a manufacturer, they are s Re-brander. They buy knives and just stamp their own logo on them. I have no confidence that they use the materials claimed. Not trying to :poop: on your choice in the least, only trying to educate. I know there is limited info about a lot of those types of companies, and I can't really give a legit reason why I research this stuff. I guess I just look into it to help guide others. :D
 
JupiterPaladin said:
I have a better option for you. Spyderco has a budget line called Byrd. The Byrd Raven 2 is about the same price as the Tenacious but had BD1 tool steel which has a lot better wear resistance but less dtain resistance. Basically a budget Manix 2. I really would love to see s Tenacious with upgraded steel tho ,)
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Wouldn't a Tenacious with upgraded steel be the Polecat? I looked at the Byrd line but reviews of them have been fairly poor. Also one of the features I liked about the Tenacious was the lack of a forward finger choil which gives Spydercos an extremely poor ratio of cutting edge to overall length.

I am not opposed to manufacturing my own blade later on in a much better steel than what is offered in either the Tenacious, Polestar, or the Raven.
 
J jason41987 here is a pic of all 3 together.
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The Polestar is $25 more for only an extra tiny bit of cutting edge.
 
Also, I do not work in any field that has me opening packages all day, I don't need something for food prep. Just the occasional package once or twice a month is about all I'd use it for so i think 8cr or AUS-8 would be plenty good enough until I can get around to making my own blade.
 
I have the raven 2 , tenacious, and a meadowlark 2. For me personally I like the tenacious over the raven 2 because of the blade length. The blade had dulled just a bit after 2 weeks of boxes ,zip ties, shrink wrap and then today cutting through inch thick plastic label holders. I simply gave about 7 passes on each side with a fine grit natural stone and it is shaving sharp again.
I think spyderco really has the 8 cr heat treat tuned in as good as it can be. I carry the tenacious or meadowlark 2 along with a traditional everyday.
My vote would go to the tenacious.
 
I opened my Tenacious too quickly the other week and managed to cut my thumb open on the unchamfered thumb hole edge. If you do get one, you might consider going over the edge with a deburring tool.

I personally prefer the Raven 2 as a beater due to the better steel, significantly thicker blade stock, and more comfortable handle (the Tenacious handle is a bit small for me). However the longer, thinner blade on the Tenacious is better for food prep.

Some extra consideration: the Tenacious might have the Spyderco logo but the Raven 2 has Sal Glesser's mark. On the other hand, byrd has only a 1 year warranty and Spyderco's warranty coverage is relatively sparse to begin with.

P.S. How's the centering on your Tenacious'?
 
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jason41987 said:
I have larger chef knives but I don't have a really good paring knife. I was actually slicing a tomato today and wishing I had something smaller, like a paring knife for the task over what I was using. So I am looking for one to work as a paring knife more than a chef knife.
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That search has been my true grail. So I'm working on one.
 
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