Looking to start my collection, I'd appreciate your advice/thoughts!

N

newknife1

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Jan 29, 2017
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Hi everyone!

I'm looking to start off my collection by purchasing ONE knife from each company, the first three being Spyderco, Benchmade, and Kershaw. Now here's where your expertise and experience could help me a great deal! Which ONE knife from each company would you recommend?

I've done some preliminary digging and have a few biases for different models, but my opinion can still be swayed. Feel free to recommend something NOT listed below.

  • Spyderco - Cricket, Techno, Burch Chubby (leaning towards the Burch Chubby)
  • Benchmade - 940/943 or mini onslaught (leaning towards 940/943)
  • Kershaw - Leek or Blur (leaning towards Blur)

I've read a lot about the paramilitary from Spyderco, and it is a great knife, but the others above are a bit more aesthetically pleasing to me. I've also heard about the Benchmade Griptilian, but fear the reviews ranting about the cheap-feeling handle.

Bonus question: which companies should I look into next?

Thanks in advance
 
What do you plan on cutting?
Are fixed blades legal where you live?
- fill out some of your profile.
Do you have any sharpening equipment?
Are you right or left handed?
What type of work do you do?

I ask these so we can direct you in a path that is up you uses alley, not just aesthetics or the knives reputation.
 
NJBillK said:
What do you plan on cutting? - To be honest, probably not much. Opening packages.
Are fixed blades legal where you live? - I'm not sure, but I'm only looking for folding knives for now.
- fill out some of your profile. - Will do!
Do you have any sharpening equipment? - None.
Are you right or left handed? - Right.
What type of work do you do?

I ask these so we can direct you in a path that is up you uses alley, not just aesthetics or the knives reputation.
Click to expand...

Answered in your quote above.
 
Spyderco PM2 or Delica if you like smaller knives
Benchmade Barrage or Mini Barrage if you like smaller knives
Zero Tolerace 0452 or 0450 if you like smaller knives

This will give you a good idea of lock types, opening mechanisms...etc and then you can go from there IMO.
 
Amoo said:
Spyderco PM2 or Delica if you like smaller knives
Benchmade Barrage or Mini Barrage if you like smaller knives
Zero Tolerace 0452 or 0450 if you like smaller knives

This will give you a good idea of lock types, opening mechanisms...etc and then you can go from there IMO.
Click to expand...

Any reason you prefer the benchmade barrage over the 940/943?
 
similar blade shape to the Grip, better ergos IMO. The 940 is a great knife, but I feel the 0452/0450 will give you a sampling of a blade that general size and shape so I would go with something a little bit different from BM.

Full Disclosure, the Mini-Barrage is my EDC
 
Spyderco - Based on what you're looking at, I'd be sure to also check out the Slysz Bowie and Sage2... Both better users IMO.

Benchmade - 940s are great, but I prefer my 484-1

Kershaw - Blur is a great knife. Also check out the Skyline. Leek never did anything for me.

Zero Tolerance is a good brand to check out next. My favorites are the 562cf, 0452CF, 801, and 560.

You should consider the Spyderco Sharpmaker as a required purchase.
 
Budget?
It helps to know what size hand you have. Do you know what size glove you take? How a knife fits in your hand is important. I don't like the Benchmade MiniGrip because the handle doesn't fit my hand well. I wear a 2xl glove usually. If you have a M or L glove, it would probably be fine.
 
PM2, 0450, Mini Barrage. Should give you a size comparison and blade shape comparison.

PM 2 - Compression Lock, Good Representation of Spyderco overall blade shape.
0450 - Frame lock, Welcome to the world of flippers...errr I mean ZT
Mini Barrage - Axis lock, and like you mentioned similar to a grip but without being overly grippy.

NLY9jnG.jpg
 
It depends on your lifestyle and what you can afford to spend. For me personally I have more of an upscale business lifestyle and really don't use a knife more than to open the mail or a package from time to time, so I tend to gravitate toward higher end Titanium framelocks because they are just a bit more classy than sporting a hunk of G10 around in my pocket all day. It seems that most people who get into knives and are able to afford the more expensive stuff end up at the titanium phase in the end anyway, so if you think this may be you then just skip the Paramilitarys, Griptilians, and Kershaws all together and get right to the nicer stuff. This way you save all the money you will lose when you sell off the cheaper stuff to fund your new addiction to chunks of expensive Titanium. It's not a bad idea to keep a PM2 or something similar around just in case you need something to beat on though. I keep a black/black dlc PM2 just to have in case I need to use a knife for something that may actually scar the knife up beyond light use.
 
Considering you are leaning towards a chubby from Spyderco and a 940/943 from BM to start off your collection, (both great choices mind you), I would suggest keeping all things roughly equal in terms of quality and design and get yourself something from Zero Tolerance instead of a Kershaw since they are in essence the higher end Kershaw, both being owned by KAI.
 
Look at the Kershaw Skyline. More robust than the leek, no annoying recurve like the blur, and fun to flip once you get the hang of it.
 
Spyderco: Rubicon
Benchmade: Arcane or doug ritter mini grip for grip w/diff handle
Kershaw: Never had one but have a Blur on the way!
 
I like bigger value knives. These would be my starters. Weird, all different blade steels too!
Spyderco, Endura
Benchmade Griptilian
CRKT, Shizuko noh ken
Kershaw, Blur
Cold Steel, Lg Voyager
 
scotchleaf said:
Advice: don't start the collection. Quit before you spend 10's of thousands. :)
Click to expand...

This is the truth.

Maybe another good approach is to only buy one knife at a time. You'll probably end up with multiple knives en route to your house at some point, but I find that I appreciate knives more when I leave a good amount of time between purchases. Consider only buying one of the three and carrying it for a while. It might even change your perspective on what you want to buy next.
 
Buy what you like, don't overthink it. So many knives, so many good steels. Go to a knife show and check out as many different knives in hand as you can.
 
Manix 2
Griptillian
Blur

Alternatively

PM2
Crooked River
Skyline

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
 
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