Low cost, High quality knives

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rainydayarmadillo

Joined
Jul 1, 2012
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I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions for low cost; high quality knives. So far i have been sticking with Mora, Marttiini, Victorinox,Gerber,ahti,marbles etc. I really like European knives because of their very high quality and for the most part low cost. I don't like to buy Chinese made knives because of the poor quality and worker treatment but if it is a trusted company i will usually spring for it. If you have any suggestions i would like to hear them!
 
Personally I like Boker Plus. Also check out Condor.
 
Well, I feel I need to recommend the Kershaw Cryo. For the price, it's a beast. I just got a Volt SS and have been carrying it. It's bigger, and quite the knife for the money.
 
I guess it depends what what you consider "low cost". For me, the Spyderco Manix 2 is under $100 and outstanding. YMMV.
 
China made products are not all low quality.
Check out Kershaw, Spyderco Tenacious line, Spyderco's Byrd line, Buck, some CRKT, Boker Plus, some Sanrenmu, Enlan, Navy, Ganzo, and Inron products.
 
You like European knives, so you should have the Douk-Douk on your list, as well as the Opinel. Mercator makes the K55 knife, that is a workman's lock blade.
 
For an inexpensive folding knife, I like Emerson, but I guess we all have different ideas of what's expensive.
 
It would be a big mistake to say Chinese made knives are poor quality, and I'm not aware of any specific information about Chinese knife factory workers being particularly mistreated.

This trope about quality comes up constantly around here. Not only is it mistaken, it seems to imply that China is somehow physically unable to make products of decent quality, as if some insurmountable hurdle or force of nature prevents such a thing from happening. It makes absolutely no sense.

It's not unusual to hear claims about Chinese "slave labor", though it seems a rarer occurrence on bladeforums. Unfortunately, these claims are rarely accompanied by credible accounts of such conditions, and often seem willful hyperbole.
 
Kershaw leek, IMHO, is one of the best knives for the money on the market. Spyderco delica, camillus 7.25" g10/vg10 folder is also a good one for inexpensive (that one is as smooth as my sebenza).
 
Thanks for the feedback. I'll be looking into those suggestions. What do you guys think about the Cold Steel Mini Tuff Lite, The Bear and Son Locking SodBuster and the Gerber Magnum LST?
 
I like the CS Tuff Lite, mini and regular...love the Voyagers. Design and build quality are very good and materials are good enough for me. Edge retention has been just fine with thick plastic, cardboard, aluminum/copper cables, vines, wood, leather, old gritty carpet, bad guys, etc.
 
Kershaw Anything.

If you want to stay away from Chinese made knives, The Kershaw OD-1 and RAM can both be had for around 50$ and are exceptionally well made knives for the price. 14c28n steel, G10 handles, and a couple of very unique and effective mechanisms (The Hawk lock on the RAM and the unique flipper system on the OD-1). They're two of my personal favourites.

There are also standbys like the Leek, Shallot, and Blur, which are all very inexpensive and USA-made like the RAM and OD-1. Really, it's kind of hard to go wrong with USA-made Kershaws.
 
For European made knives also check out the Swedish brand EKA Knivar; good quality knives and affordable. The German sodbusters made by Friedrich Herder and Robert Herder are also good knives. There is also Mikov from the Czech Republic, I don't know about current quality though. For fixed blade knives, you could also look at Brusletto. Fällkniven is a bit more expensive, but they make great knives.
 
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