Machinist's EDC?

G

GiantMouse

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Feb 1, 2018
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Looking to buy another work/EDC knife and am stuck between several different knives... as usual. I'm open to new suggestions as well!
HAS BEEN NARROWED DOWN TO THESE!
• Gayle Bradley 2
• Spyderco Manix 2 KW Exclusive 52100
• Spyderco PM2 52100
• Spyderco Domino BBS CTS-204P

I have several Reate Ti Framelocks in S35VN, M390. Para 3 in S110V , PM2 in S110V/S35VN and Spyderco Techno. Thanks for looking and offering up fresh suggestions BF!
 
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If I were a machinist, I'd carry a high speed steel blade... actually even if I weren't.
 
GiantMouse said:
• Gayle Bradley 2
• Spyderco Manix 2 KW Exclusive 52100 - Or M4
• Spyderco Manix 2 LW Maxamet
• Spyderco PM2 52100/M4/Cruwear
Click to expand...

I believe you have ranked them in the correct order. PM2 is my favorite EDC knife and Manix 2 is my favorite work knife, M4 is my favorite steel.
 
Ok so have basically narrowed it down to :
• Gayle Bradley 2
• Manix 2 KW Exclusive 52100
• PM2 52100
 
I'm honestly not sure what cutting tasks a machinist runs into on a day-to-day basis, so I'll categorize my recommendations and stay within the brands you've already mentioned.

If you do a lot of cutting of light materials (paper, thin plastics) but precision cuts are not the priority, I would go for a Maxamet Manix LW as it will retain a working edge for a very, very long time..
Frequent medium-resistance materials (cardboard, zip ties, plastic straps) I would suggest the Gayle Bradley almost entirely for the excellently-treated M4 that Spyderco puts out.
If you only make a handful of fine and precise cuts in a day, I would suggest the 204P Domino. Obviously, if you need to make many precise cuts, you should be using a disposable xacto knife or something of the like.

Now, here's where I deviate from the knives you listed.

If you're going to make a lot of precise light cuts, I would suggest an M4 PM2.
If you're making cuts through heavily-reinforced materials (think tires, cables, etc), I would suggest the CPM-4V Manix. The steel it exceptionally hard and tough, and will go through softer metals without much appreciable damage.
If you're making precision cuts through moderate-resistance materials (like thick rubber) I would suggest an M4 Paramilitary 2. A relatively thin full-flat grind for minimal resistance paired with a very hard steel that has high wear resistance.

All of that said, there's a lot of functional overlap between these knives. Nearly all of them can fill the roles I listed to a sufficient capacity. Overall, as long as you aren't cutting insulated cables (with what is definitely the wrong tool for the job), I would say you're good with nearly any of the knives you mentioned. If I had to pick one out as the better all-around choice, I would say it's the M4 Manix. It's a great steel, very utilitarian, with a full flat grind and a fairly intuitive and very secure lock.

Edit:
GiantMouse said:
Ok so have basically narrowed it down to :
• Gayle Bradley 2
• Manix 2 KW Exclusive 52100
• PM2 52100
Click to expand...

2/3 are FFG, and 3/3 are non-stainless high wear-resistant steels. I think a M4 Manix is probably your knife.
 
Machinist's EDC?
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Well . . . I'm not exactly a machinist . . . and I'm not exactly not a machinist.
(I just found the TIG Welder and the Metal Lathe (at the tool stores and bought 'em((cause I like 'em)))
Here is what I came up with for use in the shop.
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/razel-production-knife.1439877/#post-16586215

I was cutting a gouged booger off an aluminum part with it today. In the past I would have tried to file it and scratched up the customer's component in the process.
Using this dude it push chiseled the gob of aluminum off the critical surface and other than the rut there was no marring of the surface. :thumbsup:

It is CTS-XHP and holds an edge while deburing steel and aluminum like a big O' dog.
 
I was a machinist the last 30 years of my working life.

I carried a Buck 301 stockman for most of it, downsizing to the Buck 303 cadet the last 5 years. On the job in a large production shop, working mostly on a Bridgeport mill, some lathe work, I had very little use for a knife. There was a Stanley 99 on my workbench, and the other guys used an assortment of utility knives.

Why bugger up a nice knife when a utility knife did the job of cutting open filthy bundles of bar stock or parts to be modified on the mill?
 
Most machine shops I've been in provide tools required for the job, and won't allow you to use your personal tool for work in process. With aerospace, tools need to be accounted for, and required tools are often on shadow boards. In fact, HR may have a position against it. I'm not saying don't carry, but maybe be careful and cognizant of your workplace regulations, over and above the typical sheeple argument.
 
Have a custom maker here make you a chisel tip fixed blade. Have the butt of the handle recessed so you can tap it with a hammer to chisel off burs, also would have an edge like a knife. Use a tool steel like A2, S7.... Or HSS like M4.

Ps: I have some O1 and A2 kicking around
 
I program and run a 5 axis lathe(dmg Mori NLX 2500sy) everyday, at my old shop I was the programmer as well but for all the machines using mastercam.

I carry a fixed blade with a utiliclip in my pocket, not because it's a necessity but because I am a knife guy and have moved away from folders.

I took this pic just now:
Screenshot_20181130-061230_Gallery.jpg

Carrying two knives actually a MBB M27 and a Northwoods mammoth ivory Lincoln Jack.
Screenshot_20181130-061650_Gallery.jpg
 
shinyedges said:
I program and run a 5 axis lathe(dmg Mori NLX 2500sy) everyday, at my old shop I was the programmer as well but for all the machines using mastercam.

I carry a fixed blade with a utiliclip in my pocket, not because it's a necessity but because I am a knife guy and have moved away from folders.

I took this pic just now:
View attachment 1029016

Carrying two knives actually a MBB M27 and a Northwoods mammoth ivory Lincoln Jack.
View attachment 1029017
Click to expand...
Nice, whats the blade profile and also whats the leather pouch for !?!?!?!?
 
Gayle Bradley 2 all the way. Quality build, tool steel that holds an edge for a long time. Stronger tip than PM2. Manix 2 is ridiculously big in pocket.

My old man was a machinist/welder his entire life. He carried a small slip joint of some kind. He would have loved M4
 
I've been carrying a BM Bugout for most of the year and I have an old, tough beater fixed blade knife in my toolbox for the odd heavy or gritty task.
So far the Bugout has been great for my typical machine shop use!
 
Maineiac1 said:
Have a custom maker here make you a chisel tip fixed blade. Have the butt of the handle recessed so you can tap it with a hammer to chisel off burs, also would have an edge like a knife. Use a tool steel like A2, S7.... Or HSS like M4.

Ps: I have some O1 and A2 kicking around
Click to expand...

They make nice de-burring tools just for that purpose, that do the job faster, cleaner, and safer than any knife blade.
 
Getahl said:
Most machine shops I've been in provide tools required for the job, and won't allow you to use your personal tool for work in process. With aerospace, tools need to be accounted for, and required tools are often on shadow boards. In fact, HR may have a position against it. I'm not saying don't carry, but maybe be careful and cognizant of your workplace regulations, over and above the typical sheeple argument.
Click to expand...

We had this situation at the Watkins-Johnson company shop I was at for almost 20 years. You coiled use a personal pocket knife if you wanted for some reason, but most guys didn't. But there was one kid, a new home, that insisted on using his Buck knife for basically unsafe things. The lead man and supervisor of the shop told him to "knock it off" but the smart a$$ kid thought he knew better. He said his Buck knife "would take it."

One day just after lunch, there was a scream from the part of the shop he was working, and his right index finger was laying on the floor neatly served at the middle joint. He'd been suing the knife for some heavy duty cutting and was pushing it through some sheet plastic to be cut, and it folded. The quick thinking foreman got a large styrofoam cup of ice from the cafeteria and put the finger in it and it got transported with the kid to the Johns-Hopkins hand clinic in Baltimore. They reattached it and after a while it actually worked, sort of.

But the kid got fired for failing to obey the shop Forman, and right after the incident human resources came out with the memo to all shop personal that no personal pocket knives were allowed to be used in the shop. Only the company issued utility knives were allowed. One jerk messed it up for everyone. that's all it takes.
 
I’m not a machinist, but I would get a small, fixed blade. I am in construction and have carried both fixed and folders. The folder may be more convenient to carry, but the fixed blade is more convenient in use. ^^——— My opinion only ———^^
 
I'll break with tradition here and actually choose between the choices you narrowed it down to. ;-)

GB2
 
the only knife you listed that I know (personally) is the domino and I love it.

also, I am not a machinist - but i know a couple
 
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