Most important knife quality

V

Vanguard.223

Joined
Sep 5, 2012
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What does it for you? Is it the blade steel, ergos, handle materials, type of lock?

Up until a while ago I always believed it was blade steel, until it dawned on me that my knives aren't heavy users! I sharpen my 8cr13mov just as much as I do vg-10. For now I'm going to try out some knives with different locks and handle materials.

So whats the most important knife quality to you?
 
When I pull it out to cut something, it does the job. That's it. Hpow effective is it at it's intended task.
 
Your question is too vague, important knife qualities depend a lot on what you are using them for. For a camping knife, for example, I want a knife that is tough and holds a good edge but is not a pain to sharpen.
 
In no particular order, what matters to me is strength & durability (including lock strength), build quality, heat treatment, ergonomics, the proper design for the knife's purpose, size, the proper steel for the knife's intended purpose, and geometry. I guess some of those qualities tie in together, but whatever.

So, generally, performance. I'm not interested in knives that look good but don't deliver when the chips are down and you need to cut something. If a knife can look good and perform well (like a certain knife from CRKT I've recently purchased, can't wait to receive it), that's a bonus.

I find it very difficult to pick a single quality that is most important, but if I must, I will say durability.
 
Predictability and comfort. I want a knife that I can rely on to be exactly what I expect it to be (whether or crap or spectacular).
 
Well, for me I have to like the knife's appearance enough to buy it in the first place. Isn't that the first thing that motivates all of us?
Once I have it, how it feels in my hands. How well it cuts. Does it sharpen relatively easily? Since I tend to have a folding two-sided hone on me all the time, and lightly hone a knife after any use, I am not so much a steel snob as I used to be. I find my Cold Steel Black Rhino works as well as my left hand Spyderco Military for most uses.

Long story short, most important to me is what got me to buy it in the first place, aesthetics. If it was not for that, I would not have it in the first place.
 
After reliability, what is important to me is the excitement factor. Yes I said it. I get excited by interesting, well executed cutting implements.
 
Chef knife- steel and geometry
folder- materials and fit and finish (I think folders are man toys)
Outdoor- steel and geometry
 
HwangJino said:
Chef knife- steel and geometry
folder- materials and fit and finish (I think folders are man toys)
Outdoor- steel and geometry
Click to expand...

Guns, knives high-power LED flashlights, motorcycles, fleshlights, etc. ;-)

Oops, did I say fleshlights. How naughty of me! ;-)
 
Build quality/safe to use, seems to go hand in hand. I refuse to use those crappy $5 knives as I am afraid the lockup will fail to engage or disengage which I have seen plenty of times with those knives. Or a number of other issues concerning the build quality which can lead to it being dangerous to use.

If we are assuming that all knives are equal for build quality for arguments sake I would say ergonomics followed by blade design. There isn't much point in me getting a knife if it doesn't feel right in my hand and the blade design is useless for the tasks I will be putting it through.
 
Aside from the way the handle fits my hand, nothing to irritate; and the strength of the locking mechanism, one that I can trust, it's the blade steel and edge geometry...yah how the thing slices. I like my knives USA-made, things labeled Taichung would be acceptable though...:cool: but IMO nothing beats a species marked with the Butterfly logo and the superb customer service that comes with it. :D
 
My most important qualities in a knife have changed a lot over the years. The situations and uses have changed a lot too. A few years back it would have been the weight and handle thickness. I wanted really lightweight and thin edc knives. Mt favorite one was the HK Nitrous Blitz. Now I want a thick, heavy edc. My favorite being my ZT0550. Probably the most important thing to me is blade durability. That is something all knives have in common to me. The have to hold a sharp edge well.
 
As time goes on I've become more and more of a stickler when it comes to handle and grip ergonomics. I like something that's extremely comfortable in a filipino style grip and in a reverse grip. Something like the Chinook or the Cqc-7 turns my crank like that.

In a steel I like something that I can easily maintain at a high level of sharpness with a charged strop and waterstones.

If the Chinook-4 comes with a limited-edition 52100 blade I'm good to buy a couple.
 
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