New here and to knives (looking for help searching the forums)

I

ItsKYRO

Joined
Sep 17, 2017
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79
Hey everyone! I'm new to this website and to the forums.

I recently stumbled upon r/knives on reddit and saw some people recommending to use this website due to the knowledgeable members.

Basically,
- I don't know much about knives.
- I own about 6 knives including (3 decorative knives - the $5-10 ones you can get when you visit somewhere and they have a nice design on the handle, a very small $5 cabelas multi tool knife, a small swiss army knife, a leatherman rev, and a new horseshoe knife.)
- I use the multi tools for work.

I went into a homemade knife making shop while visiting Tennessee this past week and bought the horse shoe knife, I knew nothing about it but it looked awesome and got me interested in looking into more knives.

Here's where I am now:

I really want an EDC knife that isn't a multi tool. I did some research about different shapes of the blades and there being a plain, and serrated and different handle types. But past that i'm pretty lost.

I would love to find something that is very reliable and durable and fairly sharp and can be used for years for basic EDC things I don't do anything crazy lol work in a warehouse though.

I'm hoping to find more information on this forum in regards to how to choose a knife with the right blade material/quality.

Basically...I don't expect anyone to just start naming off knives cause I don't learn from that i'm hoping that some of you experienced members can help point me to threads that exist showing me from a complete beginner stand point how to find the right knife for me, how to make sure its a quality blade material and also I have never sharpened or oiled a knife before, and was hoping there's a thread explaining if and when these things should be done and how to do them?

Thank you for your help and sorry for the long read :) Hope to be a longstanding member here.
 
Hello and welcome to the forums:)
Use the "search" feature both here and on Google, etc.
Tons of information, reviews and opinions.
Happy hunting:D
 
Welcome!
The Maintenance, Tinkering and Embellishment forum has a ton of info on sharpening your knife.
The search function will be your new best friend for info on EDC type knives.
Enjoy the hunt!
 
Ooof. The problem with the Internet is that it's good at giving you a lot of stuff.

But it's not so good at finding you specific information.

There are blogs that may help you, and that's the first thing that comes to mind. Feed Google phrases that include the words "choosing", "picking", "first", "beginner", "new", "EDC", and "carry". And of course, the word "knife" should be in there, somewhere.

Youtube has some information, but those are mostly reviews of specific knives.

Once you've exhausted the blogs and knife news sites, you should have some idea of the next step you want to take.

Beware of shills. If a blog or video is telling you that one specific model of knife from a specific manufacturer is "the best", you can safely skip that one.

As much as I like Bladeforums, I wouldn't recommend it as a place to start for somebody who is very new to knives. We speak in a kind of shorthand (PM2, M4, OHO), we have inside jokes, and it can be hard to tell if somebody is serious, or not. Lurk here, read a lot, but remember that this is the Internet, and everybody is wrong about something.
 
Thanks for the replies, I am diving into the Maintenance, Tinkering and Embellishment sub right now.

I found a nice chart online showing me different knife steels and charts for them.

Can I ask, what were some of your favorite EDC knives when you were fairly new to this? I'd like to see what quality of blade got some of you started.
 
The first knife I started carrying on a daily basis was a Cold Steel Voyager. Then I got into Kershaw when they came out with the Speedsafe assisted opening knives and now I'm carrying a Zero Tolerance 0220 flipper.
 
My gateway drug was Columbia River Knife And Tool. I've owned... maybe twelve of them? Over the years. Reasonable quality, but they have trouble with consistent heat treat.
 
It can be certainly a bit overwhelming being interested in knives, but not really having much preference as to what you might like. I'll make a couple very simple suggestions.
(1) Spyderco Delica (plain edge)
(2) Victorinox Tinker
(3) A small (~4") fixed blade for outdoor use. Get a Condor Two Rivers or Kabar Becker BK-16 to start. Skip the fixed blade if outdoor activities aren't part of your life.
(4) Learn how to sharpen a knife free hand on a bench stone. Get a 8" Norton oil stone (<$20). Use the fine side.
 
ItsKYRO said:
Thanks for the replies, I am diving into the Maintenance, Tinkering and Embellishment sub right now.

I found a nice chart online showing me different knife steels and charts for them.

Can I ask, what were some of your favorite EDC knives when you were fairly new to this? I'd like to see what quality of blade got some of you started.
Click to expand...

Spyderco - Endura or Delica
Benchmade - Adamas or Griptilian
ZT - 0909 or 0566
I usually like to roll heavy at work, and lighter on the weekends. The 0566 is in my pocket right now. The ZT 0909, and the Adamas share work duty. The Endura gets carried at work when I'm just too tired to deal with a heavy bulky knife.

Edit: Also with different types of blade steel edc type knives come in different lock types. Axis lock, frame lock, liner lock, back lock, etc. They all have their pros and cons. See if you can get to a good knife store, and put hands on as many different knives as possible. See what you like, and don't care for. Good luck. :thumbsup:
 
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For me a Spyderco Tenacious pushed me further towards the hobby, and a Spyderco Paramilitary 2 flung me right into the thick of it, haha.

It's a great time in history for knives. Absolutely everything you could ever really need is out there now, from long swords to miniscule folders. Hope you enjoy yourself!
 
Welcome to the forum, and welcome to the world of knives.

I remember carrying a swiss army knife as a kid, and from there it went to a buck 110 as a teen, and then cheap gerbers while in the military, then SOGs, then spydercos, then etc etc.

If I could go back in time, I'd probably replace my cheap gerbers with a spyderco endura while I was in the military. Durable, very sharp (even out of the box), good steels, and light weight. Fill the hand decently, and don't cost an arm and a leg.
 
My advice is to not worry about blade steel to the point that is the main selling point of the knife you want. If you're a gun guy, the whole blade steel debate is just like 9mm vs .45, .357 vs .44 mag, .223 vs 5.56, etc...

I would recommend looking into brands like Spyderco or Benchmade to start out. Figure out what fits your budget (don't start out too expensive) and try some knives out. You can always become a gold member here and sell knives you don't like.

If budget is a concern, the members here will help you pick out a quality knife within your price range.
 
Blues Bender said:
My advice is to not worry about blade steel to the point that is the main selling point of the knife you want. If you're a gun guy, the whole blade steel debate is just like 9mm vs .45, .357 vs .44 mag, .223 vs 5.56, etc...

I would recommend looking into brands like Spyderco or Benchmade to start out. Figure out what fits your budget (don't start out too expensive) and try some knives out. You can always become a gold member here and sell knives you don't like.

If budget is a concern, the members here will help you pick out a quality knife within your price range.
Click to expand...
I probably should have brought up budget in my first post. I'd like to keep it under $50 if I can, a medium sized folder and probably need something that can withstand a little bit of beating in the warehouse. Definitely loving looking over every ones favorite/gateway knives.
 
Horse shoe knife.... sounds like you visited the big knife store in Sevierville TN and the little shop that is beside it. Assuming I'm correct, that store can be overwhelming also. But it would have been a great opportunity to pick up a Rough Rider folder there.

If you cut a lot of straps in a warehouse, a serrated knife might be very useful. In which case, the Spyderco Delica is very good. Smallish, easy to carry, flexible size, not scary to most non-knife people. They run just a tad over your budget as I recall. But I prefer the plain edge myself.

If you read much here, you will see that the Spyderco Delica and Endura are highly recommended for a regular use knife. I prefer the Delica as it is a bit smaller blade-wise. Have a couple Endura's.
 
Honestly I would google something like "edc knives for beginners bladeforums" on google to find a thread you're looking for. Or just use the search function ! Welcome to the forums btw!
 
Firstly welcome to the forum and the knife world.

Alot of good advice so far ... and it's good that you want to learn some before jumping in it may save you lots of time and money with trial and error ... but most of us went through a process of steps starting with cheaper knives and moving up after we found out what works for you and what you like best.

There will be several choices to get you to a knife you want ...

Without recommend any one knife ... I would recommend a stainless steel (which is very stain resistant but not immune to it) for starters ... high carbon steel is great steel but rusts if not taken care of and if carried in your pocket daily it takes daily care to keep it nice. Stainless steels are less maintenance.

And there are many types of steels out there ... but for someone starting out if you want to learn how to sharpen also ... look into some of the easier to sharpen steels ... they won't hold an edge as long but the steels that hold an edge the longest are much more difficult to sharpen. And I will add if you learn how to mantain your knife's edge it's much easier to keep it sharp then to sharpen a dull knife.

It can be overwhelming but read all you can and feel free to ask questions as you narrow your search many here will help you as you go.

Alot will be personal preference as what looks good to you ... what fits your needs and uses ... what size you want (and what is legal to carry where you live ... make sure to look into that to avoid any unecessary problems) ... there is a knife laws section or you can search your state and city laws.

Good luck and hope you enjoy the process.
 
ItsKYRO said:
I probably should have brought up budget in my first post. I'd like to keep it under $50 if I can, a medium sized folder and probably need something that can withstand a little bit of beating in the warehouse. Definitely loving looking over every ones favorite/gateway knives.
Click to expand...
I didn't watch the video to be honest, but YouTube is a good place to see the different models and further research the ones that catch your eye. Welcome to BF.
 
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