New to knives, on a $50 budget, looking for a good, strong EDC?

For an EDC beater, consider the Schrade SCH303. Yes, I know that Taylor Cutlery bastardized the brand, but there are some decent products coming out since it was bought out by the same company that now owns Uncle Henry & Old Timer. The 303 is an overbuilt beast with aTiNi coated 3.75" 9Cr18MoV HRC 58-60 blade and a steel frame lock handle. It's heavy at over 9 oz, and about 1/2" thick, but it is built solid and the blade steel, while not trendy, is more than adequate. It typically sells for around $20, but there is a large online knife store that sells it for $7.99 (Google SCTH303). I'm happy with mine.

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I very strongly recommend that you look for knives way over your budget that are on sale, discounted or sold second hand. The many times I have done this for a set budget have always worked out great. Spydercos, benchmades, or anything else really. You may find great deals online and more so here on the forums, just look around.

Dont limit your reach or ambition by a set budget, in the end the budget is only the money you will change for the knife. And I also recommend trading or complementing payments with other knives as well, you'll be amazed what you can get for 50$
 
sparklygalaxy said:
I'm a hiker and an all around outdoors-y gal,
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A strong, weighty folder to suit outdoors tasks....

I'm going to say, in no particular order, to check out:

1) Spyderco Tenacious

2) Buck 110

3) Leatherman Skeletool (it's $10 over budget, and a multitool, but really, for outdoor tasks, a multi tool is incredibly useful, and it has a good blade on it too)

4) ESEE Zancudo, or Medellin. If anyone knows about outdoor uses for knives, it's the folks at ESEE.

5) IF you really want a Kershaw, i'd say the Blur, but it'll be slightly above your budget (Around $60)
 
Steel will cutjack and the new steel will intrigue are both under $50 if you get them in D2. I liked the cutjack enough that I just put in an order for the intrigue. Good bang for the buck.
 
I think the Kershaw Emerson CQC-6K was a great choice, but I hope you don't find the Cryo II too slippery or the SpeedSafe less than ideal. In other words, I hope it will turn out to be TWO great choices for you both, but I have much more confidence in the CQC-6K.
 
You chose well with the Cryo since it has a flipper, but as far as your BF's choice I hope he doesn't mind not being able to open the blade with one hand easily once it's out of pocket. I have that Kershaw/Emerson colab blade as well and while it's an OK knife the design lends itself to being very tough to open one handed using the thumb stud. It opens fine using the wave feature however gripping the knife out of pocket while it's closed you will see that your thumb rests on the locking bar of the knife, so when you attempt to flick it open using the thumb stud you are actually preventing the blade from opening by putting pressure on the locking bar. That is the thing I very much did not like about that knife. Like I said though the wave feature works just fine and you can open the knife very easily that way or just use 2 hands.

Anyways, if you hadn't already decided I would have listed the following as suggestions -

Kershaw Blur (many options for this knife and it is a VERY strongly built knife which is good for hiking and outdoor use)
Spyderco Endura4
Spyderco Budget line - Tenacious, Resilience, Ambitious, etc etc (really anything Spyderco in your price range)
Other Kershaws in your price range (like the Cryo you picked)

Have fun and be safe. Let us know how the blades work out.... Do you have a sharpening setup? Look into the Spyderco Sharpmaker for something easy to learn as a beginner. It comes with everything you need as well as great instructions. Also once you start understanding the angles you can use the provided stone rods to even free hand sharpen.
 
Converge said:
You chose well with the Cryo since it has a flipper, but as far as your BF's choice I hope he doesn't mind not being able to open the blade with one hand easily once it's out of pocket. I have that Kershaw/Emerson colab blade as well and while it's an OK knife the design lends itself to being very tough to open one handed using the thumb stud. It opens fine using the wave feature however gripping the knife out of pocket while it's closed you will see that your thumb rests on the locking bar of the knife, so when you attempt to flick it open using the thumb stud you are actually preventing the blade from opening by putting pressure on the locking bar. That is the thing I very much did not like about that knife. Like I said though the wave feature works just fine and you can open the knife very easily that way or just use 2 hands.

Anyways, if you hadn't already decided I would have listed the following as suggestions -

Kershaw Blur (many options for this knife and it is a VERY strongly built knife which is good for hiking and outdoor use)
Spyderco Endura4
Spyderco Budget line - Tenacious, Resilience, Ambitious, etc etc (really anything Spyderco in your price range)
Other Kershaws in your price range (like the Cryo you picked)

Have fun and be safe. Let us know how the blades work out.... Do you have a sharpening setup? Look into the Spyderco Sharpmaker for something easy to learn as a beginner. It comes with everything you need as well as great instructions. Also once you start understanding the angles you can use the provided stone rods to even free hand sharpen.
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Converge said:
You chose well with the Cryo since it has a flipper, but as far as your BF's choice I hope he doesn't mind not being able to open the blade with one hand easily once it's out of pocket. I have that Kershaw/Emerson colab blade as well and while it's an OK knife the design lends itself to being very tough to open one handed using the thumb stud. It opens fine using the wave feature however gripping the knife out of pocket while it's closed you will see that your thumb rests on the locking bar of the knife, so when you attempt to flick it open using the thumb stud you are actually preventing the blade from opening by putting pressure on the locking bar. That is the thing I very much did not like about that knife. Like I said though the wave feature works just fine and you can open the knife very easily that way or just use 2 hands.

Anyways, if you hadn't already decided I would have listed the following as suggestions -

Kershaw Blur (many options for this knife and it is a VERY strongly built knife which is good for hiking and outdoor use)
Spyderco Endura4
Spyderco Budget line - Tenacious, Resilience, Ambitious, etc etc (really anything Spyderco in your price range)
Other Kershaws in your price range (like the Cryo you picked)

Have fun and be safe. Let us know how the blades work out.... Do you have a sharpening setup? Look into the Spyderco Sharpmaker for something easy to learn as a beginner. It comes with everything you need as well as great instructions. Also once you start understanding the angles you can use the provided stone rods to even free hand sharpen.
Click to expand...


We actually have got that exact sharpener! It's pretty great. ^_^
 
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