New to the forum and collecting

M

Memento_Mori

Joined
May 17, 2024
Messages
53
Hi everyone, new to the forum and collecting. I have always been a fan of knives but didnt really get into buying them until recently. I used to always buy the tacticool chinese junk at the flea market, but wanted a decent blade, and bought my first decent knife years ago. The CRKT Graphite. I ended up not being a huge fan of the ergos and locking mechanism and bought my next knife, the CRKT Septimo. I had enjoyed the knife up until I had to sharpen it and then figured out, im not a fan of tantos lol. This lead me to buying my current EDC, a custom Benchmade Bugout. I ended up replacing the washers with larger surface area ones elimininating blade wiggle, and replaced the scales with aluminum. This was where my knife buying stopped for the last few years as I had another expensive hobby of collecting firearms.
My love for knives was rekindled after buying a gerber multiplier 400 for my range bag. I went down the Blade HQ rabbit hole and fell in love with blades once more.
Im proud to say my collection grew by 4:
-The Southern Grind Jackal
-The Southern Grind Vermin
-Kershaw Livewire
-Lan-Cay M9 (If this counts. This wasnt from Blade HQ but an in person auction. Got it for around 60$ i beleive.)

The livewire will be entering into a rotation for EDC with the bugout. I absolutely love this thing, and got it for a steal for around 165.

Anyways, Glad to be a part of the forum and look forward to learning a few things.
If anyone made it this far in reading, Im also looking for an opinion. Im looking at either getting a Buck 838 Deploy, Or a Hogue Ballista. Which would be the better buy? I really like the shape of the wharncliff, color and overall shape of the Buck, But i hear hogue is the better fit and finish. I was also looking at a kershaw launch 11, and 13.

Below are the knives. Please ignore that they are on a chair lol. my desk was a mess.
As a bonus, I have also added pics of two knives i made in a blacksmithing class.
sSsnW6R.jpeg

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qmRoVuN.jpeg
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Welcome to the forums! Always good to see new people.
If I had to make a choice between the two, I'd probably go with the Hogue. Buck seems to be having QC issues more and more lately.
Honestly, if you're shopping side opening autos in that price range, Pro-tech is where it's at. If you haven't checked them out yet, I'd get on it. They have a huge catalog, and the quality is top notch.
 
Ozmose said:
Welcome to the forums! Always good to see new people.
If I had to make a choice between the two, I'd probably go with the Hogue. Buck seems to be having QC issues more and more lately.
Honestly, if you're shopping side opening autos in that price range, Pro-tech is where it's at. If you haven't checked them out yet, I'd get on it. They have a huge catalog, and the quality is top notch.
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Thanks for the reply! Im shopping on blade hq to get points if i can, and realistically im trying to cap at around 170, and the only auto that falls in that price range is the godson. I did have it on my radar, but I figured i wanted something a little more jack of all trades instead of a stilleto. Having expensive hobbies puts a hard limit on cash sometimes 😂
 
Ozmose said:
Welcome to the forums! Always good to see new people.
If I had to make a choice between the two, I'd probably go with the Hogue. Buck seems to be having QC issues more and more lately.
Honestly, if you're shopping side opening autos in that price range, Pro-tech is where it's at. If you haven't checked them out yet, I'd get on it. They have a huge catalog, and the quality is top notch.
Click to expand...
And the rockeye is the best of em! (I have three lol) Because a picture is worth a few words. The little guy is a SBR (Short Blade Rockeye)
 

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Slice-E said:
between the knives you listed I think the buck would be best, although if you’re looking at autos… you may want to look into microtech, or protech
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thanks for the recommendation, unfortunately microtech is just too pricey for my blood. Hard to justify the money when other options are available in my honest opinion.
 
In that price range you will several secondhand ZT models, my favorite being the ZT0640. Extremely smooth action and built like a tank.
 

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norcalAF said:
In that price range you will several secondhand ZT models, my favorite being the ZT0640. Extremely smooth action and built like a tank.
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I have looked at ZTs. They are pretty nice, But I think I want an auto for the next knife instead of a flipper.
 
In terms of cars, Kershaw is Toyota, and ZT is Lexus. ZT is all made in America, very good fit and finish, and they have made several designs of extremely popular knife designers for fraction of what the designers knives themselves go for, ie Hinderer, Emerson, LG, and many more.
 
I can only assume that you are considering the Buck and the Hogue because they both have a safety switch to prevent the blade from firing in your pocket. I have a few Hogue out the side autos and I can attest that the safety switch is very secure. It "clicks" into the locked and unlocked position very securely. I have zero fear of the safety switch being accidentally disengaged.

I don't have a Buck 838 Deploy or a Hogue Ballista. I only have these three Hogue Microswitch models. The colored finish on the Grey and Black models is very good but the Aquamraine model appears to have been painted. I have not carried that knife enough to know for sure but I think the painted finish would come off very easily. I assume that the finish is Cerakote like the Buck model but Hogue doesn't say for sure.

I've been considering a Buck Deploy but I have yet to pull the trigger on one.

 
Railsplitter said:
I can only assume that you are considering the Buck and the Hogue because they both have a safety switch to prevent the blade from firing in your pocket. I have a few Hogue out the side autos and I can attest that the safety switch is very secure. It "clicks" into the locked and unlocked position very securely. I have zero fear of the safety switch being accidentally disengaged.

I don't have a Buck 838 Deploy or a Hogue Ballista. I only have these three Hogue Microswitch models. The colored finish on the Grey and Black models is very good but the Aquamraine model appears to have been painted. I have not carried that knife enough to know for sure but I think the painted finish would come off very easily. I assume that the finish is Cerakote like the Buck model but Hogue doesn't say for sure.

I've been considering a Buck Deploy but I have yet to pull the trigger on one.

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Actually, im impartial to the safety. Those two knives are just both in the size range im looking for having similar or larger sizing to the bugout and are within the price range of $170. And they are both knives that I think look fantastic.
But knowing the safety works very well on the hogue is something to keep in mind.
 
Memento_Mori said:
thanks for the recommendation, unfortunately microtech is just too pricey for my blood. Hard to justify the money when other options are available in my honest opinion.
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It’s not hard to justify once you hold one. Why get second best? Microtechs are absolutely worth the extra dough. If I were you I’d be eyeballing the exchange for a lnib LUDT, and not looking back.

That said, Protechs are right up there as well.
 
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