newbie help needed in purchasing knife for a gift

H

howsie

Joined
Aug 8, 2014
Messages
11
Hi everyone,

Long story short my old man had a knife for over 20 years and recently lost it. It had really good edge retention but we have no idea what brand it was or what steel. If I'd have to guess I'd say some form of tool steel.

Looking to replace it for his birthday in September and after much searching am a little lost.

Looking to spend anywhere between 50-150 for the right knife. It was a small to medium bowie knife about 30cm total length.

The closest I have found is the following
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=281363808152&alt=web

Could someone with more knowledge than myself please have a look and let me know if this would be a comparable replacement
 
Also if anyone has any suggestions. Knife is mainly used for odd jobs while camping / Working around cars.

Eg stripping wires, cutting rope, cutting rubber, all sorts of things my old man is known to do things with a little overkill like sharpening a drill bit on a 10" grinder lol.

As I said with all the steels out there I'm just not sure what's good for what he needs. His old knife wasn't sharpened in 8 years and still cut pretty well not what most would call sharp but very usable
 
Looks good do you own one? How has it held up over time. I think the blade might be a little smaller than he's used to though I think it was about a 15-20cm blade on his old one so something with a bit more length might be in order.
 
howsie said:
Looks good do you own one? How has it held up over time. I think the blade might be a little smaller than he's used to though I think it was about a 15-20cm blade on his old one so something with a bit more length might be in order.
Click to expand...

i have one and i really like it, if you want something similar but a little larger id also look at the bk10, my all time favorite knife
 
One question what exactly is the difference between the 1095 cro-van steel in the Becker knives and the 420hc in the buck.

They both look like real contenders
 
Another recommendation would be an ESEE6 or ESEE6-cm.
Very well built knives at a very reasonable price.
 
ESEE makes a hell of a good knife. I have the little Izula and the ESEE 5. Coated 1095. I also have a Spyderco Schempp Rock, and it is really nice as well. Also, with Ka-Bar/Becker, the 1095 Cro-Van is not the same as 1095. Not sure why they call it that.
 
A Rock Creek Sable looks about the same, have one, but never really used it , so i can't tell you how good the steel is on that one...
 
They're at the high end of your budget, but have a look at blackjack knives.
 
howsie said:
One question what exactly is the difference between the 1095 cro-van steel in the Becker knives and the 420hc in the buck.

They both look like real contenders
Click to expand...

1095 is a carbon steel. 1095 Cro-Van is 1095 with Chromium and Vanadium added. Technically it should be called 50-100B,but 1095 Cro-Van is the name Sharon Steel company named it. It has increased toughness and edgeholding over straight 1095. Really, it all comes down to the heat treatment.
 
Whatever you choose in the end I would recommend that you do not buy the knife in the link you posted. In the ad he states that it tested at 50 RC for hardness, which is a low for a daily use blade (or any blade in my humble opinion).

You mentioned that he hadn't sharpened his old knife in 8 years... at RC of 50 he'll be needing to sharpen it every other day. That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I can almost guarantee that the knife he lost was most likely somewhere between 56-58 range.

Both the becker and the ESEE would be great choices and will take a beating that most people wouldn't dream of putting them through.
 
Ontario also makes some good fixed blade knives, check them out as well. Bladehq has quite a few.
 
howsie said:
One question what exactly is the difference between the 1095 cro-van steel in the Becker knives and the 420hc in the buck.

They both look like real contenders
Click to expand...

1095 is a carbon steel and 420hc is stainless. 1095 will be more prone to rust so will need more care like keeping it dry and oiling it. Both are serviceable steels. 1095 will hold an edge longer but 420hc will be easier to sharpen.
Easier maintenance= 420 hc
Better performance= 1095

The bk7 sounds like a good choice for your dad. If you want it to look more "traditional", you can strip the coating and buy wooden scales for it.
 
Take a look at the Case 6” with stacked leather, Model CA386.

The modern D2 version of the USMC Kabar suggested above is another good choice.
 
howsie said:
Does anyone know what type of steel is in this seems a bit cheap to me but it does say it's carbon

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=251370938560&alt=web
Click to expand...

I would definitely stop looking where you are looking... it's not going to turn out as a favorable transaction in the end.

Just take everyone's advice (which you asked for) and purchase a KNOWN brand of knife. Buying random crap off of ebay, even if it is a "brand name" will get you burned.

Hell... as lately as LAST NIGHT a buddy of mine very proudly showed me his new EDC that his father gave him a week ago. A pretty nice CRKT folder with a decent edge... I didn't have the heart to tell him it was a total knockoff!!

The liner was all wrong... the blade was marked "DOOLITLE - Taiwan" and the serrated part was not of CRKT pattern type... instead of breaking his heart and telling him his dad gave him a piece of crap (his dad probably didn't know any better either), I gave him an old Kershaw Leek that has been sitting in a desk drawer for years. Now he has a decent knife and when the knockoff breaks, because it WILL, he can carry the Kershaw.

I know I'm going on and on, but my point is... You came here for advice from a forum that is (hopefully) somewhat knowledgeable about the specific subject.

Please take the advice given and buy your father a decent quality blade that will possibly last him the rest of his life, as long as he doesn't lose it. When it comes to knives, you ALMOST always get what you pay for, but only if you are buying from a TRUSTED source... random ebay postings are not one of the generally "trusted" sources. Even Amazon is a better choice to make a knife purchase if you don't know what you are looking for.
 
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