Nice surprise with a "cheaper" knife

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PC356

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Jun 10, 2005
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That wonderful brown van showed up today with two little packages for me :D . The first I opened contained a shiny new Para-millie. Let's just say it's everything I expected, usual Spyderco quality x's 2. In the other package was a knife that I deciced I had to at least give a try based on price alone. Much to my surprise it's probably the most folder for the money I have ever owned, and I have a "few". I am talking about the Camillus Blaze. I won one on Ebay for 29 bucks shipped :p . Fit and finish are awesome for a knife of this caliber. Blade (AUS8) is perfectly centered in the handle. Came hair poppin'. Ergo's are excellent, it fits my smallish hand beautifully and the rounded edges feel great. Grips very secruely. It's got full length embedded liners. The liner lock hits the blade dead in the center. It locks up like a tank with no play in any direction. The lettering on the blade is tastefully done and easily readable if you care about that kind of thing. I could do without the "Robo Power" logo. Speaking of which the assisted opening feature is nice and crisp, not to mention fun. Pivot uses bronze washers it appears. The pocket clip is removable and swappable from one side to the other, but tip down carry only. It even came with extra clip screws w/loc-tite already applied and an L shaped torx head wrench. All in all a lot of freakin' good knife for the money and comes in three different sizes: Sizzle, Blaze, and Heat. Just thought I would share my joy with some fellow knife afficianados.

(Just realized the extra screws are only for use when the pocket clip is swapped to the non-factory installed side. Still a nice touch though)
 
You know, there are a lot of nice cheaper models out there. The timberline knives are some that come to mind. They might use subpremium material, but AUS8 and 440c are nothing to shake a stick at. The engineering and fit/finish on many these are also surprisingly good.
Keep your mind open, and you'll definetly find a few gems.
 
The Kershaw Storms are nice, too. The only thing cheap about knives like these is the price.
 
The big brown truck recently delivered to my house yesterday a Fallkniven U2 folder. It is an outstanding little knife. Yes, there are some quality, lowered priced knives out there.
 
The para is one of my favorite knives period right now, and I'm ordering mine tomorrow.

As for the Storm, I'll second that, the storm is a lot of knife for the money. And it's beautiful. It's a much cheaper and lower quality/materials Benchmade Skirmish, but it's still great.
 
Congrats on your purchase! I have the Camillus Heat, which is in the same family, and am happy with it. Also, I just checked ebay and sure enough, there are some good prices there.
 
These AO Camillus knives are problably the most under talked about knives on this site. The value is phenomenal when you consider how solidly they are built and the F&F.
 
I always been a fan of the Ka-Bar Doziers as low cost knives, but last night I saw the one my buddy picked up on base at Ft. Bragg on his was to Iraq last August, he carried it clipped to an ammo pouch and used it as his "beater" knife while there. Looks like a tank ran over it, but lockup is still rock solid and no blade play at all. I took a picture of it, will try to post it later.

PS...makes me sick, he got it for $8 on base!
 
I've been eye-balling a Storm II at the local Academy for a while now. Maybe my experience with the Blaze will spur that along. I always catch myself justifying stuff that way. :D
 
I recently acquired a Spyderco imported "Byrd" called the Caracara. For the $19.95 price tag, I feel I got way more knife than what I paid for.

This all steel folder has a 3 7/8" blade of 8Cr13MoV stainless. It responded real well to the Sharpmaker ultra-fine stones and gave me a scalpel sharp blade that cuts with great ease. It's a joy to use and the folder is really well done in the F&F dept. for the price. Opening was a little stiff at first, but after playing with it for awhile it has loosened up to the point where it flicks open just fine.

I also have a Kershaw Storm II(who could pass on such a bargain?) and it too is a low cost treasure. I think the Caracara beats it out as far as a great buy because it's a bit cheaper, but they both are a real surprise and offer big bang for the buck IMO.

I'm really liking this trend! :thumbup: :D
 
Spyderco can afford to sell the Byrd line cheap since they are made in China. The Storm is made in the U.S. I would like to see the manufacturers cost on a Chinese knife, it must be in cents.
 
I have a Camillus Sizzle, and for $35 it is a lot of knife. It does have some slight forward / back blade play when opened, and the lock isn't exactly heavy duty, but still for its price, you get a pretty solid little knife with an AUS 8 blade.

The assisted opening works pretty slick too.



Not bad.
 
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