Now What? (New to Knives)

M

Matthew Abate

Joined
Jul 23, 2018
Messages
3
Hi everyone,

I’m new to knives, but not new to forums, so I scoured through this site looking for advice for noobs, but most of the advice geared towards noobs is about learning how to search or advising patience. That’s great and I agree but I’m looking for something other than your typical price advice or which knife to get or reinforcement of my decisions.

What I would REALLY like to know, now that I have pulled the trigger on a nicer knife, is what I need to know about owning one.

Background: I EDC a Victorinox Swiss Army knife that my father bought me about 30 years ago, an M100 multitool I received as a gift, a keychain bottle opener/flathead/caribeaner, and a AAA-sized LED Maglight, among other things.

Yesterday I bought a Benchmade 940-2 from Knife Works after researching for about a year. I feel like this is the best choice for my second knife given that I don’t do heavy work or hunt.

I’ve got about twenty articles on caring for it open on my computer, but what I’d really like to know is what ELSE I kneed to know. What did you not know when you started that you wish someone had told you? There’s no sticky thread on jumping into this hobby, so that’s the kind of stuff I’m looking for.
 
Even if you dont get really into sharpening i would recommend you get a sypderco sharpmaker and or a strop. Watch some you tube and learn to use them. It will be much more enjoyable if you can keep your knives sharp. Also ask for a raise because this will get expensive faster than you think. Good luck and congrats on the 940.
 
- Lubricant (Nano Oil is pretty popular)
- WiHa Torx Kit (Generally the most used are T6 to T10 with some outliers) get good tools not bargain bin stuff, Wiha is considered some of the best.
- Cleaning Solution (Alcohol Swabs/Wipes) /Compressed Air Can can be helpful to blow out lint and crud (I sometimes use the compressed air at work after rinsing out a knife after food prep)
As mentioned above, a Sharpmaker to keep an edge sharp is good, or learn on a cheaper Lansky guided system, I think the KW 940 is M390, I would think that the Diamond Stones might be good for that (but I would let others answer that), and a Strop as well as Stropping Compound would be a good investment to keep the edge sharp.

To a good degree it's about: "How deep do you want to get into the hobby?", 90% of the population who uses a knife gets by with the occasional sharpening, never disassemble their knife and don't do any noteworthy maintenance other than maybe blowing into the knife when it's gunky or rinse it under water.
 
Thanks everyone! This sounds like more than enough to keep me busy. A strop is one thing I had 100% not thought about.

The 940-2 I got is s30v, so I’ll check out everything listed here and see what I find in the context of that steel. I wasn’t aware the KW had an exclusive, though. Is this how you fall into a collection of two hundred knives?
 
Good advice above. I'll second the Nano-Oil (Benchmade's Blue Lube is also a very good lube. I use both). With Nano-Oil, I prefer the lightest weight available over the other two. The canned air will help keep the workings lint- & dirt-free. When I carry an AXIS lock knife I blow it out each evening when it comes out of my pocket. Then it's ready for the next day.

WIHA is also a great choice for torx bits. I have a set and they've been really good for their tight fit in the screw heads and their durability.

If my blade is dirty, or if I'm stropping the edge, I'll use alcohol wipes from the drug store's First Aid department to clean the blade. If I want to coat the blade with some kind of oil to help with corrosion prevention, I'll use either whatever I use as a pivot lube, or I'll use food grade mineral oil from the supermarket. Both work pretty well, especially on stainless steel blades.

I'd also recommend getting a pre-loaded strop block from Knives Plus, or one of the Brommeland pre-loaded strops to maintain the edge. They're not real useful for sharpening, but either of them will do a really good job at restoring a sharp edge that's been used some. The nice thing is that they don't remove metal like serious sharpening does. They straighten and refine an already sharp edge. READ some of the stickies in the M-T-E subforum about using strops before you do anything with it.

**I also recommend (especially for a newbie) that you NOT get hung up on trying to "adjust" your knife to make it better. If it opens, locks, cuts, and closes... it's doing what it was designed to do. Since it's your first higher end folder, just use it like it is and learn what you like or (maybe) dislike about the action. Then, when you get your next knife (which you most likely will), you can look for something closer to your taste and start tweaking it to fit your preferences.

Enjoy the ride!
 
Stang Bladeworks said:
Also ask for a raise because this will get expensive faster than you think. Good luck and congrats on the 940.
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Don't forget to ask for another in a year when you realize the first wasn't enough :p

b00n said:
- WiHa Torx Kit (Generally the most used are T6 to T10 with some outliers) get good tools not bargain bin stuff, Wiha is considered some of the best.
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This I really can't stress enough how important quality tools are. Wiha isn't the only brand to get but I would say they are the easiest to find. The key to what makes Wiha better is that they harden and heat treat their tools and do so properly so if you want to shop around keep that in mind and feel free to ask us about the tools you are considering.

I will agree with the learn to sharpen even though I have yet to myself.
 
Reitwagen said:
Welcome, Matthew. Your 940 is an excellent choice and will serve you for a long time. Combined with your SAK, you have all your bases covered and you don't need any more knives. Now get off this forum before it's too late.
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This. Exactly this.

Welcome to the forum Matthew!

I echo the Wiha torx recommendation if you intend to take apart your knives (or even mess with pocket clips). It took me a long time in this hobby before I picked up a set of good torx bits and they are well worth the extra cost. I stripped so many cheaper torx bits, bit the Wiha set I have has lasted a couple years now and are still going strong.
 
Matthew Abate said:
Thanks everyone! This sounds like more than enough to keep me busy. A strop is one thing I had 100% not thought about.

The 940-2 I got is s30v, so I’ll check out everything listed here and see what I find in the context of that steel. I wasn’t aware the KW had an exclusive, though. Is this how you fall into a collection of two hundred knives?
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I'd say you fall into a habit of collecting in part because of the variety there is out there these days and different flavors. You might want to try different steels, different blade shapes, materials for handles and locking systems and brands. Knives can be expensive but depending on your disposable income it's a somewhat affordable hobby and it's easy to end up with a new knife every month, so in a year you already have a dozen.
 
What bOOn said, and in 20 years you'll have hundreds. ;) With that possibility, the sharpening and maintenance knowledge available around here will prove invaluable. :thumbsup: The strop suggestions above are excellent, it made a big difference for me; I also recommend EZE Lap hones for easy edge touch up. :cool: Welcome, and good hunting.
 
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Welcome from a fellow newbie who also just ordered a 940. I got mine around a week ago. The blade was so off-center that it was just shy of direct contact with the show side scale. It broke my heart and then went straight back to the vendor. My suggestion on what to do with your new 940 is to give it a thorough QC check for a solid, crisp lock-up, satisfactory blade centering, an even grind and no horizontal or vertical blade play. I hope you don’t fall prey to Benchmade’s deficient QC the way I did.
 
One thing that needs to be said is that no matter how many youtubers tell you to you do not HAVE to disassemble your knife when it comes in to clean it and you normally don't have to disassemble it to clean it regularly.
 
The dominant thing is to learn how to sharpen a knife which is useful knowledge. I use DMT duosharp diamond bench "stone" (fine/coarse or fine/ultrafine), a Norton India stone (fine and coarse) [They're inexpensive.], and occasionally strop. I don't think you need to worry about taking apart your knife. You can clean nicely without doing that if you want to. I use both the DMT and Norton on my SAKs. Like everything else, what happens next depends on your interests or developing interests. For me, it was more knives and more related stuff. I use my SAK more than any other knife day to day.
 
Stumpy72 said:
Is 8Cr13MoV a good steel for practicing and learning how to sharpen? I’m looking at a dirt-cheap blade in that steel specifically for sharpening practice.
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Yep! I suggest diamonds since they work for almost everything, and s30v, being full of vanadium carbides, responds well to them. A set of DMT 6” diamond stones is relatively inexpensive, to just try them out.
 
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