Please Help decide on a new knife

lzeplin

lzeplin

Joined
Apr 18, 2012
Messages
1,801
Im looking for a fixed blade knife for edc that I can carry sideways. maybe some where around a 4" blade. I really like the look of some of the bark river's but I've never had a chance to get my paws on em. Im looking for a quality knife, none of that china junk.. I have a drawer full of folders just wanting to try a fixed blade carried sideways. Thanks for the help
 
Not all china steel is junk, it's a pretty well known fact by now

If you can get out of that mind set,
united cutlery has some pretty decently priced fixed blades that fit your wants and they are good quality, I think they call them covers, or something like that
 
If you are on a total anti-china steel Bob Dozier's fixed blades are good, much more expensive but worth the money. His horizontal cross-draw kydex sheath is secure and is discreet
 
Look into scrapyard, swamprat, or if you want to spend good money Busse. I love most of the swamp rats and SYKCO knives in that size range. Maybe a rodent 4 would be up your alley?
 
Depends on your budget, if you have a few bucks to spend check out some of the custom fixed blades by the Blade Forums makers. Budget minded, ESEE and Beckers are always nice. Busse, Swamprat, Scrapyard also makes some hard use knives but might cost more.
 
Shouldn't you actually say what you want to use the knife for? It will make a difference to the knife you should carry. Eg BKRT's tend to be poor for "hard use" but can be good slicers. What do you need the knife to do?
 
MNofUSN said:
Not all china steel is junk, it's a pretty well known fact by now

If you can get out of that mind set,
united cutlery has some pretty decently priced fixed blades that fit your wants and they are good quality, I think they call them covers, or something like that
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MTech are making some really nice knives. Then there is Scandinavia: a Mora 2000 is a great 4 inch knife, costs hardly anything, and it's easy to find someone to make you a side carry sheath.
 
MNofUSN said:
Not all china steel is junk, it's a pretty well known fact by now

If you can get out of that mind set,
united cutlery has some pretty decently priced fixed blades that fit your wants and they are good quality, I think they call them covers, or something like that
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That's a first for me. Never heard "united cutlery" and "good quality" in the same sentence. Which models specifically?
PatrickKnight said:
ESEE Izula 2.
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This is my vote. A 4 inch blade is a lot of knife to edc every day. People do it but I wouldn't and I've carried a 4 inch 686 as my carry gun for a while.
 
meanwhile said:
Shouldn't you actually say what you want to use the knife for? It will make a difference to the knife you should carry. Eg BKRT's tend to be poor for "hard use" but can be good slicers. What do you need the knife to do?
Click to expand...

Never heard that Barkies are no good for hard use. Most are full tang, covexed blades, made with one tough tool steel or another and with a no questions asked warranty. There are some that might be a bit more delicate, but a heck of a lot of them are pretty much beasts.

As for the OP, I would check out the BRKT Gunny. Sounds like it would fit your needs pretty well.
 
I've been looking at some of the suggestions and I love the Esee Izula II with the kit, Are you sure it can be carried sideways or do I have to buy something else? Thanks for all your help
 
Insipid Moniker said:
Never heard that Barkies are no good for hard use. Most are full tang, covexed blades, made with one tough tool steel or another and with a no questions asked warranty.
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Anyone can say they give a no questions asked warranty - especially if they sell knives mostly to be safe queens. The full tang meme is just silly: kukris and katanas are not full tangs and are hard as nails, while a lot of full tangs are heavily skeletonized and can therefore be weaker than a slab tang. (The sort of people who obsess with full-tangs never have the wit to ask "How much metal is in there?") As for "Barkies", a lot of people confuse advertising and reality:
http://www.knifetest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1715

Cutting: Very good

Chopping: Not surprisingly great but not bad for it's small size. The edge rolled enough to degrade the initial edge

Batoning: To small for a 4x4 so I batoned a few 2x6's. The edge bent out of shape in one place.

Tip: No problems on wood or metal but broke on concrete.

Hammer impacts: No breakage occurred but the edge continued to bend out of shape on wood.

Concrete: after just one hit the edge chipped out this continued through most of this test.

Body weight test: Survived the first position. 225 lbs bouncing load.

Flex Test: One pull broke at about 5 degrees based on viewing the tape.

Body weight test again: Broke in the second position first try.

Overall: I'm not impressed with the Bravo ones durability or strength. The edge is not strong or durable in anyway. The Bark River Boone II was a much better knife during d-testing as it handled all the stress much better. Since this will come up. I didn't see anything here that would lead me to believe it was the last knife standing in the mystery military tests. Nothing really stood out from the competition that says this knife is some indestructible beast. It's abuse threshold is low for a 1/4" thick knife. For a size comparison The RC-4, Boone II, and Gerber ASEK knife performed much better.
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This is a knife that BKRT sell as being "heavy duty" for "search and rescue" and "abuse" - but it comes apart batoning a 2x6 that cheaper knives can eat all day!
 
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lzeplin said:
I've been looking at some of the suggestions and I love the Esee Izula II with the kit, Are you sure it can be carried sideways or do I have to buy something else? Thanks for all your help
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Sideways carry is a property of the sheath, not the knife. The Izula sheath is very high retention - it works inverted - and you should be able to find a way to attach it sideways to a belt if you try - Gorrilla tape, glue and some sort of clip, paracord, leather - although I can't imagine sideways carry being very comfortable. The knife itself has an excellent reputation.
 
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