small edc folder advice

gentemanndvm

gentemanndvm

Joined
Nov 2, 2010
Messages
770
Howdy, all. Just like everyone else here, i'm in love with the Becker lineup. it's part of the good stuff in life. you know, like rainbows, unicorns, massages with happy endings, and zombie movies. so i figured i'd ask guys with similar tastes in knives for advice. if this should be over in the kabar forum proper, sorry about that. but this was the group i wanted to ask advice from, so i put it here.

here's my question. for my next blade, i'm looking to add another small folder to the edc rotation. looking around at some of the KaBar dealer's websites i see a fair number of small folders (dozier, finn, tdi, etc). it's an office carry, so 3" ish blade. got to be small.

haven't held any of them, no knife shops close by that carry them for me to be able to test them first.
if i'm trying to support FriendsOfBecker/KaBar with my next buy, which of the small folders do you guys like?

thanks for the advice.
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oh yeah, obligatory Becker content:
bk2.jpg
 
I've got a KaBar Dozier folder, and it's a nice knife. Thin and light (~1/3" thick, ~2.3 oz) , decent blade steel (2.75" AUS 8), grippy textured Zytel handles, and pretty inexpensive. In some ways, it is similar to the Delica. Both are thin and lightweight (the Dozier is a bit lighter). They have approximately the same blade length (although different shape, and Delica uses VG-10 vs. the Dozier's AUS-8). Both have Zytel handles with pretty grippy textures (Delica has steel liners, Dozier doesn't, which may explain the weight difference). The Dozier folder, however, costs about 1/3 of the going price of a Delica.
 
I hate folders but love the looks of the zero tolerance military folder (Model 302) .....sweet
 
I'm probably not the one to ask for a KA-BAR recommendation because I honestly don't like a single one of their folders. I have a Dozier and it's just kinda ....eh for me. Clip is pretty flimsy. Plastic feels cheap to me. Not a criticism as much as a preference and they just don't do it for me. Now Spyderco is probably my go to for any type of folder. Have over 50 of them and have never had a problem with a single one.
 
Phat Bob, holy crap, check out the Phat Bob.

That thing is pure amazing, and cuts like a knife twice its price. Solid, tank tough, knife, worthy of the Dozier name.

Moose
 
I wouldn't call the PB small though. 3 inch long blade that's 1 inch wide. handle is pretty big too. I luuuurve my PBs, just sayin I don't think they meet OP requirements.

KABAR's dog head slippies all the way. made for office carry. buy 2, send one to me :D
 
BRL said:
I wouldn't call the PB small though. 3 inch long blade that's 1 inch wide. handle is pretty big too. I luuuurve my PBs, just sayin I don't think they meet OP requirements.

KABAR's dog head slippies all the way. made for office carry. buy 2, send one to me :D
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I can agree with that, but to me, anything under 4" is a "small knife". I likes me some big knives. I count my ZT0350 and my Paramilitary in the "small knife" category.

I also consider the BK2 a small knife. :tongue:

:D

Moose
 
great ideas all-around, thanks!

moose - i've got the ZT0350, love it. but it counts as medium-to-large for me, folder-wise. i need small, this is for my pocket while i'm at work. i'm a veterinarian. little old ladies with blue hair and pomeranians are seriously unimpressed by knives hanging out of pockets. so this one needs to be a size down (or two) from that. well, either that or my professional liability insurance needs to be updated in the 'inducement of cardiac arrest in little old ladies' category.

if it helps, off-the-top-of-my-head knives i usually grab for work: spyderco ambitious (and sometimes the persistence), spyderco dragonfly, buck vantage pro small (deep carry clip is awesome btw), sebenza insingo small, benchmade mini-griptilian, cheapo S&W SWAT small (i pound on this knife and it just keeps taking it. i keep trying to do something to ruin it b/c i'm kind o' embarrassed i have it, but it just keeps on motoring).

thanks again, all!
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--kind of grooving on the FIN drop point today.....
 
Ritter mini-grip is one of my favorites in the the around 3" folder size.
 
Tixx said:
Ritter mini-grip is one of my favorites in the the around 3" folder size.
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You have very good taste, if I do say so myself. :D

Just FYI, Roger got in the first shipment of "Don't-Lose-Me" Orange handled Mini's last week! And, he's doing FREE SHIPPING on 'em for the holidays!
 
Just noticed that I put a post in but did not say what knife I would recommend. Honestly I have bought Spyderco knives for 6 years but when I bought the latest version of the Paramilitary the journey stopped. To me that is the ultimate folder. I have yet to find another one that matched it. Guess you can say I really like it.

IMAG0093.jpg
 
flarp said:
I've got a KaBar Dozier folder, and it's a nice knife. Thin and light (~1/3" thick, ~2.3 oz) , decent blade steel (2.75" AUS 8), grippy textured Zytel handles, and pretty inexpensive. In some ways, it is similar to the Delica. Both are thin and lightweight (the Dozier is a bit lighter). They have approximately the same blade length (although different shape, and Delica uses VG-10 vs. the Dozier's AUS-8). Both have Zytel handles with pretty grippy textures (Delica has steel liners, Dozier doesn't, which may explain the weight difference). The Dozier folder, however, costs about 1/3 of the going price of a Delica.
Click to expand...

Wait, I thought the dozier folders were a 3in blade?

This whole time I've been looking for a 2.5-2.75in thin and light knife, and have kept glossing over that one because I thought the blade was too long.

Are we sure on that?

Might start looking at a coyote brown one then.
 
ocnLogan,
when i was looking, almost all are 3in blades. but there were some dozier smalls with 2.25 inch blades.
don't want to deal spot, pm me if you want and i'll tell you the site. that said, it's not any big secret, pretty commonly referred to kabar sales site where everyone gets the micarta scales from, Doziers being at the bottom of the left-side column, smalls on page 3 of their dozier inventory. gonna set you back a solid Jackson, though :)
 
Thanks for the heads up, and I appreciate the help :).

I was aware of the smalls (2.25in) and of the large (3in), but I guess I was thinking from the post that there were doziers with 2.75in blades, which I would be all over.
 
I've got a Ka-Bar TDI folder and to be honest the lock blows. I can force the lock to fail just from my hand pressure. I know the odds of hitting the back of the blade ate low but it makes me not want to carry it.
 
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