Smallish knife - need suggestions

For a small knife, I have really loved the Al Mar Osprey. It is REALLY small, but the ergonomics are good (it feels good during use). The steel is not really current, but its serviceable. These were collectable a year ago, but are now available as current production from the usual sources.

JAF
 
I carry a CRKT mirage with a warn cliff blade. I think the knife cost about 50 bucks. It is slim and comfortable for my fat hands. I might be the answer for you. It has a clip but you can remove it.
Good Luck
Jack
 
You might wish to try the BM 770 Axis Gent Folder, designed by Warren Osborne. It is one very dressy little knife with a 2.80" blade of 154CM steel with a drop point and a 3.75" hilt of carcon fiber that has been very nicely finished. The Axis Lock buttons, the pivot screw, the opening assist studs, and the near full length back spacer are all given very nice file work that adds the finishing touch to a nicely done gentleman's pocket knife. I note that there are now versions with black and gray anodized aluminum hilts for rather less money than the carbon fiber hilted versions. Despite its svelt appearance, this knife woks like a regular duty knife. It is easy for my arthritic hands to hold and to open or to close.

I am also very, very fond of the Spyderco Li'l Temperance, with its 3" blade of CPM440V steel, my favorite, in a very substantial G-10 hilt that is 4 1/2" long and very wide, giving you a goodly handful to control it. You reall have to feel this knife to believ how well it handles and how good it feels. This knife uses Spyderco's great Compression Lock, but reversed from the version on the Gunting, making it very much easier for me to close.

The Salsa is almost as good, but the blade is 2 7/16", making it legal in a Federal building accoding to 18USC930, and is made of AUS-8
steel, very much a lesser steel than CPM440V, IMHO, but it also makes the knife cost about 1/2 of what the Li'l Temperance costs at most online dealers, at least for the aluminum hilted versions. The hilts come in titanium or anodized aluminum, the titanium costing about 50% more than the aluminum and coming in gray only, while the aluminum comes in blue, green, or gray. I have the blue aluminum version and it works very well for my arthritic hands, as do all of the Spydercos that I am listing. This knife also uses the Compression Lock and it also has the "Cobra Hood" over the Spydie Hole to assist in opening the blade, With its machined grooving on the top, it also provides a nice purchase for your thumb when you need to apply a bit of extra pressure or control to your blade.

You might also look at the Meerkat as someone else has suggested. It is priced at about the same level as the aluminum Salsa and, with a 1 15/16" blade and an FRN hilt of some 3 5/16". It is extremely light and the clip positions it so that it almost entirely disappears into your pocket, leaving only the very tip of the hilt showing. It is definitely a "low observable". Despite its size, however, I find it easy enough to open and, once I got onto the trick of the lock, very easy to close. The hilt is shaped very well to fit a hand and it keeps the knife indexed for its work quite nicely.

I have not actually seen a Kiwi to hold and to get any feeling of it, but it certainly looks nice even though it lacks a clip (a plus in some folks' eyes but a minus in mine).
 
Originally posted by Jazzman
Actually, the BM330 doesn't have a clip. If you are referring to the "Big Spender", it is the model 335. Still, I agree with your assessment of this little knife's abilities! Even though you don't like aluminum handles, try the BM 450. I just recieved one the other day and it is really awesome.
Matt

Weird, my 330 has a clip. Blue anodized ti, Dec 2000 KotM via A.G.Russell

In the first hour I owned this knife, I sliced a Taurus exhaust hanger in half for use on another vehicle. Tough stuff.



fwiw

GC

Alrighty then, the 330 variant which was the Dec 2000 KotM was later renamed the 335 and built with a stainless frame, good catch Jazzman
;)
 
For a wee bit over $100, I'd take a long look at the <a href="http://store.knifecenter.com/pgi-ProductSpec?SP53P">Spyderco Peter Herbst</a>.
 
I just saw what you're looking for...

I was visiting my local gun/knife/hunting store where I spotted two very cool Spydercos: a micarta Mini-Dyad (which I bought) and a micarta Calypso Jr (actually called an "experimental").

The micarta Calypso Jr. is one very sweet knife. The black micarta feels very good in the hand, the ergonomics of the knife are excellent, the steel is AUS-8, and the blade is flat ground and slim for terrific slicing.
And it was only about $57.00 too.

I once owned the micarta Experimental/Calypso Jr. but I gave it to my father-in-law as a birthday gift.
I plan to go back and buy the one in the gun shop here, but if you can find one I think you would like it.

Good luck,
Allen.
 
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