spend my money!

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Seb

Joined
Oct 1, 2000
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Ok, this is another one of those helpmepick-threads.
I am thinking about buying a small to medium (between 3 and 5 inches) fixed blade (I tend to be a little abusive on my knives). Usage will be utility, but I would not mind if it could serve as a selfdefense piece as well. My sharpenig skills are mediocre at best, but I plan on getting a sharpmaker soon. So far, the following blades came to my mind:

-Benchmade Nimravus or Nimravus Cub
-Fallkniven F1
-Spyderco Moran Drop Point
-Dozier Arkansas tooth pick

I am open for other suggestions, though.
Talonite is not an option. From what I have heard, the edge rolls easily if used hard. Besides, my money is rather limited.
As far as the Nimravus goes, I am not sure which steel to use. I think rust resistance would be a plus, as I may be using the knife for food as well. So I don't want to use TufCloth or anythink like that. I just want to wipe it clean, put it away and not worry about it. OTOH, ATS-34 might be a little brittle. I have heard about stripped M2 Nimravi having no probles with rust so far. But I don't have a knife with ATS or M2 yet. As far as the size goes, I would be willing to go for better handling at the cost of concealability. Could some Cub owners express their opinion on the handle size?
The Fallkniven might be a little thick for good slicing ability (BTW does anyone know the thickness of the blade where the final bevel starts?). Sergiusz Mitzin (spelling?), however, discovered no problems in his review. The sheath doesn't need to be fully concealable but in case of the F1 an aftermarket sheath might be useful to avoid those look-at-that-strange-guy-looks.
Both, the Benchmade and the F1 are convex ground would that be a problem in terms of resharpening?
The Moran Drop Point might be a little thin for heavier work. And the handle does not appeal to me very much.
The Dozier would add that touch of semi-custom. From what I read on the forum, Dozier makes very good work...

at the moment I am leaning towards either Nimravus in M2 or the F1. The nimravus has the thinner blade (->better performance), the F1 has stainless steel and a rather tough design. Maybe I'll win the Nimravus
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Allright so let me know of your opinion, experience, favour, etc....

seb
 
Since you said "my money is kind of limited", you won't do better than the Spyderco Moran. After dressing two deer this season, mine would still shave. You may not like the looks of the handle, but after you use it for a while, you will love the way it feels in the hand. The F1 is also a good choice and any Dozier is a good value, but for about $50, you won't beat the Spydie.
 
Always go for something with the maker's name on the blade. The Dozier or something by Geno Denning are both excellent buys that will not fail to please.
 
Take a look at the Becker line, companion specifically. Capable of taking a lot of abuse and a great value too.

For something a little more defensive, the Gerber Yari or Camillus CQB1 or 2 be a good choice. I really like the CQB1 as it offers good self defense potential if required but, is still a fairly veratile knife.

The Fallkniven F1 or S1 would make a good choice for a more utilitarian knife as they are less 'defensive' in nature. The Convex edge can be maintained for a log time with a simiple sharpening steel found in common knife block sets (that's how I take care of mine).

Stay Sharp,
Sid

p.s. What is your budget? Looking at production only or customs too?
 
Recent mag article, believe it was Blade, had feature article on a # of makers of fixed blades who deliver quality product under $100. (Sorry, would rather spend time here than searching mags.)

 
Good Evening.
It is I, THE GREAT AND POWERFUL VAMPIRE GERBIL!!!

I'm gonna hold you to your post title, and ask that you send me your money.
I PROMISE to buy you something knice.

Please email (cash only) to: vampiregerbil@aol.com

I'll need at least $12,392.63. I have my eye on an exquisite blade from Fury, and I know we'd just LOVE it!

Off to oder my MP-5, I remain,
VG
Bunko King

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The Ballistic Knife (a/k/a "The Knife That Shoots) in Action
 
Seb,

Go with the Spyderco Moran or
Dozier Arkansas tooth pick !

<font color=blue>You'll definitely be able to skin massive quantities of VAMPIRE GERBIL'swith either one!</font>
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I can't tell the budget exactly in $$, but the price range shouldn't exceed the listed models. Customs are not really a choice due to the waiting time and problems with ordering and payment (no regular income -> no credit card) I don't really like the CQB2 (CQB1 seems too large for me, but keep the suggestions coming.
Why have there been no votes for the Nimravus so far?
VG skinning... now that would be a way to test a knife... I don't know if I would risk to catch one, though, after seeing his Leatherman defensive skills
smile.gif


Seb


 
Nimravus or Cub in M2.
Since you want a utility knife that is going to be carried, I'd say get one of Normark's sheaths, regardless of which knife you choose. ( http://www.mnsi.net/~nbtnoel/ )
I've taken to carrying my full-size Nimravus in one of Eric's sheaths IWB, and find it very comfortable-hardly know it's there.
While I'm not overwhelmed by the performance of M2, it doesn't chip as easily as ATS-34.
 
Seb,
In short words, among knives you have mentioned:
  • SPYDERCO Bill Moran Featherveight is the best cutter. Thin high performance edge with flat grind behind it cuts like crazy through all you need to cut but is not designed to take a lot of abuse. Construction is not full tang, the blade's tang stretches about 2/3 of handle length. This knife certainly is the worst prybar of all mentioned. Now it is available also with drop point blade.
  • BENCHMADE Nimravus Cub is nice little knife quite suitable for urban concealed carry and probably would be the best of mentioned for self-defense. A bit too little for general camp use, full-sized Nimravus or GERBER Yari could serve better in this role. Both are also quite suitable for self-defense if you can carry them concealed.
  • Fällkniven F1 could take certainly the most abuse of mentioned, especially new version with convex edge. Think also about S1 Forest Knife if you need a bit bigger than F1 knife for general camp use. F1 has 4,5-mm and S1 - 5-mm thick blades. Despite pretty thick blades they are nice cutters, especially F1 with flat ground blade. Convex edge sharpening is somewhat more accomplished than conventional edge but far not as terrible as usually is expected. Simply use flat bench stone, SPYDERCO Tri-Angle Sharpmaker is not designed for convex edges at least being used in V-mode. But you can use it as bench stone also.
Saying "among mentioned knives" I'm excluding Bob Dozier's products. I have listened only good things about them but I nave not any personal experience with them.

The main advice - try to handle each knife before buying. You will have nice opportunity if you will visit IWA gun-ammo-knife-accessory show in Nuremberg this weekend, BENCHMADE, GERBER, SPYDERCO and FÄLLKNIVEN will be there. Look here for more info on this event.

Seems it is not too far from Bavaria...
 
Ok, M2 seems to take a slightly better edge than the ATS-34 and ATS-55 knives that I use alot. It is a little harder for me to sharpen. No big difference, really. I don't see a noticeable difference in edge-holding, either. Haven't had any corrosion problems with any of these 3 steels.
For me, they are pretty much equal except that M2 is tougher. I have chipped both ATS-34 and 55 blades. The M2 rolls but hasn't chipped. Much easier to get the edge back, and keeps me from holding back when using it.
The toughness is my sole reason for recommending it. Some people make it out to be some kind of wonder steel, that drastically outperforms the ATS steels in every respect, but I haven't found that to be the case (in my limited experience).
It does seem tougher, and toughness is very important to me in a working knife, since you never know what the knife may be called on to do.
btw, the M2 knife I use is a BM 710HS. My Nimravus is ATS-34, but will be replaced with an M2 version when I buy another one.
I'm giving it some serious abuse (I'm going to kill it
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) since it's already ragged out and chipped up. It's actually holding up pretty well, but it's just a matter of time.

btw, I think if you do a search of the reviews/testing forum, Sergiusz Mitin (sp?) did a comparison of ATS-34/M2. I think he used Nimravus Cubs, but may be mistaken.

edit: Just saw Sergiusz's post, didn't come up before
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[This message has been edited by OwenM (edited 03-06-2001).]
 
Sergiusz, thank you. It is always nice to profit of other people`s knowledge. (After all, that's why we all are here
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) I can't visit the IWA as I am not "Facheinkäufer", but thanks for the tip. I already read all of your reviews, they were the reason these knives were in my to choose list. (Another big thank you for all those fantastic reviews)

Can you flex the blade of the nimravus just with your fingers? And how wide is the blade (without thumb ramp)?
Owen, do you think the toughness is worth the stain resistance tradeoff?
I think the Moran drop point dropped out (was that a pun?). I think it is just too fragile.

Seb

(spelling edit)
(just found convex sharpening thread myself)

[This message has been edited by Seb (edited 03-06-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Seb (edited 03-06-2001).]
 
Nimravus in M2. Love this knife.

You can flex the blade slightly. As in, so little that you have to be pretty strong, and be looking very closely, to notice it. Just about the perfect amount, IMO.

Just a note: the Nimravus does not have a convex edge.

--JB

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e_utopia@hotmail.com
 
i love my masters of defense razorback - paid $109.99 from onestopknifecenter.com - sheath is kinda cheesy but knife is bad ass easy to sharpen (154 CM steel ) not a damn thing wrong that i have noticed and carried daily for last couple of months - if $$ is an issue i think any of the cold steel fixed blades would serve well, and very reasonobly priced IMHO - and i almost forgot, my wife has 1 too, a MOD, and she loves hers too - keeps in a little pocket on the front of her purse and can get it instantly - pretty neat if some one grabbed her purse she could grab the knife thereby drawing it all in 1 motion - neat - but IMHO for the $$ ya cant go wrong with cold steel
 
Seb,
Nimravus blade is approx. 30 mm wide excluding thumb ramp. I can flex the blade with my fingers for about 2-3 mm with easy (mine is in ATS-34). Nimravus Cub (mine is in M-2) is somewhat stronger because it has the same blade thickness and shorter blade.

As to M-2 vs. ATS-34 - my experience matches Owen's exactly: no any advantage in performance but M-2 edge rolls where ATS-34 would chip. ATS-34 cuts more aggressively.

Now about Bill Moran's knife - its VG-10 blade is not fragile, this steel is noticeably more ductile and less prone to chipping than ATS-34. The blade as itself is weaker than Nimravus blade because it has full flat grind in both tip and edge direction. I also can flex it for 2-3 mm in my fingers easily despite it is shorter than Nimravus blade. This last has sabre grind and full thickness closely near the tip so quite naturally it should be stronger.

If you are looking for stronger knife in Nimravus dimensions take a long careful look onto Fällkniven S1 (btw, my favorite camp knife) or F1 if you want somewhat smaller knife. Please visit Test section at their web site - their knives probably are among the strongest in the business.
VG-10 steel displays also better rust resistance than ATS-34 and especially M-2.

It is not a problem to visit IWA if you will come Sunday, just pay 35 DEM for entrance card and enjoy! Where more you can handle all these knives at the same day?

See you there!
wink.gif

 
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