In that price range there is the Buck 112 Ranger Auto and Auto Elite, which are some of the finest folding knives in existence. They're made for one-handed deployment, and come with a belt holster (much more convenient than pants pocket. The blade is about 3". And the Ranger's craftsmanship is fantastic! Buck Knives has been making top-notch quality knives for over a century! It has more experience with heat treating than any knife maker.
Just to be fair, when Buck could have put its competition out of business, because its proprietary heat-treating process was so far ahead of everyone else, they gave the man who was head of heat treating permission to work for all other knife makers on the side! Buck claims their 440 stainless blades are better than anyone else's s30v blades, simply because of the fifty-year lead it has in heat-treating.
Other knife makers levy unfair criticisms at Buck, because, quite honestly, they're afraid to do a straight-up comparison! People make a huge deal about a knife's weight, which is practically irrelevant when dealing things that weigh several ounces!
Buck doesn't use hype to tout its products. They don't have names like, "Zombie Slayer" or "Tactical Equalizer", because that's just more bull! And carbon fiber is valuable only because it is stronger and lighter than steel in 'tension' applications (pulling it apart)!
It has no value beyond strength in tension and light weight. It is quite costly. There is nothing better in that narrow and specific material application. But it is not valuable for it's beauty, because it's just black fibers! If any knife maker mentions 'carbon fiber', it almost assuredly to deceive the buyer who doesn't really understand why carbon fiber is valuable! Those are makers to avoid!
Pro-Tech is one such maker. Some of its scales have carbon fiber inlays, which is not an application that exploits the value of carbon fiber! It is decorative! So, when you go knife shopping, try to cut through the meaningless banter down to what really matters, because the knife doesn't come with zombies to kill, and it won't give any tactical advantage.
A knife is a means to apply presssure to a very thin area, which greatly magnifies the force on the handle, because because the force is spead over a tiny, tiny area. If we imagine pounds per square inch (psi), and a very small area over which to spread that force, the force is enough to cut into other materials. Or, we can look at it the other way.
A bulls horns are not exactly sharp. But with the immense force behind it, it can gore other animals, including humans! So, all the knife needs to do is apply the force on the handle to a very small area corresponding to the edge on the blade. The sharper the knife, the smaller the area the force is distributed to, and the lower the handle-force necessary to cut into other materials!
Buck knives also increase in value over time, unless they're real trainwrecks! I have ten Buckmaster survival knives that I bought in the nineties. I inspected each one to carefully check for flaws, put one in my desk drawer wherever my job took me, for self defense, greased up the edge on the remaining nine, and stored them! Those were about 80.00 a piece.
Now they're up to over 1,300.00 a piece, unused, actual 'sold' items on eBay! The Buck 112 Ranger Auto is the finest of it's type I've ever seen, at any price. It is guaranteed forever! It should definitely last a lifetime, if not become a family heirloom!
They are the most collectible industrially manufactured knives in the world! You simply can't do better at any price under 1,000.00! The Buck 110 is the number-one folding knife in the world, and it's guaranteed forever! That one is a bit large though. And Bucks are a bit heavier than others. But that is a contrived disadvantage when if comes to items that weigh in under 200 grams! It's like saying one TV remote is lighter than another! Who cares?
So, then mixed in with all the meaningless hype D'jour comes the notion that shaving ever last gram possible off a pocket knife's weight has some supreme advantage, or some high luxury value that justifies purchase over much better knives that weigh a little more! I've got to tell ya, a folding knife has to be really heavy to bog me down! I carry a heavy EDC. Swiss Army knife S557. I purchased 10 of them when they were going for 47.00 in 2016! I don't want to run out! And now they're 92.00.
If I like a knife, I'll usually by 10 for extras, so I can make customsations, some of which end up in the parts drawer! It's easier than disposing of them! Once I walked into a gun/knife shop with some really nice cutlery to sell, cheap. It was before Internet, and my girlfriend was really jealous of my knives.
So, I was going to make her happy by selling some and getting her something nice with the cash. Now I wish I would let her go instead! Let that be a lesson to the greenhorns.
