I've had some rules for myself about avoiding the truly "ugly" things that show up in knives, especially folders. Some of these match up with
@NickShabazz's well known "
knife gripes" list. For example, I don't like handle screws that go straight into titanium on the opposite side, I hate free-spinning pivots (especially when one side has no keying for a tool!), and I hate flipper tabs that lack traction. And the list goes on.
But sometimes a knife with plenty of "ugly" is so damned compelling in other ways that I have to love it, and it sticks around even in my small collection. Right now my favorite carry is a knife that has *all* of the above uglies, but I love the ergonomics, the action, and the grind — so much that the ugly doesn't matter!
Do you own a knife that does a bunch of things wrong, but you'll still never sell it?
Off topic why is a screw into Ti a bad idea. I thought we hammered that out in another thread and we're good. Any links to bad experiences ? I'm a mechanic working with a fair amount of Ti so I'm not unfamiliar with threaded Ti . . . my experience = zero problems.
On to the question . . . I was going to say no skulls but you ask about a knife that I have with numerous uglies that I would never sell. I could think about it but the one that sprang to mind with no effort is the . . .
. . . you won't believe it . . .
. . .
My Buck 110 :
(which I have owned from brand new for 35 plus years so that about proves I'm not wanting to part with it) Ugly =
- Thickish spine
- Hollow ground
- Upswept point
- Too heavy
- Back lock and to make it worse the release is on the butt end of the knife.
- To exacerbate dropping it while pinching the very end of the knife the surfaces are all polished and slick (saving grace is the end is widened so that keeps it from shooting from my grasp while releasing the lock)
All ugly in my book
In use the knife is much better than the sum of the ugly. I carried it for a week this last Summer after mostly using it for a paper weight for three decades and was surprised by how good the knife is over all. It isn't like I never carried it when I got it. I did. I then went to a very thin four inch flat ground fixed blade for the same purpose I bought the 110 for and never carried the 110 again until this last Summer.
That said it is a spectacularly bad box cutter for double wall boxes the curve on the tip end of the blade pushes the edge up out of the cut and the thick spine and the hollow grind combining to cause the blade to take sudden excursions off the intended line of cut.
Beautiful knife though. If I were a hunter I would obviously be writing a different story.
There I said it.
I may as well post one of my very favorite users since it is in the same boat, more like on a cruise ship sailing by :
Cold Steel Ti Lite IV Ugly =
- Comes from a hype of Bad Ass and self defense (only ugly because we have tooooo much of that and so much of it is unrealistic).
- It's a liner lock
- The handle is full of holes that have the potential to attract and hold debris
- The handle is slick (though the holes and the bulbous end similar to the 110 make up some for it)
- Blade had a ridge down the middle of the sides of the blade and was way too thick (I had to spend a huge amount of time and effort grinding the blade into a useful shape and thickness).
Before I even bought the Ti Lite I saw a Phenix attempting to rise from this disaster of an EDC.
It has not disappointed me in the least meaning the ergos in use are the best I own, the liner lock works flawlessly though a bit firm, even that causes / allows it to fire open faster than anyone could imagine not having handled the knife . . . I mean FAST ! Great steel CTS-XHP.
Bottom line = goofy knife turns into one of my top 3 or top 5.
PS : being ground to 1.9mm full flat and not a wide blade the thing cuts up boxes like a laser with as much precision as required (some times I cut up large boxes to package smaller things to ship out).
