The Surprisingly Good

T

Toomanyquestions

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What folding knives have offered surprising quality for money spent? The question has no price range, although it would be nice to have a mixture of price points. Links to full reviews are welcome.

The format below might be helpful for those who come afterward.


Price range

Brand / model / features - lock, steel, handle material, pivot, etc

A short summary of what you found impressive - what did you notice when you held it, took it apart, used it hard, etc
 
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Cold Steel Outdoorsman.
Laminated steel, hollow ground, sweeping belly, great balance all for a bit over a $110. Kind of a sleeper.

Enzo Birk 75.
High level of fit and finish, a size that sits in a sweet spot for my hands, can choke way up close to the cutting edge, offered in FFG or Scandi. Can be had in polished G10, carbon fiber, and burl wood scales. It fits in at formal events as well as outdoor use. About $125.

Spyderco Gayle Bradley. Maybe my all time favorite folders I own. CPM-M4, hollow ground, high level of fit and finish, can choke up close to cutting edge. Back when it was $125 I should have bought 10 of them. The blade steel is impressive.
 
I was more than favorably impressed with a Lionsteel Warhorse. Right at $200. Beautiful classically styled knife made with fine modern materials. The design and execution both top shelf.
 
Buck Vantage. $~49, Made in USA

420HC Hollow grind with BOS heat treat (If im not mistaken there).

Ergonomic handle with classy rosewood Dymondwood inlays.

Steel liners make for a solid lockup. Very capable knife.

Can't say I've used it "hard," but I've never felt underknifed with it in the pocket. No chance I'd sell it. That money would barely fill half my gas tank.


Another would be the Cold Steel Pro Lite. $~25 spear point with Triad lock. 4116 steel. Another cheapo I'd never sell because it works beautifully. Never felt I needed more out of an EDC.
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Edit to add Byrd Rescue 2, $19
While it's made in China, it certainly delivers in the "bang for your buck" category. Solid backlock mechanism, serrated blade. 8Cr13Mov steel. I've seen worse. Not too shabby. Not my go-to knife for the night at the opera, but it "punches above it's weight" as people say.20220204_015738.jpg
 
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For top value per $?

I have to say the CH emperor, which is a Titanium Framelock with a 3.75” S35VN blade and timascus pivot collars. Great fit and finish, interior milling, the whole bag of goodies. Great action on ceramic bearings with the flipper tab. Pretty stylish knife too with the satin finish on both blade and handle. (They also make a bronze version) Only flaw is that the thumbstud on it is unusable. But that didn’t bother me too much… $140

For a close second, there’s the Real Steel Megalodon Indiana Knives exclusive eddition I bought for about $150. 3.93” M390 blade, ground and profiled thin, attached to a micarta showside and a titanium framelock. Beautiful knife. The flipping action is superb.

However, if we really want to dredge the dregs of the budget barrel…

I bought a Ruike P121 for the sole purposes of learning sharpening on it’s almost 4” 14C28N blade… but ended up liking the build quality and especially the action—on bearings! Maybe the G10 liner lock handle is a little blocky, but what the heck it was $20.

If we’re going to talk about what’s the best place to buy a quality knife for cheap… Here or eBay auctions. I’ve picked up some ridiculous deals from eBay. Including a knife that should’ve cost $750+ for under $200. Everyone waits until the last 5 seconds to bid, and so you can get a deal sometimes if you bid smartly.

But in the end, it all depends on how you define bang per buck!
 
$50, or so.

Alox Electrician, and a totally not staged photo:

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Non-locking, but the springs are very stiff on all the tools. Carries nice in my pocket, opens packaging without a fuss. I've scraped corrosion buildup off contacts, (very) light prying with the driver tool, stripped wire...

I have trouble thinking of it as a "knife", it's more of a "multitool". Still I had never been into SAKs, and I learned why they have so many fans.


$55-$60 MSRP, depending on options. Also sold out/discontinued on their home site.

A. G. Russell, Medium Barlow Lockback, in Ebony Delrin:

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I was looking for something "classic", and kept finding my way back to spear-point Barlow knives. This was an inexpensive way to try one out, and I like having a lock and a pocket clip.


$60? I don't remember, and I think they're disco'ed.

CRKT Copper Ripple:

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Framelock, IKBS. The flipping action is great, and the all-steel slabs give that "clack" that we all love when the knife locks open. Like other framelock flippers, you have to get the grip right, or it just won't go.

The copper color is hard to photograph, because it changes a little in different light. Here, it's under a very "blue" light, so the color looks a little "flat". I tried half a dozen different background colors, and couldn't really get the red component of the color to pick up in photos.

The sort of odd, modified wharncliffe blade is my hands-down favorite shape. I have two other Ripples, with the more conventional points, and I went looking for this specific version. I wanted to get the gray one too, but I never found one less than $90, and with CRKT's hit-or-miss heat treat, I got over it.
 
Edited to add I missed that this was just supposed to be folding knives...

Price, $12-20. Mora Companion fixed blade series. 14C28N for the stainless models, Other option is just listed carbon steel. Handle is a polymer with many color options.

Pros, Its a really good quality for the price. They hold an edge well, and I find the handles comfortable with good grip when wet to.

Cons, The sheaths are not so great for them, I find them to feel cheap and the sheath retention isn't the best. But its a $12 dollar knife so there will be trade offs.:)
 
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Bob Denman said:
Petrified Fish PF858
For$27: these punch WAY above their weight class.
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I just ordered my first Petrified Fish in a dreary haze upon waking up today and I'm excited to check it out. Bonus is I don't remember what color combo I ordered so it will be a surprise!
 
The keyword here is surprisingly, meaning the value given the $ you spent on the knife. For that, I certainly don't think it's CRK or RHK For obvious reasons. It's not Demko 20.5 either because I don't think an AUS10 knife is *surprisingly* good at $150.

As much as I dislike the recent Cold Steel troll, I have to say it is CS Recon 1 cts-xhp that I got from a legit dealer For $100. I believe the s35vn Recon 1 can still be had now at $80-$90, which again is surprisingly good given the price.
 
LimpCroissant said:
I just ordered my first Petrified Fish in a dreary haze upon waking up today and I'm excited to check it out. Bonus is I don't remember what color combo I ordered so it will be a surprise!
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Congratulations... I think!
 
bigsurbob bigsurbob , I will never get rid of my prolite either, it's my default folder.

Honestly, any Victoinox is surprisingly strong. I've done things to my little classic I thought would cause it to become loose, but it took the torque. The scissors can cut zip ties without flinching.
 
Price ? No idea - maybe $30 or $50 or more , different Century different US
Cold Steel Large Tanto half serrated VG-1
Why good, I use it for over 20 years, still the Best
 
Said this elsewhere, but I spent ~$200 for a mini bugout, a set of crossfade titanium scales, copper backspacer, and blue anodized hardware for a little mod project and it turned out to be an absolute gem. One of my favorite knives right now and among the cheapest in my collection. Not super cheap for sure, but I was surprised how nice it is and how much better it feels than a number of titanium knives I've had and used that cost way more.
 
Black Oak Bladeworks said:
Price, $12-20. Mora Companion fixed blade series. 14C28N for the stainless models, Other option is just listed carbon steel. Handle is a polymer with many color options.

Pros, Its a really good quality for the price. They hold an edge well, and I find the handles comfortable with good grip when wet to.

Cons, The sheaths are not so great for them, I find them to feel cheap and the sheath retention isn't the best. But its a $12 dollar knife so there will be trade offs.:)
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unfortunately - mora still has 12c27 in most of their blades, you'd have to get a garberg for 14c28n
I'd love if companion stainless moved to 14c28n, but it hasn't happened yet

still, both are the fixed blades to beat in terms of value
 
Petrified Fish has gained more traction lately but they're still relatively new. When I got my PF818 in 2019, I was blown away. The action was very good out of the box and got even better after a good cleaning and quality lubrication. The detent was perfect. The design is interesting and it felt good in hand. My only complaint was that the inner scale edges were a little crisp. For a sub-$30 folder with nested liners, that's not much of a complaint. I'm not a big fan of D2 but this knife has held a spot in my EDC rotation.

It came with steel bearings riding in plastic rings. I recently swapped them out for a set of ceramic bearings in phosphor bronze from Skiff. The action went from great to fantastic. Since playing around with the Skiff bearings in different knives, I don't always notice a difference in action. More often, I notice them affecting the range of stability between looser action and lack of blade play. They've made the most dramatic or at least the most noticeable difference so far in the PF818.

Another notable budget surprise was the Harnds Talisman. I got the original version in AUS-8 a few years back. The ergonomics were very good and it had a nice blade. The action was buttery and truly "drop-shut" out of the box. I went to get another one last year and was pleasantly surprised to see that Harnds had upgraded this model to 14C28N.
 
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