Toughest folder for 200 or under

There are many tough knives in the under $200 range. Most of them have been listed here.

However, I did not notice any mention of the Benchmade Skirmish or Mini Skirmish. They are both pretty tough knives.

The toughest folder that I own would be my Demko framelock that I bought for $200.
 
My top three picks under $200 would be:

Ontario Hossom Retribution I
Basically a frame lock covered with Micarta scales and the liners are 3mm Titanium. This knife is a little over 10 ½” long and weights around 10oz.

Benchmade 630 BK
Large folder with (frame) Monolock made using Titanium handles and a reverse curve blade of S30V steel.

Spyderco C95 Manix
A great folder with an incredibly useful blade shape and one of the strongest locks on the market (backlock). The scales are G10 and the blade steel is S30V, this is a tough knife to beat at its price point. I have seen more positive reviews of this knife that just about any other blade I can think of.
 
jill jackson said:
has anyone ever test the amount of force it takes to break these knives that are said to be the strongest? i'm certain spyderco and cold steel do this but i'd like to see, the best as far as strongest all tested to failure by somebody other than a knife co.
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yup, there's this German knife-magazine called Messer Magazin that does some serious hardcore testing to the very limits with various pneumatic-equipment pulling, pushing and bending up to 500 N of strength (!)

some examples of the few copies i have left:

-spyderco fb04 perrin. broken blade
-spyderco fb05 temperance: broken blade
-crkt m16-14m: slightly bent blade, lock/pivot held up
-spyderco atr ss: broken blade, lock/pivot held up
-buck strider 880t: bladeplay
-extrema ratio fulcrum II: bent blade, lock/pivot damage
-strider gb: damaged tip, bent blade and handle, bladeplay
-spyderco dodo: lock-failure on 1st model, broken tip, pivot-play
-spyderco dodo: lock/pivot held up reasonably, broken tip, bladeplay
-benchmade 910 stryker: pivot/lock extreme failure, broken blade
-emerson commander: slight bladeplay, blade held up
-glock field knife fm81: tough as nails, weak edge, slightly bent blade
-sog seal knife 2000: tough as nails, slightly bent blade
-boker af black dagger: broken blade
-ka-bar next-gen: weak edge and tip, slightly bent blade

no Manix, Whisper, Sebbie or whatnot, but maybe this helps somewhat
 
In response to Anthony:

The Lock Back that spyderco uses happens to be one of the strongest locks on the market. Of course it matters how you test the strength. For example, if I recall correctly Cliffstamp was able to bend a Chinook 2 to the point of uselessness by standing on the flat of the handle after he drove it into a tree. I admit I've never seen someone try something similar with an Axis lock but I've heard scattered reports that the Axis lock on some knives can hold over 2000 pounds total. Until I see this for myself I will remain skeptical.

I also hope that your not the sort of person who is overly biased towards Spyderco just cuz' Benchmade may have enfrenged on Spyderco's copy rights at some point. I hope this because if your that sort of person nothing that i just said will make any difference. I personally like the Spyderco manix more only because the design is so well tested. Essentially what I am trying to say is that no one knife is the toughest and that it is all in the eye of the user. That said I'll take my RD-4 over my Manix anyday:D. Everybody have a nice holiday season.
 
Anthony Lombardo said:
Quantify "tough".
The LCC is a nice knife but the lock is about 25% of the strength of the Chinook 1 or 2 or the Manix. It is "tough" looking though, like most Microtech knives. But I don't think that counts...
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I disagree. The LCC's liner is more like a framelock, due to thickness and I have never had a Microtech LCC or Socom fail on me. I have had lockbacks fail on me though and some other liner locks as well.
 
jill jackson said:
whats the deal with NGK? the full sized manix there is 115.54 i see it elsewhere for 105, plus free shipping if you order over 125. in the past week i've wanted to order a sere 2000, a benchmade rukus full sized, now i'm wondering about those zero tolerence knives and the speed bump is looking good too. i like the one at NGK's in the green stripe handle. i think half the fun of buying a new knife is messing around online looking at them.
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Newgraham is often a tad more expensive than some other, cheaper companies, but a lot of members, including myself, like Newgraham because the service is amazing and the selection is good- Michael Dye from NGK has a forum here and he interacts with us a lot. I buy most of my production knives from them- they ship fast and I can always call them up, switch my order, do anything, and they work with me. That kind of service is worth an extra few dollars- not like they're charging MSRP or anything.

As for Striders... I think most of them are kind of fugly myself, but few will argue about their toughness- plus when they're fully pimped they're pretty sweet.
 
I really like the Al Mar SERE2K for a $130ish. The small you can get for $105-$110 shipped if you look. These are some beafy,tuff knives with great f/f.


MPE
 
killerskill said:
What about EMERSON?
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yes, they're tough too, although some have issues with sticky liners, but then again, every company has its lemons every now and then...

aren't Emerson's touching or even surpassing the $200 limit? oh wait, it's USA $'s........in Europe Emersons cost a fortune :grumpy:
 
This is an excellent post. I was hoping someone would have some different suggestions I had never considered. The first ones that came to mind were the Manix, the SERE, and the Rukus. If you have more to spend, the Strider, TOPS, or Rick Hinderer lines would work.
 
I once got a cqc-12 for about $150.00, and it's a very tough knife. They generally go for a little over $200.00 though. It's worth a look for sure.
 
For a tough knife i would check out Spyderco's Persian just the basic model. (not the mini or the kris) Also I am really fond of my Emerson CQC super 7 its really a tough knife and perfect for any job.

But my favorite everyday carry is my Al mar Mini-SERE
 
cutter17 said:
The blade thickness of the Rukus is a hair under 5/32", or .150", while 1/4" would be .225". Still the Rukus is a tough knife with the flat ground blade and the Axis lock mechanism. Most seem to either love or hate the grip, I love, and the blade shape being a simple but functional droppoint. The .080" thick hardened steel liners give it a toughness that some of the other Axis locks don't have. :D
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NOT TRYING TO BE A SMART ALECK BUT 1/4" IS .250
 
Benchmade 710 or Benchmade 630 or Benchmade 615. I just got a Benchmade 615 . Very well made. 3.4" S30V blade. You might look at some of the Spyderco knives too.
 
mmmotorcycle said:
In response to Anthony:

The Lock Back that spyderco uses happens to be one of the strongest locks on the market. Of course it matters how you test the strength. For example, if I recall correctly Cliffstamp was able to bend a Chinook 2 to the point of uselessness by standing on the flat of the handle after he drove it into a tree. I admit I've never seen someone try something similar with an Axis lock but I've heard scattered reports that the Axis lock on some knives can hold over 2000 pounds total. Until I see this for myself I will remain skeptical.

:D. Everybody have a nice holiday season.
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I believe the pivot broke, as it probably would on an axis lock with that type of loading. It would be interesting to see a destruction test side by side of a Rukus and Manix, but not on my dime. My Manix is extremely strong, and the Rukus I handled in a passaround was extremly strong feeling also. In real world applications you will be hard pressed to break either one, though I would like to see the numbers side by side from Spyderco's knife breaking machine, which is what they use to come up with their lock ratings. We know that the Manix can hold over 200 inch lbs. per inch of blade length (rumored to hold in the 1000+ lb. range an inch from the pivot), while I never recall seeing any published numbers for the axis lock.
 
gunmike1 said:
It would be interesting to see a destruction test side by side of a Rukus and Manix, but not on my dime.
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It would be interesting to see someone wedge the blades into something then try hanging from the handle, standing on the handles, jumping on them, etc.

I'm looking at my Manix and my BM710. The 710 has thicker steel liners and the pivot torx screw is bigger. So right there the 710 looks like it might have more strength if you were going to try and stand on the side of the handle. I don't have a Rukus yet so if it's built any tougher than a 710 it may hold up the best. Another thing I will note is the Manix appears to have more surface area with it's tang, around the pivot, so that may help the Manix to spread out the pressure. It would be nice to see the Manix with liners as thick as the 710's. The 710's liners are twice as thick.
 
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