Truck Stop Knives Rule (apparently)

JDRanger

JDRanger

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Aug 14, 2017
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For fun I was looking on a major online retail site at cheap “truck stop” knives and I’m shocked to see how many people love these sub $15 dollar knives.

Examples of positive ratings - MTech USA MT-A845BK Spring Assist Folding Knife has 1,400 good reviews, Tac-Force Tactical Spring Assisted Knife 4.5" has 7,670.

MTech USA Ballistic MT-A705 Series Spring Assist Folding Knife, 4.5-Inch Closed has 2,040.

Snake Eye Tactical has 1,457.

The list goes on and on.

I’m not trying to make any profound statement other than I’m shocked that 10’s of thousands of buyers seem to love this sector of the knife market.

Perhaps MTech and others are secretly owned by the bandaid companies
 
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I was at a truck stop during the summer. I saw a Boy Scout troop stop for fuel and I think they almost sold out of those knives.
 
I see so many at work. I won't lie, it is handy to have an abuse knife sometimes. But once you can get somebody to use a good knife correctly, they don't usually go back to the cheap stuff in my experience.
Sadly I think 'the right tool for the right job' is a lost talent for alot. That's my opinion on the throw away gas station knife anyway.

The other side I think is that people don't know knives can be better. 'knife is a knife', 'a hammer is a hammer', 'whisky is whisky'. Not until you move up the ranks on anything really. Ignorance is bliss in a way. Think about if could be happy with a $5 knife. And think about the collection :O
 
I have 2 jobs. One requires us to always have a knife. The other, where I feel a knife is much more important although needed much less often, only strongly suggests we have one. So I see lots of knives. One guy carries a knife he found in the forest. It's a $1 knife from dollar tree. And maybe the worst knife I've ever seen. It makes my brain hurt. I don't like Opinel knives but one guy has a no 8. Oddly enough that was also found in the forest. It's one of the nicer ones besides a few Kershaw and CRKT. I guess maybe losing things is sort of common, but it's still not a reason to carry a $1 knife.
 
dirc said:
it's important we introduce them to mora and other high quality / low cost alternatives... I know if I owned a truck stop I'd have an entire section filled with at least a dozen different mora & opinel models
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Very true! I talked/sold a couple co workers who knew about quality knives into going for it. And got 3 of them to get one(all Spyderco's ironically). A big part of it is taking the time to teach them about knives, and letting them even handle/use them. Under supervision of course. Don't let them pry a nail out with it.
 
JDRanger said:
For fun I was looking on a major online retail site at cheap “truck stop” knives and I’m shocked to see how many people love these sub $15 dollar knives.

Examples of positive ratings - MTech USA MT-A845BK Spring Assist Folding Knife has 1,400 good reviews, Tac-Force Tactical Spring Assisted Knife 4.5" has 7,670.

MTech USA Ballistic MT-A705 Series Spring Assist Folding Knife, 4.5-Inch Closed has 2,040.

Snake Eye Tactical has 1,457.

The list goes on and on.

I’m not trying to make any profound statement other than I’m shocked that 10 of thousands of buyers seem to love this sector of the knife market.

Perhaps MTech and others are secretly owned by the bandaid companies
Click to expand...

The fact of the matter is that for the most part they work for the majority of people.
They're junk and once you know you can't un-see their faults, but when you don't know they suck and that there are various faults to look out for then you'll be perfectly happy with them.
I used to like these kinds of knives and had about 115 at one time.
The ones I carried were cool they were fast and they cut everything I needed to cut as long as I kept a carbide pull through to keep them cutting, none of them ever folded on me.
I lost a few handle screws here and there and when the pocket clips had 3 screws they always ended up with just 2, but I never actually had one fall apart on me or cut myself at fault of the knife.

Btw I work at one and their display is filled with Case knives, at least as of the last few months it is.
 
When I was a kid about 7 years old, 1967 my dad got me a cheap dime store Barlow. It had tinny stamped bolsters and plastic handles. The blade was soft and dull. After a couple weeks I had it worn out and the pivot pin bent allowing the bolsters to pop out and it folded backwards putting a nasty pinched gash on my right index finger. That’s when I learned that cheap knives are trouble. I saved my money to buy my next knife about 1968, an Old Timer 34OT. It was a good knife but I lost it in the field after a year and a half.

I was still young and didn’t know any better when I found out sometimes a truck stop knife will fail just as easily. It wasn’t until I was 13 or so when a rancher took the time to tell me about quality cutlery. I remember him telling me a knife should be my most trusted tool because my life or someone else’s may depend upon it.

After that I was more discriminating about my knife purchasing and set out to learn more about what makes a good knife.
 
My best pipe is a Corn cob pipe. It doesn't smoke any better than my other cobs, or some of my broads, but it won't die. I can smoke it more often, I don't feel the need to baby it like a higher end pipe, and it just keeps going. I think I'm more attached to it because of that. I imagine I could have a similar feeling for a lower end knife, and it wouldn't surprise me if alot of people do.
 
Ignorance can be bliss. Sure, "truck stop knives" are dull, dangerous, poorly made, bad for your teeth, bad for the environment, and cause body odor.
But the fact of the matter is that they serve the needs of thousands of people just fine.

'No different than the Harbor Freight versus SnapOn arguments...
 
I am just happy to see others that appreciate knives. Some of my co-workers would rather gnaw on a package than use a knife. For them knives are socially unacceptable.

These cheap knives fill a vast niche. They are often carried and used by people who use their knives harder than we do on these forums. They are farmers or trades people who need a knife and who have no intention of babying it.

These knives work well enough to meet the immediate need, and why would you spend more on something that can be destroyed, damaged or left behind at a work site.

n2s
 
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Most people need a knife that cuts stuff for a while. Cheap knives cut stuff for a while.

Most people think novel stuff is neato. Assisted opening, etc., is novel.

All of the people on this forum need a knife they can use to cut tape, cut boxes, cut clamshell, and do other 'hard use' tasks to keep from chipping the edge on their Sebenza in M100maxCP30Vtanium (or worse, getting GLUE on it from the tape!).
 
not2sharp said:
They are often carried and used by people who use their knives harder than we do on these forums. They are farmers or trades people who need a knife and who have no intention of babying it.
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Couldn’t have said it better myself. Especially the first line.
 
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