Truck Stop Knives Rule (apparently)

22-rimfire said:
I suspect there are a lot of knife owners and potential knife owners that would fall into the middle ground. So, where do Victorinox SAKs fit into this professional > non-professional range? You can buy a pretty good knife under $25. Like everything, it is a matter of knowledge, interest, and your financial stature. Pretty good is often plenty good for the average person.

Take your average deer hunter or hiker who hunts or hikes a few times a year.... a Mora is plenty of knife. Mora's don't particularly give me pleasure owning one or using one, but they function quite well. Now take most Vic SAKs, they work too and I am proud to be a regular user.
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I tend to agree on SAKs and Moras.

As far as EDC folders go, budget gems can occasionally be found under $25. Keeping under $50, there is a whole slew of budget gems that will adequately perform most EDC tasks and bring a little joy in the process. :)

This is the real problem with knives like MTech, Walmart's Ozark Trail, Kershaw's bottom-tier stuff in 3Cr13Mov, etc. People buy them because they are readily available at brick and mortar stores. Hopping online, you can find so much better for barely much more.
 
22-rimfire said:
How did they fail? Or did you just give them a failing grade based on your knowledge and use?

There is no question that I like a better knife, but my "better knife" falls way below a Sebenza or some of the other $300+ knives (folders). I do spend more for fixed blades because I like them. That said, of late I have been carrying a little Condor Compact Kephart to accompany my SAK. I am finding that I like it and use it and it is essentially a $50 knife. It is not a heavy use knife, maybe heavy cutting, but not heavy as in lots of force cutting type knife since it's a three finger knife. Quite honestly, I am tickled to death with it and I'm learning that I don't need a bigger knife very much.
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Not just my knives but witnessed others cheap knives, Liner / frame lock collapse or slide by, a coworker had a pivot pin head pulled through allowing the frame to kick up and the blade fell out up on a roof on the second day after buying it new. Never found the blade. Others dulled bad after little use. The SAK I tried just didn’t have the gripping force I needed and it just didn’t quite meet the demand. I’m not knocking them for what their intended use is but for heavy demand they just won’t last long.

My most expensive knife was $140. I’ve never had a Sebenza or any CRK or the like. For me a $45 Buck 110 is basic and I don’t think it can be considered a truck stop knife but I have a few with s30v that cost $90 and they do the heavy work. My Vantage pro 20cv blade also under $100 I use around the more corrosive environment but it still handles the heavy use. LM Wave for my multi tool needs. They work for me and I’m very satisfied.
 
Monofletch said:
I can’t lie.....
There are a couple of gas station knives that have my attention!
I have always liked the way the Benchmark Backpacker looks.....

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They're a decent knife for $10, I carried one everyday for a couple years as a teenager. At $10 a Mora is probably better but if you want a neck knife or pocket fixed blade or something a Mora won't really do.
Still have the original around somewhere and also have another.
The sheath does seem to dull the knife a bit but it could be worse.
Another thing to note is that the flared lanyard tube is really the only think keeping the scales on, so I pushed out the micarta pins and replaced them with peened aluminum.
 
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I think they serve a purpose as an introduction, as well as beaters for a lot of people. I have to appreciate the lower end stuff because if it wasn't for them, I never would have gotten into the hobby. If the first knives I came across were all $150, I probably wouldn't have gotten into knives at all. I remember when I got my first Buck 112 and thought it was the nicest knife ever made. While it's still my favorite, I know better than to think it's the "best". I have a lot more 112's that are nicer than the base model now, but that's just an example. I'm never going to judge anyone for liking what they like. If an object makes someone happy, then I'm all for it. We never know what another person is going through and there could always be a good reason for someone owning a $10 knife as opposed to a $100 knife. I'm in the middle of a separation with my wife and there are two kids involved, which means my knife budget went to $0 very quickly. That being said, no matter what blade someone chooses to carry, they shouldn't be judged for it since we don't know what life has dealt that particular person. Unless it's your buddy...in that case feel free to bust his stones.
 
Ultimately, and it is hard for us to accept because we are knife junkies....the vast majority of people don't care about knives.

They might be into wine or watches or sneakers or sunglasses or cheese or whatever.

No doubt they are on cheeseforums.com going on about how everyone who doesn't get their cheese directly from a fromager is an idiot and posting pics like this

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except with "IF SUPERMARKET CHEESE"

Not all people value the same stuff you do.
 
Other than the lack of sharpness and many other deficiencies of the “gas station” knives many (most?) of them look just plain ridiculous and in trying to look cool the designers make blades that are both useless and unsharpenable (is that a word?).

Who in their right mind carries a knife like The Mutilator (pictured earlier in the thread) or a mermaid knife??

I totally get the “it’s sharp enough and gets the job done” concept but with the exception of a kid I don’t understand why a rational person would buy and carry these “crazy-ass (is that a word too?) “designs”.

You can get a decent sub $15 knife and not look like a clown.
 
Of course they are poorly designed to people who care about knife design.

But, if people didn't like them, they wouldn't be for sale.

No doubt someone, somewhere, would say the same about your shoes on bespokeshoesforums.com.
 
To each their own. If a truck stop knife works for them, that's all the knife they need.
 
Gas station knives aren't limited to truck stops. Any knife priced retail of $10 or less should be suspect in terms of quality. But you read on line "excellent" 5 star reviews of some of these.
 
I just wonder-
We don't like gas station knives partly because of the poor steel. But if the average person can't sharpen a knife, then once their gas station knife gets dull it is just about as good as their Spyderco or Benchmade once it gets dull.
 
You know, I don't know if I ever noticed a knife sold at a truck stop. Going to make a point of stopping at several over the next few weeks.
 
When I was a kid I saw a lot of Truckers with large and very ornate belt knives such as antler handles etc, but I guess the law was different back then in my country. I used to wonder where they got them from as the shops in my little city didn't sell anything like that.

This might be a controversial opinion. But I wish they would ban "Truck Stop". Knives under $100(cad) because they give sporting knives a bad rap.
Here in Canada it was a shipment of those crappy mtech assisted stilettos that lead to the court case giving CBSA too much power banning most knives from being imported.

I have no actual proof. But here in Canada, I believe most knife crimes are either carried out by kitchen knives or by gas station knives because. 1) They are readily available everywhere 2) They are cheap, and most people desperate enough to commit a major crime live in poverty. 3) They are disposable.
The people with the financial means to buy a knife over $100 usually have a stable life and are not going to risk that through violence.
 
For a lot of kids, these inexpensive knives are their first knives. I don't want them to go away. There is a market for stuff like this and it is not just criminals. My first two knives came from what was called a 5&10 at the time. They were under a dollar each and I was very young. There is no way I could have purchased a $20 knife then.
 
Truck stop folder: A knife that will fold right thru your fingers at a truck stop. After seeing that once, I'll pass.
 
So, what do you think of the Tac-Force Tactical Spring Knife 4.5” TF-705GC that has 7,671 positive (mostly) reviews on that major online retailer? I would GUESS that 50-100 times more are sold at small retailers including our beloved gas stations.

It sells for $9.38. I think it has a bottle opener so that’s probably worth half the cost.

I hate these knives and would never have one in my collection but this thread has made me look at them in a much more positive and understanding manner.
 
I was looking at ultra low priced knives because of this thread, and I saw something I didn't believe at first - spyderco uses 3cr stainless steel now, in the grasshopper model

Wow, I thought their minimum was 8cr13... this is... kind of upsetting, like kershaw which also uses 3cr in the low end, I can no longer make whole hearted recommendations of these brands. You need to watchout for the duds.

The 3cr minefield has spread like a cancer, sadly.
 
22-rimfire said:
For a lot of kids, these inexpensive knives are their first knives. I don't want them to go away. There is a market for stuff like this and it is not just criminals. My first two knives came from what was called a 5&10 at the time. They were under a dollar each and I was very young. There is no way I could have purchased a $20 knife then.
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I do want them to go away, considering that the 110lt is now available at every Walmart for $20 and the Victorinox recruit is only $15 , they would be the go to if the junk wasn't there.
 
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’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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dirc said:
I was looking at ultra low priced knives because of this thread, and I saw something I didn't believe at first - spyderco uses 3cr stainless steel now, in the grasshopper model

Wow, I thought their minimum was 8cr13... this is... kind of upsetting, like kershaw which also uses 3cr in the low end, I can no longer make whole hearted recommendations of these brands. You need to watchout for the duds.

The 3cr minefield has spread like a cancer, sadly.
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Did it spread like cancer or has it always been there, quietly lurking below the surface?
 
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