WalMart $10 Ozark Trail Knife

[jbmonkey]

I think he meant two inexpensive knives that serve a purpose, but you won't cry if they get lost or damaged.

I still don't see how his story of gator hunting and a quality built knife nothing like this folder ties to this thread, but guess we can turn the thread into a story telling thread.....

so I'll continue the random story telling. one time a fella came here using a tanto folder to cut apart bananas workin in a grocery store and cut himself.......

 

[Danke42]

I still don't see how his story of gator hunting and a quality built knife nothing like this folder ties to this thread, but guess we can turn the thread into a story telling thread.....

so I'll continue the random story telling. one time a fella came here using a tanto folder to cut apart bananas workin in a grocery store and cut himself.......

Only scores points if it's a personal story.

 

[Centermass]

I never knew bananas were capable of cutting someone. Learn something new everyday.

 

[bdmicarta]

So in the end you spent $30 on one $10 knife and when it breaks there will be no way to fix it.

That's a good point, I would not have expected that much variation in blades but maybe it makes sense for such a low priced product. Mine seems to be working OK.

Worrying about carrying my nicer Spyderco knives in places where I might lose them I searched for a lower priced knife. I could not find one of the $40 Civivi or Ganzo or whatever knives for $40, all of a sudden they seem to be $70 or more. I bought a used Spyderco Tenacious LW and I've been using that one for camping. Then I heard about the $10 orange knife and I got caught up in the hype. I bought the $5 white one and it turned out to be pretty good for my use, now I'm testing the orange one.

Prior to the previous black friday sales I was on the internet looking for deals so if it turned out that the Walmart knives weren't suitable I was going to check into others. I found a number of knives on Amazon that sounded reasonable for prices from $20 to $35, the more expensive ones were discounted some for black friday. I'm willing to buy something for $20 to try it out, maybe I would get lucky.

 

[SharpBits]

The 284 Bantam® BBW Knife is $23.99 on the Buck site. Just FYI, not meant to throw shade at you.

 

[eveled]

Ummmm . . . . .Well, I thought it applied. Kroger and Walmart . . .neither one is a sporting goods store. The knife was cheap for the day and replicable If dropped, broken or just lost (left) in the swamp. I see no substantive difference between that kitchen knife and the $10 knife in the OP.

Comparing apples to bananas

guess ya never been to a walmart, as they actually have a sporting section in their stores.

the knives aren't the same. one made in usa, good steel and heat treat and fixed blade sold in more than just a kroger. the other made in china, mystery steel and questionable heat treat, a folder, and sold only at Walmart.

so not even close in any way.....

Agree

I think he meant two inexpensive knives that serve a purpose, but you won't cry if they get lost or damaged.

I got that. I’m all for quality gear for affordable prices.

I still don't see how his story of gator hunting and a quality built knife nothing like this folder ties to this thread, but guess we can turn the thread into a story telling thread.....

so I'll continue the random story telling. one time a fella came here using a tanto folder to cut apart bananas workin in a grocery store and cut himself.......

For the record I’m jealous of his Gator hunting opportunity.

 

[eveled]

I have a few Xmas gift bucks, all are 420HC steel and run about $50-$80
I just can’t get my head around that 420hc as it just doesn’t carry much lasting edge for me . But I still keep them in use on a limited basis as a straight edge with my serrated spyderco as a primary
However buck is a USA made and is better than Kershaw , schrade , and other Chinese Walmart off the shelf brands

The old Bucks had blades that were so hard they were difficult to sharpen. We only had natural stones and coffee cups.

They listened and gave us more easily sharpened knives, at the cost of edge retention. I for one was happy with the change.

Buck has always been know for their heat treatment protocols and getting the best possible performance.

I was biting my tongue in this thread until he mentioned buying 3 and having 2 dudds.

This the biggest problem with low budget knives. Unknown materials inconsistent quality no recourse. If one of your Bucks has an issue Buck has your back. For life.

Buying quality tools always saves money in the long run.

I still carry my 110 to work 40 plus years. It cost $40 including $10 for a new blade. Do the (conveniently simple) math. $1.00 a year.

When I retire it will be $.75 a year.

 

[S-3 ranch]

The old Bucks had blades that were so hard they were difficult to sharpen. We only had natural stones and coffee cups.

They listened and gave us more easily sharpened knives, at the cost of edge retention. I for one was happy with the change.

Buck has always been know for their heat treatment protocols and getting the best possible performance.

I was biting my tongue in this thread until he mentioned buying 3 and having 2 dudds.

This the biggest problem with low budget knives. Unknown materials inconsistent quality no recourse. If one of your Bucks has an issue Buck has your back. For life.

Buying quality tools always saves money in the long run.

I still carry my 110 to work 40 plus years. It cost $40 including $10 for a new blade. Do the (conveniently simple) math. $1.00 a year.

When I retire it will be $.75 a year.

Truthfully I have never needed to warranty a knife before because bad heat treated steel
Once I sent in a 30 year old spyderco delica to have new serration put on the blade
But now days either the knives are really good quality/ expensive, or cheap and not worth the price of shipping back for repair.

 

[bdmicarta]

I saw a video on these knives by youtube channel Apex Alchemy. They tested 3 of them and got blade hardness of 59-60.

 

[G8R8U2]

I bought one out of curiosity; not bad at all for the money... blade is thinner than I'd like, but of course it is for the price point. I'd (and probably will) buy it again.

 

[The Zieg]

Just curious, but why? I almost always have a Spyderco in my pocket. The Delica in K390 practically lives in a pocket.

I have the same question.

 

[spict]

Supposedly this knife is D2 steel and sells for ~ $10

I saw a review of this knife on YT by the OUTDOORS55 guy (whom I respect as a knife guy) and his initial review said it had very poor edge retention. He concluded that it was a POS. But then he ground the edge down a ways and he (in a subsequent video) concluded that it was an issue of somebody getting it too hot in sharpening, rather than a bad heat treatment.

On a whim, I bought one in my local Virginia Walmart for $10. The factory edge was pretty bad (too steep), but I sharpened it on my Norton India alox combo stone, and finished it off on a 1k grit diamond plate, and afterwards the knife was close to push-through-paper sharp.

Here's the remarkable aspect: After that, I stuck the knife in my pocket, and just used it like a $10 knife for a few weeks. (My knives take some abuse.) And noticed damn this thing stays sharp. So then I repeated the same paper test, and it was damn near as sharp as it was fresh off the stone/plate a few weeks ago.

I'm not sure my $300 Spydercos in M4 and CruWear and Maxamet can even make the same claim. (I don't carry them routinely, because they're too valuable, so I don't know.)

YMMV. The only complaint I have with this knife is that the clip is only for tip-up. But if you want a sharp piece of D2 steel for $10 ... check it out.

J

I never knew bananas were capable of cutting someone. Learn something new everyday.

I have the same question.

Me too... Me too...

 

[elkins45]

I know there's been alot of back and forth on these Ozark Trail knives since they got popular. I was skeptical sure, but I picked one up a few months ago, the Bugout copy. The pic is from when I first got it. Currently the knife is beat to hell, lives in my tool pouch at work.

It's done everything from just opening boxes and whittling sticks on lunch to stripping wire and cutting sheet rock and everything in between. Is it as good as my Spyderco's or CRK's? Absolutely not, but it's still been a hell of a knife for the $10 that I paid for it.
View attachment 2802312

What's the other knife in the photo?

 

[knarfeng]

The old Bucks had blades that were so hard they were difficult to sharpen. We only had natural stones and coffee cups.

They listened and gave us more easily sharpened knives, at the cost of edge retention. I for one was happy with the change.

Buck has always been know for their heat treatment protocols and getting the best possible performance.

I was biting my tongue in this thread until he mentioned buying 3 and having 2 dudds.

This the biggest problem with low budget knives. Unknown materials inconsistent quality no recourse. If one of your Bucks has an issue Buck has your back. For life.

Buying quality tools always saves money in the long run.

I still carry my 110 to work 40 plus years. It cost $40 including $10 for a new blade. Do the (conveniently simple) math. $1.00 a year.

When I retire it will be $.75 a year.

Truthfully I have never needed to warranty a knife before because bad heat treated steel
Once I sent in a 30 year old spyderco delica to have new serration put on the blade
But now days either the knives are really good quality/ expensive, or cheap and not worth the price of shipping back for repair.

The "old Bucks" to which he was referring had 440C blades. You can't sharpen 440C on a natural stone, which is what he said he was using. 440C contains chromium carbides, and those are harder than the natural stones people were used to using. 440C requires at least an aluminum oxide stone.

I knew a couple of fellas back in the day who complained that they could not sharpen their Buck 110's because they were still using Washita stones. They switched to US Schrade Bearpaw knives because Schrade used 440A blade steel, and they could sharpen that on a Washita stone.

 

[Corton93]

What's the other knife in the photo?

Civivi Elementum button lock

 

[Logan2070]

All the Walmart / Ozark and Winchester walmart knives appear to be junk. I see no reason to buy one when there are hundreds of better options for $25 to $50.

 

[EngrSorenson]

At risk of sounding like an Opinel plant, I don’t get what the fuss is about- we’ve known forever that a dependable knife can be bought for $16 from a reputable French company.

I guess I understand the urge to celebrate a great value, but the issue for me here is that there’s no known maker to lay success and failure; just some faceless entity under a brand name that’s targeting bargain shoppers. It doesn’t live or die by its reputation, so any success I attribute to blind luck.

 

[Chronovore]

All the Walmart / Ozark and Winchester walmart knives appear to be junk. I see no reason to buy one when there are hundreds of better options for $25 to $50.

You are correct and I say that as someone who has explored that rabbit hole. I think it's worth considering them in their natural environment, from the perspective of somebody who is only brick-and-mortar shopping at Walmart or might not be way into knives. For the price, they tend to look good and might even have decent action. They might start with a reasonable edge. They'll open letters and such. They just are what they are, and that was mostly soft hardware and blades in like 3Cr13. (Yeah, not 8Cr13Mov but 3Cr13. I bet you could find a steel frame lock from them wherein the blade and scales are the same steel.) The recent jump to D2 on this model is quite the flex. Even with a mediocre heat treatment and burnt factory edge; I understand the novelty.

The fact remains though, it's just a fastfood lunch away from stuff that is so much better. On the low end, Ganzo and Sanrenmu are a step up. Ganzo starts doing D2 at 60+ HRC in original designs around $25. For people who wish to avoid Ganzo due to their less original designs, Petrified Fish has a couple of models in D2 under $30 (and a bunch more under $50). Based on independent testing, Petrified Fish does one of the best heat treatments on Chinese D2. Those models hit hard for the dollar. Up over $30, the quantity of quality choices really explodes. For instance, Kizer has like a dozen models in either N690, Nitro-V, or 154CM for like $40; and at least a dozen more under $50. Heck, I've got one of those in my pocket right now as I type this.

 

[ben7420]

I know there's been alot of back and forth on these Ozark Trail knives since they got popular. I was skeptical sure, but I picked one up a few months ago, the Bugout copy. The pic is from when I first got it. Currently the knife is beat to hell, lives in my tool pouch at work.

It's done everything from just opening boxes and whittling sticks on lunch to stripping wire and cutting sheet rock and everything in between. Is it as good as my Spyderco's or CRK's? Absolutely not, but it's still been a hell of a knife for the $10 that I paid for it.
View attachment 2802312

I got one a couple weeks back and have found it to be very good as well. Idk how you can hate on a decent $10 knife

 

[bdmicarta]

You are correct and I say that as someone who has explored that rabbit hole. I think it's worth considering them in their natural environment, from the perspective of somebody who is only brick-and-mortar shopping at Walmart or might not be way into knives. For the price, they tend to look good and might even have decent action. They might start with a reasonable edge. They'll open letters and such. They just are what they are, and that was mostly soft hardware and blades in like 3Cr13. (Yeah, not 8Cr13Mov but 3Cr13. I bet you could find a steel frame lock from them wherein the blade and scales are the same steel.) The recent jump to D2 on this model is quite the flex. Even with a mediocre heat treatment and burnt factory edge; I understand the novelty.

The fact remains though, it's just a fastfood lunch away from stuff that is so much better. On the low end, Ganzo and Sanrenmu are a step up. Ganzo starts doing D2 at 60+ HRC in original designs around $25. For people who wish to avoid Ganzo due to their less original designs, Petrified Fish has a couple of models in D2 under $30 (and a bunch more under $50). Based on independent testing, Petrified Fish does one of the best heat treatments on Chinese D2. Those models hit hard for the dollar. Up over $30, the quantity of quality choices really explodes. For instance, Kizer has like a dozen models in either N690, Nitro-V, or 154CM for like $40; and at least a dozen more under $50. Heck, I've got one of those in my pocket right now as I type this.

I bought the white one for $5 and I understand it is 3cr. It came very dull so I sharpened it and carried it a bit, I didn't have any problems with the edge. I bought the orange one and it also came very dull. I've carried it a little bit and it has worked ok. Someone tested 3 of the orange ones and they were 59-60.

I've been through this before with cheap knives- someone talks about how certain brands of $30 knives are so good, specifically mentioning WE and Civivi. I search and there are none at $30, they start at $60. Because of that I was skeptical of your statement so I did a quick check on Amazon, (I had heard of all of those brands before.) I found Ganzo starting at around $20 mostly in 440C, Sanrenmu for similar prices in 8cr13, Petrified Fish were mostly in the $30-60 range and mostly with D2, Kizer starts with D2 at about $30, more for some other steels. I didn't study them but some of them look pretty good in the Amazon thumbnail. When I had the idea to buy something real cheap for hiking so I wouldn't risk losing an expensive knife I had checked some youtubers talking about Amazon sales and found a brand called Flissa. Some of them were under $20 with D2 and looked good in the photos. I don't know Flissa from Ganzo from Civivi, more research would be needed. Camping/hiking season is starting and I'm going to try the orange thing for awhile.