Wharncliff lovers, what is your favorite knife?

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kgriggs8

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After owning a few Wharncliffs and getting to know them, I have decided that it is one of the best blade designs for EDC. It is not perfect for everything but it great for most things.

My favorite knife is the Spyderco Centofante 4. To me, it combines alot of the best features of Wharncliff blades. I think a Wharncliff blade should have plenty of point and should be thin.

I also think the Kershaw Leek is a good design. What other production knives are good?
 
Not sure if I'm a Wharncliff lover but I like my Strider WPs. They perform very well on my little chores. I enjoy using them.

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I really like Wharncliff blades...I have my eye on a Nemesis Imp...hoping I can get one soon. A really nice knife...SV-30 steel, exotic hardwood scales, titanium liners...made in Seki City.
 
I recently jumped aboard the wharcliffe train and really love my Kershaw Needs Work. A thin slcing machine much like the Centofante 4.
 
These are two of my favorites. The CF is an early effort by a knifemaker in Kansas.

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I'm a fan of the wharncliffe, but my two favorites are not true wharncliffes, rather they're variants thereof.

The Benchmade 921 Switchback.

AG Russell Featherlite in the "utility" blade shape.

Neither is perfect. The Switchback has a somewhat clunky handle but with a sweet blade and the awesome Axis lock. The Featherlite a non-adjustable pivot a slightly lesser lock and is hollow ground but a truly awesome handle. I've thought of having the Switchback tweaked with a new handle modeled after the Featherlite.

The Benchmade 440 Opportunist is a classy modified wharncliffe I also like, though not as much as the first two.
 
I've got a few, however some are discontinued.

BM921 Switchback. Elegant with the blue aluminum handles, S30V and axis lock. One of my "dress knives".

Kershaw Leek. Blade magazine's knife of the year in 2002. Enough said.

BM425 Gravitator. Tactical, and my largest wharnie, has sweet scales. Also has the thickest liner lock I've ever seen, just short of being a frame lock. Only gripes are that the thumb ramp is the widest part of the blade, the grooves are kind of painful on the hand when reaching into the pocket; and the fact that the best deal I found was a coated blade when I wanted satin.

Spyderco Ronin. Another Snody design, in VG-10. Wicked slicer, but I've seen pics of cracked tips because the spine of the blade is so narrow at the point, so a slicer only! The tip is definitely not a problem on the BM425 Grav!

And, my newest, the Kershaw Needs Work. Inexpensive (less than $40!), and holds an edge better than 440C. Not a super steel but has a fine grain structure so it can get wicked sharp quick. Handle is fugly but it grows on you and fills the hand quite well. No thumb stud or hole, is assisted open with a flipper and a liner lock. The only wharnie I own that is still in production.

I held off on a Sus Scrofa from Busse (wife and I are expecting our first child); no regrets!!
 
I almost forgot about the BM 921 Switchback!

I carry that one every day at work. It is such a part of me that I just overlooked it. I have the blue one with CE. I never use the small blade but I love the large Wharncliff blade and the Axis lock.

I carry it every day and it has become a part of me. I use it so often that I don't even think about it. I probably use it about 40 times a day. If there is a plasitic bag that needs to be opened or a zip tie that needs cut, the 921 comes out and goes back in faster than ANY knife I have ever owned. That Axis lock is amazing. Flip it out, make the cut and flip it closed. No thinking required.
 
I just got a Kershaw Leek. I have to say, I'm feeling the Wharncliff love. While I'm sure the design is function, it just looks so elegant to boot.
 
That would be my Kershaw "Needs Work"...Alot of knife for not alot of money.:thumbup:.:thumbup:.
 
Count me as another who edcs a BM 921.

I also like my Leek and my Boker Wharcom. The Wharcom gets lots of carry in my cargo shorts in the summer.
 
When I was a kid I had a three blade slip joint that had a Wharncliff type blade as, I think, the secondary blade. I used to use it more than the other two blades. I wonder if I still have that knife?
 
Deadhead Archer said:
Spyderco Ronin. Another Snody design, in VG-10.
Click to expand...

Thanx for the plug Archer, but the Ronin was a Michael Janich design. Mr. Snody made the custom version of Michael Janich's very well thought out design. The Yojimbo was Michael's folding version of the Roinin.

sal
 
Rich357 said:
When I was a kid I had a three blade slip joint that had a Wharncliff type blade as, I think, the secondary blade. I used to use it more than the other two blades. I wonder if I still have that knife?
Click to expand...

I guess the Warncliff type blade on my old folder was really a sheepsfoot.
 
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