What do you think is the toughest, best dollar to value combat/utility fixed blade?

If you want American made, check out the Gerber StrongArm, it had the shit kicked out of it in the Gauntlet series on youtube and held up. If you're not bothered by Chinese made check out Schrade, they have a variety of tough knives in 1095 as well as a stainless steel that's regarded on par with 420 I guess. Also Buck has a variety of knives, however, they mostly have a rattail tang so they don't take the beating that full handle tang knives can. If you use a hatchet to process wood, you can't go wrong with Buck.
 
Charles Lacour said:
@Dingy,

Thanks. I was considering a post asking why, and here you went and did it for free. ( :) )

After looking your points over and looking at the knife, I see what you mean on the pointyness of the tip and the upper guard. The sheath, I care about two things: it protects me (and everything else) from the edge of the knife, and it carries the knife so I'll have it when I need it. If it does both of those, it's "good enough", even if it's not good.

If #2 means that the screws holding the handle on are breaking, that IS pretty bad. (I'm surprised they're not rivets, though.)

Some of those are pretty serious downsides, so yeah, that might take it out of the running for me, too.
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glock78 is an different animal , man. for 30 bucks , that is a good choice buying one.

i used shabby to describe the sheath of GI TANTO maybe not fair , the sheath is durable , older version stheath is made of Nylon , new version is made of plastic , i thought.

In compareing to Glock78 sheath , GI sheath is not a good one .
 
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As for recommendation to a cheap and tough buget knife , i think CS TRUE FLIGHT THROWER is a cool candidate

Taking off the paracord and put on g10 slabes that i hand shaped , it feel solid in hand . alot of way better now.:D

When i sharpen it , it feels softer than GI . so i guess that TFT does not hold an edge like GI. just guess.

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AntDog said:
But it's a damn near exact clone of one of the Strider models.

And yes, that inflammatory ad copy? I'm pretty damn positive that was aimed squarely at someone.
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I find the convict comment on the CS site very inappropriate and unprofessional and what Lynn doesn't realise is that it says a lot about his own character to write that ... and then when one considers who actually ripped-off whom the already sour taste only gets more vulgar.
 
dingy said:
As for recommendation to a cheap and tough buget knife , i think CS TRUE FLIGHT THROWER is a cool candidate

Taking off the paracord and put on g10 slabes that i hand shaped , it feel solid in hand . alot of way better now.:D

When i sharpen it , it feels softer than GI . so i guess that TFT does not hold an edge like GI. just guess.
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That is because it IS softer. Its a thrower. Throwers are made soft because you don't really care about the edge. You throw it into stuff! You want something soft that you can slap a quick edge on so you can get back to ruining the edge by throwing it into stuff.

Throwers are not really designed for "use" or holding an edge. If they were they would't be so soft. They are designed to have an edge that is VERY easy to repair (and, VERY easy to damage/dull).
 
AntDog said:
Well, if you define ripoff as an almost exact copy, then yes it's a ripoff.

Different materials, yes. But it's a damn near exact clone of one of the Strider models.

And yes, that inflammatory ad copy? I'm pretty damn positive that was aimed squarely at someone.
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Yep. It's not like they made an effort to hide it. In fact, that ad copy makes it perfectly clear that they deliberately appropriated someones design and whose design it was. It basically says "Why buy this same design from some other guy we wont name...buy it from us."

They might as well have added "wink, wink" to the copy.
 
marcinek said:
That is because it IS softer. Its a thrower. Throwers are made soft because you don't really care about the edge. You throw it into stuff! You want something soft that you can slap a quick edge on so you can get back to ruining the edge by throwing it into stuff.

Throwers are not really designed for "use" or holding an edge. If they were they would't be so soft. They are designed to have an edge that is VERY easy to repair (and, VERY easy to damage/dull).
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thank you for you inputs .:D
 
As far as I'm concerned, there's no better value in the fixed blade market than the GI Tanto, and hasn't been since its release.

[video=youtube;uHLIBtB8BOY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHLIBtB8BOY[/video]
[video=youtube;6qV0zaN83zM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qV0zaN83zM[/video]
 
The only "combat" / utility knives I have experience with are the OKC 499 Pilot Survival Knife, and it has been a few decades since I 've owned one of them. I 've seen them online for around $40, and the Ka-Bar " Marine Fighting Kinfe". It has been even longer since I owned one of those. At their price, I'll pass, but the real deal breaker for any Ka-Bar, for me, anyway, is Ka-Bar is owned by CutCo. I refuse to support that company or buy any of their knives - new or used.
The OKC 498 is the same as the Ka-Bar, and, unlike the current production Ka-Bar, the 498 is Mil Spec. I've seen the 498 online for around $40, too.

EDIT: I have a Cold Steel GI Tanto, but have not been able to play with it yet. Therefore, I cannot recommend it - yet.
 
wouldn't some variety of machete,12" or so, from say condor be right in there? they also have some economical fixed blades. and nobody has mentioned the cold steel bushman. i don't own either of these so maybe there's a reason they were left off, but...price point and ease of sharpening seem to be thereand it's a little difficult to f--k up a machete because of the(usually) softer steel.
 
Falnor said:
So, if your thinking of a Ontario 499 dont buy one from Walmart. I purchased the first one and the guard rattled and moved the leather washers spun around. I called Ontario they were very nice and sent me a new one. This was seemed to be built a little better.

I had it on my belt during a small camping trip, I sat on the ground and it bent. I didn't pry with it, I didn't abuse it.. I just sat down and it bent. I can even re-bend it back with my hands, and I consider myself powerful.. but not that powerful.

So, for the money I would say go with a Gerber Strongarm. I think I picked it up on Amazon for roughly 40 dollars and it tough. Comes with a pretty nifty sheath.

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You are such a hard azz:D
 
A second vote for the Cattaraugus 225Q, I got mine for 2 bucks at a Garage sale.
bottom left in pic.
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next choice would probably be the Kabar 1272, 3rd. from bottom
 
dogbertius said:
Becker BK9 hands down. The sheathe also lets you squeeze in a smaller BK13 remora for smaller tasks, a DMT double sided folding sharpener, an emergency fishing kit with spare 100lbs line to set snares and traps, plus room at the bottom of the sheathe to tie on plenty of paracord, a magnesium block plus fire steel starter, and a mini pack of waterproof matches.

Top it off with the fact the knife is strong enough to easily down trees, baton wood, and holds an edge incredibly well, even after being used as an emergency shovel, it's hard to beat this knife. Just this knife, a water bottle, and a portable emergency shelter is enough to tough out a multi-day hike.

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I think that OP is looking for dollar value. The glock and the CS GI Tanto blow everything out of the water in dollar value to toughness.
 
^^^they were a good value when they came out. IIRC, they ran what, 50 bucks?!

Now, not so much... Nice knife? Definitely. No longer a good value though (due to scarcity and very high secondary market value).
 
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