What is your grail knife and do you own it?

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Fir Na Tine

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Nov 1, 2020
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What is your “Grail” knife and do you own it? Pics please!
Fixed and folder…
My tastes are not super expensive.
My fixed is a yet to be made custom
My folder is a yet to be made custom as well but that would be pricey to make.

Fixed, a heavy duty drop point chopper in LC200N and S7 with a 7” blade.

Folder, a heavy duty large integral titanium handle with a locking mechanism of my own design in LC200N.

Sorry, no pics of my yet to be knives.
 
This custom by David Mary.
8.4 inch blade. Full height shallow convex grind. MagnaCut steel. Suretouch handles.
Pigsticker / hunting knife / camp knife.

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I don't think I've ever had one single grail folder in mind, but for fixed blades, hands down would have to be a Bob Loveless original drop point hunter in his signature green canvas micarta with red liners. I would do many things to own an original piece in that configuration. Here is another set up differently, but certainly no lesser in looks:

IMG_3478_opt.jpg
 
Commissioned custom Muira by Gareth Bull. I own it. I was fortunate to meet the Gareth at Blade Show and selected all the materials other than blade stock from the vendors there. I have owned several of his knives. I have two currently. The Muira here and a custom Shamwari I bought from his table at Blade as well. I don’t “search” anymore…E8A184D7-5FED-4D47-833F-598AACDECC2F.jpeg88284395-344C-4662-B405-21321AA69A0D.jpeg
 
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I’ve been able to afford lots of knives I never thought I’d own. Still a few on my list, mostly that I know I’d have no hope of ever owning. One within reach is a Brend model 2. The out of reach ones were made by guys who are not around anymore and fetch astronomical prices, like Bob Loveless.
 
AntDog said:
I’ve been able to afford lots of knives I never thought I’d own. Still a few on my list, mostly that I know I’d have no hope of ever owning. One within reach is a Brend model 2. The out of reach ones were made by guys who are not around anymore and fetch astronomical prices, like Bob Loveless.
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I fear I may never be able to own one, but I damn sure am gonna try my hardest. A Loveless hunter, Bill Moran hunter, an original Bo Randall. Those 3 plus Bill Scagel are all the 4 pillars of what this industry is today and how we see and appreciate knives, so a piece from all those gentelman would absolutely be an incredible honor in my life, as unlikely as it is to happen. A man can hope!
 
Not sure if you'd call them "grail" knives but these are the most expensive (valued at around $1000) knives that I own:

The Kershaw Tilt:

kershaw-tilt-1200x801.jpg


And, the Microtech Halo V:

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Didn't pay that much for them but that's what I see them selling for in various 2ndary markets.

Most of the other knives in my collection are in the $150-500 price range. Lots of very desireable knives among them (some that were very hard for me to come by) but none that I personally would consider a "grail" knife (although others might).

Update 5/25/24:

I recently purchased a Gen 1 Spyderco Slysz Bowie for about $1k (it's current market value) in order to complete my collection but I don't consider it a "grail knife" either; just an expensive one.

Right now, my "grail knife" is a Spyderco SzaboFly that I have in sight but am still deciding whether it's really worth buying or not. 🤷‍♂️
 
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As my tastes change, so do my grails.

Fixed:
1. Becker BK14 with a slightly longer handle in Magnacut.
2. Becker BK2 with an 7.5" long 3V blade.

Both were never made and likely aren't going to be.

The one grail I got is my BK17. (One user + one NIB)

Folder: (Not the folder fanatic as folders are broken knives by design)

1. A one hand slipjoint Spyderco Endela Saber ground all black in whatever Steel Spyderco deems good:)
2. A one hand slipjoint Victorinox 111mm Alox all black. (The Rucksack configuration)
 
My first non-SAK folder that I bought with my own money was a Buck/Mayo TNT. And it was my only folder for more than a decade, until I lost it on a camping trip. I missed it so much I started buying other knives, trying to compensate - losing it was one of the reasons I got into knives. Looking at all the Ti framelocks to substitute the TNT. At first, I looked all over the net to find one, but only the Waimea was still available.

As I was going through my Spyderco phase I saw the Fluted Ti Millie model, and to me, it looked like the best folder ever made by Spyderco - I decided I must have it. By that time it was already out of production so it took me almost a year until I found a NIB copy locally for a good price. But I was surprised that even then, I still wanted my first folder back! Realizing nothing else will do, I went back to trawling the net, and after a few months finally found one in Italy:

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There can be only one!
 
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For fixed knives, my becker bk7 or bk16... Simple, useful, affordable.

On the folder side, the Spyderco Shaman is my go to. I love the design. Just wish I could get an s90v/cf version to add to my collection but I'm not paying the secondary market prices. I also have my Hinderers, which I love. But my custom s90v/cf Benchmade Griptilian is pretty amazing as well...hasnt left my pocket since I got it.

So, maybe not grails, but knives I'm proud to own and use, I have plenty. I enjoy the variety.
 
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