What knife surprised you the most?

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Gary W. Graley

Gary W. Graley

“Imagination is more important than knowledge"
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As the title states, "What knife surprised you the most?" for me it is those times when a certain knife was just never on my radar due to style, size, make, steel, scales etc etc...and recently my friend @DocJekl had sent along this Case Muskrat as a gift, not a knife that I ever gave a second glance at when perusing those places that carry sharp steely items ;) but when I got it I took and sharpened it up, as I am want to do with most knives that arrive, and was very pleased with how well it performed, Case notorious for softer heat treatment of their knives this one took a nice toothy edge and seems to keep it longer than most that I've owned. That's a good thing ;) and the blades are very handy with they're slim hollow ground pointy narrowness and are able to reach in and cut when you don't have much room to wield a blade any larger. Thanks again Doc, it rides daily in my watch pocket!

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

So, what knife surprised you guys/gals the most?
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The Bark River Harpoon Necker that fell out of its sheath.
The Benchmade Ball 300 that was the first knife I had that would drop closed.
The Benchmade Claymore that flew out of my hand when I first opened it. In the store. After I already owned half a dozen other autos.
The Victorinox Explorer that I broke two thumbnails on before I got the blade open with pliers.
 
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Back in the day, I met Glockman99 at a local bar and we exchanged knives. I received a CRKT Mah Eraser.

That thing was smooth, ergonomic, had great action and handled like a dream. I was not just surprised by this CRKT, I was shocked.

I've been surprised at how versatile and useful the Vic Rambler is. It's just a little SAK, but man does it surprise me with how often it comes in handy.

Finally, there's this thing. My uncle gave it to me one day... (At the same tavern I met Glockman99, matter of fact) and I carry it now and then. Surprisingly sharp and carryable.
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Not exciting, but I am surprised by how long I carried only a Victorinox Classic SD, and never found it wanting. It just took care of business. Other knives I carry are just for fun; I know the Classic can handle everything.

Honorable mention is the Buck 303. It was my first stockman pattern. Pretty soon after I acquired it, I understood why so many people have carried a stockman.
 
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Without a doubt these two are the most surprising (in a good way) knives I’ve bought. Unfortunately I’ve been surprised many times in a negative way, expecting something to be better than it turned out to be. The Civivi I bought on a whim. I had never even handled one in person but the price was so good I figured it was worth the gamble. I was not expecting much from a Chinese mass produced knife but I was wrong. The fit and finish, overall feel, blade centering, grind, everything was way nicer than I was expecting and really pretty amazing for a knife at that price point. Then there’s the alox cadet. What a great little knife. Honestly I bought my first one as a cheap knife for my wife because it came in purple. I figured if she lost it or broke it etc. no big loss. Once you start carrying it though you’re just amazed at how handy that little thing is. As simple as the tools are I find uses for them all the time, it’s light weight, they come in cool colors, and you can sharpen it into a scalpel. Love this little thing. 76A83B10-C3B3-45C7-B59E-F77C097B74CF.jpeg

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Gary W. Graley said:
lol well those are certainly surprises, wasn’t the direction I was thinking it would go so that ’surprised’ me
🤣
G2
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Here are some other kinds of surprises. Maybe the first is closer to what you had in mind.

When my wife delivered 13 sheep for me (a computer programmer) to take care of, she bought a $5 no-name Chinese knife with a combo blade on ebay for me to cut baling twine with. I used that knife almost daily for about 9 years before it needed sharpening. Even then, it still cut better than a brand new Spyderco Atlantic Salt with a serrated LC200N blade that cost over $100.

I went to unload the dishwasher, pulled out the top rack, and a chef's knife with an 8 inch blade fell out, point down, and speared my big toe. It went in about a quarter inch deep. No serious damage, but I was surprised as @#$%&! :-)
 
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The mora 2000. Which is billed as a good light knife for cutting tasks but not the most rugged knife.

And I used it for a bit. And realised I basically only use a light knife for cutting tasks.

And it wound up doing these silly things well like stay on a plate because the knife isn't full tang. Or slice up stuff easily because it is thin. Or sit in the sink for three days. Because it is stainless.

I had previously always gone the other way. A heavier knife for cool survival jobs and then put up with the cutting issues.

And so I have ordered the kransbol. Because the 2000 is an incredibly ugly knife
 
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There's been a few. The most recent good surprise was the Buck 110 Slim Select. Having the Buck heat treated 420HC steel blade and lockback of the 110, with the equivalent of the Bugout scales and Bugout weight (also a pocket clip for people who are into those) makes for a highly underrated EDC.

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Velitrius said:
Back in the day, I met Glockman99 at a local bar and we exchanged knives. I received a CRKT Mah Eraser.

That thing was smooth, ergonomic, had great action and handled like a dream. I was not just surprised by this CRKT, I was shocked.

I've been surprised at how versatile and useful the Vic Rambler is. It's just a little SAK, but man does it surprise me with how often it comes in handy.

Finally, there's this thing. My uncle gave it to me one day... (At the same tavern I met Glockman99, matter of fact) and I carry it now and then. Surprisingly sharp and carryable.
View attachment 2125599
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I have one of those, Erasers and you're right about smooth. Thing open and closes nearly on its own. It's got plastic washers is why.
 
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dogstar said:
Not exciting, but I am surprised by how long I carried only a Victorinox Classic SD, and never found it wanting. It just took care of business. Other knives I carry are just for fun; I know the Classic can handle everything.

Honorable mention is the Buck 303. It was my first stockman pattern. Pretty soon after I acquired it, I understood why so many people have carried a stockman.
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I’ve been carrying my Tinker SAK a lot lately. I like my Spydercos for ease of one handed opening but the Swiss Army knives are so easy to carry and fun to use.
 
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Mora Craftline Robust Pro for me. Basically indestructible (haven’t personally tested it to destruction but there is a video
out there by Joe X), unbelievably sharp, perfect ergos, handle, blade length and very decent sheath. I’m still baffled how Mora can do all this for $15 🤷‍♂️. It defies the laws of economics, particularly in these inflationary times and considering it comes from a high income European country and not some third world gulag.
 
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Bob Denman said:
Well...
There was that one that drank my beer, slept with my Wife, and wrecked my truck...
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Which begs the question........did your dog at least come back to you so the story/country song has a happy ending? :D

Benchmade and Leatherman both surprised me. Both took a political stance diametrically opposed to that of (what one would think would be) the majority of their customers.
 
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Hal said:
Which begs the question........did your dog at least come back to you so the story/country song has a happy ending? :D

Benchmade and Leatherman both surprised me. Both took a political stance diametrically opposed to that of (what one would think would be) the majority of their customers.
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With a face like this: what do YOU think? 😁
 
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I bought my first Tuff Lite on a whim to get over the hump for free shipping one day. Not the prettiest thing, but turned out to be one of the more handy and useful knives I own. It”s with me all the time. Second would be the venerable Case Sodbuster. Nothing really special about it, but for some strange reason I like it much more than I ever expected. Third would be the Mora Pro C. Another impulse buy that rang the bell.
 
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