What knives DON'T work for you?

Nothing that has let me down, I know there are some nit picky things I didn't like about a few knives.

BM Nimravus, the thumb ramps jimping was very rough.

most of the knives I've bought needed to be reprofiled, the only one two I can think of that I didnt need to do anything to were the SOG revolver H, and the Nimravus. I still want another nimravus. :D
 
Well the KA-BAR USMC didn't worked for my needs.It needs reprofiling right out of the box...
 
The Busses don't work for me that well. The small ones. The shape and the handles are great but the grind not so great and like Nordic Viking said they won't spark a firesteel very well.

I'm not really into a choil notch or big ricasso on any small blade.

Also overly thick small knives and thin handles.

Squared off handles.
 
Big Mike said:
The I hate textured handles, for long term use I might as well be holding a cheese grater.


"If you're not living on the edge, …you're taking up too much space."

Big Mike

Forest & Stream
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Thats SO funny.. I've said cheese grater in that regard MANY times. Thats the first time I've ever heard anyone else say it..:D:thumbup:
 
Well I am not sure if I can say any knives in particular but I can list a few characteristics that are popular that I don't care for.

Short, Thick Blades - Can't use to cut because its too thick and can't chop due to length
Chisel Grinds - I can never get a decent edge on them
Large choils on short knives - Shouldn't need to be there, no reason to choke up
Asymmetrical Grinds - Difficult to imitate and maddening
 
Tom Brown Jr. Tracker, TOPS version. Ordered it the day before the movie ( The Hunted )came out, thinking the knife would be closer to the "Becks" version than it turned out to be. I had vpassed on an Original Becks some time before and was pretty excited, but that bubble burst when the TOPS "Slab O' Hype" arrived.

To be fair, many seem to like it, and i have attended a couple of Toms courses since the movie, but I only saw one Tracker knife, and it was in new condition and not in danger of being over used.. I didn't bring mine at all.
 
pitdog said:
Please go out and use these knives before coming on here and recommending them !
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Or at the very least get some of these and stick them on the blade :D

Bullet%20Holes%20Multi.jpg
 
Not any knife in particular, however as someone has previously said, chisel ground blades. Not really sure why, however they just don't work for me. They aren't as functional as a conventional grind at all. At least, not in my opinion.
 
fiskking said:
huh, I have a fatty? game warden and I have plenty of marks on the spine from firesteel marks. is the spine(edges) rounded off on yours?:confused:
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No they're not rounded, it's just that the knife doesn't provide as intense / many sparks as my other blades do. It's almost as if it doesn't have enough grip.
 
pitdog said:
I don't want this to turn into a thread typical of whine and cheese but another thing that bugs me is when someone says how great their knife is and when you see the pics you can tell straight away that it's never been used !!!!!

Please go out and use these knives before coming on here and recommending them !

If it's a filleting knife make sure it visits a fish and see if it's really any use at filleting !
If it's a skinner does it zip through the skin like a laser or does it just look good when your holding it in front of the bathroom mirror ?
If it's a survival knife then it must be able to perform many tasks from cutting foodstuffs, woodcrafting yet still be tough enough to be used to truncate or split wood !
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I know what you are saying, and I agree with it. You should have used a knife before recommending it to someone else for a specific task.

However, many here (including me) take pictures of our knives when we first get them, before we use them. I think it's these pictures that tend to get used when posting pics about recommending knives.
 
Smith and Wesson knives. What is the point of manufacturing a knife that spends more time on a sharpening stone than cutting stuff. None hold an edge long enough to make them practicle.
 
I'm basically preaching to the choir here, but what the hell...

Choils. Forget em. Well, maybe one thats a few millimeters wide to make sharpening nicer, but I want to hold onto the part of the knife designed for being held.

Bad geometry. Sadly every Busse I actually use had to be reprofiled & sharpened right out of the "box".

Poor balance. This is mainly an issue with smaller knives seeing as with big choppers being forward heavy is just fine, and medium (7") knives naturally tend to be neutrally balanced, but with small blades I'm sick of overweight, handle heavy knives. Again, out of my collection this is mostly an issue with my Busse's, big handles, thick steel, heavy micarta/g10 handle material and no skeletonized tang. I can't imagine that skeletonizing the tangs like the BRKT Bravo 1 would cost much more to make seeing as it's all done with laser/jet cutters, but it sure would improve the knife.

Long handles. Now this is a matter of personal preference, but I'm not a fan of excessively long handles, I like them thick and full, but not longer than necessary. On small knives especially I always want to hold the blade as close to the edge as possible, there's no need to "choke back", and some of my knives could stand to have 1"+ cut off the butt.

It seems that Busse's are getting a fair bit of criticism here, but that doesn't really surprise me given the inherit issues with a lot of their designs (choils, geometry, ect) and the high expectations that are set out by the price and hype they receive.
 
khukuris arent really my cup of tea. I initially thought that they would be the perfect axe-knife hybrid. so, i got an HI khuk the same day i got my GB, and since then, i have hardly used the khuk. to me, it is just too heavy, the sheath is awkward. this is however just my opinion, and i want to stress that. I am not insulting the HI folks at all, the khuk design in general is just not good for what i do.
 
It's already been mentioned, but I have to attack a real sacred cow: the classic Ka-Bar "fighting" knife. The stock is too thin, the fuller is pointless, the blade is too short for heavy chopping yet too long for fine cutting, and the bevels could use some help. I'm not crazy about the balance or roundish handle, either. With a little work it can make a serviceable knife, but there's way to many compromises.

For a budget survival knife, I'd rather have the USAF pilot's knife; thicker stock, handier blade length. Still handle heavy, and the bevels need work if you really want it to cut and slice well, but it's more comfy to use and much stouter. I could certainly live without the sawteeth on the spine. The sheath is a classic.

Having said all that, I've beaten the snot out of a couple of both models, and they are darn sure better than nothing, and a good bargain. They're made of good steel that takes a fine edge and is easy to sharpen, although I think they're HT'ed a bit too soft. It's just that with a little design tweakage, they could both be a lot better.


Ankar Sheng said:
Choils. Forget em. Well, maybe one thats a few millimeters wide to make sharpening nicer, but I want to hold onto the part of the knife designed for being held.

Poor balance.

Long handles.
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I agree on all those points. "Hate" is a strong word, but large choils especially make me grind my teeth in rage.
 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The Ka-Bar USMC didn't work out for me either, for all the aforementioned reasons, but I just chalked that up to it being designed as a fighter and was simply the wrong tool for the job. I do like the barrel shaped handle, though it is a bit big.
 
From more of a military context...

I dislike small handles.

I dislike recurve blades.

I dislike knives without guards.
 
Ankar Sheng, I would have to agree with you on just about everything you said! Handles really are a pet peeve of mine. I've got big (wide) hands, but I don't need 6" of handle length on anything smaller than a sword.

However, I do like a finger choil on midsized (6-10") knives, if they're balanced correctly. They allow the weight to be ahead of your hand and allow use of the full handle while doing chopping (heavy impact usage) but you can choke up, having more control while doing non-or light-impact chores with the knife. Otherwise, a knife that sized is balanced for light impact chores while holding the handle and you have to 'choke back' on the knife for chopping which compromises (in my mind, anyway) your grip.

And although Busse is catching some flak, they are 'Busse Combat' not 'Busse Woodcraft'! Truth be told, if I were looking at a combat or survival situation you can bet there'd be one strapped to my pack:D
 
WalterDavis said:
However, I do like a finger choil on midsized (6-10") knives, if they're balanced correctly.
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Not me. I've found I have no problem just holding the blade by the spine if I want to "choke up" on it and guide the tip with my index finger. A large double guard would interfere with that, of course, but it would whether there was a choil or not.

Call me crazy, but I like as much of the blade to be sharp, as possible. It seems I do a lot of cutting real close to the guard, because that allows really good control. A large choil makes that unnecessarily difficult and complicated.

Just my opinion, as always. :)
 
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