What specs are major turn-offs?

Since 95% of the knives I own and want are well outside of the price range of the common spring assisted Kershaw, I'll stick with specs for my price point.

1) Thick behind the edge, regardless of stock thickness
2) Stock thickness
3) Sabre grind or very low hollow grind
4) Roughly more than 1 ounce per inch of handle (i.e. 6 ounces on a 5 inch handled knife)
5) Teflon anything (usually washers)
6) Recurves
7) Nick Shabazz special: Pocket peckers.
 
Serrated or part serrated edge, guard that gets in the way, unnecessary hole(s) in the blade, "nightmare" grinds and even composite grinds, recurved edge, chisel grind, finger choil in the blade... add to this : full tang with hugely thick stock, jimping where it's not needed (I actually prefer none at all), silly shapes... there are others but they are relative to the type of blade, so I will stop bitching.
 
michaelm466 said:
Combo-Edges (half serrated/half PE)
Tanto Point
multi edge grinds
Steel that has less edge holding than VG-10/154cm
Short thick grinds (short saber or hollow grind)
Knives with poor blade/handle ratio
Aluminum handles/slick polished handles
Choils taking up space on blades that should be sharpened (if I have a 3.5" blade and 5" handle I don't need .5" more cutting edge to be sacrificed for even more handle)
I don't like tip down
Assisted opening (applies to thumbstud/hole knives, they're okay for flipper knives)
Zombie/ninja/survivor marketing logos/paint all over the knife
Click to expand...
^^^
This is a pretty complete list of things which I dislike
Recurve
I can only add overpriced midtech knives
 
Last edited:
Animal etchings, giant logos or word etchings, assisted opening, stag, mother of pearl etc, Indian motifs, goofy colors like pink purple yellow, holes that are for aesthetics, and the words "made in China".
 
Bad blade to handle ratio.

Well, I consider it bad, or at least a design choice I disagree with.

It’s like, ‘why do you have a 2.75 inch blade in a 4.25 inch handle?’ Cmon!
I’m looking at you PM2 & Para3. I love my PM2 but it’s got like an inch of ‘trunk space’ in the back that I don’t need.
 
Oh and I hate when the tang of the blade is exposed in the closed position.
You know, from the profile view, there’s a lazy notch ruining the lines. Ugh.
 
1) Serrated blades are a deal killer.
2) I'm not fond of recurve blades.
3) I'm not fond of Pocket Clips.
(This may be due to having a pocket knife laying in the bottom of my pocket for the last 58 years)
4) 0.25" blade stock on anything less than a machete.
5) With very few exceptions, single blade pocket knives.
6) Marketing telling me I need a "Super Steel" to make fire sticks, cut packing tape, string, cotten or sissel cord, vacuum hose, or to skin a deer, rabbit, or squirrel and to clean a fish.
 
CoolBreeze135 said:
This is the question: What specs really turn you off when looking at a knife? I'm sure we have all had an experience where we were looking around online and browsing knife models. You see a knife that catches your eye. It looks good, like it was made with your style in mind. You click on the product page to see more pictures and get the specs. Then you see that one little fact that ruins the entire knife design for you. What is it? Just curious to see all the various answers.

We all know that this is a subjective issue. This isn't the place to argue about whether or not certain features are objectively good or objectively bad. I just want to hear opinions for the fun of the discussion.

For me, the biggest turn off is a chisel grind. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a photo of a knife that I'm really into until I see a photo of the opposite side and realize that it has a freakin' chisel grind. I really love symmetry, so chisel grinds just rub me the wrong way. That kills the whole knife for me right then and there. (If you hadn't guessed, this exact situation happened to me 10 minutes ago, which inspired the thread).
Click to expand...



Yup Chisel grinds truly suck . Hate them and immediately stop considering a knife that has one. They have their place (on a chisel)

and serrations

as far as locks liner locks .
 
Steels hardened to RC55 in folding knives and small fixed blades. I understand that running them softer adds toughness, but a 3" fixed blade does not need to be at the same hardness as a felling axe bit or a longsword edge. And I think the "ease of field sharpening" line is a joke.

I especially dislike this when the steel used is some otherwise-high-end steel that performs best at higher hardness. If you wanted toughness over edge retention, why not just use 3V in the first place rather than running S35VN soft?
 
When I see "Made in China"* or any steel that's got "mov" in it. I need to see a spectrum of known materials before I reach for my wallet.






*Save it guys, personal preference, thanks.
 
Serrations, chisel grinds, damasteel, gaudy designs (nearly everything by WE), coated blades, partially coated blades, steels below 8cr13mov.

While I don’t mind owning some blades over .12” thickness, I’m mostly disinterested in buying more.

The Gemini is spoiling the crap out of me. It’s simple and perfect.
 
Coating on the blade
Recurve
Branding on the clip
Hole in the blade
Holes in the handle
Serrations
Wood handles
Lock backs
Too many screws
Glass breaker
Not PM stainless
 
For me its any frivolous holes, milling, grinds, finishes, etc.. ONE opening hole, oval, slot, fuller, what ever is great, but anything after that is just cringey imo.

This is the epitome of what I do not like in a knife:
WE-Knife-Co-Isham-Eschaton-CF-Ti-SW-719B-BHQ-79577-jr-bottlecap-large.jpg
 
Weight over 5 oz (folder) is hard for me, 6 oz and over is no-go.
Anything “lower” than 8Cr13 is no-go, even in a budget knife.
Recurves and part serrated are really close to no-go.

Tanto’s and fully SE are ok in certain circumstances. (I like Reeve’s tanto and SE Spyderco Salts)
 
Schwifty said:
Bad blade to handle ratio.

Well, I consider it bad, or at least a design choice I disagree with.

It’s like, ‘why do you have a 2.75 inch blade in a 4.25 inch handle?’ Cmon!
I’m looking at you PM2 & Para3. I love my PM2 but it’s got like an inch of ‘trunk space’ in the back that I don’t need.
Click to expand...

I agree with this for the most part, however, have to say that I enjoy that design element on my Cold Steel Ultimate Hunter. It makes an excellent folding camp knife, and I've whittled with it quite a lot, and having that big comfortable handle with that short wide blade has allowed me to do more with the knife, and do it comfortably than others I've used in the past. A pretty neat thing, altogether.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top