Who likes Inexpensive high value knives, USA,China,etc,any country....

I find myself in that state of mind sometimes. Recently bought some junk knives on E-bay, + an AlMar eagle folder. Surleyone
 
I think there are plenty of us who like quality inexpensive knives. My two main users are a Mora and a Victorinox, combined they cost me $36 shipped to my door. Opinel, Buck, Leatherman, Case, and Svord come to mind as well.

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I just bought a Buck Vantage Select "small".
Guys...the quality of this knife is just amazing.very impressed.just like when I purchased the Ontario rat 2.
If this knife would be three times the price..I would still pay for it!!!
 
I've always gone for great value low price knives. $50-$100 seems like a sweet spot to get a pretty nice knife but I usually won't carry a knife which is even that expensive at work. I'm a machinist and want a hunk of steel in my pocket I can use while working so that means a budget knife.

I spent too much on knives my first year or so of "collecting". For some years though, my hobby has mostly entailed hitting flea markets, yard sales, and such for old traditionals. If you like trads and enjoy the hunt, that is the best deal there is. You can get great knives for home carry and beaters with a little life left in them for work.

Of late I've been toying with inexpensive knives from Sanrenmu. I've changed jobs at the age of 60 and money (for knives) is tight. I'm pretty much just working and sleeping these days so playing mail order is my fun. I can drop $10-$20 every couple/few weeks and get a knife sent to me (postpaid!). The Sanrenmu knives are hit and miss with some stinkers but many knives which are surprising value for the price.
 
BalazsBlade said:
I just bought a Buck Vantage Select "small".
Guys...the quality of this knife is just amazing.very impressed.just like when I purchased the Ontario rat 2.
If this knife would be three times the price..I would still pay for it!!!
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+1 on the Vantage line. I have a large Avid and a small Pro.

Here is a large Select I thinned out on stones for my brother before I got a 1x30:

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A little weird looking, but it's a wicked slicer now. There is still a small edge bevel there too, it just isn't really visible in the pic.
 
Howdy Hacked,

Speaking of inexpensive quality knives and Moras
Is it possible to beat this little fixed blade?



I mean . . . LAMINATED high quality steel and truly razor sharp from the factory (as opposed to . . . they ground it on a coarse belt and the amazon reviewer who has their head in a dark smelly place is calling it "razor" sharp and has no clue . . . version of razor sharp). All for twenty or thirty bucks !

What was it some one had in their moniker ? If it isn't at least five inches long I'm not interested.
Mine is If it can't cut a medium wire tie I'm not interested.
This shallow single bevel baby passed that test right out of the packaging with ease.
Almost nothing I have could I say that including a box knife.

Is this the worlds most useful handle shape or what ?
In fact this has inspired me to start a new thread. A thread to end all threads, a thread that will stretch on into time with thrust and parry and photos to fill a library . . . a grand and stellar parade of the knife maker's art . . .

What's your favorite utility / user handle.

(probably been done before but I'm too lazy to search for it)
Wannahearit-here-I-go . . .
 
Apophis said:
+1 on the Vantage line. I have a large Avid and a small Pro.

Here is a large Select I thinned out on stones for my brother before I got a 1x30:

2j31w6d.jpg


A little weird looking, but it's a wicked slicer now. There is still a small edge bevel there too, it just isn't really visible in the pic.
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I did that to a Buck Diamond back about 13 or so years ago. Made it one nice slicer. The deeper hollow grind on the vantage must make it one heck of a slicer with your regrind of the edge like that.

Their 420HC is amazing. I'm surprised it don't get more air time. In the reaper I have in that steel it keeps an edge like 1095 and acts like its 5160 when I beat on it and even apples won't rust their 420HC, even after a full season of slicing apples with it. I just sliced up some I picked off the tree maybe 20 minutes ago and I haven't cleaned or rinsed it all Apple season and still no rust or corrosion. Great all around user knife steel. Even though the Bos heat treated 420HC takes a bit longer than other 420HC brands, it still sharpens relatively easy.
 
I think there are a ton of great blades in the under 100$ price range. The ones that one to mind immediately and that I recommend to friends that want quality without a huge price tag are Benchmade griptillians, spydercos(i don't care for them but accept that they aren't great value) some of Kershaws collabs , some esee, condor and buck knives, some cold steels, Ontario, mora,victorinox...all serviceable high value knives that more than likely won't let you down. All that being said I personally have taken an interest in busse combat and hinderer and my very small collection is from them and I don't personally have the desire to own the brands mentioned earlier but I do keep an eye on what people are saying about them so I can make a fair recommendation to some of my friends that don't want to shell out a ton of cash on a high end blade
 
Killgar,how is the steel on those stilettos, That is my favorite design,and most of those knives have bayonet type of grind that doesn't cut well.I am trying to find the ones with grind like the two you've modified!
 
I try to buy american and european and avoid asian-made when possible. Exceptions are for traditional/cultural blades like the khukura, higo no kami etc

Generally speaking, your best bang for your buck happens around $70-150
 
The cow said:
Generally speaking, your best bang for your buck happens around $70-150
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I'll have to disagree, generally speaking. Hard to beat the bang for your buck with Victorinox Pioneer series at ~$30, Mora at ~$20 and less, and Opinel at ~$15 and less. That's bang for your buck. A lot of bang for every buck, even though very few bucks.
 
My favorite 'inexpensive' knives are by far Victorinox SAKs. Also, my kitchen knives are a Victorinox Santoku, paring knife and a serrated utility. IMO, Victorinox makes the best budget knives anywhere. Not only inexpensive, but consistent high quality.

Jim
 
I like the Rough Rider, Colt, Marbles, and Buck made in China knives. (and Buck's made in USA traditional knives, like the 301 and 110, and their fixed blades)
 
lonestar1979 said:
Killgar,how is the steel on those stilettos, That is my favorite design,and most of those knives have bayonet type of grind that doesn't cut well.I am trying to find the ones with grind like the two you've modified!
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As I recall, the steel was listed as 420, but of course you gotta take that with a grain of salt.

As I mentioned, the brand is Rite Edge, often listed as "Rite Edge folding stiletto", and they are sold by several vendors.

As far as my experience with the blades, first, they are hard. When I went to drill the holes for the thumbstuds I thought a brand new cobalt bit in my drill press would suffice, but it didn't make a dent. Only carbide would cut through, and it did very well.

The blades have a nice "spring" to them. By that I mean, if you bend the tip over (they're ground thin at the tip), it springs right back to straight with no kink.

It only took a short time on a hone for me to get the edges hair-popping sharp. I don't know how long that edge would last, I've been meaning to get some hemp rope and do some edge-retention tests just for my own curiosity, but I haven't gotten around to it.

Here's a little general info about these knives (I bought 5 of them)- For one thing, quality is hit and miss. What do you expect from a $7. knife. But I bought these with the intent to put some work into them, and I have a lot of experience, so I was willing to accept less than perfect quality out of the box. I bought five thinking that at least a few would be of suitable quality.

Here are some issues-

All kinds of blade play. The side-to-side can be fixed by tapping the pivot pin with a hammer on a hard surface, or replacing it with a screw assembly/pivot (this requires drilling the blade pivot hole a little larger, as well as the guard bolsters). A few had almost zero forward/back play, the ones that had more required custom fitting of the lock to the blade).

Fit and finish can be rough. They come with sharp points and edges on the guards. But that can be dealt with using small files or just sandpaper, depending on how detailed one wants to get.

Don't expect a perfectly centered blade. some are, some are close, and some blades rub the liner.

Three of my blades were straight, two were canted to the side, which I believe is warping from the heat treat.

Four of the knives I bought had blades that were straight with the handle from the side when fully open. One (pictured in my post earlier) had a blade that was noticeably canted forward when open. But I know a trick to fix that, which I used.

Now for the positive, and the reasons why I was willing to put the effort into them.

Solid handle construction. The liners are stainless steel (nor brass like a lot of stilettos). The bolsters, top and bottom, are SOLID stainless steel (not stamped and hollow like a lot of stilettos), and the bolsters, top and bottom, are SPOT WELDED to the liners. As I recall, the guard bolsters have 5 spot welds, and the lower bolsters have 4. So these handles are SOLID, and they make the knife feel very solid in the hand, unlike many stilettos I have handled that feel weak and flimsy like they will come apart at any moment.

Although there was blade play, the blades still lock up secure. I used a moderate amount of effort to try and force the locks to fail, but it didn't happen.

The springs are strong. In fact, in order to make one open easily one-handed I had to grind a bit off the spring to weaken it a little. But all 5 were easily opened with two hands. There wasn't a "nail-breaker" in the bunch.

None of the edges of the blades on all five knives would contact the spring when closed, not even when I let them slam shut. So the edges don't get dinged from contact when closed. Of course if you squeeze the knife hard when closed you can make the edge contact, but that's typical of this design of lock back. Adding a thumbstud creates a blade-stop, so in the case of my knives, it's impossible for the edge to contact anything when closed, ever.

The stock handles are on secure. Both pins and glue. But the glue is easily defeated with a little heat (heat gun, holding over a stove) if one want to remove and replace them.

That's about all I can think of at the moment. Feel free to ask me any questions. While this knife is not perfect out of the box, I think it's a great project knife, with lots of potential. And I think they are the perfect size, not too big, not too small like a toy. Like yourself, I'm a BIG fan of this type of knife, especially when the quality is good, or can be made good (or great :)).
 
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I love some of the high value knives but sometimes cheap means cheap.

I avoid the SanRenMus, Ganzos, Enlans, Navys and those other mystery steel Chinese brands. When the knives themselves aren't outright copies, they exhibit highly variable steel quality and some questionable build quality. I've had duplicate SRM 7010 knives and one held an edge and sharpened as well as can be expected for a $20 knife, the other acted like some kind of pot steel. The Enlan EL-01 is generally a decent knife but I've also seen some unacceptable lock wear on some. Many very cheap knives come from Pakistan but I've yet to see one that I'd trust in my pocket. Gerber, CRKT...two great names in the knife world that all too often produce horrible quality yet inexpensive knives. M-Tech, TAC-Force, Schrade, S&W, Browning...well, most of the time you'd be better off with a good stick. :eek:

On the other hand, there are some great choices in high value knives.

The imported Spyderco/Byrd and Kershaw value knives are great, albeit a little boring. Real Steel Knives have some incredible designs at a good price. The Real Steel H6 line are great, well built folders. The older Kizers, before the price started to inflate, were some of the best mix of quality and value in the market. I like some of the Cold Steels although I'm not certain that their recent steel upgrade warrants a doubling in price. Ontario's RAT and Utilitac might be the best one-two punch in value blades. If you can get a Buck Vantage with good fit and finish, you have a hell of a knife.

For sheer cut-for-the-buck, its hard to beat a Svord Peasant, a Mora Companion, an Opinel 8, a Mercator Black Cat or a Rough Rider of any flavor.

I think there are more awesome, high-value knives available now than at any other time, but there are a bunch of stinkers too. You have to separate the wheat from the chaff.
 
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Hackenslash said:
I've had duplicate SRM 7010 knives and one held an edge and sharpened as well as can be expected for a $20 knife, the other acted like some kind of pot steel.
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That's interesting. My opinion differs I guess. I have found the SRM 7010 to be their best offering. Some others I'm not as impressed by. I've purchased 10-20 of them as they make great gifts and sharpened most of them. I wish Rough Rider made knives in that steel. If they did I wouldn't mess with Sanrenmu. It's about the lowest tolerable steel but it's OK.


Hackenslash said:
For sheer cut-for-the-buck, its hard to beat a Svord Peasant, a Mora Companion, an Opinel 8, a Mercator Black Cat or a Rough Rider of any flavor.
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+1 on most of those. :thumbup: I loves me a peasant in particular.
 
Not me. I greatly prefer expensive, mostly nonfunctional knives. I tried edc'ing a Wenger Giant Knife for a while, but the belt pouch was kind of uncomfortable. I've recently switched over to a vintage bronze egyptian khopesh, but keeping it sharp is kind of a bear. I keep having to melt it down and reforge it every time the edge rolls. But the looks on peoples' faces when I unsheath that to open a box, hoo boy! Worth it!
 
lonestar1979 said:
After collecting for many(almost 20 years) I lost interest in more expensive knives.Some inexpensive knives perform same, and even better,depending on blade geometry ,thicknes and ease of sharpening in the field.I just have no interest in buying something over 100$us, and most knives I use are in 20-50$ range!All opinions welcome.(ps.I modify many cheaper knives,so they perform much better!)!What I would spend my money on are higher quality automatics and balisongs ,but theyre prohibited where I live.
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I have been collecting for twice as long as you have and I also like them. The real eye opener for me occurred about 20 years ago. I was on a business trip to Dallas and had an extra day, so I decided to jump into the rental car and head off for a nice road trip. I headed north and drove for hours, until I was literally off the map and on farm roads. Along the way I spotted a local knife shop and, of course, I had to stop and check it out. It was pretty disappointing, most of their inventory was Frost Cutlery, Colonial and the like, with a few SAKs and United Cutlery products mixed in. On top of the counter there was a cigar box full of very well worn knives. They were the same kinds of knives with the blades completely worn down to toothpicks. There wasn't a custom, or Randall, or even a nice Buck knife in sight. I asked the owner about it and he said that his customers couldn't possibly afford those knives. That they were farm and ranch hands who needed inexpensive basic knives to meet their daily work needs. He added that they used the knives hard and when they wore out they would bring them back and exchange them for a credit towards a new knife and the worn knives would end up in that cigar box.

Most of us no longer live or work on a farm. We are living in urban or suburban settings where our outdoor experiences, if any, are limited to public, state or national parks were the rules and norms often call for low-impact hiking, no open fires, shelter building or trail blazing. We have very little experience with knives and a lot of that comes from contrived activities - where we simply play with our knives. So we tend to compensate for the lack of experience, and are targeted by marketing that encourages us, to over-engineer our knives. We are sold knives that are nearly indestructible; heavy solid brutes with blades hardened to minimize the need for sharpening and locks solid enough to protect inept hands. Knives that can be pounded through solid logs like glorified nails and folders that can be torqued and twisted in virtually any direction. We pay a premium for these knives and truly end up with many really great knives. But, it is still excessive.

Many of us have gone back to play with traditional knives or inexpensive modern knives and found that these are more than capable of meeting our needs. A knife doesn't have to be ground from unobtanium to do effective work. There are still plenty of antique knives around that have been handed down and used through several lifetimes and remain fully functional. Real work knives do rust, wear and need frequent sharpening, and none of that need impairs its
performance as a knife. There are plenty of good cutting tools that can be had at reasonable prices. They will not compare to our premium knives, but they are easily capable of providing a lifetime of service.

n2s
 
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