Workhorse for carpenter

Sophijo-- welcome to Bladeforums. What kind of price range are you looking at, and what types of tasks do you envision perfoming with the knife? Without knowing any of that, I'd recommend the Benchmade 710. It's hard to beat the axis lock. I'm sure you'll get plenty of different suggestions. If you have a local knife store, you should go and handle a variety of knives to see which ones fit your hand.
--Josh
 
I worked as a carpeneter for 4 years, and for most of it I carried a spyderco endura, Then I got a delica and decided that was a better size for me at work. I have a lot more expensive knives, but for the money the Spydies are workhorses.
Kyle Fuglesten
 
From what construction type stuff I've done, I probably would go with something like a benchmade 750 (if you can find one, they're discontinued)
I'd want something simple, easy to clean, and preferably stainless. When you cut stuff like tar paper, or sheet rock etc. the knife can get scratched up pretty quick or covered in gunk that you have to scrape/scrub off. I wouldn't want a coated blade, since it would just get all hacked up.
And at least with the O1 knives I've been making, they rust to easy when I sweat, maybe carried on a tool belt or something they'd do better :confused:
Axis locks are great but they're tough to clean, dry wall dust and sawdust finds its way into everything.

If your on a budget, or want something lightweight, spyderco's delica and endura would be good choices. The chinook would be a good choice in the bigger/sturdier category also.
 
BM551. Maybe not quite as tough as the 710 HS, but a lot less expensive and very easy to hold, sharpen and use.
 
There are 3 good "hard-use" choices:

Spyderco Chinook.
SOG Tomcat.
Buck 110.
 
For a workhorse blade, I'd highly recommend the Spyderco FRN Endura SE(in VG10). I received my second Endura about two weeks ago, and it has gone through heck and back....and still keeps cuttin' and cuttin'. :)

I know that you wouldn't be disappointed with this one. :D :cool:

I carry mine everyday for work EDC, along with my classic Buck 110 to complement.
 
The 112 bg or the good old basic 110. The 110 is what made Buck famous.And who did it? The working man. The original 110 was made for a hunter to carry a couple weeks a year. It became so popular,they redesigned it for EDC.(and ya'll thought I wasnt paying attention in class):)
 
A Buck 110 was the first thing that came into my mind. I'd go with a plain old production model for hard use in constriction. They're cheap enough to buy two so that when you lose one or damage it beyond usefullness (pretty tall order) you can send it back for repair and use the other one. They have a great blade and a great overall form factor and are tremendously useful knives.

A Buck 110 is like a good hammer. If you use it every day to build stuff and tear stuff down, you will eventually need to replace it, but it's so well designed for the task that you'll probably just buy another one just like it and not sweat the money.

Would a large Sebenza be cooler, of course, but a 110 brings a lot to the table and you won't feel guilty beating it up. It's what it was made for.

jmx
 
Sophijo; I just recieved a frame lock Greco Falcon in the mail today. The blade is a relatively un known 8670 hi carbon steel and so is the handle. Blades come in various shapes to suit your need. They may be considered a bit pricey compared to Buck, Gerber and others, but the price is in line with Emerson & Benchmade (125.00ish) I have an Emerson and I have to say it looks kind of runty next to this brute.
If you take a look at this site I'm sure you will be impressed. They are honest hard working knives that despense with cosmetics. The site below is prompt and honest as well.
http://www.cqcknives.com
 
I think the Delica/Endura blades are too pointy for rought work. Go Native!

For tradition sake, a 110 (or even better, a smaller 112) would do fine, but that's a lot of extra weight to lug around on your tool belt all day every day.

A sleeper in this catergory is the Gerber line - the LST's, Gators and maybe the EZ out. The Gators are tough, with rubber handles. the larger LST's are beefy. It all depends if you want a sheath knife, or a clip, one-hander, whatever. they also have serviceable steel. By serviceable I mean it gets sharp, and it's easy to resharpen when it dulls.
 
I agree with RH about the weight thing.
i did some rough framing after school and packed this plastic handled Buck lockback. I don't remember the model but still see it in Walmart. I abused the crap out of that knife and eventually tossed my utility out of my carpenter's tool belt which I was using for sheetrocking. That Buck cut through all that gypsum crap and the lock got packed full of the stuff too. It never failed to open and close (the plastic kind of made it self-cleaning when you started to close it). It's not the best steel (comming from a bladesmith/engineer) but lightweight, good size, and tough. What more do you need?
Ed
 
Extra heavy duta Olfa knife. Much cheaper than the above blades and will cut *much* better. For what it is worth, I did labor work in construction and my family owns a construction business. The Olfa knives, heavy duty and extra heavy duty are very common with the Stanley carpenters knives coming a *distant* second. Regular pocket knives like an Endura simply cannot cut the common materials as well, and the ease of sharpening by just replacing the blade on an Olfa can not be beat.

-Cliff
 
If you're on a budget I'd get a spydie, heck even if you aren't on a budget get a spydie. The endura, delica, or native are great values and come with blades that will hold an edge and take abuse. If or when you ever break or lose it you can afford to buy another. BM makes some of my favorite knives but lose one (like I have,) and they're not as easy to replace. CRKT makes reliable knives but if you use your knife regularly every day the Aus 8 blade will need to be sharpened a lot (but will get razor sharp easily). Don't bother looking at the CRKT knives with Aus 6 blades.
 
I would not suggest the Gerber Gator unless they are very different now. I bought mine about 10 or 12 years ago and used it fairly lightly, except for trimming coper flashing and a few things like that. :rolleyes: The blade is still pretty good, has hardly been sharpened or damaged enough to change dimensions measurably, still takes a reasonable shaving edge. Before I learned better I allowed someone who claimed to know how to sharpen well to touch the serrations, so now thew are not so good, :barf: but the real problem is the rubbery slabs. Years ago they started mushing under pressure allowing the blade to move rather dramatically. I do not believe the blade is supposed to fold backward like it can now, :eek: and it can unlock with little pressure also. It is toast.
 
"I do not believe the blade is supposed to fold backward like it can now"

Of course it is - you have one of the rare "Bali-gator" models.
:D
 
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