- Joined
- Jul 9, 2021
- Messages
- 5
Hi, new to the forum, but not new to pocket knife collecting. I only buy knives I intend to carry and use, and for that reason, my budget generally topped out at $150 or so for many years. Yes, it still hurts to lose or foul up a $150 tool, even a $20 tool, but I can live thorough it. Well, I had kind of topped off at that price range, bought and sold many over the years, with a "permanent collection" of maybe 20 good quality, interesting pieces, all of which I have no intention of selling.
I decided I'd take the plunge into the next tier of blades, and wanted a gentleman's knife, and a not so gentleman's knife. A shop nearby carries ZT and Emerson, and I picked up the ZT 0707, and am not disappointed. SHARP, weightless, and I like slightly weird designs, so it checked the boxes I wanted for a gentleman's blade. For my utilitarian choice, I was considering a beefier ZT, or the Emerson Kwaiken they had sitting there. Honestly, the ZT looked and felt great, but the Kwaiken spoke a little louder, and I'm not sure why. I'm not military, have a few rifles but no tactical bent here. It's heavy, bulky, the scales are so rough they're weapons unto themselves, basically nothing that really moved my needle previously. But I'd heard all the good things, love my Spyderco Wave openers, and ffs the blade looks like a samurai sword. So I bit. And other than a few days of the ZT, the Kwaiken's been in my pocket just about every day for 3 months now. Including my job, in my suit pants.
Why? Because it's freaking awesome. It's way too rough to clip carry in suit pants, negating consistent wave opening, but I don't care. It's heavy! I better wear underwear with board shorts, this thing will take them down! Don't care! None of the downsides matter once you have to break down a crate of double boxed guitars. The crazy sharp yet predictable chisel grind, the steel tempering, the fit, the balance... it's as easy and comfortable to use to open a letter, gut a fish, or cut spectra rope. I've never had it all come together like this before, and with a "novelty" blade shape to boot. Again, I like a little weird. I've only needed to strop it once in 3 months, just took down double cardboard again like a filet knife, and I had to write about it. Gosh I hate that they're so rare and apparently discontinued, I take my knives fishing too and the Pacific is fairly unforgiving of one false move. At any rate, now I get the Emerson thing. My skinny little ZT that cost MORE is a fun little blade, but there's a big difference in the dollar cost value here. Does anyone know if Emerson re-runs out of stock designs? Thanks for your indulgence.
I decided I'd take the plunge into the next tier of blades, and wanted a gentleman's knife, and a not so gentleman's knife. A shop nearby carries ZT and Emerson, and I picked up the ZT 0707, and am not disappointed. SHARP, weightless, and I like slightly weird designs, so it checked the boxes I wanted for a gentleman's blade. For my utilitarian choice, I was considering a beefier ZT, or the Emerson Kwaiken they had sitting there. Honestly, the ZT looked and felt great, but the Kwaiken spoke a little louder, and I'm not sure why. I'm not military, have a few rifles but no tactical bent here. It's heavy, bulky, the scales are so rough they're weapons unto themselves, basically nothing that really moved my needle previously. But I'd heard all the good things, love my Spyderco Wave openers, and ffs the blade looks like a samurai sword. So I bit. And other than a few days of the ZT, the Kwaiken's been in my pocket just about every day for 3 months now. Including my job, in my suit pants.
Why? Because it's freaking awesome. It's way too rough to clip carry in suit pants, negating consistent wave opening, but I don't care. It's heavy! I better wear underwear with board shorts, this thing will take them down! Don't care! None of the downsides matter once you have to break down a crate of double boxed guitars. The crazy sharp yet predictable chisel grind, the steel tempering, the fit, the balance... it's as easy and comfortable to use to open a letter, gut a fish, or cut spectra rope. I've never had it all come together like this before, and with a "novelty" blade shape to boot. Again, I like a little weird. I've only needed to strop it once in 3 months, just took down double cardboard again like a filet knife, and I had to write about it. Gosh I hate that they're so rare and apparently discontinued, I take my knives fishing too and the Pacific is fairly unforgiving of one false move. At any rate, now I get the Emerson thing. My skinny little ZT that cost MORE is a fun little blade, but there's a big difference in the dollar cost value here. Does anyone know if Emerson re-runs out of stock designs? Thanks for your indulgence.