There were several this year that snuck up on me and surprised me. I don't know that I could pick just one for knife of the year award. The Persistence by Spyderco was one in the running though. The Harley Davidson Mini HardTail another. I really figured that Harley knife would be sub standard because most of the Harley Davidson stuff I've seen in the past was junk but to my surprise it was not only great but very great! BenchMade knocked one out of the park with those HardTail knives IMO. Next would be the Horseman by Emerson. Simply put this is a fine knife and one that quickly moved to the top of my fave list among the EKI brands personally.
The last one in the way of folders that really shocked me in 09 at how much I liked it once the first one arrived ( I ended up buying four, five if I count the mini of the same model) was the Cold Steel American Lawman folders. The Triad lock by Andrew Demko is outstanding and I find I'm a fan of that lock big time now thanks to these knives using it. I liked the Lawman so much I had to have more and really can't find fault with any of them. Well, that isn't quite true I guess; as I gave CS some dings in some areas regarding changes to the model after I got sold on it and I didn't like what they did but that was it and in the end those changes did not affect the performance of the knives as proven to me by Andy in that video review on youtube. Still I'm glad I got some of the first run models with stainless liners though. Removing the liners did make the knife easier to carry and ironically considering my initial complaints I do carry the linerless one more than the lined. Go figure.
There were other great knives I saw this year that I was quite impressed with but didn't get around to obtaining. Among those were the Khukuri and Barong by Spyderco, both of which are great folding knives and Spyderco all the way because only Spyderco could pull something like those off. Its just them and I see those in my future.
In fixed blades the Bark River Micro Canadian surprised me at how useful and highly appealing it was. I liked it so much I sent mine to Kiah for a custom horizontal carry kydex sheath.
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Hadn't purchased a spydie for awhile before that, and it once again came to my attention what spectacular knives they make for a great price.
