I’ve carried pocketknives as long as I can remember, and I’ve gone through quite a few styles, sizes and manufacturers. I’m looking to change up from my current primary carry knife (a Walther Allied Forces) and I’m not having any luck finding a knife that packs all the features I want into one.
Specifications:
– tanto-point blade, preferably half-straight/half-serrated (also called hybrid sometimes)
– extremely hard steel on the blade, 440 or better, preferably 44v
– all-metal construction, although I’d be willing to compromise on Zytel
– assisted opening with a thumb stud and pocket clip
– black-coated blade and handle
I can find tantos with hybrid blades and pocket clips, I can find all-metal tantos with proper blades, but I can’t find something that rolls the whole package into one knife.
I have a Cold Steel Ti-Lite Zytel that I absolutely love. The blade is the sharpest I’ve ever found, it’s well balanced and the blade opens, locks and closes super smoothly.
Benchamde makes a Stryker that comes with a tool steel blade and BT2 coating, very nice. I have a plain edged ATS-34 Stryker that is among my favorite carry knives. The tool steel ones are hard to find.
Why do you want such a hard steel? It’ll be hard to keep a good edge on it.
I second the suggestion to go with Cold Steel. I carry one of the half-serrated voyagers (#50XTH). Highly recommended. Cold Steel knives are all I buy. Nothing but good experiences. I have had bad experiences with Benchmade and others. Go with CS.
You didn’t list blade length so I originaly thought you wanted a small knife.
If you want something in the 4" blade size then I would recommend a Benchmade BM710
BLADE MATERIAL: ATS-34 STAINLESS STEEL HARDENED TO 59-61HRC
This is in their axis knife series and has a unique locking mechanism. It is the only design I’ve seen that can be used either left or right handed. The blade will always lock tight because the mechanism is self adjusting for wear. By pulling the locking mechanism back the blade is completely unloaded and will fall open with the least bit of wrist action. It opens with a slow 1/4 turn of the wrist. It is closed the same way (which no other knife does as well). Benchmade carries most blade styles in this series as well as edge styles. This is truly a superior knife for ease of use and safety. Double if your left handed.
If you are looking for smaller knives let me know. I have a number of suggestions for the 2" blade size of knife.
That’s a sweet-looking design, Magiver. As a lefty, I’m much put out by the trend to liner-locks that are next to useless for me. I’ve so far stuck with Spydercos, which are nicely ambidextrous, and very good knives to boot. But I’m always glad to see lefty-friendly innovation
I’ve seen some copycat designs of it. I’m hesitant to say just how easy it opens. I like the ATS34 steel for general use. I use a ceramic sharpening system so I wouldn’t mind trying a 440V steel blade but it will have to have a mechanism as easy as Benchmade’s. I can sharpen ATS34 to “shave sharp” in about a minute. If the 440V takes too long to put an edge on it I won’t like it.
Okay, now you’ve got me nervous about this opens easily thing. Can I presume that the blade has no chance of opening while the thing is still in my pocket, at least? I want…no, I need to be able to pull my knife out of my pocket and get it into action with one hand whilst leaning off the top of a ladder at an awkward angle, etc., and so opening easily is a good thing, but I have a slight aversion to disemboweling myself accidentally because the knife didn’t stay closed when it was supposed to.
And, when it comes to it, my Delica opens and closes one-handed easily enough.
Another Spyderco fan here. I find the Spyderco hole to be much faster opening than thumb studs, other types of holes (Spyderco has pateneted the round hole) and even automatics like the Benchmade AFO I bought a few months ago. I vastly prefer the Native for everyday carry. It’s extremely compact but having one of the finger choils on the blade gives a bigger feel in my hand. Not a tanto blade but the spear point grind is appealing in it’s own way.
Gorsnak, I was concerned too about an automatic opening in my pocket but even with the safety off the AFO takes a very deliberate press to open, I usually have to hit the button with my thumbnail. Still it’s why they put the pocket clip on the hinge end. If by some chance it does open the knife can be pulled out of your pocket without the blade catching on anything.
You’re all making good suggestions, but I don’t think any of you have met all his requirements.
You want:
Tanto Tip? – Check
A hybrid blade? – Check
Hard steel? – Check AUS 8
All metal construction? – Check (No polymers!)
Thumb Stud? – Check
Pocket Clip? – Check
Black Coated Blade and Handle? Check! and Double Check (Black Titanium Nitride
Coating) btw, this is a great all-whether coating.
Thing about knife requests is everyone wants to say what they like and why. And everyone wants to recommend things that have worked for them. Not that this is a bad thing.
But when I read your OP, the first- and really the ONLY- knife that came to mind was the M16 Series from Columbia River Knife and Tool.
More specifically, the SRT *1 (SWAT) or even the Military Version.
Also, these knives are sharp as shit and high quality. At the SWAT shop I used to work at, we had a CRKT poster on the wall that we made. It had their logo and the words “Caution: Sharp” and the picture was of my buddy’s thumb!! He sliced himself pretty badly on accident and we- being the sensitive caring people we are- got the digital camera and started snapping away.
Oh, quit being such a spoilsport Bear_in Nenno, this is IMHO not GQ so replies don’t have to be as factual. We all got our dos centavos.
Pretty cool knife though. All the CRKT’s I’ve seen so far though are the low end imported ones with die cast scales that look kinda cheap.
I feel for your buddy’s thumb. I once loaned my Gerber LST to a lady, who was a medical doctor in her native Serbia. I warned her that it was shaving sharp. She tested this not by moving her thumb across the blade, which can be done safely, but down its length. :smack: She ended up needing stitches.
Yeah… whenever someone asks a gun or gear question, the elitist Gear Geek in me starts slashing his way out. I want to brag and rub it in.
It’s like, “I know the answer and you don’t”! As if the question was some kind of trivia or something…
Two places where employees treat every question like it’s a quiz:
Comic Book Stores and Gun Stores
Also, it’s the same two places where the employees will always talk down to you because they know more about it than you. (Even if they don’t)
The only way you can accidentally open it is to catch the thumb latch… which, as far as I can tell, is there to make it look legal if a policeman asks you to open it. The same sliding button that locks it open keeps it closed by the tension of the spring. The version I posted has a 3.9" blade so I wouldn’t carry it anywhere except my back pocket. It is the perfect “leaning off the top of a ladder at an awkward angle” one-handed operating knife on the market. When you pull the locking button back it takes all the tension off the knife so it will fall out of the handle. A very very very light arc of the wrist will bring it out. Let go of the button and it’s locked. It wont bounce back on you either. Same procedure for folding it. This is a hard knife to describe until you try it. The only thing missing is the option of 440V steel. It would be nice if they gave the option because they offer so many different blade styles with this mechanism.
If I had to use this knife in an emergency I know it’s going to open for me. There’s no learning curve involved. I’m surprised they don’t offer a skinner blade for it because it would be the perfect parachute or survival knife.
I’ll have to see if the local knife shop carries Benchmade so that I can play with one for a bit. Their yellow pages ad mentions Benchmade, but their website doesn’t.
Okay, I found a knife that meets nearly all your criteria. It’s a liner lock Tanto with a half and half edge, thumb stud and a pocket clip. Blade is black titatinum coated and 440 stainless but it should be noted that that is a grade of steel and does not necessarily denote hardness. Scales are black plastic but probably not Zytel.
The gotcha is that it’s a Smith & Wesson branded knife made in China. It’s on sale until tomorrow at Big 5 Sporting Goods for $17 so I bought one. It actually looks like a decent knife but at the normal $50 retail I probably wouldn’t have bought it. Opens very easily with the thumb stud, better than most I’ve seen. It will make a nice everyday knife and I won’t cry if something happens to it. If anyone is interested it was in the Big 5 ad that came out Wednesday and is good through Sunday the 19th. Ask for the S&W “Extreme Ops” knife.
Look at the Benchmade knives. They’re expensive but quality it top notch.
Just a question. Tanto-point blades seem to have become popular on both folders and fixed blades in recent years. What is their advantage in ordinary use, and are there disadvantages?
Also, links to a couple sites with pretty wide selections and decent prices:
I’d also love to know of any good little utility folders with blades of 2 inches or less. I’m looking for something that I can open really easily with one hand that I can slip into a pocket every morning, and that I can use to open boxes at work without raising eyebrows. Just a little unobtrusive, hard-working knife that I can rely on every day.
As I live in the UK, laws on carrying knives are way tighter here, and we’re basically restricted to locking folders with blades of 3 inches maximum, and that are “unassisted”, meaning switchblades are out.
So any suggestions? Spyderco sound okay, but I’ve never had any experience of them. At the moment I’m carrying a Schrade “Simple Simon” that I quite like.
